Lethal Xcess

Absolutely top notch shooter which is one of the few games that really show what the STE was capable of and the number of sprites on the screen at times is incredible but never a hint of slowdown. Visually it is a feast for the eyes with a wide variety of imaginative enemies which move in balletic precision across the screen and more colours on the screen than the ST has any right to display at once. Music by Jochen Hippel is fantastic too as well as the sound effects including lots of digitised sound. Not too keen on the mocking laugh when you die though seems like too much salt in the wound for what is already a mega tough game. A real tour de force and deserved to be more heralded than it was but it came late in the life of the ST but stands the test of time as a true great in the ST library.

Well, it's an ST classic that still impresses me today. Graphics, music and sound are all top-notch and extremely professional, and also have that hint of "scene" flair to them.

The gameplay isn't that great though. The game is extremely difficult due to many many cheap shots at the player. Most shooters allow the player to memorize safe spots on screen, or what order to kill enemies in in order to dodge subsequent attacks, but this game has tons of homing shots and kamikaze enemies that make most shooter strategies impossible. It is also very difficult to keep your power-ups because whenever you pick up another type of weapon or a skull, it completely downgrades your current offensive. This is acceptable, but there are tons of powerups on screen and they all linger and fly around, making them difficult to dodge if you don't want them.

I'll admit that I needed a trainer to beat this. It was still enjoyable, as the game has lots of great scenery and music to see and hear. Even though it is extremely flawed, it's still one of my favourite shooters on ST and I boot it up often (mostly for the awesome music).