Silent Debuggers
System: TG-16
Release Date: October 1991
Developer: Data East
Publisher: NEC
Genre: First Person Shooter
Board a derelict spacecraft and relieve it of whatever riches it may store in Silent Debuggers! Leon wants you to be his buddy and help him get rich. A cargo station has been abandoned in space for quite some time. You are a debugger, which I guess is an adventurer of some sort. It’s in your job description to get in that station, but what’s awaiting you is anyone’s guess. Other debuggers have entered and no one has come out. Do you have what it takes to get through six levels of action?
After giving yourself a name, you and Leon are met by some nasty, gnarly space creatures. He takes up residence in the central control room and sends you out into the surrounding blocks and cargo holds. You’re given a mini map on the bottom of the screen, but it shows your relative location, not any corridors or enemies. You’ll frequently be pulling up the pause menu to look at the map of the station. The control room and blocks are static as you move through the levels, as they are descending, like an elevator. The outside portion of the level is the cargo hold.
You’ll be doing most of your wandering on the outer cargo levels. This is where enemies are hiding. They get progressively more maze-like as you move through the levels. You have to be cautious, though, as the aliens will sometimes leave the cargo hold and begin attacking the eight blocks. If the aliens do too much damage, they will shut down different blocks and make your life hell. Four of them don’t do anything, but Blocks B, C, F, and G house the station lights, battery charging, sensor operation, and bullet room. Losing the lights and sensors make life a whole lot worse.
When you’re walking around, the sensors begin to flash and emit a hum as you get close to enemies. When it becomes red, a fight is imminent. The goal is to blast all the enemies you come across. Each level has dozens of aliens for you to take out. There is a choice of three main weapons and three secondary weapons. Depending on what you choose, you may have to restock ammo. Weapon firing is done with Button II and your special weapon is fired with the Run Button. I found myself launching grenades when I wanted to bring up the command menu with the Select Button.
As you shoot or take damage, your battery drains. You can recharge the battery as much as you want as long as you make it to Block C. Otherwise, you need to switch to the back up battery or die when it runs out. There is a five minute penalty every time you die, and it’s game over when the 100 minute time limit expires, so be careful. I only made it to Level 5 and though I’m pretty sure I could beat it now that I know how to play, I really don’t think I want to spend another two hours trudging through the corridors. I guess I’ll never find out what sinister plot was awaiting me on the bottom floor.
Graphics: 2.5
The corridors are plain, but not offensive. The aliens and their death animations are kind of neat.
Sound: 1.5
You need the sensor hum in order to find enemies, but that doesn’t make it pleasant.
Gameplay: 2.0
Walking around, finding enemies, and shooting them all work, but there didn’t seem to be a whole lot of depth.
Difficulty: 1.5
Shoddy translations and lack of information conveyed to you when there is an alert make your life a lot harder than it needs to be.
Fun Factor: 2.0
There’s something here that could be built on, but I kind of have a feeling there won’t be many more tile based FPS games in my future.
Overall Rating: 1.9
Silent Debuggers earns a C. This is an alright game that I think could be fun for some as a novelty, but not much more.