Granny Vinnie Reviews

7800 Rank: 9th Genre Rank: (Classic Arcade) 2nd Awards: 4th Best Gameplay, 8th Best Sound Tanks but No Tanks Pros: Excellent Arcade Version/ Non-stop Shooting Action Cons: The Main Ship Washes Out Against the Background Put a Glide in that Slide, a Dip in that Hip, and Take a Ride on the Mothership

Overview: The 7800's forte was without a doubt their stellar attempts at converting popular arcade games into their library. Xevious, once again, is an excellent conversion. Xevious is not only a hard word to pronounce, it is also a quality 2D shooter.

Graphics: The graphics are not great, but they are adequate. On the plus side, the colors are vibrant and there are several types of baddies to blast and terrain to explore. Overall, the graphics are fine except for the fact that the main ship seems to "wash out" a little against most of the backgrounds.

Sound: The sound in this game is actually pretty good. Laser fire sounds less annoying than in most 7800 games and there are quality (yet shrill) musical blurbs when you lose a man and its replacement is heading into the game. It also features a very good arcade quality "techno jam" during most of the game. Not distracting, yet it does a good job setting the correct tension.

Gameplay: The background story behind this game is bleak, but who cares? We want to kill! Blowing things up and yelling "weeeeee" go hand in hand while playing this one. There are TONS of different types of enemies to waste: ships, tanks, boats, laser cannons, 3D flying mirror thingys...and call George Clinton..."cause you're about to take a trip, on the mothership". Yes, there is even a "boss ship" in the game. Woo-woo. There are several levels in the game as well, each with very unique terrains and ground to air "mini-bosses" at the end of each stage. The stages are not numbered or interrupted by cut scenes, but you can tell when a new one is beginning due to the large forest you approach. Blowing things up can be done one of two ways: laser blasting things in the air, and bombing things on the ground. With a 7800 joystick, these can be done independently, or with a 2600 controller, both happen simultaneously.

Interpretation: This is another excellent arcade conversion for the 7800. The biggest difference in the department of gameplay is the fact that the bomb sights are much closer to the ship than in the arcade version. This makes bombing more difficult, therefore creating a more challenging experience. The scrolling in this game is perfect.

Value: The game is very deep as far as variety of stages and enemies go. There are four difficulty settings to choose from, but the standard difficulty is tough enough, thank you. The game cannot be beaten, but it takes a LONG LONG time before the levels begin repeating in order. Even after the mothership confrontation, there are many unique levels to play after that squabble.

Overall: There is not a lot to this game besides 100% pure shooting enjoyment. If you dig on 2D classic arcade shooters, Xevious for the Atari 7800 is a no-brainer. The gameplay is smoother than Planet Smashers, but the game itself is void of the bells and whistles that Planet Smashers provides. A simple, but fun title.



Other Reviews:
The Atari Times (Joey Kay): 85%
CV's Panoramic Froo-Froo: 4.0 out of 5.0 (Very Good)
Video Game Critic: B-
The Atari Times: 7 out of 10





Additional Info: I would like to take this time to thank Mitch Orman, owner of The Atari 7800 Page for allowing the use of his screenshots for this review.

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