Xeno Crisis is an arena shooter in which one or two players take control of battle-hardened marines embarking on a deadly mission to confront an alien menace and get home alive! Run and gun your way through thousands of adversaries as you explore the devastated research outpost, searching for surviv...
Xeno Crisis is an arena shooter in which one or two players take control of battle-hardened marines embarking on a deadly mission to confront an alien menace and get home alive! Run and gun your way through thousands of adversaries as you explore the devastated research outpost, searching for survivors, and ultimately facing the origin of the outpost's demise.
Outpost 88 is divided into seven distinct areas, each being randomly generated with each play, meaning that your strategy must evolve on the fly if you're to succeed in your mission. Collect dog-tags from vanquished enemies to upgrade your equipment between areas and look out for special weapons which will give you a momentary advantage.
A faithful port of the hit 16 bit game with added extras.
Incredible pixel art from the legendary pixel artist, Henk Nieborg.
Intense FM chiptune soundtrack by Savaged Regime, originally created for the YM2612!
Xeno crisis is a port of a newly released game for the Sega Megadrive. The visuals and sounds are the best you will find on the system. The PC port brings some enhancements like twinstick support, more and better voice samples, and some small visual upgrades while still keeping the megadrive's visuals. Thankfully not only the visuals and audio are top-notch, the gameplay is a lot of fun and keeps me coming back for more. Randomized level layouts and lots of different enemies and weapons keep it fresh. It's hard as nails though!
If you like this genre this is a title you just can't miss. Top title!
Mixes Smash TV action with Aliens' atmosphere. Played on Linux Mint 17.3 64bit. I even bought the rom from Bitmap Bureau's website and ran it via Kega Fusion, which works great. Played with a Logitech F310 on XInput just fine.
PROS:
+ Fun in single player and even better in co-op.
+ Upgradeable weapons via collecting dogtags.
+ Enemy types are varied and fun to battle.
+ Cut scenes lend to Xeno Crisis' atmosphere.
+ Modest hardware requirements.
+ Win, Mac, and Linux compatible.
CONS:
- No mouse look when using m/k controls.
- Difficulty can be punishing, especially in single player. Play on EASY if you wanna get anywhere.
Let’s first get this out of the way: The game is expensive. The price is justified in my book considering the developers created this game originally for Sega, cartridge and all. You can buy the Rom on their site. They’re also working on a Dreamcast disc, too. So I think for the amount of care and work the developers have put into this title justifies the price.
The gameplay is great. Inspired by SmashTV and the like, it’s a throwback to the days of old. The levels are randomly generated so every playthrough is slightly different. You collect dog tags from killing enemies which can be used after level completion to upgrade your stats like HP, speed, damage, etc. It’s very hectic and all the enemies are well thought out. You will probably die a lot, and while frustrating sometimes it doesn’t feel unfair because you’ll know when you screwed up. You can get a good grasp of how the game plays by watching the trailer so I won’t spend much time explaining it. I recommend starting on easy.
If you want a good old school shooter (the best as of now IMO) this is the title to get. You can play it in short bursts or very long periods of time because it’s addicting attempting to get farther than your last run. I’ve not yet played COOP, (I’m going to buy the Sega rom and use an emulator so me and buddy can COOP over the internet) but I imagine it’ll be blast..
My only real complaint is rebinding controls is not at all user friendly, and it took me about a week to get used to the default keyboard bindings. I imagine it wouldn't be a problem with a controller. The developers have said they plan to address the issue.
All in all, if you’re yearning for a well built and polished classic this worthy of your cash
This is a simple old-school game that is structured like an arcade game, where if you die you use continues as if you were putting in quarters. Instead of quarters, you start with three continues and can buy more in-between each level by using dog-tags you collect which you also spend for power-ups.
There are 7 levels, however the time it will take to beat those 7 levels will offer a lot of play time. The default difficulty is hard. That's what it's called, and that's what it is. There is no normal difficulty, but it does have an easy setting. I've been playing for probably close to 10 hours and I've only seen level 6 twice. Level 5 is an absolute ball-buster. Apparently there are other game modes but I take it they are unlocked after winning the game once.
Despite the difficulty it's very simple, easy and fun to pick up and play. And yet it's deep and well designed. Every level requires different tactics due to the different enemy types, which are quite varied. As you progress you'll see evolved forms of the aliens from previous levels which is also cool from a lore perspective. For example one of the most basic aliens from the early levels comes back in level 4, only this time it drops an acid puddle upon death which you cannot roll through.
In order to win you have to use everything the game gives you, not only your movement and shooting, but also the grenades, dodge roll, and melee attack. For example some enemies that move underground can be destroyed before they emerge by using a grenade. Numerous enemies are best dispatched with the instakill melee attack, but this presents a risk because you have to be lined up correctly or you will collide with the enemy and take a hit.
It's a nearly perfect game for what it sets out to do. The pixel art and music is amazing. The main thing I don't like is how long you have to wait to get back in the game when continuing. Takes like 20 seconds. When I'm dialed into the action and pissed off, it feels like forever.
