Super Xalaxer is a crowd control
game with a perfect, bite-sized idea at its core. You have two
ships. One is controlled by the keyboard, the other by the mouse. You
can only move horizontally, and your ships fire automatically. You
are constantly beset by hundreds and hundreds of tiny popcorn
enemies, and if enough of them get past you in a short span of time,
you die. What a pure, lovely premise for a flash game.
Have you ever tried to rub your stomach
and pat your head at the same time? It's not hard, but there's
certainly an element of confusion to moving your hands in such
different ways simultaneously. That Super Xalaxer causes that
confusion is interesting on its own, but that it actually harnesses
it towards making a genuinely fantastic action game is incredible.
Most of the game is made up of moving
your two ships back and forth, trying to hold back the hundreds and
hundreds of enemies. Beyond that, there's very little variation
throughout its eight levels. There are only a handful of truly
different enemy types, and only two stage layouts.
This simple approach is a good thing.
Layering too many ideas over that core dynamic would only muddle the
game's appeal. And while there are a few gimmick moments that focus
more on obstacle avoidance than crowd control, the game never dwells
on them. A lesser work would have focused exclusively on sequences
like the asteroids at the end of the level three, or the escape
sequence after the final boss, but in Super Xalaxer they're
just a pleasant bit of spice between the more meaty enemy segments.
The highlight of the game is easily the
climax of level seven, where you independently hold back vast numbers
of enemies with one ship while fighting a boss with the other.
Instead of running both ships back and forth across the screen trying
to take out as many enemies as possible, you have to use each of them
independently in very different ways. It's mind-bending,
exhilarating, and the hardest part of the game.
Interestingly, the last level, while
more visually intimidating, is significantly easier (much like
Ikaruga, one of Rhete's documented inspirations). It's an
elegant twist of pacing that delicately eases the player out of the
experience, and it's one of the many subtle touches that elevate
Rhete's work over conventional browser game fare.
Rhete has been making games for years
now, and this is his most mature work yet. Like his recent game
Bullet Maze, it drops the dialogue-heavy approach of his older
games in favor of a focus on pure mechanics. And while his seven-hour
epic Hunters: Relic of the Stars was filled with brilliant
moments and ideas, the scale of smaller games like Super Xalaxer
and Bullet Maze seems to better suit his design sensibilities.
I can't wait to see where he goes from here.
(Yes, it's been a while. I've been
funneling all of my creative energies into my inverted Metroid
game, which should be done in early October. Look forward to it!)
