In the video game world movie/TV licenses are particularly infamous. Most of the time these are a cheap cash in with which the developer put in the absolute minimum. Throughout the years gamers have become accustomed to avoiding box arts depicting logos and characters they know from the television. There are exceptions, but these are rare. Another issue with licensed games is the fact that due to legal issues many of them face problems with release. Most of the time publishers cancel their titles, but occasionally you’ll find cases where the developers re-tooled the game so as to completely remove elements (usually graphics and music) that cause copyright problems. Journey of Silius is one of these such games. It was originally in development using the Terminator film license, but the developer lost the rights. They re-designed the graphics and story, and this is one of the occasions where I’m happy they took the extra time to do so.
Journey to Silius takes place in the distant future where the people of Earth have created space colonies as a means to deal with the overpopulation on their home planet. The protagonist of this story is a young man named Jay whose father is killed by terrorists while working on one of these such satellites. Jay finds a floppy disk left behind by him asking him to finish the work on this station. After this he sets out to avenge his father and continue his life’s work. It’s your pretty basic revenge story and it stays firmly in the background aside from the opening sequence. This game is your basic eight bit era run and gun title. Jay can jump, walk, duck down, and fire his weapon. I was a little disappointed to discover that he can only aim in the direction he is facing which is a bit of a hindrance because many enemies attack from the air, but his different shot types alleviate this a bit. Despite the gameplay style there’s also a fair bit of platforming in specific stages, but this is by no means one of the focuses of this title. It does add to the challenge though.
One thing that makes this game interesting is the different weaponry you obtain. At the start he has only the standard hand gun which is slow and not powerful, but it can be used infinitely. The other guns drain a weapon meter located by the life bar. The shotgun is one of these such weapons but it fires a spread of three different shots. At the end of the first stage you acquire a machine gun which allows for rapid fire, in the next level you get the homing missile that seeks out enemies. Other weapons include the laser rifle that is extremely powerful and each shot travels through opponents, and the grenade launcher which fires slow projectiles but is the strongest weapon in this game. In regards to weapon diversity I was instantly reminded of Mega Man, and like its inspiration some of the guns aren’t particularly useful. The homing shot consumes a lot of energy and I found that most of the time it was wasted by hitting the ceiling or floor. The shotgun is a bust too because it’s only useful in specific circumstances. I generally tried to stick with the default hand gun since the others rapidly drain your weapon meter, and refills for the others aren’t particularly common.
What holds Journey to Silius back is that it’s extremely difficult. You’re constantly being barraged by enemies and their projectiles, and their placement makes it tough to avoid taking damage. In addition Jay suffers knock back damage which means that when you’re hit you fall backwards a few steps. This isn’t bad for the majority of stages, but when you’re forced to jump chasms it serves as a major hindrance. The boss characters are also difficult because they all leave small opportunities to dodge their attacks. There’s a lot to pay attention to, and it can be tough when the screen is particularly cluttered. The level design is really interesting here, and this game brings some pretty cool ideas to the table. For example the opening stage has guns in the background that fire, and eventually their shots rain down on the playing field. Level five features conveyor belts with boxes dropped on to them. There’s even a forced scrolling stage which unfortunately requires some intricate platforming. Despite being only five levels long gamers will struggle to complete this title in one sitting because it’s so difficult, demanding, and is occasionally a little unfair.
The graphics here are pretty good by NES standards. This is a surprisingly colorful title, and takes a different approach than other similar games like Contra. The background set up the destroyed landscape perfectly in the first stage, and as I already mentioned I particularly like how you can see shots being fired in the distance which soon come crashing down on the player. Enemy designs are frequently repeated, but they’re pleasant enough. This is the one area wherein you can most easily tell this was previously designed as a Terminator game; many of the robot foes resemble the title character from the movies, and the final boss in particular doesn’t seem to have been significantly retooled. Journey to Silius has one of my favorite soundtracks of all time. The high tempo of each song, as well as the diverse range of notes makes for some fantastic listening. The composers did an excellent job with what they had to work with.
This is one tough game. As someone who can complete titles like Contra with little trouble I found myself struggling here. Some may be turned off by this title’s short length (it’s only five levels long to be exact) but you’ll be dying and continuing a lot. The level design is a lot of fun, but to be successful you’ll need to memorize enemy locations and patterns. When you devote time into it Journey of Silius can be a rewarding experience. Check it out if you’re looking for hidden gems on the original Nintendo console.
