Developer: Kemco Publisher: Kemco Release: 1992 Genre: Rail Shooter
They can’t all be winners. Even though the library for the Super Scope 6 is small it has some absolute bangers like the Battle Clash series and good arcade ports like T2: the Arcade Game. But some of the home grown efforts leave a lot to be desired. X-Zone aims to recreate the arcade rail shooter experience at home. But between its manic pace and ridiculous difficulty it completely fails.
Mechanically X-Zone is bare bones. Like most rail shooters you have two attacks. The machine gun has rapid fire and won’t stop so long as you hold the button. You can bring up the cursor by holding the secondary attack button to lock on to specific enemies or areas on a larger target. This shoots a homing missile that will either destroy them in one hit or inflict large damage. Unfortunately the only power-up restores health. The game desperately needed more, not just to liven up the gameplay but because it is brutal in its difficulty.
As far as first impressions go X-Zone makes a good one. The initial mission is a vertical drop into enemy territory using Mode 7. As you approach enemy planes and mobile drones try to shoot you down. The pace is measured as they do not attack in large numbers and you have plenty of time to blast their incoming missiles and such. Had the rest of the game exhibited this level of creativity and kept the same pace I would have no trouble recommending it despite its simplicity. Unfortunately the game goes completely ape shit after this.
Whatever nuance in gameplay between taking down small targets and locking on to sturdier robots is almost completely lost by stage three. The game throws so much at you so fast that you can almost never prioritize between the two without taking damage. At any given moment there are almost a dozen missiles, drones, and mobile tanks all hitting at once. The levels are long and you will rarely get a moment’s rest. I suppose it is impressive that the game is throwing around all these sprites without slowdown but it isn’t fun. I will say this; when you can keep up and are shooting missiles left and right and blowing up turrets it is a thrill. But these moments are fleeting as the overall difficulty is overwhelming.
Even on the normal setting X-Zone can get pretty ridiculous with its challenge. The constant barrage of enemies would not be so bad if you had defensive options. But you either kill the enemies first or suffer. It would also help if you were more powerful. Either your weapons are not strong enough or the enemies are too resilient. The boss battles are a slog because of this and my least favorite part of the game. By stage four it becomes insane and even the more frequent health items cannot keep up. If the game had even some semblance of balance it would be so much better. As it is the thrills don’t last long.
X-Zone has a rather infamous difficulty mode that even now no one has been able to complete on original hardware. Out of morbid curiosity I took a stab at it and its lives up to its name. Take the already frenetic pace of the easy and normal mode and dial it up to 11 and you have somewhat of an idea what to expect. The game simply moves too fast and your shots are too weak to keep up. Maybe adrenaline junkies will find this enjoyable. I did not. I tapped out by the third stage as it simply was not any fun. The early stages of the game are this bad; I can’t imagine what the second half of the game is like as it was already a nightmare on normal. I do not know who the Hard setting is tuned for but it wasn’t for human beings.
In Closing
X-Zone could have been worth a spin. Despite its lack of depth it has the action a rail shooter needs to be entertaining. But it is ruined by its overbearing difficulty and pacing. Sure you could spend the time getting good at the game. But it is not worth it in my opinion and you are better of playing another game instead. It’s a shame too as I wanted to like it.
