Arcade Attack (1982) User Reviews

Play for your life!

[punishmentpark · 8/10 · 30 August 2013]

Lots of old pinball machines, arcade games and aficionados and players of the aforementioned in the first and greater part of this. It seems to be about which side - pinball or arcade - can convince the viewer of being the best choice of 'pastime', and they are all véry serious about it. Good fun to watch. A lot of the accompanying music comes from the games, or if it isn't, it's at least inspired by it. Great fun to listen to!

But then, the new home computer game 'Space Invaders' gets dissed by a pinballfan, the TV on which it's played is turned off and... the terror begins! Actual (animated, I mean) space invaders come to life and 'take care' of the critic - nothing but burning shoes is what's left of the man! And it's not over yet! The last ten minutes the invaders try to destroy the city of London, but fortunately, there are some heroes left, coming alive from the pinball machines to save the day? Will they succeed? I won't tell, but it sure isn't pretty!

A lot of fun it is, though, and while each parts has its charm, I especially loved the music and the final animated part. A big 7 out of 10, or what the heck, make it 8.

Weird documentary. kind of... sort of...

[jean_paul_arends · 10/10 · 23 August 2007]

It starts off as a documentary about pinball machines and the rise of the video game. Especially focused on the game 'Defender'. A rockabilly type of guy explains his love for Pinball machines and another fan walks around a room that must be the wet dream of every pinball-lover out there. Then it cuts to a guy playing defender and explaining how it works. They also show you a couple of classic arcade machines. So you would think that videogames would mark the end of an era for the pinball machines and that the documentary would go in this direction. Wrong. They keep switching between pinball machines and arcade machines until the artwork on both machines come alive (through the wonders of animation) and start battling each other through the city of London. So you have an Egyptian Horus (straight of a pinball machine) fighting a space invader. And another warrior-girl throws pinballs to destroy a space invader. And then something amazing happens to the rockabilly pinball-lover. I can't explain it and i won't. You just have to see it to believe it. I was totally flabbergasted and so was the friend who showed me the documentary who was under the impression it was a time piece documentary on aracadegames. But it was so much more. It turned into a unbelievable trip. Go watch it... NOW.

Half Documentary, Half Animation And A Helluva Lot Of Fun!!

[meddlecore · 10/10 · 14 December 2007]

Half documentary - half animation, this is a killer little film about arcade games from the late 70s. Actually, the main focus is on pinball wizard Geoff Harvey and Space Invaders and Defender champion Stephen Highfield. Harvey shows off his massive collection of pinball machines and provides us with a little history about their evolution- and of course demonstrates his stuff. Highfield shows off his skills as a video arcadist, tells us why he loves games like Space invaders and Defender and explains his philosophy behind playing them. Both men have an adamant adoration for their preference which has led them to form an oppositional hate for the other. Highfield thinks there is no skill involved- no "mind" to fight against- in pinball, while Harvey thinks that Space Invaders is just another annoying reason to be glued to the "idiot box" and feels that it should be shot into space for the "moonmen" to play. The whole argument culminates with the game characters exploding from the pinball machines and TV set into the "Edwardian Dream" world, from which they move into an animated world where a mighty battle ensues. This is a fun, arty and funny film with lots of great animation and special effects.

A big memory

[BandSAboutMovies · 10/10 · 9 March 2021]

As a ten-year-old, this was the absolute pinnacle of all things amazing when it aired on HBO at odd intervals. It starts as an exploration of the divide between arcades in 1982, as video games had been pushing pinball out.

Pinball advocate Geoff Harvey and Space Invaders champion Stephen Highfield both explains their theories of why their respective games are the best. It's an interesting time capsule and if that's all this was, it would still be a great movie.

Yet at the end, as the arcade closes and characters from pinball machines come to life to battle video aliens, you will be amazed. Even now, probably thirty years since I last saw this, I'm still so excited about this movie. You can't even know how many hours I sat in class and dreamt of this movie, drawing its characters when I should have been paying attention to my teachers.