Invasion From Beyond looks good and blazes by at 50 FPS, which is amazing due to the amount of action that can be on the screen at one time. Polygons are solid with little breakup, and the programmers have cleverly and effectively hidden draw-in by having you fly over a cliff and then fill in the information as you float down towards it. The sound was pretty uninspired, but I really liked the creepy title screen music.

Ever played the classic video game Defender? Invasion From Beyond is like that, but so much more. In addition to repelling an alien invasion and rescuing scientists, you gain information from the scientists and can pick up alien debris. Your Research and Development team create new weapons and aircraft from this new found knowledge.

A little daunting at first. There is no real difficulty level per se, (no “Easy,” “Medium,” or “Hard” options). On one level, Invasion From Beyond is an Action Shooter. On another, it’s part Role Playing game, and on yet another level, it’s a Simulation.

Starting the game off, you choose a ship to fly and a pilot. From there, you have to equip the ship with weapons, and decide where on the ship you want them. You can fly in the “Simulator” to get a better feel for your ship, and then you can jump into battle. As you are destroying those alien buggers, you will see scientists running around on the ground; you can pick them up and return them to your base. Occasionally, as you shoot down alien saucers, there will be wreckage left behind. You can pick this up and return it to your base, too. The rescued scientists will tell your Research and Development team all they know, and help study the alien debris. This will let your R&D team create new weapons and even ships for you to fly. Invasion From Beyond is a blistering 3D shooter, but in order to save the Earth, you must also use your wits to learn more about your enemy.

Invasion From Beyond seems to have loads of replay value. I recommend at least renting it, even if it doesn’t seem like your type of game, because there are so many angles to this game.