![]() These new enemies come in bigger waves and fire more and more bullets as you reach the final area, so you'd better be prepared for it, memorizing and killing ground targets as fast as you can. It can be truly said that the game offers no variety at all apart from some different enemies that show up in later stages. The music is the same annoying ringing tone played over and over, and gives you an urging feeling that something is always about to happen - it eventually does, in the form of an utter death blow fired by an enemy craft. It's clear from screenshots, for instance, that the graphics appear to have only 3 colors: green, orange and blue. However, Xevious falls short in all the other aspects that make a shooter great. It certainly delivers in the basic aspects of a decent shmup: smooth scrolling, well implemented collision detection and fierce difficulty. There's no denying that this game hasn't aged well at all. There are 4 huge boss bases (the Andor Genesis) spread out in the first loop - they cause the scrolling to stop for a while, giving you the chance to bomb them amidst relentless incoming fire. I read that these secrets supposedly extend to hidden towers, but I could never find any of these while playing the NES game. As you fly over forests, lagoons and enemy bases, all you can count on are the same basic weaponry, for Xevious has absolutely no power-ups! The only icons you're bound to collect are the hidden flags that can be uncovered with your bombs and are worth 1.000 points and an extra life. Ground targets can be flown over with no harm, and most airborne enemies will leave the screen if you don't kill them. Besides being able to fire a main shot, the player can also hit ground targets with bombs that can be aimed with the aid of a crosshair. It was the first of its kind, and it boasted great new features at the time of its release. Xevious is heralded as an absolute classic, in the sense that it started the vertical scrolling shooter genre. It's also important to mention that all areas overlap vertically in a single giant map (that can be seen here). In fact, if you're not paying attention you won't even notice you've looped the game. After the 16th area the game gets back to the 7th (the one with the rotating ground turrets in the beginning) and loops forever in this fashion, with no special ending screen whatsoever. These areas are separated by a dense dark green forest, in a total of 16. It surely seems to go on and on randomly, but as you play it repeatedly and get hold of the patterns not only you get better, but you also realize there's a defined set of stages/areas to overcome. Now what most people don't know, including myself until very recently, is that this game actually loops. The "special choice" I had for weeks now was the NES port of Xevious. That's when I'll pull out the "special choice": a game to be played with no specific purpose other than relax and not focus too much on the much desired 1CC. Nonetheless it can happen that a particular game decides to give me a serious beating, in a situation that not rarely leads to stress. Generally I'll have 3 or 4 different games at hand for instant play - games remain inserted in the consoles themselves and boxes are displayed on my rack to remind me how long it's taking me to win them. The game features ten areas (which loop back to the first stage) and a 2 player alternating mode.As a shmupper, I have developed certain methods that dictate which and how many games I play. Area's borders are indicated by thick forests and this is where the player is sent back when shot down (unless he proceeded further than 70% of this area). Each stage in Xevious scrolls continuously and there is no break between them. Xevious features some unique enemies - mysterious ground installations such as the Solbak don't attack but are designed to gather information about the player's fighter - destroying them temporary decreases the enemy's attack power. This target system is at the core of the gameplay and flashes red when detecting enemy objects buried under ground. Ground enemies such as tanks and guard towers can only be destroyed with bombs and the aid of a large target lock-on. Enemies attack on two different levels, some are airborne whereas others are ground targets. The player takes control of the heavily armed Solvalou fighter equipped with a Vulcan gun and surface bombs. Attack drones, planes, amphibious vehicles and large fortresses now swarm the land and must be stopped. SOL towers appear from all over the world and signal the imminent invasion. The game is set on planet Xevious where the enchant super-computer GAMP has awakened after thousands of years of sleep. Xevious is a vertical shooter by Namco and is the conversion of their classic arcade game originally released in 1982.
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