X-Out (Amiga) - A Playguide and Review - by LemonAmiga.com
110X-Out is a horizontal shoot em up, released by Rainbow Arts in 1990. Most of the team came from Factor 5, although I'm not sure if this is an official Factor 5 release? It grabbed my attention so lets check out my first few plays.
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Recorded: 18th Sept 2024
Narrated: 26th Sept 2024
Uploaded: 16th Oct 2024
I first discovered this game thanks (once again) to a Lukozer review back in November 2015 (has it been so long!?). Just like Carrier Command, Indi 500, Eco and Star Glider, and too many other games, those reviews really inspired me to cover those games. With a hole in the schedule for 'A' games this year, I decided to drop Mean Arenas and cover this game instead, as just like the others, it had been on the list for a long while.
This is the first time I've seem the game, and I played it cold for this video. Thats why the footage looks like it is being manipulated by an idiot. X-Out is addictive, and it inspired me to record more footage of the levels, this time with a fully powered up ship, but I didn't get much further with it.
Danscore:
X-Out has been off my radar for the most part, but firing this up for the first time felt like an instant classic. From the Chris Hulsbeck music, to the intro sequence; which introduces our underwater craft. The ships power ups are at least vast and varied, although I was struggling to understand the arrangement of the drones, and have yet to find a perfect loadout for defence as a result. The weapons initially feel meaty, but even with the top powered up firepower, it feels somehow underpowered, leaving the player to deal plenty of hits on the enemies. Graphically, the first level is very impressive. Sadly the rest of the game doesn't quite have the same Wow factor, and the underwater trope seems to have been forgotten by level 2; where it becomes like every other space shooter. I love the atmosphere, which reminds me of Disposable Hero in some ways, especially with a nice shop to play around with, and some excellent music throughout. But the drab backgrounds of the later levels cheapen the visual experience, and the crazy tracking worms on level 3 lead to quite a lot of cheap deaths. I want to love this game, especially because of the process of buying ships/lives and fully kitting them out. But after the first level I felt there was a missed opportunity to deliver a James Bond-type underwater action game, when what we got is basically more like Denarius++. As a fun shooter with some replay value, I give it 8 out of 10. Some say the game is far too easy to master, and maybe this is true, but for casual gamers it might be addictive enough keep coming back for a quick blast!