Overview
 
The Atari 5200 as whole had bombed and it was mainly because Atari had tried too hard to bring up a better successor to its Atari VCS aka the Atari 2600. The console was unnecessarily big and the joysticks made the games hard to play and broke easily. Some of the games were ports of 2600 games with more graphics but still didn't fly. There were some games that did stand out from the bunch and one of them was the ever so popular Space Invaders.
 
Your goal is to shoot down as many aliens as you can until all lives are lost. You must kill the aliens before they reach the bottom of the screen and the game will end automatically regardless of how many lives you have left.
 
Graphics - A+
 
It may seem silly to give a perfect grade to an Atari game given how graphics were in those days but this game damn sure deserves it. When you think of early Space Invaders, you think of a monotonous monochrome game (which sometimes uses a color overlay) that people are accustomed to in the Arcade but this port is one of the best that was made. The aliens come in all different kinds of colors in a way that when you think of the way consoles have a limit on how many colors can be handled to display on the screen, Space Invaders really pushes the color capabilities to the limit. After you clear the screen of every two sets of aliens, a different set of aliens will appear with different colors.
 
Controls - B-
  
On the console, the controls can be really iffy because of the controller itself but if you are playing this game on the emulator, the controls are perfect and it is easier to move left and right and shoot the enemies without having to worry about breaking any joysticks.
 
Gameplay - A
 
When the game starts, the aliens starts moving slowly to the right until they reach the end of the screen then they will move down a plane and move to the left. As long as you eliminate one column of enemies on the end, you can delay the aliens descent as you will need to
do so to give yourself a fighting chance because it only takes one alien to touch the side to make the armada come down. Whenever you clear one alien wave, the next wave will start out closer than before. After six waves in which you have already took on two sets of three unique alien waves. You will be in what is called a close encounter where the aliens will be extremely close to ground at the start and you must be really on your toes to handle them. Unlike the other waves, they are all the same alien then they will transform into a different alien and then again throughout the ordeal. Once you clear out the Close Encounter, a mother ship will pick up your gun and blast off with you then everything will start all over again with the same set of aliens again and it will remain this set for the rest of the game. Every seven waves contains a close encounter meaning Wave 7, 14, 21, etc. While this is going on, flying saucers will fly by harmlessly across the top of the screen and will be worth bonus points when it is hit.
 
Everything I have said above may make it look like an easy game but it is not. The aliens do shoot back at you. Depending on the game mode you choose, the aliens can be harder and smarter. Some modes they'll actually shoot at you with homing bombs and leave you having to come up with different strategies for fighting every time. As always, the more aliens that you kill, the faster they will start moving and even faster when down to the last two aliens. You are protected by three barriers that stops alien bullets from hitting you and on the same token, you can't shoot the aliens either but after completing the close encounter, the barriers will be restored.

Just for a rundown of the modes, here is an excerpt from the manual.
 
GAME 1: A good choice for beginners, this easiest SPACE INVADERS game offers slow enemy bombs and five lives for you.
 
GAME 2: In this version the enemy bombs alternate between slow and fast, and you have five lives (turns).

GAME 3: You have five lives and all the enemy bombs are fast.
 
GAME 4: With slow enemy bombs, this version is identical to Game 1, except that you have three lives instead of five.
 
GAME 5: The alien bombs alternate between slow and fast and you have three lives.
 
GAME 6: All the enemy bombs are fast and you have three lives.
 
GAME 7: The enemy bombs are slow but, in this game, the invaders use sophisticated radar to home in on you. You'll find it's a real challenge to avoid such smart bombs. You have five lives.
 
GAME 8: This version of SPACE INVADERS is like Game 2. The enemy bombs alternate between slow and fast and you have five lives. As in Game 7, the bombs will home-in on you.
 
GAME 9: Try to dodge fast invader bombs that home-in on you. You have five lives.
 
GAME 10: The enemy bombs are slow but smart -- they home-in on you. You have three lives.
 
GAME 11: Home-in bombs alternate between fast and slow. You have three lives.
 
GAME 12: The invaders' bombs are fast, they home-in, and you have three lives.
  
Sound/Music - C+
 
No music for this game but the other sound effects though nothing fancy will still make this game a bit enjoyable. You will hear the sound of actual marching instead of a musical bit for every step they take and there is also the sound for what you may consider to be the victory sound once a wave is completed. The saucer sound is also still there and it still sounds like a siren when killed.
 
Replay Value - A+
 
The replay value also deserves a perfect rating. The game will grow on you real quick. You are sitting on your couch trying to blast the aliens to kingdom come all the while, you are trying to be killed yourself. Just one mistake and it is curtains for you. The close encounters are the number one selling point for the game itself.
 
Overall - A
 
Space Invaders for the Atari 5200 deserves an A. Not many early games can say that given how primitive they are.