Xyanide Resurrection | PlayStation 2 Tuesdays #12

Here we are with the final episode in the current run of PS2 Tuesdays.  I will be taking a break from this series for a little while - probably a month or two.  They will be coming back though, and in the meantime I have plenty more ideas for content on the channel.

This time I'm taking a look at a shoot em up by the name of Xyanide Resurrection. About a month ago, I traded in my copy of Skylanders along with the portal and all the figures I had collected, which was worth £33 in store credit.  Instead of blowing the whole lot on one new game, I decided to buy PS2 and PSP games with it instead.  While I was browsing their selection, I spotted this game.  I was a bit unsure of the quality, but it was only £2, so I decided to take the risk.  I'm quite satisfied with my purchase, with a few minor reservations.

Xyanide Ressurection has a lot of cool things going for it - the graphics are decent, with the background comprising of high quality video streaming from the disc, givig you the illusion of travelling down a tunnel, through an asteroid belt, or flying over a city for example.  It reminds me of games that used a similar technique when CD video was in fashion - stuff like Creature Shock or Sewer Shark.  My only real gripe about the graphics is the fact that every level uses the same orange colour scheme, which can get a bit monotonous after a while.  It can also be a little difficult to see enemy ships and bullets against the background, though thankfully the game does give you a warning when a missile is incoming.

The missiles can still be quite hard to avoid though, as you have to worry about enemies coming from all sides of the level, and spin around to face the threat.  Weapons wise, you start of with a rather puny cannon, a lock on attack, and a small supply of bombs.  By picking up "Xyanide" from downed enemies, you earn currency to spend in the shop between missions.  They sell various upgrades such as a magnet that makes it easier to draw in Xyanide, a shield that recharges after a while (incredibly useful) and improved weaponry.  Another cool thing is that between each level you get to choose which of two branching paths to go down, ala Outrun or Darius.  Taking the upper route is easier, and the lower route harder.

The game is quite pretty, just a little too orange.

The levels play out against some pumping techno tracks which helps to increase the excitement, but like the backgrounds does get a little repetitive by the end of a level.  As for difficulty, I was playing on the lowest setting to try and get used to the game, and I still found things rather tough.  As I was trying in vain to work out how to harm the boss of level 3-1, the game crashed on me. The other cool thing about the game that I must mention before I wrap things up are the motion comics.  These are very well done, and help set up the back story of the game.  It's a bit of a strange tale about a witch called Aguira, and a pilot who breaks the rules a few too many times and ends up getting punished.

All things considered, if you see a copy of this game nice and cheap like I did, I would say that it is worth adding to your PS2 collection.  It's not the greatest game out there, but it's decent enough. Taking a look at Amazon and eBay, it can easily be found for less than £5.  It would appear that there was also a PSP version released, which is going for roughly the same price. OK then, that's it for this season, stay tuned for the new, improved season 2 in a few months time!