Xenon 2 Megablast

[Melf]

What is widely considered to be a classic Amiga shooter comes to the Genesis in notably worse shape. Horrible slowdown, dodgy power-ups, and missing stages are just some of the problems plaguing this sub-standard port. If you really want to experience Xenon 2, stick with the Amiga original. Read our full review for more information.

[Phantar]

"The shoot-’em-up genre was relatively new when the original Amiga version of Xenon 2 Megablast came out in 1989."

I think that's a weak start for the review. A relatively new genre? Compared to what, the Pong-Clone? Shoot'em'ups were around almost right from the start, or at least from very early on (Galaxian or Defender are shoot'em'ups, and they were around since 1979 and 1981 respectively). I'd rather have started with "By the time Xenon 2 arrived, the Shooter genre had already seen some refinement". By 1989 genre-defining titles like Gradius (first release 1985) and R-Type (1987) had already seen sequels themselves. The 80's were practically the Golden Age of the Shoot'em'Up Genre! That would have been a stronger buildup to your overall conclusion how disappointing Xenon 2 really was.

The overall writeup is okay, but 1 measly point? Ranking the game on the same level as "Dark Castle", and worse than the Action 52? That's harsh! Yeah, the game is rather a mess, but it's still more enjoyable than, for example, "The Earth Defend".

[SF78]

I'm also a bit baffled about this. 1/10 should mean it's one of the really terrible games on the MD, but it really doesn't appear to be. Even if the controls suck or the scrolling is jerky it's hard to imagine this receiving anything less than 4/10. I mean people grade movies in IMDB by giving them 1/10 without considering all the C-grade home movies that actually deserve the one star rating.

[Olls]

This game isn't even as bad as several other games in the same genre, such as X-Dazedly Ray, or Divine Sealing. Let alone as bad as the worst games in the entire library.
Therefore it can never get a 1/10. Do reviewers on this site actually play other games than the ones they are reviewing?
Who wrote this? I demand an explanation.

[Christuserloeser]

Seriously though, is there anything I'm missing? I mean I am a huge Bitmap Brothers fan (loved Speedball, Chaos Engine, and Z), but judging from the two minutes I tried it, this actually might be the worst thing I ever played on MD.

[Kamahl]

Who wrote this? I demand an explanation.

Kollision, and he pretty much only missed by 1 point. This game doesn't deserve more than a 2/10, it didn't on the Amiga much less on the MD.

[Spaced]

I just bought this from EBay with a couple of other games for quite cheap, hopefully it won't be as bad as the review when I get to try it. I wanted to add another shooter to the collection so will have to see how it goes.

[Thenewguy]

This game is awful, it absolutely deserves no higher than 3/20, and that's being wildly optimistic.

Divine Sealing is better than Xenon 2, Divine Sealing has tits in it.

[Olls]

Don't get me wrong; it is definitely a bad game, just not the worst out there. It actually has some redeeming qualities, so a 3/10 seems more fair.

[Kollision]

Scores/ratings... what good do they do, really? a 3/10 would've been better given the facts? I don't think so...
I never wanted to rate anything, but if I must then 1/10 it is, for every single reason stated in the text.

And let's be honest, neither Divine Sealing, XDR or Earth Defend play even close to the sluggish feast that is this game.
Those ones "can be fun" because at least you can shoot and hit something in them. Such a basic feature becomes a torture in Xenon 2 (I'm not considering artificial turbofire, as you see in lots of videos for the Amiga game on YT).

@ Phantar
yeah, maybe that was a bit of a stretch....
I guess I had my mind in the console realm of things, but nonetheless it was a stretch

[StarMist]

Excellent review.
Xenon 2 can only be a 1/10, it simply does not deserve to be within 80% of the best MD shmups. There are some interesting ideas, sure, but all were implemented too badly for any kind of redemption. If any game is worse than this Xenon 2's score should not be raised, rather the other game should get a 0.

[Barone]

So much talk about the score while the review actually describes well what the game is, the way it plays and why it's so bad.

...And to compare scores of different reviewers is always a good way to get lost.

[Thenewguy]

If any game is worse than this Xenon 2's score should not be raised, rather the other game should get a 0.

Thats what it comes down to really though isn't it? 0/10 isn't on my rating system, therefore I personally would reserve 1/10 for games which are bugged to the extent they can't be completed.

Not that I'm disagreeing with the score anyway, Kollision is well within his rights to score it a 1/10 the game is awful after all, and its not like there's a universal set of rules for scoring.

Like I said, 3/10 is optimistic in my opinion, I'd probably give it a 2/10.

Also, I agree with Kollision, even without the tits Divine Sealing is still better than Xenon II.

[StarMist]

So much talk about the score while the review actually describes well what the game is, the way it plays and why it's so bad.

Apparently some readers didn't understand those descriptions. I'm curious to hear why they deem this miserable game a 2 or 3, let alone anything higher. It does have a nice foundation aesthetic but that requires a modicum of gameplay pleasure to be enjoyed and thus count for anything in itself.

Thats what it comes down to really though isn't it? 0/10 isn't on my rating system, therefore I personally would reserve 1/10 for games which are bugged to the extent they can't be completed.

And I'd rate according to another system myself, but Sega-16's rating system doesn't restrict the score of 1/10 to games that are so broken they can't be completed (which anyhow would be a very difficult thing to judge).
>>

Also, I agree with Kollision, even without the tits Divine Sealing is still better than Xenon II.

So here's what I was getting at: which (MD) shooters are substantially worse than Xenon 2? Ie if Xenon 2 is to get above 1/10 that would imply there are worse shooters than it (though perhaps not on the MD); which would those be? Only Earth Defence and Heavy Unit are in the running to most people and it's not as if they'd be getting respectable scores either.

[Olls]

So here's what I was getting at: which (MD) shooters are substantially worse than Xenon 2? Ie if Xenon 2 is to get above 1/10 that would imply there are worse shooters than it (though perhaps not on the MD); which would those be? Only Earth Defence and Heavy Unit are in the running to most people and it's not as if they'd be getting respectable scores either.

Like I said: XDR and Divine Sealing. Add Earth Defend and Heavy Unit if you must.
Even so, compared to trash like Action 52 and Dark Castle, Xenon 2 is a masterpiece.