Abadox: The Deadly Inner War

"Whip out the Windex"

Abadox is one of the side-scrolling shooter games for the NES. It made it's release thanks to Milton Bradley (of all publishers), and whoo boy, does it provide a thrill ride!

Storyline: 8/10

The idea of galactic war occurring in a year such as the 3000's or even 5000's is more than enough for most gamers to be hooked. A universal parasite is moving throughout the cosmos, eating every planet it finds. It eats your home planet while you were stationed in space, and the lovely Princess in one of the space hospitals gets gobbled up. You leave your ship to penetrate the parasite from the the outside, then destroy it from the inside. Pretty sweet idea. Outer space, aliens, parasites, lasers, blood, exposed bodily organs, and internal destruction. No questions.

Control: 10/10

At first, the controls may seem weird, but you get used to it snap fast. The character is also sort of laggy in the very beginning, but after obtaining a quick power-up, you gain invaluable maneuverability. You always shoot in one direction, whether it be to the right or down. Depends on the area. The buttons are always super-fast in response. When you wanna shoot, boom, you shoot. And most anything except the borders of the level can be destroyed by your weapons, making the game so much more fun.

Sound: 9/10

Very tried and true, the sounds are more than promising. The intro cutscene has some very realistic-sounding music (for it's time). During gameplay, every sound is heard. Even during points of EXTREMELY heavy action, every sound plays for each action. You hear every shot, every explosion, every ricochete, and even the player's death sound is awesome. The music itself is really spiffy, except that some of the tunes are repeated for upcoming levels, which sort of stinks, but everything else audible makes up for it.

Graphics: 9/10

For it's time, the graphics ROCK. Everything is very detailed, the enemies have different animations for different actions, and the effects are very intricate also. The best part, however, is that in some levels, the environment has animations. Example: the throat level has periodical convulsions from it's muscular walls. Definitely a sight to see.

Things It Should Have Had:

1. Save feature
2. Weapon stashing & swapping
3. Maybe just a few more music tunes
4. Other than these, it's a perfect game

This game is not one to overlook. Albeit the gameplay being grossly similar to Lifeforce, it boasts various high-excitement qualities. It may be an old game, but it can still be found in some retailer stores, online, and maybe even at yard sales (consider yourself lucky).

Rent or Buy?

BUY IT!! Abadox is definitely for anyone who enjoys blowing stuff up, space themes, engrossing details, or anything involving the three!

"Grab a mop, there's gonna be guts on the ceiling." -Phil Hartman

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/17/06