Xenophage: Alien Bloodsport

 Apogee and Argo games threw this game on the market in December of 1995, following the wake and popularity of Mortal Kombat II in the arcades. As we all know, DOS wasn't the best platform to create a fighting game, but many did it anyways, despite the facts: Arcades/consoles owned the fighting genre, PC gaming just wasn't as popular. Xenophage, taken literally, is like eating aliens, or something. I guess it's a pretty fitting title then, let's see how this game holds up!

 Gameplay: 7/10

Wow. It's fast, easy to control, and pretty fun. I even got some combos down and learned some special moves, which are things like lame projectiles of acid from your weird, alien mouth. You whoop ass and it looks like you're given the opportunity to "finish" your opponent, but I didn't get around to any of that. Played through the game on easy mode, which is saying a lot, because usually with a PC fighting game I just get pissed and rage quit. I even went and hooked up my gamepad for when I played normal mode, which was just dandy. Still, there isn't really any story progression or character involvement, such as in One Must Fall: 2097. I'm going to take away 3 points because of that, but otherwise, this game gets a good rating.

Graphics: 8/10

The best thing about this game is how the camera moves around so much, zooming in and out depending on how close or far away your opponent is. Sometimes the characters look like they're the size of the screen, and it's pretty cool, because they're well detailed and generally fun to look at. I mean, geez, look at these odd alien creations, chewing on eachother and stabbing one another. The two human characters are out of place, in my opinion. The scrolling backgrounds have multiple levels of animation to them, and it adds a nice overall effect. I just don't like the menu screens, character selection screens, or the prefight screens. They could have done better there, -2 points.

 Sound: 5/10

Some annoying synth music will keep you occupied as you hear some digital punches and bites. The announcer does speak a lot, which is good, but it's missing the wailing and screaming of some other notable fighting games. -5 points for disinterest.

Overall: 7/10

 Now, before you go and play this game, I suggest you get this FAQ ready, it will help you learn some moves and save a buttload of time as you're character surfing. Despite the story mode lacking depth, it's still a pretty good fighting game engine, and it looks great to boot. Mashing the default keys got tiresome to me, so I'd recommend using a gamepad for optimum oldgaming experience. The game was generously released as freeware in 2006, and it provides quite a bit of entertainment. Give it a go!

 http://www.3drealms.com/xenophage/