Invaders

Tips for Invaders

In Invaders you only ever have one shot in the air, so a miss leaves you waiting while the formation keeps marching. Take aimed shots rather than firing constantly, and line up under a craft before you press Space.

The whole formation steps down every time it touches the edge of the screen, and it speeds up as you thin it out. Clearing the ends of the rows first means it has further to travel before it turns, which buys you time. Save some attention for the last few craft, because they move far faster than the first fifty. The top row is worth the most at 30 points each, but staying alive matters more than chasing it.

The four shields wear away from both sides, and your own shots make holes in them too, so do not fire through a shield you still want to hide behind. Learn the three bombs: the straight drop is easy to read, the zigzag drifts across half a lane, and the fast dart gives almost no warning. When the bonus saucer crosses the top, it can pay up to 300 points, so take the shot if the bombs give you a moment.

How to play Invaders

In Invaders you defend the ground with a single cannon against a formation of alien craft. Each wave is five rows of eleven craft. The formation slides sideways, and each time it touches the edge of the screen it drops a step lower. You move the cannon left and right along the bottom and fire upwards, but only one of your shots can be in the air at a time, so every miss costs you time.

The craft drop three kinds of bomb: a straight drop, a zigzag that wanders across half a lane and a fast dart. Four shields stand between you and the formation, and they wear away block by block, from the bombs above and from your own shots below. The rows are worth 30, 20 and 10 points from the top down, and the fewer craft are left, the faster the formation moves. Now and then a bonus saucer crosses the top of the screen and pays 50 to 300 points if you hit it. Clear the wave and you earn a bonus, then the next wave starts lower and marches faster. You have three cannons, and your best score is saved in your browser.

On a computer you move with the arrow keys or A and D and fire with Space. On a phone or tablet you drag to move the cannon and tap FIRE to shoot. P pauses, M mutes and Space restarts.

About Invaders

Invaders is a fixed shooter, the kind of arcade game in which your cannon stays at the bottom of the screen and the threat comes down from above. A marching alien formation, crumbling shields and a bonus craft across the top are among the best-known images from the early days of arcade games, and the format has been reworked many times since. Kiloo's Invaders is a version made by Kiloo and rebuilt from scratch for the browser, with three designs of alien craft and a bass pulse that speeds up as the formation does.

It is worth playing for the way the pressure builds. A full wave moves slowly and gives you time to aim, but every craft you stop makes the rest move faster, so the end of each wave is the hardest part. The one-shot rule turns Invaders into a game of timing rather than holding down a button, and the shields give you choices about where to stand. It suits anyone who likes short arcade runs and chasing a best score, and it works with the keyboard on a computer and with drag and tap on phones and tablets.

Frequently asked questions