Xevious - GBA

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Also for: Wii, ST, NEC PC Engine, NES, C64, Spectrum 48K, Amstrad CPC, Atari 7800, Atari 5200, Atari 2600/VCS
Viewed: 2D Top-down, Vertical scrolling Genre:
Shoot 'Em Up
Arcade origin:No
Developer: Namco Soft. Co.: Namco
Publishers: Nintendo (GB)
Released: 9 Jul 2004 (GB)
Ratings: PEGI 3+
Connectivity: Link Cable

Summary

One of the gaming world's first vertical-scrolling shooters, Namco's Xevious enjoyed a considerable amount of button-bashing success back in the NES's heyday. And now, thanks to Nintendo's NES Classics range, we've been given the chance to relive the 8-bit excitement once more via the Game Boy Advance.

Following on in a somewhat grim fashion from the likes of Space Invaders, Xevious' story tells how those invaders from space actually managed to slowly shimmy, descend and fire successfully enough to land and make a rather comfortable home for themselves here on Earth. What with a burgeoning population and increased unemployment, this is not exactly a good thing for the imminent future of the planet, so what better way to show your protest than to jump into your Solvalou aircraft and blast the pants off them?

Which is exactly what you do throughout the duration of Xevious, as you shoot down the air targets, bomb the ground forces, and pummel the big Independence Day-like motherships in order to send the alien scum on their way back home. Along the way, big points can be scored by finding a series of hidden silo-like Sol Citadels, and those oh-so-handy extra lives can be picked up in the form of special flags, dotted about the levels.

Two-player gaming is offered in Xevious via the old-school, arcade-style alternating play method, so scoring big is high on the agenda throughout - a feature significantly improved by the fact that you can save your high scores for a bit of extra gloating in front of your mates.