Pheenix is a very old game indeed. It became moderately popular during the post Galaxian swirly twirly shoot-out "boom". The concept of these games is to wipe out the alien horde before they do allkindzabadstuff to the Earth.
In fact, Pheenix was just a form of Space-Invaders although the little blighters refused to stand in easy-to-kill lines. They zoomed around a bit and disguised themselves as large blue birds.
Indeed, there is a large blue bird on the cover artwork. Unfortunately it is very poorly drawn and gives the casual on looker little if any idea what on earth the game is about. (Why do software companies use the name of a well known game - presumably for easy identification and thus increased sales - and then use a largely confusing piece of artwork? Discuss)
Anyway, that's all by the by. Now, were we living in a romantic world, this is the point where I'd be able to say "But despite my initial feelings about the game, it's really great!" Unfortunately we don't, I can't and it's not.
Moving left and right and firing and using your shield (sometimes) may have been satisfactory a few years ago but it no longer holds the slightest interest. The gameplay is predictable, the graphics are uninspiring and the whole thing is very disappointing indeed.
And hold on to your horses all you "Ah yes, but it's a conversion of the arcade game and therefore the graphics remain faithful" crowd. It won't wash!
Pheenix is a load of hogwash if - he says, nervously avoiding an entirely damning review - you really want a version of this tired old fogey, it may be worth a look.
2nd January 1987
