Ok, here’s a strange looking portable game that is a cross between Space Invaders and Match 3…hmmm how can these two completely different games work together, you might ask?

Enter Planet of the Jellies. Instead of shooting at our space invaders, we click on them so that they drop down, stacking identical aliens on top of each other. Once you stack 3 in a row – they disappear!

The music is fun, the graphics are cute and the game can be addictive! Here’s a screenshot:

The name of the game is: (Oh No) More Invaders from Space, and it is by far the most fast-paced Space Invaders clone I’ve ever played. The graphics are pretty neat, too! The game has some additional elements such as power-ups, various weapons and apparently, from the site’s description, you have to protect cows from being kidnapped by the aliens (I haven’t got that far yet, but that should be interesting!).

Check out their website for the screenshots and download.

Well, this blog has been running for one year! I thought it might be good to put together a top 10 list of the best games I’ve reviewed, or at least my personal favorites. Feel free to give your own opinions! Here they are, in no particular order:

• 1. Galaxian
• 2. BurgerTime!
• 3. Aztec Challenge
• 4. Jumpman
• 5. LightCycle 3D
• 6. Space Invaders 2D/3D
• 7. Typhoon 2001
• 8. Chicken Invaders
• 9. Pac Man
• 10. Plasma Pong

This site has a bunch of small portable arcade games: http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/freeware01/gamemaker.htm

I tested out Donkey Kong, Scramble, Burger Time and Space Invaders but there are much more to choose from such as 2 PacMan clones, Nibbles and other Commodore 64 remakes. The games I tested are all pretty small at around 3 MB or less. The Burger Time had neat graphics but was a bit frustrating at first – you have to be exactly aligned to move on and around the ladders and it’s hard to tell at first until you get the hang of it. Scramble was fun and quite challenging; Donkey Kong was great!

There are 18 free arcade games to try out; should be enough to keep you busy over the weekend.

I tried out a new Space Invaders today that I really enjoyed. It’s an OpenSource version and you can download it from here: http://spaceinvadersgl.sourceforge.net/. Select the third download file: “Space Invaders-0.6.1.zip(650 KB) – Program executable in zip archive.” You only need to copy the executable to your flash drive. This game is available for Windows only.

It’s a very good remake with modern graphics for the explosions and the backgrounds. Also, for those of you who are 3D fans, you can press F1 at any time during the game and the mode changes into 3D. Move your mouse around and you can adjust the angle of the screen. It has a built-in MP3 player so you can listen to your favorite tunes as you save the universe.

Here is a small (less than 60 K) and sweet remake of the classic Space Invaders. It has no sound and I find it much more challenging to play than the version incorporated in the Arcade Pack (I found that one too easy and boring). The movement keys take some getting used to. Well, ok. They take A LOT of getting used, at least for me :

• left CTRL = move left
• right ALT= move right
• right SHIFT = fire

When you fist launch the game, the GAME OVER screen apprears; pressing ENTER starts you on a game. Also, my Windows Sticky keys kept getting activated so you probably will have to disable it. I miss the arcade sounds, but this game truly tests your skills.

Download from CNET: Space Invaders