Radiant review

Damien McFerran

We review Radiant for Android - a spaceship-themed retro game

Published on Apr 22, 2010

Few would contest the fact that Taito’s Space Invaders is one of the most influential video games of all time.

This classic coin-op practically invented the shoot ‘em up genre and has gone on to inspire countless clones over the years since its release.

Hexage’s Radiant is one such replication, although it would be more apt to brand this a homage rather than a blatant rip-off.

Radiant’s style is deliberately retro, and it looks fantastic as a result.

The chunky visuals call to mind the coin-sucking arcade cabinets of the ‘80s and even feature a few cheeky facsimiles of Space Invader enemies.

However, Hexage has applied a cool glowing effect to the sprites which makes the game look a little more modern, and eminently eye-catching.

When you consider that there’s actually very little complexity to the graphics, Radiant looks lush.

The gameplay is also pure vintage. You move your spaceship from side to side – using either the trackball or touch-screen - and blow up on-coming enemies.

To make things a little easier your craft is locked to automatic fire, so all you have to concern yourself with is manoeuvring away from enemy attacks.

You ship doesn’t fire a constant stream of bullets – there’s a short pause between volleys of projectiles – so there remains an element of skill when it comes to positioning your ship.

The alien forces you face off against come in a variety of different shapes and sizes, with the most common being easily eradicated by a single shot.

However, later stages feature tougher foes which require multiple hits to destroy. You’ll also have to deal with massive boss enemies which have a weak spot that must be identified if you’re to have any hope of sending them packing.

In-between levels you’ll get the opportunity to purchase new weapons or upgrade your existing ones.

Each weapon is useful for a different situation. For example, the standard cannon offers a decent rate of fire but is relatively underpowered, unlike the highly-focused laser beam which can punch through several different enemies in one shot but is slow to fire.

Your armament can be toggled on the fly by tapping your ship and then selecting the appropriate weapon from the menu which appears.

You’ll also find assistance in the form of power-up items which are dropped by vanquished foes.

These include a shield and the ability to freeze time, the latter of which comes in very handy when you’re being hammered by several different opponents at once. You can also pick up credits which are used to obtain the aforementioned weapons and upgrades.

Radiant is unquestionably a real blast to play but it can become a little repetitive over time.

Thankfully the ability to post scores on Facebook and the overall layer of polish help to alleviate this problem, and it could be argued that all games of this type – Space Invaders included – suffer from a feeling of over-familiarity after a while.

The Android platform is currently starved of quality action games and anyone craving a blast-heavy gaming experience should download this as soon as they’re able. It’s fantastic.