Sanxion

Sanxion is a horizontally scrolling shooter. The goal to traverse each level from left to right avoiding or destroying any enemies and obstacles. The scrolling speed is controllable, increasing the closer the player is to the center of the screen. The screen is divided in two sections, the upper one with an overhead view, and the lower one, taking up two-thirds of the screen, shows a typical side view. Enemies can come from both sides of the screen in close formations that the player must avoid colliding with.

While the scrolling is automatic for the most part, the player can control the speed of the engines (there is even a bonus timer that counts down, as an incentive for those who want to "blast through"), and the pitch of the noise alters accordingly, while sounding vaguely like a didgeridoo. This "adjustable rate autoscroll" is uncommon in the genre (Armed Police Unit Gallop is another example of this). There are a few exceptions, though. Several levels end with sections where the ship is forced to fly at maximum speed (a two-note siren will sound at the beginning of such sections), where the player must be quick to avoid oncoming barriers.

Sanxion was the first Thalamus game to use the Cyberload loader by John Twiddy, famous for containing the string "hackers screw off and die". Computer Gaming World noted the presence of the fastloader (although not the string present) and was thankful for its inclusion.

The SID music by Rob Hubbard called "Thalamusik" was played in the Commodore 64 tape loading screen, during several minutes of slow tape load. The piece was inspired by Zoolook by Jean Michel Jarre, a piece that Hubbard also reproduced in SID form for some public domain demos. It was popular and later spawned several fan-made remixes.

The game was reviewed in 1988 in Dragon #130 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 4 out of 5 stars.

Commodore User's Mike Pattenden considered the game to be a clone of Uridium which was well executed but not really worth purchasing as an alternative to the cheaper rival Warhawk.