Alien Abduction

Our tribute to Eugene Jarvis's seminal arcade shooter Defender features all the ingredients that made that game a classic. Inspired by Mutant Storm and featuring elements of the finest twitch games coupled with new and exciting features, Alien Abduction is the game shoot 'em up fans have been waiting for.

Back in 2002, more than twenty years after the release of the original game, Midway hopped on the retro bandwagon and tried to rehash the concept of one of the most famous games ever – Defender, with a 3D console game featuring the same name and similar game design. Some of the 2D to 3D conversions went great, notably the Nintendo ones like Super Mario 64 or a more recent title, Metroid Prime. Defender’s conversion to 3D didn’t fare so well. The gameplay was almost completely lost in the translation to a playing field with an extra dimension and the controls were rather poor, resulting in a loss of the fun factor and turning this remake into a very mediocre game. Fortunately, even though the basic concept of Alien Abduction is quite similar to Defender, Pumpkin Games' ambitions are slightly smaller than Midway's, bringing us a much more fun and enjoyable game.

One of the biggest innovations of the original game – the radar, also exists in Alien Abduction. The game takes place on a side-scrolling level much wider than your screen, and the action happens in all parts of it whether you're there or not. This, as well as the need to keep track of where the fuel depots are (it's “game over” when your ship's fuel bar runs out), is why you absolutely have to keep your eye on the radar at all times, bringing a bit of strategy to an otherwise reflex-based game. Naturally, you are not alone in your battle against the alien hordes – while you're at it, you might notice a power-up floating around every now and then. Aside from weapons like more powerful laser beams and homing missiles, you can, for example, get a cloaking device add-on, which makes you invisible (but still vulnerable) to enemy ships and a shield add-on which renders you invincible for a while.

Pumpkin Games clearly admit that Alien Abduction was largely inspired by Pom Pom's Mutant Storm (and to an extent, their other indie hit – Space Tripper) which, even if it wasn't officially stated, is pretty evident because of a rather similar look. However, the graphics in Alien Abduction are much more crisp and clearly defined, more simplistic and subtle – in a word, a lot more retro. This game, with its almost completely abstract visual elements, compares to the Pom Pom games in the way Rez could be compared Jet Grind Radio on Dreamcast.