Overview

In recent years, the Space Invaders series has enjoyed a resurgence of popularity with new instalments for the DS, PSP, WiiWare, Flash, Mobile Phone, and iPhone. The WiiWare's Space Invaders Get Even was a largely successful spinoff featuring a novel twist — players were able to control the invaders themselves. Taito initially hired former Eighting lead Atsuhiro Motoyama to create a prototype score, before settling on Tilde veteran Takafumi Wada and newcomer Hirotaka Kikuchi to offer the full score. The duo offer the darkest soundtrack in the series to date.

Body

Takafumi Wada immediately establishes a dramatic premise for the score with prologue, a fine piece of electro-orchestral cinematic underscore. Soon enough, he plunges listeners into chaos with "The Battle Begins". This is no stereotypical shooter first stage theme; gone are any happy-go-lucky melodies or electronic frills in favour of bold brass melodies and aggressive orchestral discords. While this type of music is often handled poorly in Japan, Wada is fortunately able to both compose and implement it skilfully here. Nevertheless, many will argue that the final theme is simply a Hollywood emulation that doesn't offer any of the individuality originally associated with Space Invaders...

For the most part, the rest of the stage themes on the soundtrack follow the precedent set by "The Battle Begins". Some such as "Poseidon's Anger" and "The Shield" are even more dissonant than the others, whereas "The Lethal Weapon" and "Dangerous Glacier Zone" are a little less piercing due to their percussive focus. While the majority are effective in context, they collectively lack the hooks and contrasts to be particularly worthwhile out-of-context. An exception is Hirotaka Kikuchi's final stage theme "Lava" with its charismatic synth melodies and lavish piano decorations. Epic yet beautiful.

The boss themes tend to follow the precedent of the rest of the score, but there are some twists. The normal boss theme "Smash Up" adds some well done electronic elements and proves one of the most exciting contributions on the score. The final boss theme meanwhile introduces some choral chants. It is certainly an ideal depiction of the ultimate foe, but will be frightfully stereotypical for regular game music listeners. For those who have worried that the Space Invaders series has completely lost its individuality, the staff roll theme "Get Even!" might provide some delight with its integration of UFO sound effects. It's the only track in the used soundtrack that actually looks back and that seems pretty fitting for the context.

For those wanting a more typical shooter score, Atsuhiro Motoyama's prototype score is included here. None of these themes were used in the game with the exception of the select menu theme. Tracks such as "Logic of Invasion" and "The New Legend" are much more melodic, upbeat, and electronically focused than their counterparts. "Geophysics" meanwhile blends frenetic electronic beats and chiptune melodies with some evocative singing and certainly could have been delightful if used in the game. Although he only made a few pieces, they are each very entertaining and bring a lot to the soundtrack release.

Summary

Space Invaders Get Even features a very different final score to the rest of the series. This certainly enhances the intensity of the gameplay, though arguably at the loss of some individuality and fun factor. Thankfully, Zuntata Records was able to offer the best of the both worlds in this album release, compiling both the used soundtrack and the very different unused soundtrack together. The resultant album is a very diverse listen that is bound to offer something for everyone.