Review 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 opposing 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 fate 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, health, 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 unlocked 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
K**U
The game works, good if you have a legit ps1 case.
The disc and manual were in great condition, however the disc case is not the original and the manual was slightly damaged from being stuffed into an improper case.
T**X
A Playstation essential!
Silhouette Mirage is quite possibly one of the biggest hidden gems on the Playstation video game console. From the creators of Gunstar Heroes and Radiant Silvergun, Treasure makes yet another hit for the system. Full of oddities and quirks, the game is pure platforming to the max!
N**X
A fun but hard game
This game is a special shooter that uutilizes the attribute change system. This game is hard. So hard I cant even finish it. But it is fun to play again and again for some reason. Worth the buy.
J**E
Four Stars
not as good as the lunar series and some of there other stuff but enjoyable and unique
S**L
This is a delicious game.
I played this game as a child, and it is the best thing I have ever played. The nostalgia is so hard, I love this game. I just pays 30 bucks for this game and I regret NOTHING. When this game comes in I will sob and fall on my knees in happiness. I may or may not have a heart attack but it is completely worth it because this game is fun as a game can be. Stuff hits the fan, the bosses are crazy, delicious 2D graphics, SO GOOD.
K**E
Don't Take Gamespot's Word for it...
First of all, never listen to gamespot; they .... But now, on to the review... SM wasn't very difficult for me to get the hang of, though the actually levels are full of challenge, and so are the bosses, which are, dare I argue, the best bosses ever to grace video gaming, especially the now infamous Dynamis; The Fish With Multiple Clawed Tentacles And The Head Of A Pinkhaired Doll Who Babbles About How You Should Buy Her Flowers, Pretty Flowers. Each boss if different, with there own moves and attack patterns, each colorful and with its own personality, which is abig feat, considering how on any given path there are about 19 of them, scattered throughout only 6-7 different levels. The voice samples didn't bother me; they won't do so either if you have a strong tolerence or complete unawarness of them. The music, however, is pretty good, though it can go from a nice backround beat to a muted and unmemorable spastic violin boss music piece. You already know what the gameplay is like; I'm too lazy to type what others already have, but, let me tell you, those mechanics make for a good time, not some tedious and confusing trudge. Graphics are just fine. It's nice to see 2-d of this quality around, not to mention some interesting transparency effects employed. Also, I do not think that this game on a whole is overly hard, except for that I can only find 2 of the 5 path, bothof those the 2 most obvious ones, but hey, don't think I don't know my games when I review them even if I'm not exactly in expert in actually playing them. Anyway, if you enjoy 2D blast-intensive shooters, get this game.
G**D
A wonderful, quirky throw-back
This game is extremely off-beat in a very Japanese manner, but it's still a bunch of fun. Treasure has created a great 2-D shooter that harkens back to the glory days of the Super Nintendo, and boy is it a blast to play. Not just a mindless button masher though, it makes you use your noggin and will make you come running back for more, despite the bizarre-giant-flying-flower-selling-fish-with-a-little-girls-head. A pretty [darn] good buy at it's current marked down price.
