Project-X

In Keeping with all shoot 'em ups. Project X has a wanky scenario which nobody is the least bit interested in. It involves a planet being taken over by an evil empire or some load of toss like that. You control a choice of two different space craft and it's up to you. surprise surprise. to save the planet by blowing everything you see to bits. Blimey, it's just like the American army, isn't it?

Unsurprisingly, Project X is a horizontally scrolling shoot 'em up in the Gradius/R-Type mould. As in most games of this genre, as well as having the obligatory alien thingies to shoot at, there's an impressive range of weaponry to equal that of your average Los Angeles high school. These weapons can then be improved and upgraded by collecting the power-up pods that sometimes appear after you've successfully destroyed a wave of aliens. There are also, of course, lots of big "end of level" guardians, as well as a couple that appear mid-way through the game, to contend with.

"Hang on a tick," I hear you whine, "isn't that the same as virtually every other shoot 'em up in existence?" Well, yes it is, but unlike every other shoot 'em up (I'll call them "shooties" from now on). Project X is actually quite good. "Why's that then?" you cry. Well, bear with me and I'll explain.

Shot to pieces

From the mountains of shooties that have appeared over the years, there have only been a couple of good ones, such as Xenon II and, erm Xenon II. Although the basic idea is exactly the same, good shooties are strangely playable. Nobody knows why, not even Norris McWhirter and he knows just about everything. Supposedly. Anyway, Project X is pretty good as far as it goes, but unfortunately, as you have more than likely gathered, being a shootie isn't too much of a good thing. There are multiple reasons behind this. Firstly, although they are a great laugh to start off with, you do get very bored with them after a short space of time. Also, the repetitive nature of the gameplay doesn't help.

One thing in Project X's favour, though, is the ability to skip levels already completed, thus avoiding having to wade through the first couple of stages over and over again.

The graphics on the game are pretty good, and scroll very smoothly at quite a high speed. That is until you put the music/ fx on. If you do, you'll probably experience a fair bit of sprite slow down, which isn't necessarily a bad thing as it makes the game a that tad less hectic. Nevertheless, there doesn't seem to be much point in turning the music on as all it consists of is a couple of average rave-type tunes on the title and intro screens, and some sampled speech in the game that sounds as if it's being read by someone with a pillow over his rusty voicebox, who spent the night consuming Oliver Reed's drinks cabinet.

Although, as I've previously mentioned, Project X is very playable, I can't really see it scoring too high on the longevity metre due to the fact that all shooties tend to get tedious after a while, and I suspect it would not be too long before you completed it.

If you're after a good pc shoot 'em up, then Project X is probably one of the best available, but if you're after a good game, then it might not have the staying power.