Reviews

Xeno is touted as a future sport. Two players each control a skimmer which they can move around an arena and attempt to bash a puck into their opponent's goal. It's obviously influenced by the classic Pong, and perhaps also Lucasfilm's Ballblazer.

Quite individually, movement is by positioning a cursor in the line of which your skimmer will move. A bad move can quite easily send you off screen, and before you've got the knack you can sometimes spend a few goes flitting back and forth across it before getting back under control. Not only can you hit the puck, but you can also attempt to knock away your opponent's skimmer, adding a tactical element to the game.

Against the computer, the game can be decent fun but it really comes into its own as a two player game that works in a manner that pretty much no Spectrum football game, the likes of Match Day and Emlyn Hughes International Soccer included, ever quite did.

Binary Design were to revisit the concept in their later games Hyperbowl and Vectorball, and all three games offer a slightly different slant with their individual pros and cons.

This is an excellent game! It's incredibly fun and even better with two players. This had me gripped til the very end.

This is great fun and one of those I found myself to be addicted to, but it is hard to control at times and while I seem to be able to hit the post, he doesn't and his shots that look like hitting the post go in the goal. But flaws aside it's still a great little game to play if you're bored.

1986 A'n'F Software (UK)
by Matthew Rhodes, Pete Harrison and Ste Pickford

This was 1986 and A'n'F Software tried a different approach to the games being release. Far away (3 years!) are games like Chuckie Egg, Jungle Fever or Painter.
Xeno is another category, a very different game both in looks as in play.
It's basically a future sports game, similar to Ballblazer but viewed using different camera approaches. All the action is very smooth, but quite hard to get used to at first, but after a few goes the game becomes easier. Every move in the game has to be planned in advance but quickly, otherwise will give your opponent valuable seconds. All in all, Xeno is a very addictive game.

Awesome game, probably not as addicting nowadays but there's no denying it's a belter of a game. Good times with this one.

Very addictive and funny

Just imagine a game of billiards but simpler.

Be fast but don't lose precision.

Perfect for friends

Very entertaining game published by A'n'F in 1986 about a futuristic sport that takes place in a cool crowded stadium.

Each player controls a disc that must push a puck through the opponent's goal. Who scores most goals wins. The disc is moved by selecting a target where the disc will move. Both players move in turns.

A really addictive and exciting game with a funny two-players option.