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Conspiracy, revenge, and a main character that looks like a Kennedy.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 27, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Few have probably played--let alone heard of--this one. Though it unfortunately slipped under the radar for most gamers, Journey to Silius is a unique platform-shooter offering some excellent gameplay and an interesting story...

You're future World King, Robert F. Kennedy. Armed with a gun strikingly identical to the NES LightZapper, you're on a journey to Silius, the world's capital. On the path to reclaim your throne, it's your job to take out any robots and alien-spitting helicopters that get in your way (all while wearing space-aged underwear, nonetheless). Take no prisoners and answer to NO ONE!

Okay, so that's not REALLY the story, but the main character does look a lot like RFK, and the default weapon does resemble the NES LightZapper.

So despite lacking a story as fantastic and ridiculous as my own invented plot, the actual story is still pretty interesting. You're Jay, a young man living in a futuristic world where space colonies are all the rage. Jay's father, a renowned scientist, passes away one day due to an unexplained "accident." Jay later finds a floppy disc (how about THAT for futuristic?) with a message from dear old dad: "I hear the terrorist [sic] are planning against the colony development. You must complete my mission if I cannot." Upon viewing his father's message, Jay decides to avenge daddy's death (for some reason), and the action begins.

Okay, so admittedly the story is a tad on the random side, and it does seem to rely heavily on the implication that Jay`s father was either murdered or is still alive. This likely happened because JtS was actually planned to be based on The Terminator (the license was never acquired). The creators probably needed a way to explain all the senseless action and must have just thrown something together.

But story aside, it's the gameplay that really makes JtS stand out from the rest of the NES library. While it's similar to games like Mega Man--the main objective is to blast through levels using a variety of weapons collected by beating a boss at the end of each level--JtS still has its own unique charm. Enemies come from all sides and angles, and bombs launch from the background and rain down from the sky. The boss fights are both challenging and fun, and the controls are rock solid. Although the game lacks the level depth of Mega Man and similar titles, it's still incredibly fun.

On top of great gameplay, the soundtrack is incredible. Without a doubt, JtS has one of the best soundtracks on the NES, and it's hard to fully understand how great it is until you hear it. Sometimes I'll play the game just for the music, especially for level one's tune. The quality is excellent, unlike typical NES soundtracks that glitch up whenever sound effects are made. It also has drums, a bass line, and a rocking lead track that runs circles around most other NES titles consisting of only two instruments that beep in varying pitches. JtS sounds like it's fit to be on the SNES, and easily compares to some of the console's earlier titles.

Not only is JtS one of the best sounding NES games, but it's one of the best looking too. The overall animation is crisp, clear, and colorful. Jay's movements are beautiful and flawless. The enemies look great, and really, there's not much to complain about here--not even the usual graphical glitches typical to almost all NES titles.

Although the levels are extremely linear, it's still fun to run, duck, and blast through them. The enemy layouts are clever and challenging, making for a difficult, yet entertaining experience. Unfortunately, the weapon powerups are nothing spectacular, and I found myself more comfortable with the default weapon rather than struggling to use weapons like the shotgun (very slow rate of fire, but it shoots in three directions), or the machine gun (it runs out of ammo very quickly--just buy a turbo controller).

It's too bad this game never got the attention it deserves. I myself hadn't heard about it until a few months ago, and even then, I've only played it on an emulator. Still, it's pretty cheap, so pick up a copy if you have a chance. I know I will--eventually.

Great NES era

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: March 10, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This is yet another pretty generic side-scrolling game for the NES. You move to the right and shoot enemies with your futuristic weapons through 5 action-packed stages; 5 is a fairly small number but the stages are huge, so getting through this game might take a little longer than a Contra game. A big boss awaits you at the end of each stage; the last stage has more than one, anyway...
However, this is not the true magic in Journey to Silius; It sure is generic, but it has a good level design and it represents a real challenge for any NES gamer. The best thing in this game? The music, of course. When I first played the game back in 1991 I got totally hooked with the technical and melodic quality of those 8-bit tunes. Some extremely well-crafted synthpop and pseudo-spacesynth tracks help give the game a great futuristic feel (for the early nineties, anyway...). There isn't a whole lot of music in the game, but what there is, it's truly outstanding and well worth the price of admission, all by itself.

In general terms, Journey to Silius is a generic game, but a very enjoyable one. A must for any old-school gamer.

Love this game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: December 07, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is a typical 2d scoller game. I love it. You get new weapons as you progress. The leavels get difficult but not to the point where you want to pull your hair out. I love this game. It is fun. The graphics are typical for the time. You start out 3 guns and yes your amo can run out. You run thru the leavel and try and avoid these machins that jump all over the place, holes in the ground, bullets falling form the sky, flying things that shoot, and at the end of every leavel there is a mini boss that you have to beat to be warped to where the big boss is. I still play this after 10 years.

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