Xenopods

Xenopods is a decent overhead shareware shooter game from Softdisk, designed by Tom Hall (of later id Software fame). The plot is very standard sci-fi cliché you’ve seen a zillion times before: you are the lone survivor on a frontier outpost that's been attacked by alien larvae. As you pilot your security drone around each sector, you must repair the communication links to alert the Federation, while avoiding or killing alien bugs that roam the outpost.

The game, as with others designed by id Software founders, is very smoothly animated and quite fun. The graphics are quite detailed considering it’s 16-color EGA, and there’s plenty of interesting weapons you can find and use. The gameplay is pretty simplistic: just collect weapons and shoot everything in sight, taking care to replenish your shields after damage. But fortunately the levels and alien bugs are varied enough to hold your interest for quite some time. The humor of Commander Keen is missing from this one, which is a pity.

If you’ve enjoyed other Softdisk games, Xenopods is a solid action game warrants a look even if it won’t keep you up nights in a row.

Review By HOTUD