Review
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After more than a year of delays, Working Designs has finally
delivered Silhouette Mirage. This isn't the same Silhouette
Mirage that debuted on the Saturn nearly three years ago, however
- the game has somehow transformed from a delightfully quirky
platforming romp into an average, unbalanced, and tedious
exercise meant for "hard-core gamers." In typical Treasure
fashion, Silhouette Mirage's 2D gameplay is integrated with a lot
of story and dialogue. The Edo computer system has malfunctioned,
splitting the world's creatures into two sing classes,
Silhouette and Mirage. In the midst of a massive civil war
between these two factions, a lone guardian possessing both
attributes, Shyna Nera Shyna, wakes to set the Edo system right.
Unfortunately, the memory of the Edo system's location was lost
during Shyna's long slumber, forcing her to entrust her e to a
bug, a friendly Mirage summoner. In her quest, Shyna will face
some of the weirdest and most evil characters to ever grace
gaming. Silhouette Mirage's game mechanics are certainly
innovative, if a little complex. Each of Shyna's two sides
embodies one of the attributes of Silhouette and Mirage, as do
all weapons, depending on which side is facing the enemy. Only
the Mirage side of a weapon can injure Silhouette enemies and
vice versa. All of the game's parasitic weapons, bought from
rabbity salesmen scattered throughout the game, are powered by
Shyna's spirit level. As weapons are fired, Shyna's spirit level
drops, weakening her attacks as it diminishes. You can refill
your spirit meter by draining enemies of their spirit energy,
done by attacking Mirage enemies with Mirage weapons and vice
versa. Dealing with Shyna's split personality is made easier
through a variety of strategic throws, slides, and flips to
manipulate the enemy's position relative to Shyna so the
appropriate side can attack. Fortunately, the game provides you
with an extensive tutorial illustrating and training you to pull
off all of these moves. In addition to the strategic moves, Shyna
can grapple enemies with her hair and beat money from their
pockets - money that can be used to buy new weapons, , and
spirit energy. Confused yet? It's normal - Silhouette Mirage's
complex play mechanics take some getting used to, and fully
understanding the Silhouette/Mirage concept is crucial to winning
the game, especially when fighting the game's awesome bosses. The
need to drain enemies of their spirit energy is new to the US
version and is the single greatest flaw in the game. Not only
does this force you to constantly ration firepower, it also
weakens your weapons as you fire them. As a result, a weapon will
oftentimes not be there when you need it most. Compounding this
problem is the inflated cost of weapons. The US version
significantly ups the price of the game's weapons, forcing you to
beat each and every enemy if you want a half-decent arsenal. As a
result, the price for using weapons other than the boring one you
start with is precipitously high and will cause some players to
opt in favor of simply not buying weapons for most of the game.
Additionally, if you want to succeed in the game, expect to spend
lots of time tediously robbing and draining every enemy before
you kill it. A new two-player battle mode is if you
complete all five of the game's paths with fewer than nine lives,
but this little doodad is hardly worth the boredom and effort
required to achieve it - most players will probably put the game
away after completing one path. Because Silhouette Mirage is a
port of an old Saturn game, it is probably no surprise that the
graphics are dated. While the style is appropriately wacky,
there's very little that's impressive about Silhouette Mirage's
graphics, even if the game "pushes the 2D capabilities of your
PlayStation game console to its limit." While Silhouette Mirage's
catchy, upbeat tunes are perfectly suited for the game, the
localization team has outdone itself in the annoying-voice
department. The game's unnecessary rebalancing makes this
especially obvious; for example, players will be forced to hear
Shyna yell "BAM!" every time she hits an enemy up for cash. Those
interested in playing Silhouette Mirage should look in their
favorite importer's bargain bins, as what was once a perfectly
fun game is now an unrewarding chore overwrought with tedium.
While you won't get to see the exclusive Lunar 2 video, you'll be
treated to a far more competent and enjoyable game experience.
And hey, that's what we're in this for, right?--Peter
Bartholow--Copyright © 1998 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without
express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. -- GameSpot
Review
