Computer + Video Games - Commodore Is Awesome

XENON
SPY VS SPY
BLACK LAMP
SUPER SPRINT
CAPTAIN BLOOD
WINTER OLYMPIAD '88
MACH III
ECO
CATCH 23
TERRAMEX
BRA VESTARR
MINI PUTT
PLATOON
TRAZ
SUBBATTLE SIM'
ATV SIMULATOR
ZYBEX
NIGEL MANSELL
DAN DARE
INTER'L KARATE
ROAD WARS
KRYPTON FACTOR
JET BIKE SIM'
• Xenon - pick up the letters to add extra weapons.
110• MACHINES. ATARI ST, AMIGA,
U. SPECTRUM
SUPPLIER: MELBOURNE HOUSE
PR/CE: f19,99
VERSIONS TESTED: ST/AMOGA
I
,
The
R
launch of Xenon represents
that rare and special thing in the
E
computer games world -
Vsomething
completely new and
Iimportant.
E OK, I know what you're
thinking. W A scrolling shoot-'em-
Eup
with metallic effects where
you build your weaponry by
R
picking up letters new?
: Yes, that's exactly what I
Emean,
it is new. New because
Uafter
years of software houses
telling G you that you can 'take
the E coin op home with you
Xenon
N
is the first game that
really looks and feels like a
coin-op. E Not a state of the art
Lbells
and whistles coin-op a la
Afterburner- A
but certainly a
Creasonable
blaster that you
wouldn't
E
think twice about
Y
pumping a few ten pences into
if you got rained on at the sea
side.
Xenon is also new because it
is the first game to be launched
as a home game and a coin-op
simultaneously. I must admit I
was a little wnrried about this.
/IP 1
• The nastiest 1Pr nasty of
.
thern a l l .
Jus imagine it- you are
blasting away trying to get onto
the next level (not easy in this
game, believe mel when you
decide you have had enough.
Right, that's it, and you pop
down to the pub. No sooner are
you through the door when you
clock a new coin-op bleeping
away there's literally no
escape from Xenon.
The coin-op will appear under
Mastertronic's Arcadia label
and the ST and Amiga versions
can be found in Melbourne
House boxes- now also part of
the Mastenronic empire.
What characterises Xenon as
a home game is the blurb on the
box. It tells you why you have to
kill 'em as opposed to the coinop
which simply tells you what
button3 to tx.c to ...:331c thc
insect-like aliens.
The action starts when
Captain Xod (Digitised pic of
programmer - Eric Mathews)
comes up on the
communications screen and
informs you that you are
entering 'Sector One'. Xod's in
trouble y'see -the Xenites are
about to finish him so it's down
to you to race through the
sixteen levels of the game and
save his bacon. •
-Alk • Blat h r o u gh th4ec
There is a lot more to the plot
than that - the entire history of
the universe in fact, told in the
most over the top sci-fi
language you've ever heard.
There's loads of garbage about
how the universe is going to
collapse in on itself and 'Spatial
Hobo Networks' - highbrow
stuff.
Xenon is a hybrid shoot-'emup.
Vertically scrolling and
incorporating elements from
Slap Fight, Terra Cresta and
Xevious. Your small, nippy
space fighter can transform at
the shake of the stick into a
ground attack craft - or fly low
over the city scape taking out
the enemy. Flight is best - you
El '
'111Z
==111 IP
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