Journey to Silius Review (NES)

Super Game Geek here and today I’m going to go back in time to the 90’s to review Journey to Silius, an action-adventure platformer (better known as run and gun) developed by Sunsoft for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Now if you don’t know, Sunsoft developed a lot of great NES games such as Blaster Master, Batman, and Spy Hunter. I’m reviewing this game because a lot of people have never heard about it and it is a great classic run and gun shooter. I also did some research to give you some more history. This game was actually developed to be based on the first Terminator movie. This can be recognized by the enemies seen in level three and the last boss which happen to look like exact models of the Terminators. And if you listen closely to the intro you can hear a snippet of the Terminator theme. The reason this didn’t go through as a Terminator game was because Sunsoft lost the license and was forced to change the game. But forget what this game was supposed to be, let’s find out what it actually is!

When the game first starts up, you are introduced to the title screen along with the developer’s name under it. The first thing I noticed was an awesome title song. I mean this song was way ahead of it’s time. Most NES games have the same two to eight notes repeated over and over until you want to gouge out your eyes with a spoon but this title theme is a freakin’ tune. I actually timed how long it took for the theme to repeat and it came to two minutes and thirty-five seconds. Throughout the entire game the music will have your blood flowing faster than ecstasy. The techno sounds and themes were my favorite part because each level has its own song to set the tempo. Hell, I found myself doing a shoulder lean and dropping bows to some of them. Now, they definitely did work on that aspect, but will the game follow up?

When you start off, a short intro occurs to let you know what’s going down in the story department. You see a nice city nuked and then the text appears, “After many years of space colony development, Jay’s father has passed away.” Alright… This isn’t the best way to introduce a character because at first glance I was asking myself, “Who the hell is Jay?” Apparently the game automatically assumes you know who Jay is. This is probably because they expected you to read the manual but most likely if you get the game any time soon, you’re going to buy it from the flea market or an antique store with enough dirt in the cartridge to start your own ant farm. As the intro goes on you find out Jay’s father died because of terrorists and then a picture of some little Emo punk pops up on screen (which turns out to be Jay) as he states he wants to make them pay. Another tragic, angry hero wants revenge; we’ve heard it all before. This game is more about the gameplay so let’s talk about that.

Oh yeah. No doubt about it. That’s a terminator.

Finally, you can start playing and you’ll immediately realize the Sprite you’ll be messing around with for the next couple hours looks nothing like the whiny little Emo kid seen in the picture. Oh well, makes it easier on the eyes. You can open the inventory if you press the start button, and it shows the weapons you have in stock. You start off with a pistol but as you go on through the game defeating bosses and sub-bosses you can pick up five more powerful weapons. However, your pistol is the only weapon with unlimited ammo and you’ll have to kill enemies to replenish your supply of ammo as well as health. You’ll immediately notice that this game resembles several other great run and gun games such as Megaman and Contra. You can shoot, run, jump or hump the floor in prone position. Your basic controls are simple, A to jump, B to shoot, and D-pad for movement. Some may find a problem with Jay’s movement. It might be a little stiff at first but when you get the hang of Jay’s movements the platforming can become much easier. I hardly ever died trying to jump from platform to platform. Also, when he falls and hits the ground he still has the momentum of the drop so that may cause some confusion when first starting out but is surprisingly realistic for an NES game. This really ticked me off at first because I landed on enemies accidentally while trying my hardest to avoid them after dropping off a ledge. But again, once you get the hang of his movements, you’ll be fine. Also, when dropping down from a ledge, you can’t change direction in mid-air as well so when taking on a new level, be ready to get sucker punched in the groin by an enemy.

There are five fun and fast paced levels. You run through them blasting away everything in sight. All of the levels are greatly detailed for an NES games. They just look fantastic and add to the tone of the game. Each level has new enemies, most being new robots or gun turrets, to change the tempo. However, one enemy that had me questioning what the developers were thinking was in the second level. There are these little pods on the ground that literally erect into a giant cock to stop Jay from proceeding. I mean check it out! It’s a machine cock that gets hard whenever Jay gets close to it. How’d that get in there? Machines getting erections over humans?! What the hell?! But other than that, the enemies are fun to destroy and the levels are great for platforming.

So wrong. Just so wrong.

Now don’t get me wrong, you’ll have a fun time pumping enemies with your laser and blazer, but this game doesn’t lay itself down and let you walk over it. This game is tough. There are countless enemies that all want a turn at abusing poor Jay. What’s worse about it is that it takes awhile to sweep any enemy off the floor with your pistol. It’s easy when you get stronger weapons but you’ll want to save your ammo for the almost impossible boss at the end of the level. And these bosses are tough especially since they take up almost the entire screen and one wrong move will cause Jay to take damage. If you are not a fan of run and gun games, this game will piss you off to the point where your TV will end up smashed on the floor or your control will reveal its insides after you break it in half.

The biggest compliant I have about this game deals with the shooting mechanic. You can only shoot straight. Yeah, I know Mega Man was like this but it didn't limit you to only three shots at once. You can only release your fury behind or in front of you. But you can not shoot up or down. In any run and gun game that is almost a necessity since enemies barrage you from all angles and that is no exception in Journey to Silius. Maybe Jay was based after John McCain and can’t lift his arms above his shoulders? But this really adds to the difficulty and will frustrate a lot of people when you begin to take damage from enemies that are shitting on you from above like pigeons.

But besides that, this game did almost nothing wrong. The controls are good and work great, learning to move Jay will take some time but shouldn’t be too much of a hassle, the gameplay is fun and action packed, and the graphics look amazingly detailed for their time. The music is outstanding with futuristic tunes (for back then) that’ll get you to even bob your head or tap your foot (unless you’re some testosterone freak who views dancing against the manliness religion). The story makes no sense with the game but this was released with on a system where stories were few and far between so any attempt was appreciated especially after they lost their license. However, it didn’t ever do anything to break from the pack either. It took all the great concepts from great run and gun shooters but Sunsoft couldn’t come up with any great ideas on to truly make this game shine. Sure it will be a classic to many fans of the genre but to others it will be another sharpened pencil to the eye. Especially since the difficulty of the games will cause internal riots. But if you can handle games like this, you’ll be spending a fun couple of hours on Journey to Silius.