Xenon 2: Megablast 1989

Is it still worth playing?

The Bitmap Brothers' 1989 vertically scrolling shoot em up for the Amiga and Atari ST, the sequel to Xenon, set a thousand years later. You pilot the Megablaster to destroy five bombs planted throughout history by the Xenites. It carries a blaster and a shield, and once the shield is gone the next hit destroys the ship. There are five levels, from the Cambrian era to futuristic metallic spaceways, filled with aggressive lifeforms mutated by the bombs' radiation. Each level has six restart positions, so you respawn at the last one you passed when you lose a life, and with all three lives gone the game ends. Each level ends with a boss that defuses the bomb when beaten. Today, restart points spaced through each level turn a hard stage into a series of short attempts.