''Xenon'' is a 1988 vertical

scrolling shooter In computer displays, filmmaking, television production, and other kinetic displays, scrolling is sliding text, images or video across a monitor or display, vertically or horizontally. "Scrolling," as such, does not change the layout of the text ...

video game, the first developed by

The Bitmap Brothers The Bitmap Brothers are a British video game developer founded in 1987. The company entered the video game industry in 1988 with the scrolling shooter '' Xenon''. They quickly followed with '' Speedball''. Prior to becoming the publisher of ...

, and published by Melbourne House which was then owned by

Mastertronic Mastertronic was originally a publisher and distributor of low-cost computer game software founded in 1983. Their first games were distributed in mid-1984. At its peak the label was one of the largest software publishers in the UK, achieved by ...

. It was featured as a play-by-phone game on the Saturday-morning kids' show '' Get Fresh''. ''Xenon'' was followed in 1989 by '' Xenon 2: Megablast''.

Description

left, In-game screenshot (Atari ST) According to the game's instruction manual, the player assumes the role of Darrian, a future space pilot in the Federation, currently at war with a mysterious and violent alien species called the ''Xenites'' that has lasted a decade. In response to a mayday transmission from Captain Xod following an attack on his trading fleet, Darrian is forced to travel through Xenite-occupied territory in order to support. Unlike most vertically scrolling shooters, the player 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, as well as certain levels where a certain mode is forced), and the mode chosen depends on the nature of the threat the player faces. Destroying some enemies released

power-up In video games, a power-up is an object that adds temporary benefits or extra abilities to the player character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a permanent benefit that can be used at any time chos ...

s the player could catch to enhance their ship.

Ports

Originally released for the Atari ST, ''Xenon'' was quickly ported to other platforms: the

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore International, Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and sign ...

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the S ...

, Commodore 64, DOS, MSX and

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colou ...

. An arcade machine version of the game was also released through Mastertronic's Arcadia division which ran on Commodore Amiga hardware.

Reception

Xenon was almost universally well-received on launch, with reviewers from magazines covering a range of platforms all scoring the game very highly. Only German magazine ''Power Play'' bucked the trend, awarding it a score of 4.5 out of 10. Writing in '' New Computer Express'' about the 1991 budget re-release, Stuart Campbell stated that although the graphics were "gorgeous" and had "never really been seen before", the gameplay was "simply tedious" and the game was the first to "turn 'style-over-content' into an artform".

References

External links

* * * * {{Authority control 1988 video games Amiga games Amstrad CPC games Arcade video games Atari ST games Commodore 64 games DOS games MSX games NEC PC-9801 games ZX Spectrum games Vertically scrolling shooters Video games scored by David Whittaker Video games developed in the United Kingdom Science fiction video games Single-player video games The Bitmap Brothers games