Follow me on Twitter @ https://twitter.com/Al82_Retro Get Great Retro Scene News @ http://www.vintageisthenewold.com Developed by Simon Nicol and published by Martech in 1987 While I didn't play much of the game back in the day, I remember being remarkably impressed by this Crazy Comets sequel. With it's groundbreaking use of digital effects, speech, not to mention the awesome Rob Hubbard soundtrack, Mega Apocalypse is probably the closest to an arcade-quality shoot 'em up experience on the C64. The objective of the game is to blast asteroids as they appear on screen, collecting bonus power ups and dodging fast-moving comets through 99 levels of none-stop action. The original commercial release has no ending, instead crashing once level 99 has been beaten. The later Remember cracked version of the game fixed this issue, with the game looping back to level 1. I'd originally intended to play through all 99 levels, but it became apparent the game's difficulty scaling algorithm really wasn't going to make that possible. Waves get incremently longer, adding between 1 and 3 asteroids to the mix every few levels, as well as reducing the window of opportunity to destroy them before they reach maximum size. Worst of all, the speed of the comets goes complete crazy, practically killing you as soon as they appear. By level 41 it had become impossible to take out the asteroids quickly enough to prevent their reaching maximum size, and the speed of the comets was insane - they literally kill you as soon as they appear - and I decided to use up the stock of extra lives and suicide my way to game over. I calculated that if it took me 5 minutes just to beat wave 41, reaching level 99 would have taken at least another 4 hours (probably much longer if the number of asteroids increased in linear fashion), so there seemed little point in carrying on - fun while it lasted. Credits Coding: Simon Nicol Graphics: Bob Stevenson Music: Rob Hubbard Time Codes 00:00 - Title Screen (artwork by Bob Stevenson) 00:19 - Level 01 - 09 (music by Rob Hubbard) 03:40 - Level 10 - 19 (music by Rob Hubbard) 10:06 - Level 20 - 29 (music by Rob Hubbard) 20:07 - Level 30 - 39 (music by Rob Hubbard) 33:34 - Level 40 (music by Rob Hubbard) 34:51 - Level 41 (music by Rob Hubbard) 40:27 - Level 42 (music by Rob Hubbard) 41:44 - Level 43 (music by Rob Hubbard) #c64 #retrogaming #commodore64 ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4r6Jc3PBZg

Game Info --------------------------------------------------- Developer: Bitmap Bureau Publisher: Bitmap Bureau Year of Release: 2019 Buy the Game: https://shop.bitmapbureau.com/ Game Review & Impressions --------------------------------------------------- Given that Xeno Crisis has featured on Xbox Game Pass and other digital download platforms, I suspect that a fair number of retro fans will already be familiar with this excellent arena shooter. For those who aren't, Xeno Crisis is really a love-letter to arcade classics Robotron: 2084 and Smash T.V. The DNA of Eugene Jarvis courses through the game's pulsating, slime-filled veins, as players engage in close-quarter battles with a whole bunch of alien scum, lab-grown monstrosities, not to mention more than a handful of rogue scientists. I picked up the Xeno Crisis Neo Geo ROM as part of Bitmap Bureau's Black Friday promotions for £10, which I really don't consider bad value, especially given the quality of the product. For those with deeper pockets and a desire to play the game on original hardware, you could pony up for the eye-wateringly expensive AES or MVS cartridge versions (with optional high-quality repro case and inlays), but the downloadable ROM version was perfect for me. The reason why Xeno Crisis garnered so much attention, other than the fact it's a spiffingly fun game, is Bitmap Bureau released versions for the Sega Genesis, Dreamcast and Neo Geo. I covered the Genesis port a while back and was mightily impressed, but the Neo Geo version is even better. The enhanced hardware really gives the game room to stretch its legs. The audio quality is hugely improved, particularly the music, and there's also digitised speech which I don't recall featuring in the other versions I've played. The graphics also feel on par with the modern incarnations of the game; Henk Nieborg and Catherine Menabde did such a great job on the artwork - Xeno Crisis bears the hallmarks of a classic 16-bit game of old, but with modern flourishes and touches that help keep things fresh. As for the gameplay, it's pretty simple. Choose a character, annihilate the bad guys, dodge the bullets and grab the loot. Upgrade your equipment at the end of each level after defeating a hideously grotesque boss, and just try and survive as long as you can. The game supports dual analogue controls on modern platforms, and it's really a twin-stick shooter at heart. Fortunately, the gameplay doesn't really suffer on the "retro" releases; the difficulty feels like it has been tweaked to account for the control scheme, and everything feels very slick. Provided you don't mind a stiff challenge, I'm pretty sure you'll find Xeno Crisis right up your alley. Information & Trivia --------------------------------------------------- TBC Video Notes --------------------------------------------------- TBC Related Longplays & Videos --------------------------------------------------- TBC Chapters --------------------------------------------------- TBC ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAujcAo2H04