Xenon (video game)
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| Xenon | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Bitmap Brothers |
| Platform(s) | Amiga, Atari ST, PC, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, MSX, NEC PC-9801 |
| Release date | 1988 |
| Genre(s) | Scrolling shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Media | Floppy disk, audio cassette |
| Input methods | Keyboard, joystick |
Xenon is a 1988 scrolling shooter computer game, developed and published by The Bitmap Brothers. It featured as a play-by-phone game on Saturday-morning kids' show Get Fresh.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Description
The player pilots a ship over an enormous enemy construction. Perhaps it is an enemy spaceship or an enemy installation, such as a fort. No description is given, so it is up to the player to decide which. Unlike most scrolling shooters, the player can move in any direction instead of straight up.
The game has almost no plot except to destroy as many enemy targets as possible. Your craft has two modes, a flying plane and a ground tank. The transition between crafts can be initiated at almost any time during play (except during the mid and end of level boss sections) and the mode chosen depends on the nature of the threat you face.
Destroying some enemies released powerups the player could catch to enhance their ship.
[edit] Level Descriptions
Note that these descriptions are based on the Atart ST port.
[edit] Level 1
This level like those above it is split into 2 halves each with an end of level boss. The vertically scrolling light blue coloured tiled landscape is littered with floor mounted or elevated gun turrets. These dome shaped gun turrets, some concealed between 2 sliding silo doors, open up when approached and begin shooting ball shaped homing projectiles in the crafts direction. To destroy ground based turrets your craft has to be in tank mode & to destroy elevated gun turrets your craft has to be in plane mode.
Some gun turrets are visibly destroyed with the first shot. Others can be shot once, after which the silo doors will close, then reopen and reveal a second gun turret that can be permanently destroyed with another shot.
At various points ground based groups of metallic bug like objects and air based formations of crafts are encountered and dealt with according to the current state of your ship and immediate threat.
The mid and end of level bosses (called "Sentinels" in the instructions of the Amiga/Atari ST versions) are large round objects that move in a repeating pattern and deliver sustained strings of the same ball shaped projectiles. If you collide with the projectiles or the boss itself, which you must take measures to avoid, then this will rapidly drain your energy resulting in the loss of a life. When the boss arrives, if flying, the player will be forced into ground mode.
The boss has a pulsating coloured center which pulsates faster as you near the point of destroying it.
The second half of level 1 requires you craft to be in the plane mode for most of the time as you fly over more tightly populated groups of gun turrets, culminating in the end of level boss. Similar to the first, although its repeating pattern of movement requires you to perform more complicated avoidance moves.
[edit] Level 2
Following a similar theme to level 1, this level with a green relief floor surface is also split into 2 halves each with a boss and for almost all of this level you are forced to remain in the air based plane.
The gun turrets of the first level are replaced with guns mounted in and around the side of the landscape. There are several different varieties, including guns that can aim, guns that fire continuous volleys, and guns that even move along the wall to stay by the plane. There is a much larger number of ground based waves of ships and enemies most with a different visual style, group arrangements and movement patterns. As well as ball shaped projectiles you also encounter longer laser like projectiles.
Note that in some versions, most notably the Amiga, the player can ONLY be the plane in the entire level. Also, in this level, flying into walls results in damage, and in parts of the level, especially the second half, careful flying is important.
The boss is a long ship that fires lasers. It has a "walls and core" arrangement (similar to the first boss of Gradius. The boss at the end is identical to the midpoint boss, except that its walls will fly downward when sufficiently damaged, requiring the player to keep shooting, or dodge if lacking firepower. Much like the bosses in the first level, the core of this boss will also pulsate more quickly as more damage is done.
[edit] Level 3
Level three has the same landscape and gun turrets found on level 1 except the floor is a pink colour. The arrangements of the gun turrets is also more complex and ground based bugs can approach your ship from behind as well as from in front and sometimes in both directions simultaneously. Also, certain enemies that just chased the craft in level 1 now have guns in level 3.
This level necessitates much more strategic play and more frequent interchange between plane and tank mode in order to destroy the gun turrets and bugs.
The mid level boss is a large black beetle like object that delivers the ball shaped projectiles mentioned earlier. Periodically it delivers a burst of projectiles in 8 directions simultaneously.
Again, similarly to the first level, the second half will require flying as a plane to deal with elevated turrets. Enemies from both levels 1 and 2 make an appearance here.
Near the end is a "cameo" appearance of the ladybug enemies first encountered in level 1. The boss is identical to the mid-level version, except that it spawns a ladybug when performing the 8-way burst
[edit] Level 4
This level has no background, and like level 2, it requires flying. Here, the enemies have a more organic look (although certain laser-using ships from level 2 make an appearance). Even the bullets are different. The walls are organic also, resembling muscle tissue. Along these walls move eye-shaped guns that follow the plane and fire a three-way gun. There are also mouth-shaped guns that shoot destructible lasers. Some of the enemies resemble food, others internal organs. Small meatball-shaped enemies sometimes descend en masse, requiring a safe passage be blasted through them. There are also heart and leaf shaped enemies, and even scrambled-egg like creatures, some of which come from behind. Near the end of the first half, brain-shaped enemies that launch homing eggs must be dealt with. The midlevel boss is based on the boss of the second level, but with an organic, heart-like core, and it flies in a different pattern. All the other rules for the boss of level 2 apply, except that once all the "Walls" are gone, the core will fire "organic bullets" of the type common throughout this level.
[edit] Ports
Originally released for the Amiga, Xenon was quickly ported to other platforms. In 1988, it was ported to Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, MSX and ZX Spectrum.
[edit] Sequel
Xenon was followed in 1989 by Xenon 2: Megablast. It was similar to the original, with some refinements and differences in gameplay.
