OK, so Xenoraid,
which depicts the apparent first ever space war that Earth faces
(don’t worry, it’s in 2032, so there’s plenty of time left to party)
may not be the second, third, fourth or whatever number with a ‘st’,
‘nd’ or ‘th’ appended best arcade shmup, but it gives respectable
pew.
Much like a collision of irritatingly skittish Phoenix
enemies, the rocky horror of Asteroids and most any game ever with a
pay-to-upgrade system – with bonus random thrown in - Xenoraid tries
to update the vertical scroller shmup and does some things really
right.
For starters, up to four players can battle at once.
Don’t have three friends? You can control four ships all alone. With
varying attributes, each has advantages – but don’t get any wiped
out or there’ll be three primed spaceships answering the call. Oops,
there goes another one... Uh, there’ll be two primed spaceships...
Each has primary and secondary weapons. The first usually
overheats at the worst times, so short burst firing (upwards or
diagonally) is best, but even that doesn’t always save your puny
spacesuit-clad arse – SWAP SHIPS! Secondary weapons are limited, but more can be
picked up. As can space bucks, with which you can repair decimated
ships, upgrade them or buy shiny new ones.
It starts off
glacially slow, and despite attack patterns being randomly
generated, it’s quite a snore-fest. But persevere and things get
livelier – then a mega-boss will appear – eep!
But there
isn’t much in the way of invading variety, and that aforementioned
skittishness can really piss you off as you watch one of your
valuable bullety things disappear into nothingness as the gremmie
you targeted somehow managed to avoid at the last possible
milisecond (but deftly sliced through you with one of its pew
devices).
We’ve always got time for a new arcade shooter, and
Xenoraid warrants time to appreciate its depth. But it’s hard to
really love, baby love.
