The campaign is divided into sectors, each sector having 15 stages, the 15th being a boss battle.
In between sectors, a headset-wearing manga cutie gives you advice, encouragement, and whatever plot there is.
As you play, you earn money with which you can hire helpers. Each helper gives you a temporary power-up when you collect the power-up icon in a stage. The helpers are characters from previous Taito games. Some of you can remember the game "Bob" comes from.
So how is the game? At first, I didn't like it. There was no challenge. I was even wondering whether it was possible to lose. There's no penalty whether you hit the shots or miss the shots, so what was the point?
Then I reached stage 18, and I discovered how to lose: I ran out of time. There's a time gauge at the top of the screen. If it reaches zero before you've killed all the invaders, you lose. You have to be good at bouncing back as many shots as possible, and at the right angles, to kill all the invaders in time. You even have to use a bit of strategy by choosing the best power-ups for the increasingly devious levels. From stage 18 on, most stages took me numerous attempts to complete.
So now I think this game is pretty cool. It might not satisfy the hardcore Arkanoid or Space Invaders fan, because it does its own thing. But there are cool and subtle visual and audio references to those games that are fun to notice.
I played until stage 31 and plan to stop there, because I don't plan to extend my AA subscription for this game. But if you're looking for something arcadey, check this out.
*PS4 note: for PS4, this game is apparently not listed in the catalog as Arkanoid vs Space Invaders, but comes with Space Invaders Invincible Collection and Space Invaders Forever.