Invisigun Reloaded

I’m amazed that Invisigun Heroes didn’t find more of an audience. It was one of the most original multiplayer games I’ve encountered – best described as classic Bomberman with invisible characters and an incredible array of associated mechanics. Its characters weren’t particularly balanced, and its single-player content was a complete joke, but the surprising tension, accessibility, and depth of its primary mode outweighed all of that. Now, with its relaunch as Invisigun Reloaded, it deserves more recognition than ever.

The centrepiece of the update is a legitimate campaign mode that recontextualizes the mechanics as hazards and tools, since programming adequate AI for a game like this would be a tall order for a development team of any size, let alone a one-man operation. The mode has problems of its own; the intersection of puzzle-solving and reflex challenges isn’t particularly enjoyable, and the overuse of what sounds like a menu jingle for every level nearly ruins an otherwise great soundtrack. But the level design is unexpectedly clever, and the boss battles provide a tough but fair challenge, so it’s a substantial improvement over the original’s glorified bot matches. Three unlockable characters have also been added, two of which are fun and effective, while the remaining one…also exists. Strangely, the game still feels a little incomplete, as these characters have no campaigns of their own.