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What's in a name?

Xenophobe: (n) A person unduly fearful or contemptuous of that which is foreign, especially of strangers or foreign peoples.

Well, looks like that fits the bill for this game. Xenophobe is a port of an arcade classic in which you must eliminate an alien threat; God forbid aliens ever come to earth. This game amazingly stays true to the original arcade classic which used a much larger and different aspect ratio then the small Lynx screen.

The first thing I noticed about this game was the music which would make a great bass line to any rap song. The music is surprisingly very catchy and fun to listen too, even though it is pretty much the same thing through all 23 space stations. While listening to the bass line I decided to select a character and start the game up. Xenophobe features quite an interesting line up, ranging from a duck man named Dr. Kwak to the vivacious babe by the name of Dr. Pink. I then immediately grabbed the most random character I could find and started my mission of riding space of all other life forms.

When I started the game up I was amazed at how easy I could kill the enemy, all I did was duck down and shot at what ever came towards me. I really thought it would be a quick shot to the end, but then came level two in which I found my self shooting more than things on the ground, I was forced to take out tentacles from the ceiling, and flying aliens that dropped pods.

I quickly was overwhelmed by aliens coming from all directions and was eventually strangled and then shocked to death. It was then that I took notice that Dr. Kwak was no longer available, but I could select another character to continue my quest. I soon selected the closest human character and ran outside past the space suits to finish the job ... wait a minute ... space suits ... space station ... outside. Maybe my character should be wearing a space suit?? Ah well, who has time to think about such trivial matters when it comes to killing aliens.

I found my self enjoying the game quite a bit with its comic book feel, its challenging levels and its great 4-player ComLynx ability. Not having to start from the beginning each time you die is especially a welcome addition to any game. This game also includes a surprise character to use in multiplayer to trick your friends, the Snotterpillar, which is one of the aliens on the many space stations.

Fans looking for a faithful translation of the coin-op megahit need look no further. In fact, this portable version may have the upper hand with the new features that have been implemented. The graphics also take full advantage of the Lynx's color capabilities, the controls are tight, action is fast and furious, and the fun of blasting zillions of slimey, goopy aliens has never been more addictive than on Atari's handheld system.

Just like in the arcade original, your planet is under attack by the dreaded Xenos - a race of nightmare creatures intent upon consuming the entire human race. It's your task, along with three other friends (via the Comlynx cable), to eradicate the Xenos once and for all. You get a choice of nine different characters, and once your characters has been eliminated, you can continue as another character until all of them have met their fate. You begin your quest armed with only a simple phaser gun, but you'll run into more powerful weapons such as the Lightening Rifle and the Poofer Gun as you explore each level. Other items are scattered throughout each of the stations and will give you extra health and other bonuses. In order to move onto the next station, you have three options. The first method is to stay alive as long as possible until the Xenos completely overrun the station. You'll automatically transport back to your ship just before the station explodes. This is the least desirable of the methods since you won't receive any bonus points for your efforts. Another way is to completely wipe out all the Xenos in the station. This method is the most difficult but you'll be rewarded with bonus points galore. The third and final method is to find the self destruct mechanism aboard certain stations and destroy them. You'll automatically return to the ship before it detonates, and receive bonus points for each Xeno destroyed before the station blew up.

Despite being a hunt-and-kill game at its core, there's enough variety here to keep you playing for awhile. Xenos lurk behind every corner, but each kind of Xeno varies in personality and power. Beware especially of Festor, the largest Xeno creature, who pops up when you least expect it and paralyzes you with its telekinetic gaze. He also launches Xeno pods that can bowl you over and hatch new Xenos. It's imperative that you eliminate Fester as soon as possible, or else you can forget about clearing the station by killing all Xenos.

The Lynx version of Xenophobe differentiates itself from - and improves upon - its coin-op cousin in several ways. The multiplayer feature allows you either too play cooperatively, or a player can take the role of a Xeno and hunt down his friends. The cooperative mode tends to be somewhat frustrating since all Comlynxed players must share from the same pool of characters with the result being that each player has fewer lives. Gameplay wise, there are additional bonus items and powerups that add to the variety of the game, most prominently among them being a jetpack that allows you to temporarily fly and avoid danger.

The audiovisual effects in Xenophobe are top-notch. The scenery is colorful and each character is drawn in great detail, and the terrific animation is most likely a factor in the game's tight controls as well. Sound effects are convincing and in stereo. As was the case in Aliens vs. Predator for the Jaguar, however, there really isn't any background music. You can argue, however, that the lack of tunes aides in giving you sharper senses. And you'll need to muster as much of your sixth sense as possible to survive in this exemplary alien thriller.


Title Xenophobe
Publisher Atari
System Atari Lynx
Graphics 8
Sound 7
Gameplay 8
Overall 8
Reviewer Keita Iida