Reviews

It is worth trying the 128K version of this excellent shoot-'em up. Originally developed by the Bitmap Brothers as a 16-bit Amiga title, the speccy port is commendable in that the core playability and look and feel of the game have been largely preserved. The main sacrifice is that the vertically scrolling playfield is completely monochromatic, but could it have been done any other way? The sound, thanks to the AY chip is virtually indistiguishable from the Atari ST version that I used to play a lot, back in the day.

The game is notable for having two player vehicles available during play, a space-plane and an armoured tank that can be switched between via the M key. The tank has full eight-way movement and the vertical scrolling stops when it is in use. The plane can only fly forwards (upwards) whilst the game relentlessly scrolls, which is exactly like a "standard" vertically scrolling shoot 'em up. Choice of vehicle is often dictated by what you are shooting at. As you fly over the huge alien construction, you will find that some enemies are one a low level (use the tank) and some are on a raised level (use the plane).

Like many shoot-em ups you have to work out a pattern, via repeated play in order to learn the layout of each level so you can be in the right place at the right time, to wipe out the waves of enemy crafts, guns and bosses, whilst hopefully avoing getting blown to bits yourself.

The powerups are really excellent and are frankly needed to survive, since this game has a well deserved reputation for being very tough. There are also two bosses per level, a mid-level boss and an end-of-level boss. Stick at the game though and eventually it is a rewarding playing experience. Although getting put back to the beginning of the level on losing a life can be a bit exasperating at times. Also, on the 16-bit version you could flick between craft by waggling the joystick really rapidly, but I think on the speccy it is 'M' key only - but that's no great loss.

Overall though it's a clever game with a technically flawless port that is still very enjoyable to play today. It has a tough learning curve that can keep a determined player occupied for a long time.

I was never a shooter lover myself but I must admit that Xenon is very well programmed .

Spectacular sound !

The Spectrum version of this iconic vertical scrolling shooter was a top notch conversion, very well made and presented.
The graphics in the play area of screen are monochrome, but very smooth, stylish and clear. Switching between the banking air vehicle, and the rotational movement of the land vehicle to negotiate different situations, stops this feeling as repetitive as some shooters.
Game-play is satisfying, well paced and the difficulty curve works well.
The great audio for the 128k versions is just the icing on the cake.

This is a really good shmup but it would have been so much better if the sound doesn't interrupt with the music all the time. Bummer! Well I guess you're better off playing the Amiga version instead then aren't you...oh well can't win them all.

I really liked Xenon, it's a quite a cool shooter, it's quite fun to play, but there are two things that annoy me about this which is why I can't give it a 5 rating.

The first thing is mentioned by Raphie and he is so correct, I love the music in this game but it is constantly interupted by the shooting sound, and it's so annoying, which is why I play it in 48K mode and listen to the music on an AY player with it, because then I can enjoy the music and it will never be interupted.

And the second reason is when you die you start all the way from the beginning of the level again, though it's just a personal annoyance, other games had this, Robocop for instance, but I never liked it, much like how most people hate multi-load which I cannot stand either.

If only for these I would have given Xenon a 5 because it's really enjoyable.

It's a great shooter, certainly one of the better ones on the Speccy, but better versions exists. I hate that the music is constantly interrupted during the game but I suppose that was going to happen with only three channels. Imperfections aside this is still a cracking shooter to play.

Solid, albeit hard, vertical shoot'em up with a shifting vehicle.

3,75/5