Invasion of the Mutant Space Bats of Doom

Thoughts by Elwood (04 Mar 2001) – PC (DOS)

This is by far the best remake of the Space Invaders idea. Packed into a lovely B-Movie environment you fight against several creatures that are dropping down from above. When I came across this game at Jamie’s Abandonware and read the very positive review I just had to try it - after all the first game I ever added to my first abandonware-site (Elwoods Groovy Old Goodies for those who don’t know…) has been Space Invaders. If there was a way to really make a great game out of the idea - the guys at Pop Software did. You just have to love this game. The only downpoint I found was that the game gets hard pretty soon. Well, call it challenging - after a while you will find a strategy to master the different situations as each wave of aliens seems to have different attacking tactics. Enjoying yet simple Arcade Shooter!

Thoughts by Anonymous (08 Aug 2014) – PC (DOS)

I first discovered this game back in the early 2000s when I was a kid when I gotten the Game Empire CD from the Dollar Store. Now its 2014 and it’s time to take a look back at Invasion Of The Mutant Space Bats of Doom.

Developed by the same guy who made Round 42, Invasion Of The Mutant Space Bats Of Doom is a game that has you shooting down waves of enemies while being fun.

Controls

Keep in mind that I’m using the keyboard for this game. The keyboard controls are very comfortable with space bar to shoot and the arrow keys to move your ship around. The response is spot on and it controls very well. In the end, good controls help make for a fun space shooter.

Graphics

When you first boot the game up, you get greeted with beautifully painted 256 color VGA graphics which look amazing. Then when you get to the game, the color count does seem to drop, however, the graphics are still very good. The colors choosen for the ships are pretty good and the animations of the sprites are very good and the scrolling effects are spot on. In the end, while not being as pretty as Tyrian, it is still a awesome looking game for the time and it still is.

Sound

The FM synth music is very typical for a game back then but I will have to say that the sound effects are perfect so they did a good job on that part :)

Gameplay

Its like many other space shooters of the time, you move left/right and shoot swarms of enemies on the screen, but on a PC. There’s also a bonus round that you can play where you have to shoot the colored balls while they’re at the correct spot to gain points. It can get repetitive but it’s pretty fun for a couple of hours.

Overall

If you want a simple space shooter to play while you’re bored, I would give this game a try. Sadly, this is based off the demo as the full version is no longer being sold. If you however want to play the best space shooter available though for DOS, I would say go with Tyrian 2000 or Raptor: Call of the Shadows.