Exolon

Copyright : Hewson | Reviewed by : Scooby1970

Exolon is a space shoot-em-up where you play the part of a space-man who?s aim is to destroy... well, ecerything on the planet really! You have your trusty gun and your rockets and you must simply get through each flick screen one by one.

Released in 1987 by Hewson, this game pushed the CPC to it?s limits!

Graphics

The first thing that knocks you out about this game is its amazing use of colour and detail in the graphics. Everything is superbly and beautifully drawn in mode 0 graphics. You wouldnt have known it by the average loading screen, so to see these in game graphics is pretty jaw-dropping.

Animation of your character is great, as is the animation on the moving objects such as missiles, bullets, spacecraft and various other baddies. The backdrop is a star-field which does not move, but the colour choice for the stars and planets is really great.

The explosions are huge, and well animated, and this just adds to the spectacula feel of this great game.

Sound

Apart from the graphics, the other thing that hits you when you load up this game is the fantastic menu music. This must be one of the best tunes to be heard on the CPC and it`s easily comparable with the C64 version.

The in game effects are the usual shooting noises, along with a nice "woosh" effect when you launch your missiles. Everything just feels perfect in the sound department, with no over-kill what-so-ever.

When you die and the game is over, there`s a nice little jingle that plays, that makes the game feel very arcade in nature.

Gameplay

This is a great game in every respect, with great graphics and sound and a great one button control system that lets you release a rocket when the fire button is pressed for a short-time. This is a flick-screen shoot-em-up which needs some fast reactions, and as such the joystick/keyboard control is top-notch and reacts to every single touch of the buttons.

You get 9 lives, and although this sounds alot, the game does get progressivly harder as you go along, so those lives all come in very handy when you are exploring the landscape and remembering the best routes to take.

Basically shoot anything that moves (or doesn`t move!), jump over gaps in the landscape, dodge enemy fire and other moving objects and try and stay alive! What more could you want from this fantastic game? Perhaps a sequal would have been nice?