Exolon

Exolon
Developer(s)	Raffaele Cecco
Publisher(s)	Hewson
Platform(s)	Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Enterprise 128, ZX Spectrum
Release date(s)	1987, 1989
Genre(s)	Run and gun
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	N/A
Media	Cassette, Floppy disk
Input methods	Keyboard, Joystick

Exolon is a run and gun game programmed by Raffaele Cecco and published by Hewson in 1987 for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC 8-bit computers. It was later converted to the 16-bit Amiga and Atari ST platforms.

Gameplay

The player takes control of a futuristic soldier across several flick-screen levels of gameplay. The screens that make up these levels are filled with various generic aliens as well as gun-emplacements, homing-missiles, land-mines and other hazards. The player can defend themselves with both a gun and rocket-propelled grenades. The two different weapons are effective against different enemies.

The enemies themselves are very varied taking the form of flying aliens of the type traditionally found in shoot 'em ups as well as homing missiles, fixed guns, tanks, land mines, swarming red pods and "crushers" which shoot out of the ground.

Part-way through each level, there is a pod in which the player can "upgrade" until the end of the current level to an armoured exoskeleton with improved weapons and armour. Attempting to finish the level without this upgrade results in a score bonus.

Legacy

In December 2005, Retrospec released an updated remake of Exolon for Windows-based computers. It can be downloaded from their website[1]. It was also one of the games featured on the C64 Direct-to-TV, released in 2004.

See also

• Cybernoid

External links

• 1987 review of Exolon from Crash magazine.
• Exolon at Lemon 64
• Exolon at World of Spectrum
• Exolon at MobyGames
• Play Exolon online
• Download and description (only in Hungarian) for Enterprise 128 conversions of Exolon both from ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC