Xevious

"What is this?"

Intro
Space shooters are pretty fun in most cases. Most have a cool gameplay system and cool features and good stories, or at least their lack of stories is outweighed by the sheer fun that can be found in playing them. Not Xevious though. Xevious has got to be one of the most boring titles I've played in quite a while. It's not bad in the same way as...let's say Hydlide or Fist of the North Star. Xevious is bad in the way that it's horribly bland. They should have termed it a Space Sleeper. Why? Well...
Gameplay 4-10. It's hardlyspectacular to begin with, but here it's just extremely bland. Fly around and kill stuff in one of a few ways. Blast it or drop bombs on it. Actually, I think what makes this so boring is that like the Energizer bunny, it keeps going...and going...and going...and...well, you get the idea.
Control ? I'm not gonna give it a score here. It's simple and seems to work well. I'll say that much. Bomb stuff with A and shoot it with B. Move around with the arrows. There's absolutely nothing new to speak of. Now for another thing that makes this game bland, the...
Audio 3-10. You get a little introductory jingle that sounds like it'd be right at home on someDisney cartoon. This plays when you begin a level and also when you die. Well, it plays after you die, not when you die. The background music (if that's what you want to call it), is a five-second long tinkly little song that sounds a bit like something I heard on Game Gear once. That was a Sonic game though, not a Space Sleeper...all right a space shooter!
The SFX in Xevious are, like the music, bland and uninspired and uninspiring. Nothing to write home about...or maybe you're already home. There's an average laser sound for your gun, and a funny little sound for bombs. There's no explosion sound for when bombs connect. Actually, I think the only explosion you hear is when you die, and that's nothing to get excited about...in either sense. That is to say, you don't die and say, oo, an explosion! You also hear this sound and fail to say, Wow, that's the best explosion sound I've ever heard!
Story ? As far as I know, this game doesn't have one, and even if it did, the goal would be unachievable. After all, the game hath no ending, and I mean that literally! You just keep going...and going...and going...and...well, you get the picture.
Overall 3-10. I personally found Xevious to be about as uninspired as that one boxing game, Ring King. Similarly bland music, sounds and gameplay plagued that game. Of course, in Ring King I could never figure out how to get up. Now, if some of you readers like this game, do not (I repeat), do not flame me! I'm merely expressing my personal opinion. And when I say avoid this game I merely offer my advice. Whether you then decide to ignore me is entirely up to you. With that said, happy gaming. Enjoy Xevious...and then again maybe not.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 11/25/02, Updated 03/01/03