Abadox: The Deadly Inner War

"Intestines and Lasers and Blood oh my!"

When it comes to side scrolling shooters on the Nintendo Entertainment System, there are few that really come to mind outside of Life Force, R-Type, Gradius and finally, Abadox. Abadox is a strange game in which you aren’t fighting the forces of some alien evil in space, but rather fighting the evil in the body of the enemy! The story rolls down as you take the role of a surviving member of a defense force that was wiped out while combating the evil of a parasitic enemy that assumes the form of whatever it eats. Now throw in the fact that there is a Princess involved and you’ve got a game that pretty much follows every action adventure game there is, but throws plenty of gore and blood your way through the battles that will commence. The stages of the game are relatively short, and the challenge is hard throughout, but you’ll find that Abadox is an enjoyable game that will sate the appetite of any side-scrolling fan anywhere!

The game play is your generic side scrolling shooter in which you control a character that roams through the inner reaches of a large beast. What you’ll find is that the game follows every law of side scrolling shooters in which you have to blow up whatever comes your way and not get killed in the process! You’ll collect several different types of weapons throughout the game, but all of them are easy enough to use with each having their own strengths and weaknesses. Strategy is important when playing through Abadox in which the enemies tend to take more damage than they did in any other shooter you may have played. This simply adds onto the already insane challenge that you’ll face and with the numerous enemies that inhabit this parasitic body, you’ll find that you need to be on your toes at all times! The game however, is very linear in which once you’ve made it through the game and made it to the end to see the Nintendo Ending, you’ll find that the game resides and takes up space to be played when you’re bored with Life Force. Something that will catch most side scrolling fans is the fact that the game totes such a high difficulty, that actually getting to the end, and through some of the later stage bosses will take extreme skill and patience, which is definitely a good combination.

The control of Abadox is about as simple as it gets, with your main function being controlling your character through the different stages that you’ll encounter. Roving in a circular manner while lying on the firing button is usually your best bet, and most veteran gamers will realize and use this often. Beginners to the side scrolling games {and there aren’t that many anymore} will find the control easy enough to pick up and go with, without having to learn anything that is too difficult or advanced! The weapons that you pick up are automatically upgraded, and again, there are no advanced menus or anything else that you really have to do in order to start playing, other than hit the power button. What does come up from time to time is the fact that the NES controller can tend to be a little stiff and unresponsive in some cases, so be prepared to run through a few continues while playing the later stages.

Visually, Abadox is one of the best side scrolling shooter games that I’ve seen in a long time. There is nothing here that is generic or otherwise about the game, and while flying through the various stages of the body, you’ll find that the gore and the blood are basically set for the background! The detailing in the backgrounds is something that truly has to be seen to be understood, but there is no mistaking the organic to mechanical changes that you’ll encounter throughout the game. With that being said, the enemies that you face off against aren’t your run of the mill enemies, in which you are facing off against different aspects of the body. The boss characters that you run into are some of the most impressive and well-detailed things that I’ve seen in a side scroller in years, so you’re really in for a treat!

The audio in Abadox is nothing to be scoffed at either. With some of the most impressive stage music being found here, you’ll find that the game has a couple of very impressionable and memorable tracks in stage 3 and even in stage 6! This just adds fuel to the action fire, and doesn’t do anything more than keep your interest and pace the game out the way that it is supposed to be. You’ll also find that the music takes center stage to the different sound effects, in which the game focuses more on mood setting music than it does different explosions and the like. For the NES, this is something that I didn’t expect, and it really makes for an enjoyable experience for not only the eyes, but for the ears as well!

Abadox is a couple of points shy of perfect in just about every aspect. The game play is something that most veterans can sink their teeth into, while beginners may find it a little too hard to really get a grasp of. Considering that Abadox is a game that requires skill and timing, there really isn’t much here that you haven’t played before with the collection of weapons and the various action that you perform. With all of that being said, the overall difficulty of the game is enough to cause either joy or frustration, depending on your level of patience. NES gamers will do well with this title, and although it falls short of the classic category by a hair, there is nothing here that I can personally find wrong with the title other than the lack of original game play! The different areas that you roll through are detail intensive, and the music is impressive, but that doesn’t always make the game, but only add to the enjoyment of it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/06/01, Updated 12/06/01