Xenon (Arcadia, V 2.3) is a Shooter / Misc. Vertical game developed by Arcadia Systems in 1988 for the Arcade.

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Overall 7.5    Graphics 7    Sound 8    Addictive 7    Story 5    Depth 7    Difficulty 10


xenon review   pwolf
Xenon is a solid shoot-em up vertical scroller from the Bitmap Brothers. It was released in the late 80s on various systems including Atari St, Amiga, and a few others including the pc. Graphics 7: The graphics are not flashy but the metallic colours and the design of the ships and landscapes are fairly nice. Backgrounds are quite similar throughout the game occasionally changing in color and texture being mostly tiles rather that the black space of Xenon 2. Visually this game is not as attractive as Rtype or Xenon 2 but its ok.Sound 8: The music is atmospheric and fits the alien space theme of the game. Some of the tracks repeat on multiple levels. Overall the Bitmap brothers games had quite good music.Addictiveness 7: This game could be disappointing to some, because of its difficulty, for others they might like the challenge. I gave it a 7 because once you get to level 2 its difficulty ramps up ridiculously and this might put some people off the game Story 5: The story is very simplistic something along the lines you have to stop a bunch of aliens called Xenites. I guess it could have been worked on a bit but then again most shooters dont have elaborate storys maybe excepting games like Tyrian which is like a mini novel and complex.Depth 7: There is not much depth to it except blasting as many enemies as possible and staying alive! However one of the big features of the xenon ship is its ability to transform into a ground moving tank which can fight enemies on the ground and take powerups from the ground,  or a flying ship which can traverse obstacles and fight arial enemies.   There are multiple powerups such as invincibility, laser cannons and cluster bombs. Laser Cannons and cluster bombs seem to have a time limit as well as invincibility. These powerups are represented by letters such as A, Z etc. Z is a superbomb which blows up all enemies on the screen.The levels are a mix of ground sections and sections where youll need to fly. Some bosses you can only fight on the ground while on level 2 you fly the whole level. This gives interesting variety to the game. The bosses are mix of ground and air ships, they are not overly difficult though some of the later ones are hard. The levels tend to repeat themselves either being a air level or a ground level with different color the main difference is that they get harder as you progress.Difficulty 10: This game is HARD! players born after 1990 will be hard pressed to find a game like this in difficulty from after that period.  If you can finish this game without cheating you can win any shooter, I am serious. This game is harder than Xenon 2 though that game is fairly hard too.Overall this is a nice shooter that deserves more recognition and is relatively unknown to most people. The only thing that might put people off is its great difficulty. I gave  it a overall rating of 7.5 only because it is so hard as it still a good game and fun and is quite unique, I could of given it more as I played it in the early 90s and have fond memories but I might be a bit biased.
  Graphics 7   Sound 8   Addictive 7   Story 5   Depth 7   Difficulty 10
      Review Rating: 1/5     Submitted: 05-08-14     Review Replies: 3

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