![]() ![]() Wanting to cash in on this sudden revival, Namco decided to create a 3D sequel to Xevious for the System 11 board, featuring mechanics popular with other shooters to draw in newer players. After a brief downturn in the early half of the decade, the shoot'em up genre was beginning to see a revival with games like RayStorm, G-Darius, and Radiant Silvergun, and were very profitable. Their System 11 arcade hardware, while technologically inferior to other arcade systems, was a hit with arcade owners for its cheap price, which made it easily affordable for smaller arcade chains. With the advent of 3D arcade hardware in the late 1980s and 1990s, Namco became a leader in polygonal video games with titles like Tekken, Ridge Racer, and Alpine Racer. The System 11 hardware allows the world and characters to be much closer to those in the original Xevious arcade game. Many references to other Namco games are featured in the game as easter eggs, including a Pooka from the Dig Dug series and a cheat code that replaces both players' Solvalou with Heihachi and Paul from Tekken, featuring their own ending sequences. Much like the first game, large Sol towers can be found by bombing pre-determined spots on the ground, alongside Rally-X Special Flags that award an extra life when collected. The final stage features a fight with GAMP, the supercomputer leader of the Xevious forces. Each area also features a boss that must be defeated in order to progress, including the Andor Genesis mothership from the original Xevious. The game consists of seven stages, or "areas", including grassy plateaus, large oceans, mechanical bases and outer space. New to this game are power-up items, found in cylindrical stations called "Poladomes" on the ground that must be bombed to acquire it - these include a blue double shot, a green concentrated light beam that cuts through enemies, and a red heat-seeing laser that locks onto any enemy it finds on the screen. ![]() The Solvalou has two weapons at its disposal: a projectile that can destroy air-based enemies, and a bomb that can destroy ground-stationed enemies. Up to two players control their respective Solvalou starships - blue for player one and red for player two - that must destroy the Xevious forces and their leader before they enslave all of mankind. Xevious 3D/G is a vertically scrolling shooter with 3D graphics integrated with 2D gameplay. This version also received criticism for its short length and low difficulty, but praise for its gameplay, techno soundtrack, graphics, and for building on mechanics established in previous games. A PlayStation conversion, titled Xevious 3D/G+, was released a year later that compiled 3D/G with the original Xevious, Super Xevious, and Xevious Arrangement onto one disc. Xevious 3D/G was criticized by fans for drastic departures that interrupted the core mechanics, and that it strayed too far from what they felt made the game so popular in its heyday. The hardware allows the game to have a world much closer to the one established in previous games, with settings such as large, Aztec-inspired structures and deserts being pulled from pieces of conceptual artwork for the original. Being one of the first games for its System 11 hardware, it has a techno-infused soundtrack, most of which was composed jointly by Ayako Saso and Shinji Hosoe. ![]() When shoot 'em ups saw a revival in the mid-1990s, Namco sought to capitalize on its success with a modernized 3D update to Xevious. The game also features destructive power-ups, new bosses, and two player simultaneous play. Players control the Solvalou starship in its mission to destroy a rogue supercomputer named GAMP and the Xevian Forces, using two basic weapon types - an air zapper to destroy air targets, and a blaster bomb to destroy ground targets. The eighth entry in the Xevious series, it combines 2D-based gameplay with 3D gouraud-shaded polygon graphics. ![]() Xevious 3D/G is a 1996 vertically scrolling shooter arcade video game developed and published by Namco. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |