"Again the Atari 7800 shows it can do better than the NES."

Xenophobe was released in 1987 in the arcades by Midway, and was noted for, among other things, its split screen game play which allowed multiple players to play independently and work together to destroy the aliens, as well as join in at any time. While many players are familiar with the port to the NES which garnered less than stellar reviews, there were also a release for the Atari 7800 which, in spite of being somewhat inferior to the NES, turned out to be a solid port of the arcade game, even if some sacrifices had to be made.

Graphics: 9/10
While the graphics aren't exactly stellar by Atari 7800 standards, they are rather nice for the most part. The player sprites look too generic, and the ability to choose from several different appearances for the faces would've been nice. Other than that, the aliens look as slimy and ugly as any aliens should, and the details paid to the backgrounds are nice as well, with textual bits from the arcade included, as well as extra items miniscule background items like spacesuits, shelves, and other things of that sort.

Sounds: 6/10
The Atari 7800's sound system is pretty much a slightly enhanced version of the Atari 2600's sound system, which means that the sound department isn't all that great. The Xenophobe theme and game over theme sound rather muffled, and the sounds are little more than simple beeps and thuds. The explosions, when they do occur, are loud enough to give the sound department a few merits.

Controls: 6/10
Compressing all of the functions of the three-button controls in the arcade into a two-button joystick isn't always easy, but they managed to do it. The left button on the joystick fires, while the right one throws grenades. Pulling down on the joystick lets you crouch, while pushing up lets you stand up or jump. Unfortunately, the Pro Line Joystick's lousy design means that your hands get cramped rather easily, and since the game is made to be played for awhile, this can also be a turn off. You'll definitely want to find a 7800 joypad.

Replay: 8/10
The game isn't easy, even on the Novice difficulty setting. There's a lot of exploration to be done on the later space stations, while you go about terminating those creepy aliens, and you'll need to formulate a plan to be able to take out all of the aliens before you run out of time. If you can't handle it by yourself, you can bring a second player along and work together to clear the bases. Even if you get wiped out, there's something about it that makes you come back for more.

Overall: 8/10
Even though it's lacking in a few areas, Xenophobe is truly a solid port for the Atari 7800, and retains a lot of the original arcade elements within it. It's a lot of fun with a friend, as long as you can handle having to work around the awkward design of the Pro Line Joystick. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get rid of these aliens that want my attention...

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/14/06