The adventure of the Stupid Invadersbegins after five aliens decide to go out on a space picnic. Things go horribly wrong when their spaceship crash-lands on Earth and is in need of repair. They hide in a disused house, biding their time to mend their ship. However, Dr Sakarin, an evil extra-terrestrial-collecting scientist, has learnt of their whereabouts and hires bounty-hunter Bolokto capture them at any cost... Aimed at the console market's more mature users, Stupid Invadersis a RPG, using the point-and-click method of gameplay. Ported from the PC, this game takes advantage of the Dreamcast's analogue stick, making the game translation smooth and accessible to fans of the genre. Ubi Soft have decided to give the game a cartoon feel, from which it benefits as a lot of the humour is of a cartoonish nature. Many of the jokes on display would not have worked in a more realistic environment. The game opens with a gripping rendered sequence outlining the plot and these graphics are continued in the game's cut-sequences. In-game graphics are good and the sound is reminiscent of horror films of yesteryear, which adds atmospheric tension.
In terms of gameplay, the learning curve of this game quite steep and often unbalanced. The first puzzles to be solved are simple enough. However, after five solutions, they become much more obscure and often lead to frustration rather than cerebral deduction. Also, the obligatory inventory screen could've been more helpful by displaying the names of the items within, instead of making the player remember what was what.
Nevertheless, Stupid Invadersis a worthy effort to introduce a genre of game usually associated with the PC into the console market. There are many positives and, with perseverance, this 2-disc game is worth every penny. -- Alex Leung
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