Alien Invaders Plus - (1980) - Odyssey2 - VGG

Magnavox © 1980
[Computer] Magnavox Odyssey 2
Emulator: O2EM (RetroArch core)
Rating: 6/10
At the height of the Space Invaders invasion on to the home platform, the Odyssey 2 came out with their own similar style game. It had to have some obvious differences for copyright reasons, but falls into the slide & shoot genre nicely, with the obvious nod to the invading aliens. Is this as good a game as Space Invaders… clearly not. However, for me the Odyssey 2 was my first actual console system, and this was one of the games that made me want the thing.
One cool difference is that you have a total of 10 rounds and can actually beat the game. The three squares are both blockers, but also let you change them into another space ship, should you be shot at some point in each round. If you run out of bunkers and shooters… the alien descends and begins blasting away until you give up or die. That's a losing round. For a winning round, take out all the little men, the guns they are manning are optional.. .although usually in the way of the men themselves. Once the soldiers are blown to pieces, you turn your attention to big-eye Cyclops Invader. Explode him like a stuffed pig and you win a round.
10 rounds to victory, and the signature Odyssey 2 sounds signal your win. So while this isn't some superb game, I still like it a lot for the Odyssey 2. One of the more fun games and certainly helped sell the Odyssey 2 of 1980.