Google and Taito Corp. team up to release Space Invaders: World Defense augmented reality game

Ever since Google waved goodbye to Cardboard and Google Expeditions, it has been leaning on its ARCore initiative to deliver the future of interactive and augmented reality experiences to its users. If you’ve grown tired of the Pixel AR camera stickers, you’re in for a treat with the tech giant’s newest offering, Space Invaders: World Defense.

Google has joined forces with Taito Corporation to launch an augmented reality (AR) game based on the iconic Space Invaders. This isn’t your typical couch-bound gaming experience. Instead, you’ll be shooting down invaders in the real world, using your smartphone as your weapon.

The invaders cleverly hide behind buildings, leveraging the same innovative Reality Blending technology that made Pokémon Go a global sensation. ARCore’s real-world occlusion for virtual objects creates an illusion that the game’s enemies are travelling between and behind buildings. This brings an added layer of immersion, making it feel as though you’re truly in the midst of an alien invasion.

This awesome collaboration marks the 45th anniversary of the original Space Invaders game and encourages players to work together in the real world, combining their efforts to repel the pixelated problematic pests (and climbing the leaderboards while you’re at it). Point your phone at the sky, take aim, and blast away.

However, as thrilling as the prospect was to me initially, the game very quickly tanked my excitement as it didn’t have sufficient data to generate a play session in my geofenced location. This might be a hiccup that you encounter too when you try to get the game up and running after downloading it from the Google Play Store, so just temper your expectations.

That said, if you happen to live in a densely populated area, you’re likely to find yourself locked in battle with invaders before you know it. I’m glad to see there’s a fresh twist on this classic game though, and it would be particularly awesome to get an AR version of Breakout or better yet, somehow a Pitfall reimagining for the real world!