Spacestation Silicon Valley (Import) Game by Tarantula / Take 2 Interactive Reviewed by Iwan iwan@lamble.demon.co.uk Size: 8 megabits Save: 4 slots Released: August 1999 (UK) Works with: All Gameboys ************************************************************************ Opening Snide Remarks: I really enjoyed the N64 version of Silicon Valley and I have been looking forward to the Gameboy version since it was first announced. I was quite surprised to find the game in EB, since I didn't think it was coming out until Christmas. I don't think it's out in America yet, so this is an import review. ************************************************************************ Gameplay Description: 'SILICON VALLEY is a game almost without comparison. It will appeal to anyone with a quirky, almost surreal sense of humour. Experienced game players will enjoy it for its originality, while those relatively new to the Game Boy will like it for its colour and innocence as they help to save planet Earth from dastardly aliens...' That's a quote from the back of the box. Nothing like being modest, is there? The rest of the packaging inspires little confidence in the game either. The back of the box has an N64 screenshot on it, the manual is brief, picture less, vague and written by someone who hasn't learnt how to properly use capital letters yet. The sticker on the cartridge is the worst I've ever seen. It all points towards this being a cheap game to cash in on a popular license, which is strange because, although critically acclaimed, Silicon Valley didn't sell very well on the N64. Fortunately, this is definitely a case of 'don't judge a book by its cover'. The game itself almost manages to live up to the praise the back of the box gives it (although quite where the innocence and dastardly aliens come into it is anyone's guess). Spacestation Silicon Valley has returned from a few thousand years lost in space and all of the elite commando teams sent to investigate it have mysteriously disappeared. So the world president calls in the cheapo option, the ageing Dan Danger and his robot sidekick EVO. On the way to SV, they argue over the music, resulting in a crash landing, and EVO's body being split into many pieces, spread all over SV. As EVO's central chip, you can take control of any of the spacestation's robot animals once they are 'dead'. EVO progresses through the spacestation finding parts of his body, collecting 'souvenirs' and doing tasks for the lazy Dan Danger (who stays in the crashed ship). Silicon Valley may look like yet another Gameboy platformer, but it plays nothing like a platform game - most of the animals you take control of can't jump, for a start. It's totally unlike any other game you've ever seen on the Gameboy being a mix of puzzles and bizarre tasks such as rounding up sheep or kangaroo boxing. The game is a complete conversion of the N64 game, except in 2D and it both gains and suffers from this. The gameplay is refreshing, inventive and enjoyable. However, the 2D Gameboy version is far inferior compared to the 3D N64 version. The tactical battles between creatures which required skill and forward planning are reduced to hammering buttons. The racing sections, once requiring the player to work out the best racing line and make cunning use of the speed boosts available are reduced to dull, side-on 2D races which are so easy to win its a joke. The exploration required to find all of the 15 power cells on each level (like the coins in Mario 64) is replaced by power cells that are placed in such obvious places you can't fail to find them (and there are very few on each level, too). The powerful weapons some of the animals wielded have been toned down, too. Heat-seeking missiles have become bullets that go on a straight path. Other attacks like tail whips and biting have become trickier to use because your opponents can pass straight through you, meaning precise timing is required. Not that it matters, since the AI of the original, which had you running in fear as huge brown bears chased you half way across the level or rats lead by their king came together for a joint attack, has been replaced by... nothing. The enemy animals simply walk around aimlessly, totally ignoring your presence and even if, miraculously, you manage to get them to attack you, they don't seem to take off much energy. There are much fewer animals on the levels too, thanks to the Game Boy's lack of memory making it nearly impossible to die so you'll complete most levels first time, even if it takes you half an hour to solve the puzzles (although, if you've played the N64 version, of course, the puzzles are identical). Take the 'Pinball Blizzard' level, for example. On the N64 you, starting as a husky, have to kill the King penguin (guarded by 5 normal penguins), use this penguin to collect some hidden silver notes (avoiding four polar bears disguised as snowballs) and then repeat five (?) tunes from memory after they have been played on a giant keyboard, taking care not to land on the wrong keys by accident. On the Gameboy version, you, starting as a husky, have to kill the King penguin (no guards, and it can't attack you itself), collect some non- hidden silver notes (avoiding no polar bears) and then go to a room with a giant keyboard and press up while standing on an area of floor which is darker a few times (no need to remember anything or to take care not to step on the other keys). It's still fun going around and exploring the levels and it's much different to anything else on the Gameboy but it's so stupidly easy it's not true. Also MIA in the Gameboy version is a lot of the humor. The comical sound effects are missing, the unnecessary but funny pieces of scenery (including the infamous speakers) are missing, the animals are too small to see any of their funny actions and thanks to the Gameboy's limited memory, you don't get any dead animals lying around all over the levels since they turn into little hearts when they die. It's still funny, but not as much as the N64 version. Other quick points: The 