Man oh man … I was one of the happiest people on the planet when I learned that they were releasing classic 8 – bit NES titles on the GBA system. While the announcement probably didn’t get quite the reaction from most people as Halo 2 or Doom 3, the reason that I was so elated is because I’m an old fogey and this is the stuff I grew up with. Well, one of these titles that brought me back to my pre-teen days was Xevious, which I now have the pleasure of playing on the GBA system.

To make a long story short, the whole idea behind this title is that you fly your ship (called the Solvalou) in a 2-D top down world against a horde of bad guys like rotating circles and indestructible revolving gray slabs. Another cool feature (well, it was cool when the game first hit the arcades) was the fact that you could also bomb ground targets like tanks or enemy buildings for additional points. Get to the end of the stage, blow up the UFO boss, and do it again until you lose all of your lives. Believe me, this was REALLY fun back in the day.

Unfortunately, the biggest issue that gamers are going to run into with Xevious is the fact that it’s, well … old. Now before I get anyone in an uproar, I am a huge fan of old school titles and I’ll be the first one to rush to the defense of one (like I said, I was REALLY excited about this), but I’m just telling it like it is. Younger gamers probably won’t find as much to be excited about as I did here, and the reaction may not be the greatest one on the planet after a few minutes of gameplay with this one.

Fortunately, people like me who grew up with these games will be pleased that this is an original port of Xevious from the NES days of old, so know that when you are buying the game you are playing it exactly as it used to be back in the day. You can save high scores and play multiplayer link up with two GBA’s too, but can also play a two player game by passing the GBA back and forth as well so if you don’t have a link cable … than fear not.

Graphically and sound wise, it isn’t much to look at or listen to … with some dull green grassy or forested areas and some brown roads or blue water added in here and there and some blippy music, but as I stated it retains the look and feel that it did back when I first picked up a copy way back when I was still tuning in to hear “Living on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi on the radio.

Ultimately, this is going to probably be $20.00 well spent for folks like me … old school gamers who remember a time where allowances were made and broken in the arcades and 8-bit graphics were cool. For you younger folks who were raised on Playstation and 3DO systems, you may not find this one to be much fun after the first 15 minutes or so, but will get some enjoyment out of it if you like games similar to Iridion II or R-Type.

Gameplay: 6.1
Basically, the game mechanics remain simple … move the ship around the screen shooting or bombing enemies, blow up the boss, rinse, repeat. It’s a timeless control scheme that still works well to this day, but there’s not much more to do than play it until you lose all of your lives.

Graphics: 6.2
Even for 8-bit Nintendo, they weren’t the greatest thing on the planet. Enemies are basic flying or moving shapes, and the ground consists of green grass, blue water, and brown roads here and there.

Sound: 6.0
Anyone watch re-runs of Starcade on G4? If so, that little blippy music that they play when asking questions or doing trivia before or after a commercial break is the music from Xevious. Basically, there are also whooshing and exploding sounds from weapons or blown up ships.

Difficulty: Hard
The game remains a challenge to this day, and gets harder as you progress. Games back in my day were like this (for you younger players out there).

Concept: 6.1
Definitely an 8 or 8.5 back in the late 80’s, but by today’s standards it’s not much. Adding in unlockable stuff would have been a good idea here in my opinion too, like pictures or an updated version of the game at a certain point level or something.

Multiplayer: 6.3

You can play either two player on the GBA or by a system link if you want to, and it’s the old formula of player 1 goes till dead, then player 2, and back and forth until both have lost all of their lives. Player with the highest total wins.

Overall: 6.1
Fun game if you were a fan of it from back in the day, but if you haven’t really sat down to play it yet, you may not be as happy with your $20.00 purchase as someone like me. If you enjoyed it when you were younger, grab a copy … but other wise you may want to skip it and find something else.