Sea Invasion

The Good
Space Invaders was quite a popular shooter when it came out, especially in Japan where there was a coin shortage. The game was ported to every popular console, but microcomputers had to make do with clones. An example is Sea Invasion released four years later by Romik. And as you may have guessed, the space invaders sprites were replaced by sea creatures to blend with the sea theme.

Like many of Romik's games, a dull title screen and a set of instructions are displayed while the tape loads. Once it finishes, you are asked for your skill level that determines how fast the game runs. Then it's off to the title screen, where the game mimics the animations on Invaders's title screen, right down to the “Play Sea Invasion” bit. The game is controlled using the keyboard or joystick. I preferred using the joystick as it was easier for me playing the game.

Each of the sea creatures look good, especially the shark that swims along the surface. Their attack patterns are quite unique. Instead of behaving like other Invaders clones, what they do is wrap around the screen, repeatedly going down a line until you are at striking distance. The sound effects are a bleeping sound that doesn't vary in pitch, but speeds up the more sea creatures you destroy.

The Bad
If you decide to play the game with keyboard, you have to use the [A] and [D] keys to move left and right, and [S] to fire. This means that your fingers are limited to one side of the keyboard instead of having them spread out.

The Bottom Line
Sea Invasion is a game for VIC-20 users where the object is the same as Space Invaders. Although the mechanics are similar, the sprites were changed to blend in with the sea theme. The animations are brilliant, and the sound effects are on par with Taito's 1978 game. It's too bad if you haven't got a joystick to play the game, as it would be much easier than restricting yourself to one side of the keyboard.