Xeno Crisis

Review Introduction:

In their humble beginnings, Homebrew games for the Neo Geo were released in rather limited quantities, often produced semi-professionally with "sacced" carts and EPROMs. This means that authentic AES or MVS cartridges of other games were sacrificed for the sake of such homebrew games.

The Neo Geo Homebrew scene has come a long way since that time; companies such as NG:DEV not only professionally produce their own snaplock cases, labels, stickers, manuals and cartridge shells, but even the boards and roms for their own games. This means that some notable homebrew developers nowadays can not only produce in much higher quantities and ensure higher quality standards, but Neo Geo purists can breathe again easily, now that authentic Neo Geo games are no longer sacrificed for new homebrew releases.

Another such homebrew developer is Bitmap Bureau from the United Kingdom. In 2019 they released their newest game, Xeno Crisis, for the Mega Drive, PC, Dreamcast and current-gen consoles. With the support of their Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign they additionally managed to fund a Neo Geo (AES, MVS and CD) version of the game as well, which ultimately was released in 2021.

This review is based on the (Japanese) Neo Geo AES version of the game, whose aesthetics are a carbon copy of authentic contemporary AES titles. The cartridge comes in a custom-made snaplock case, complete with high-quality insert, sticker and even a neat manual (a rectangular, not a squared one). You notice that the guys at Bitmap Bureau really put some effort into making it look like an official / licensed release. I especially like how they made their company logo look like the old Neo Geo logo.

A nice bonus for the buyers of the Neo Geo version: Every order also entitles you to download the game as a rom file for the use in MAME emulators and Neo SD Pro cartridges!

Gameplay: 🕹️

As for the game itself, a lot has already been said and written about it. Xeno Crisis is a topdown Run 'n' gun game in the style of Smash TV or Shock Troopers. The plot and setting of the game are quickly explained: Somewhere in the future, communications with a remote space colony have been lost due to mysterious circumstances. One or two players are being put in the shoes of battle-hardened Space Marines and are being tasked to check upon the fate of said space colony. In the tradition of classic Alien movies, it comes as no real surprise that the colony is infested by aliens and other blood-thirsty creatures. The xenomorphs only know one language, and it's not the language of peace...

Xeno Crisis is one hell of a difficult game, and selecting the "Easy" difficulty does only little to reduce the scale of the challenge. The gameplay and level design is clearly based off of the afore-mentioned arcade hit Smash TV and similar titles. Either alone or with a friend in co-op mode you move your characters from atop, shoot at everything that moves and run from room to room until you finally confront a boss. After clearing a room of alien lifeforms, you can freely go back to previously cleared rooms to look for other alternative doors or ways. In some stages you need to do this in order to collect keycards or similar items for opening locked airlocks. During the stages you can pick up different weapons, throw grenades and do rolls to evade bullets or to counter specific types of enemies. For instance, later in the game there are shield-wielding enemies that at first seem invincible against your frontal attacks. Well, it turns out that you can actually break their shield by ramming them frontally with your roll move - then they become as vulnerable as every other common enemy.

Similar to Metal Slug you also can free hostages throughout the stages, whose names are based on the Kickstarter backers of Xeno Crisis. Ammunition and supplies (such as grenades and medipacks) are scarce and must be used wisely. In co-op mode a close coordination about who picks the items is crucial, so neither of both players runs out of ammo or lives. Between the stages you can trade your collected dog tags (that you pick up from dead enemies) for upgrades that enhance your different stats such as health, damage and speed. Xeno Crisis has in total seven stages whose order of the rooms are randomly generated, meaning that each playthrough can be considered somewhat unique. About three of the seven stages are really tough ones; on my first playthrough I was especially challenged by the Dunes level that has no boss at the end, but is all the more difficult with all those enemies popping up everywhere.

Somewhat spoiler-related, but I think it needs to be said: Right before you face the boss in the final stage of the game, a certain condition will be revealed to you that requires that you must beat the game until that point WITHOUT losing a single credit! This means that instead of the final boss you'll get an instant Game Over screen. In order to fight the final boss and get the real ending, you must in theory 1CC the whole game.

But luckily for the less-hardcore players among us, you can bypass this unforgiving condition by using the cheat menu which you can enter from the main menu by moving your cursor on the "Options" and HOLDING STICK LEFT + PRESSING B AND D AND THEN A. Then you need to select the "Milo" condition. Once enabled, that one allows you to face the final boss and get the good ending even if you used up any credits, which personally I find more than reasonable.

Anyway, with or without the cheat, beating the game for the first time is really quite a feat that makes you happy that you made it through. I estimate that in total it took me about 6 to 7 hours over a span of two months until I finally beat the game in "Hard" mode with a good friend. If you are a proficient fan of the genre, you may be able to see the ending within 2 to 3 hours.

Graphics: 👾

Xeno Crisis may not boast with as many details and sprites as Shock Troopers, let alone Metal Slug, but it's by all means a solid-looking game with nice sprites, interesting enemies, cool cutscenes, character art and big bosses.

The animations are on the okay side; most of the movement of the characters and sprites looks decent. Bullets, items and explosions look okay and do their job as intended. The stages themselves are rather static but are nicely designed and colorful. It's a nice change to see the stages ranging from space stations to desert areas, forests and laboratories.

Don't expect visual fireworks from Xeno Crisis such as in the afore-mentioned Japanese classics, but for an unofficial Neo Geo Homebrew title it's pretty solid-looking and it's all the more impressive what Bitmap Bureau was able to pull off with the now-30-year-old hardware. Hats off!

Sound: 🔊

Now this is the department where Xeno Crisis really shines; the music in this game is an absolute killer! Pretty much all stages in Xeno Crisis have an awesome theme which makes the player want to continue the challenge. This is exactly what music in video games needs to accomplish! If I were to compare the soundtrack with other games and systems, it would be with Toaplan shooters of the 90's, or Chris Hülsbeck's tunes from the prime of his Turrican days. The music makes a good job in simulating heavy guitars and 80's synth tunes; I can absolutely recommend you to check the soundtrack out if you haven't already!

The other sound effects in Xeno Crisis are in the "solid" department as well - shots, screaming marines, explosions, the screeches of the xenomorphs - it's all what you'd expect from such a game. Particularly worth-mentioning are the voice lines in the cutscenes which explain the rather simple but appropriate story; out of all the 90's retro systems that's something you can only do on the Neo Geo properly! :)

Speaking of the issue of sound, at the Neo Geo release of Xeno Crisis many players noticed sound issues on their AES or MVS copies. These issues are mostly noticeable if you have external sound systems connected to your TV, i.e. console. At the time of this writing, Bitmap Bureau already offered to take back the affected cartridges and to fix the mentioned issues.

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Overall: 📊

Personally, I think the game is an absolute blast for anyone who likes topdown Run 'n' guns such Shock Troopers. It is at times indeed a very challenging game, but it rewards the player all the more with a fantastic soundtrack, engaging gameplay, a solid presentation and a satisfactory ending - provided that you make it that far.