'opponent's energy bar' on the bottom of the screen doesn't work; Your life goes down much quicker than the N64 version when you're just the chip; A lot of the tasks you have to do to get the souvenirs have been changed (usually to 'just find the souvenir lying around'); unlike the N64 version, you have to tackle all the levels in order (even the 'bonus' ones); due to the lack of enemies on a level you sometimes, stupidly, never get to use some of the animals moves (including, criminally, the King Rat's deadly fart). Finally, those claims of 90 levels are untrue. Silicon Valley may feature 90 missions, but these are spread over only 32 levels (the same number as on the N64). Liked: Very original, funny, refreshingly different to play, lots of levels Hated: No AI, not enough animals, not as funny or challenging as the N64 version ************************************************************************ Graphics Description: The presentation of Silicon Valley is flawless. The menus look great with stars flying past in the background and little visual representations of the levels. The two intro animations are very impressive. While they're not anything that you'd not expect they Gameboy to be able to do, they're much better than anything I've seen before on the Gameboy. The whole of the N64's intro is here - nearly three minutes - almost fully animated. And we're talking large quarter-of-the-screen-at-a-time chunks moving here, not little Wario-cutscenes. The animation is surprisingly smooth, too. In-game graphics are also quite good. Some of the animals may be a little on the small side, but they have lots of animation. The background graphics are also nice, although unfortunately they don't have the same style as the N64 graphics, being less bold and chunky and more 'realistic'. Mention must go to the text in the game. Tarantula have developed their own 'text printer' and it works extremely well. The huge, chunky letters of games like Zelda and Pokemon have been replaced by smaller, sleeker and much easier to read fonts (yes, that is a plural) and they way in which they appear on the screen is pleasing on the eye, too. The amount of text in the game is impressive, too. The mission briefings alone take up a screen each, then there's the in-game text messages and the intros and on the menus... and all in seven languages. The coloring in is a mixed bag. Sometimes the levels look very nice and sometimes they look disastrous (the sewers spring to mind...). Unlike Zelda or Wario, it's often hard to tell when playing in color that this game also runs on the B+W Gameboy as well, which is good. But whoever decided to color the exploding rat poo blue deserves to be shot. Talking of B+W, Silicon Valley still looks pretty good, although blurrier than in color. Of course, if you've played the game in color you won't want to go back, but that's the same with all GBC games. The intro animations are intact on the B+W Gameboy, but the screen flickers quite a bit in them and the animations seemed less smooth (although I could just be imagining that). Liked: Stunning cutscenes, not too bad in game graphics either, nice text. Hated: Dodgy coloring in at times, animals perhaps a bit small. ************************************************************************ Sound/Music Description: All of the music from the N64 version is here and the tunes work much better on the Gameboy than they did on the N64 (not that they worked that badly on the N64). That, of course, means a different tune for each of the 32 levels plus a few more for intros and the menus and stuff. Not bad. Most of the sound effects didn't make it, sadly, but the replacements aren't too bad. The only disappointments are the jump sound (which sounds metallic and completely wrong) and the sheep's baa sound (which sounds so unlike a baa you'll wonder why they bothered). Liked: Great music, over 30 tunes. Hated: Some poor sound effects. ************************************************************************ Play Control/Game Design: The controls are pretty good, but take some getting used to. The levels are pretty well designed too. Marks must be deducted, though, for not realising how crap the AI was and how easy the game is to beat. Liked: Controls, design. Hated: Too easy, no AI. ************************************************************************ Improve: 1. Put a few more power pods on the levels... 2. ... and actually attempt to hide them 3. Once again: Why no cartridge case? Why are you being so cheap, Nintendo? RIYL: There aren't any games that I know of on the Gameboy that are like Silicon Valley ************************************************************************ Final Words: Silicon Valley isn't anywhere near as good as Zelda or Warioland or SMBDX. However, it's a great example of what the Gameboy is capable of in both graphics and sound and the 32 levels will last you a while. The gameplay is refreshingly different and you'll return to the levels simply to play them again because they're so fun. In the end, however, the replay value in the game comes from the arcadey 'bonus' levels, which work much better on the Gameboy than they ever did on the N64. As the first major Gameboy game from Tarantula (who also have Grand Theft Auto, Three Lions and The Muppets in development) this bodes well for future titles from the company but isn't necessarily a game you have to own (except, perhaps, as a curiosity) but if you do buy it you wont be too disappointed. It was always going to be a tricky task to convert a 3D platformer level-for-level to the Gameboy and Tarantula have managed it pretty well. However, maybe it would have been better to have designed all of the levels from scratch to play to the strengths of the Gameboy. ************************************************************************ Score Gameplay: *** Graphics: **** Sound/Music: ***** Play Control/Game Design: **** Personal Opinion: **** Total: 20 out of 25 Final Score: 80% ************************************************************************ Currently Known Codes: None