IN almost any industry, timing is the single most important factor deciding whether a product will be a immediate hit or a total failure. On many occasions single days have meant the difference between glory and defeat.
The reason for this little parable is Xenon, the first release for the Amiga by Melbourne House, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Mastertronic. Based on the well known arcade game, it could have gone down as the greatest shoot-'em-up for the Amiga, except that it was released almost simultaneously with Sidewinder (this time by Mastertronic), a game which is at least as good, and less than half the price.
Now correct me if you wish, but I would say that Mastertronic has shot itself in the foot.
Anyway, enough hypothesising. As with all games that software houses expect you to pay £19.95 for, Xenon comes with a - thankfully - small novella, telling the story of how you must go the aid of a Captain Xod who is apparently in deep... well, considerable trouble.
To succeed in your mercy mission, you must fight your way through 16 different zones collecting essential supplies for the fleet on the way. Each time you complete a zone you have an opportunity to refuel and rearm, but only after you have dealt with a huge Nemesis-like alien.
Anyone who has played the arcade version of Xenon will immediately feel at home, for to give the programmers behind the game credit where it's due, they have produced one of the most complete and accurate arcade conversions I have ever seen.
For those of you who have not played the arcade game, Xenon is a twin-role fighter. Depending on what the situation demands, you can either use a ground based multi-directional tank, or a faster vertically flying aircraft.
One of the most annoying features of Xenon is the method of changing from one craft to another, something that in most cases needs to be done in a hurry. You must either tap the spacebar or move the joystick from side to side.
If you are not too busy with the aliens the spacebar is no problem, but the joystick is little short of a pain. On more than one occasion I found myself changing the ship purely through the ferocity of my joystick movements. This always ended in unexpected death.
As you travel onward and upward, killing the right aliens and gun turrets will result in your ship becoming an increasingly potent force. As with games such as Nemesis and Salamander, these extras include increased fire power, multiples - invisible ships which fly and fire in parallel - increased speed, and homing missiles, among others.
Graphically, Xenon is very good. Detailed sprites and excellent backdrops ranging from Uridium-
The animation, too, is up to standard with smooth scrolling and very little juddering or slowing of the screen, even when the game gets very frantic - and it certainly does get.
One thing that did not really impress me was David Whittaker's music. He has been at the forefront of Commodore 64 music for some time now, but this - which I suspect may be his first commercial Amiga soundtrack - is not quite up to scratch. Sure it's fast and thumping, but when you consider what the Amiga is capable of...
The right hand control panel of the game (apart from the game logo) is used to display the amount of fuel remaining. Each time you are hit by one of the baddies this fuel reserve diminishes until, when you have nothing left, a life is lost. More fuel is, however, available each time you complete a level.
Xenon is a good, fast, exciting and enjoyable shoot-'em-up. It hardly drains the brain, but then that's not what it is supposed to do. Unfortunately, it provides little if anything that you can't get for half the price in Sidewinder. If however, you already own Sidewinder and are looking for something the same, Xenon's for you.
Forget any comparisons with the arcade original - this IS the arcade original! The graphics are superb; with backdrops ranging from stark metallic bas-relief structures on level one to almost organic growths on the fourth. The sprites are of a similar high quality, with some small, but nicely detailed enemy craft and absolutely superb giant motherships, especially the enormous alien-like battle ship at the end of level two. Adding tension to the atmosphere are a series of excellent Whittaker soundtracks (which sound like very early Ultravox) - the one which pounds away when the end-of-level guardian appears is particularly good. One thing that is immediately off-putting is the difficulty level - the odds seem almost overwhelming at the start. However, once you work out which weapons to pick up and become familiar with the attack waves - objects and alien craft always appear in the same places - headway is soon made. Anyway, I find that the difficulty level makes the action all the more addictive, and constantly return for 'just one more go'. The only thing that does annoy is the slightly over-sensitive control, which occasionally causes the craft to switch from tank to aircraft (or vice-versa) just when you don't want to. This aside, Xenon is extremely slick and oozes playability - don't let it pass you by.
Xenon could have been a brilliant game but for a couple of annoying features. The manual is useful and interesting and the digitised introductory sequence is typical of the game's neat touches. The backdrops are very pretty: the bas-relief is effective, there's a wealth of varied and beautifully drawn aliens, and the use of colour is superb, particularly the lovely explosion sequence. The wide range of aliens is nicely conceived, scuttling about in formations which prove genuinely challenging. Musically, it's curious but effective - an atmospheric enhancement of the gameplay. However, the main fault lies in the excessively sensitive control system; it would have benefited from an option to defeat the joystick method, relying solely on the space bar. Similarly, the motherships and end-of-level creatures can be extremely tedious to destroy since they require an excessive amount of strikes. However, these aren't crucial faults and the main blasting element is superb, particularly when you have a full array of homing missiles and triple lasers! The set sequence action doesn't prove too tedious, and although there are only four zones, it provides plenty of long-term, enjoyable action.
As vertically scrolling shoot 'em ups go, Xenon isn't bad at all; in fact it does this tired old genre some credit. The dual-purpose craft is an excellent invention, but the selection method is rather unreliable insofar that it tends to switch between ground and air attack even when the joystick isn't being frantically wiggled, putting the player in some sticky spots! Although the programmers have stuck to what has become the rather hackneyed bas-relief style, the overall look of the game is very good. Sound, too, is well used with a pacey Whittaker soundtrack backing the action. Where the game fails down, though, is on the level of difficulty; negotiating the first zone is relatively easy, but then you come across the first sentinel which, even with a good supply of weapons, proves very hard to destroy. The real shock comes when you realise that after battling past this monstrous spaceship you're still only halfway through the level!