Journey to Silius
System: NES
Release Date: September 1990
Developer: Sunsoft
Publisher: Sunsoft
Genre: Action
I’ll be back to terminate some terrorists in Journey to Silius! Excitement abounds as Jay McCray is preparing to join a new space colony in the Silius Solar System. But an explosion rocks his world, killing his father. Finding a disk pointing the finger at a group of terrorists, Jay vows to kill them all, defend the colony, and avenge his father.
We have a simple platformer, where you jump with the A Button and shoot with the B Button. Run forward (never back) and take out enemies spawning at fixed spots to get to the end of a level. Each specific enemy attacks in a simple manner, but as they bunch up on screen, it can make your life difficult. Most enemies take multiple shots to kill and can rush you to cause damage. Very rarely, they drop blue or pink capsules which refill your guns and life, respectively. The lack of life drops makes everything much more difficult than it should be.
Levels are few in number, but actually quite difficult. You need to watch your step as some enemies hide underground. (36:10) (45:20) Some enemies are extra jerks and won’t allow for space to kill them. (53:07) (56:20) There are extra powerful enemies at the end of each level that drop a new weapon before the level boss. Use of other weapons can make your life easier, like these shotgun blasts or homing missiles. (38:05) Verticality will be the death of you, until you memorize where enemies are placed. (39:35) I realize that I should have used the homing missile here… (1:23:30) There’s a lot of BS instakill obstacles in the last level. (1:32:50) (1:32:09)
Bosses require pattern recognition and precise actions to defeat. (43:45) (1:12:00) This guy is pretty easy with the grenade launcher. That can also make the final boss a little bit easier. You only get three lives and three continues, which is not enough to beat it on your first few tries, so press the B Button 33 times on the title screen, then press the Start Button. Enjoy your sound test and extra continues. (30:45)
Graphics: 3.0
Everything looks good, but there’s a lot of flickering.
Sound: 4.0
The music is top notch. Really, great work by Sunsoft here.
Gameplay: 2.5
Run, gun, avoid projectiles, and try not to die by utilizing the proper weapon.
Difficulty: 2.5
Enemy placement can be incredibly cheap, requiring perfect playing to get through successfully.
Fun Factor: 2.5
It’s more fun than your average action game, but it’s not amazing.
Overall Rating: 2.9
Journey to Silius earns a B. Although the music is great, this isn’t my favorite action platformer out there.