Most of you are thinking, “What the hell?” But yes, there it is; a discussion of Xevious 3D/G+ is taking over the blog.
In an attempt to clean out my gaming library (see previous post) I am throwing some older games in my library into my play rotation to discern what should stay and what should eBay. I did not play Xevious 3D/G+ a ton when it came out (way back in 1996!), but I picked it up right away because I was (still am) a huge Xevious fan. Of course I have always sucked at Xevious, but that is a different story.
When I picked up Xevious 3D/G+ I had Raiden Project in my library. Actually I still have Raiden Project, which is a very under rated shooter and certainly worth its own blog entry, but I digress. I liked Raiden Project better than Xevious 3D/G+, so I never made it more than about half way through the game. Dust it has collected ever more.
Xevious 3D/G+ is basically a 3D version of Xevious. The graphics are very dated by today’s standards, and I expect that the graphics are pretty lame when compared to its contemporary PlayStation titles. The sound is loopy in a strange Japanese shooter sort of way; catchy, but loopy. The gameplay is actually decent; plenty of power-ups, interesting enemies, and an assortment of boss ships. Setting the game on easy is a sure fire way to eat up level after level, but moving to hard is an exercise in frustration for my current (lack there of) skills.
I am not going to do a review as such; instead it is just enough to say that Joshua and I had a good time with the Xevious 3D/G+. Joshua calls almost every space shooter game a “space rangers” game. I have no idea when or how that started. Actually I think he just could not say Slipheed, which was the first shooter that I purchased for him, so we started calling it “space rangers” and thus the shooter alias was born.
The funny thing with our Xevious 3D/G+ experience was that the game does not use the analog stick, just standard d-pad fun. It took Joshua a few minutes to adjust, but after that we had a good time.
My personal opinion is that Xevious 3D/G+ has no significant place in gaming history unless you happen to be a huge Xevious fan, and have to have every game in the series. Not that Xevious 3D/G+ is bad, it is actually average, it is just that the PlayStation had many better shooters such as Gradius Deluxe Pack. Now that is a game that I wish I never sold.
Back Xevious 3D/G+; I think I will hold on to the game a while longer, because it is a cheap (read free) way for me to give Joshua some new gaming experiences.
