Xenon 2000

Eric · Post by **Eric** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 6:27

"In this top-down arcade shooter, blast away meteors and your enemies, while collecting power-ups for weapons upgrades etc. Eliminate the end level bosses to clear each level."

Genre: Arcade

Creator: The Bitmap Brothers

Web Site Here

ScreenShots: Here and Here

Release Date: Unknown

Game Status: Game released as freeware by developer.

Download: Here

Eric · Post by **Eric** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 6:57

Game Review: Xenon 2000

Back in January 1988, The Bitmap Brothers released a game called Xenon which caused a stir at the time. A top down scrolling arcade shooter, it received quite some aclaim for it's flashy 16 bit graphics (hey, 1988 remember!), excellent sound effects and challenging gameplay. A year later (August 1989) they released Xenon 2: Megablast which received even higher praise.

The Bitmap Brothers moved on from here to create equally imaginative games like "Z". And they also released a remake of Xenon: Xenon 2000.

The first and immediate change is the graphics: absolutely gorgeous is one way to describe it. The players ship looks fantastic (not to mention totally cool and pointy looking, as the player ship should be) and all enemies are equally detailed and varied. The pickup bonuses are pretty standard fare, upgrading weapons, speed and repairing / replenishing shields.

The gameplay is fast and furious and enemy attacks are interspersed by meteor storms and some winding terrain which needs a steady hand and sharp eye to navigate.

My one gripe with the game is how it deals with the player dying: you start again from the begining, or from the last check point as the case may be. And when you have worked through most of a level aquiring bonuses, restarting at the harder levels with a ship stripped of its goodies - it's damn annoying.

So annoying in fact, it's hard to recommend this game - especially for gamers like me who aren't as quick on the controls as we used to be...

Graphics: 10
Sound: 9
Story: 8
Gameplay: 5
Overall: 7

Post by **Chroelle** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 10:17

MY only problem with this game is that I am not sure that we can host it. I wrote Bitmap Brothers a month or two ago regarding this game, and haven't heard anything yet. But it is a classic.

eMTe · Post by **eMTe** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 0:52

Well, but that doesnt forbid us from talking about it.

And this is the first submitted game which name begins with "X". Hooray! :balloon:

Eric · Post by **Eric** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 8:49

I withdraw my suggestion.

Post by **Chroelle** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 12:55

Oh but don't do that. I am not saying that it is impossible. After all we can always try to get permission. I will look into getting that later. I am not at my home PC right now, so I will write them a mail later.

eMTe · Post by **eMTe** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 14:15

I think there's common misunderstanding in using word "freeware".

"Freeware" means "free of charge", not "free to use". Developer may release software as freeware which means one can download it and play it. Further restrictions of use dont change the fact that sotware is freeware.

In this case (like in case of Grand Theft Auto or King's Quest remakes) one can download the game from developer's site, but can't host it without permission. But game is classified as freeware nonetheless, so there's no problem with submitting it here and debating.

That's how I understand it. In fact this is the matter of terminology. I can bet majority of independent developers dont fully understand what exactly "freeware" means. Tens of games left in web with no info on status are the proof.

Post by **Chroelle** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 16:16

Yes freeware is a weird concept often misunderstood. You have cathegories of it. Shareware, open source, free ware, freeware, free games etc.
That is why we comment on wether we can host it. It brings clarity to the status of the game. This way you can also figure out wether a game might get on the site or not.
We seek secial permission here on CWF, which actually gives us a chance of getting games in here that are not on other sites. Sometimes a developer will restrict his games availability to his own sites downloadcenter so he can keep track of how many times it has been downloaded. We offer a downloadscount on our site which actually opens up the possibility of keeping track. Sometimes the developer never really got around to releasing it as free to distribute, even though they have no further interest in keeping track of the downloadscount. This is where we come in to the picture...

Maz · Post by **Maz** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 20:02

Indeed. freeware is free of charge. GNU free is free as freedom ^_^; And Gnu Public License aims to keep it free. I simply love that concept =}

Eric · Post by **Eric** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 12:07

There is no misconception, nor misunderstanding.

This is a freeware game and I thought this was a freeware site.

If you wish to only include games you can host, so be it.

Post by **Chroelle** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 17:09

Actually this is something I mentioned quite a few places, but propably in not-visible places (like GH-forum or development forum). The more games discussed in here the better. I am sorry if I gave you the impression that I was pointing fingers and blocking the thread... I hope that you know I was only being annoyed that we cannot host the game. I will write stuff like this in the future too, because maybe the posting member has info I do not have. It happened before, and just look at the reactions I got from Hidden and Dangerous. Clear disbelief that it was freeware and hostable...

EDIT: Mail sent. Hope to hear from them soon. I think I sold CWF nicely in the mail.

eMTe · Post by **eMTe** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 0:42

It's not true remake, but it's apparently inspired by X II. Game lacks great music the original contained and I dont know YET if there are any "shops" ahead. It's much easier than Xenon II which was devilishly hard. Design is clear - ie everything is on the right place: rocks look like rocks, enemies like enemies, your ship like your ship, sky in the background like sky in the background. Modern Japanese freeware shooters usually feature endless explosions which occupy whole screen and pointless "fancy" effects. This game requires thinking, maybe even more than fast fingers. I like it.

Pity that best game company of all time is in fatal state - at least the site: last piece of news is from 2002 (?).

eMTe · Post by **eMTe** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 0:14

Got to first boss at last. I'm close to beating first level.

This game is not good. It is great.

Post by **Chroelle** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 17:21

I second that, and after seeing news from 2008 on the site then I asked once more for permission. I hope we get it. This game has a clear topgrade from our game hunter squad.

Post by **Chroelle** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 20:49

Just to get a bit on topic here, I am going to say that the cheats you find most places wont work. What you need to do is:

Instead of adding the text Set Cheats=1 as most sites suggest, then you want to find the place in the options.ini file where it says cheat=0 and change that to cheats=1. That will allow you to cloak, speed up to get to end boss, ad weapons using the 2-9 keys. Use some of them more than once to get the full power going.