Xenophobe

STORY / GAMEPLAY
Somewhere in the far future, the star-bases, moons, ships and space cities are infested with aliens. Your mission is to join a team of nine elite warriors in order to sweep out the aliens before each planet is completely overrun. This can be accomplished by eliminating all aliens met on each stage, before the time runs-out. Some rooms may display at the background the percentage of alien infection and the time remaining until self-destruct. Each level contains several screens, running horizontally, including more than one floor that can be accessed via elevators. The Lynx conversion provides the option to connect up to 4 consoles and play in multiplayer (via 4-players ComLynx), but no split screen is supported. The arcade version can be played with up to three players simultaneously (three for each joystick), in split screen mode. The other home system conversions support up to two players gameplay (via split screen) due to the support of two joysticks. Each character must defeat the incoming aliens (called Xeno) either unarmed (with punches) or with a variety of weapons like the phazer, the laser pistol, the lightning rifle, the gas gun and limited grenades. Each of the firing weapons has limited range and power. There are also several items to collect, including health portions. There is an additional option to select a Xeno and hunt your friends down!
Xenophobe is good, especially in multi-players mode. The Lynx conversion may not offer the arcade's unique co-op gameplay, but it still is an acceptable and easy to play horizontal action shooter game.

GRAPHICS / SOUND
The game's graphics on the Lynx are more than acceptable and the layout of the station rooms -although repetitive- is nicely detailed and colored. The sprites move fast on-screen and are nicely animated at times (Xenos can roll, jump, crawl).
The sound is good, with a wide variety of blasts and other effects plus a low, rhythmic backbeat that occasionally plays.