Journey to Silius - NES (1990)

This game cropped up in my Twitter feed, with some extremely positive comments about the soundtrack. I'd always considered the NES Ricoh sound chip to have a pretty distinct sound which didn't necessarily result in the same level of melodic composition to feature on the Commodore 64, so I was pretty intrigued to check this out. What's particularly interesting is the game had, apparently, been slated to be a license based on The Terminator. The license wasn't awarded because the game opted to focus on the "Future War" aspect of the franchise, rather than following the plot of the movie; the post-apocalyptic backdrops and mechanical enemy design certainly play into the Terminator aesthetic, so this could have been truly huge with the weight of the move behind it.

Any preconceptions I had about the capabilities of the NES chip went out the window as soon as the title screen music kicked in - the whole OST is a masterclass of chiptune goodness. Although the title sequence features a great piece of music, my personal favourite is the stage 1 track; it's such a strong opener for the game, with a thumping drum beat and zinging synth lead which makes for such a strong opener; simply superb.

Fortunately, the actual gameplay is equally solid. It's a fairly standard run 'n gun affair with platforming, but it has great pacing, really tight controls and is just a well-crafted experience. The objective is to blast your way through each stage in turn, then take down an end-of-level boss to add a new weapon to your arsenal. These guns are supposed to add some utility when it comes to dealing with the various enemies, but I found the standard pistol to be more effective than most of the stuff I picked up, so I really just stuck with that.

Overall, this is a fun game with an absolutely awesome soundtrack; go check it out!

Developer: Sunsoft
Publisher: Sunsoft
Year of Release: 1990

Game Review: Donkey Kong (Nintendo Game Boy)

When it was released in 1981, the original Donkey Kong arcade machine was a game of several firsts. Not only was it the first game to start two of Nintendo's most famous characters, it helped define the genre that we now know as the "platformer". From the original coin-op release, to the plethora of home versions, gamers everywhere were hooked by the addictive gameplay, fancy graphics and iconic sound - the sound of jumping over a barrel will be forever etched into our brains.

Despite the success of the game and development of a couple of sequels, it would be Mario (or Jumpman as he was known at the time) that would  go on to enjoy world-wide critical and commercial success in a series of games that made Nintendo the dominant gaming force for the rest of the decade; aside from an outing on the NES, it would seem that poor old Donkey Kong would be relegated to relative obscurity.