GRAPHICS SOUND CONTROL FRUSTRATION FUN FACTOR OVERALL

NES 2 Players Shooter NES players know that the system has had its share of movie licenses that were met with horrible games that made us wonder what the quality control staff was drinking when they let it through. Comic book licenses were no exception, with several comic book licenses turning out to be some of the worst gaming experiences on the system. There were a few good titles, however, and Silver Surfer could arguably be one of them, provided you have your NES Advantage on hand. The Silver Surfer is summoned by Galactus, who explains that parts to an ultimate Machine of Doom have been stolen by evil forces. This is Surfer's cue to fly around the galaxy and get the parts back. You begin back selecting one of five worlds, each with their own theme, and begin your quest to get those missing parts. Silver Surfer is a scrolling shooter in the vain of Gradius and Xevious put together. Depending on the level, you either play from a side-scrolling or overhead perspective. Drones can be picked up to assist you, as can power-ups that increase attack power. If all else fails, the requisite screen-clearing bomb is available if you get out of a jam. Like the hero it is based on, the game looks polished. The environments and characters are detailed and are very well animated, with many cool and sometimes hilarious bits strewn about. There isn't any flicker and the frame rate holds up. Even if they are a little on the small side, every game on the NES should look this good. The audio comes in a distant second in the presentation package, though. There are probably a total of three sound effects in the entire game, and sometimes the music and the sound drop out when the action is too intense. The music, however, gets the blood pumping, something that few other NES scores on can claim. The controls work well for the most part. Surfer moves around pretty smoothly, if not a little sluggishly; it becomes clear quickly that he isn't a sleek futuristic spacecraft. The ability to change the direction the drones shoot, however, is a nice feature, but a better feature would be an auto-fire feature out of the box. Manually smashing the fire button causes nothing but hand cramps, and you'll be doing a lot of it. If you have a turbo button, add a half point to the control score. In fact, Silver Surfer misses being a contender because of some pretty stupid mistakes. One hit kills him instantly, and when you consider that swarms of enemies appear out of every corner at insane speeds, getting hit is unavoidable. If you have a slow button, the game starts to open up more (it seems that the developers designed the game with a slow button in mind). With this feature, add a half point to the Fun Factor and knock a couple off of the frustration factor; it makes all the differences. Even then, the game isn't great by any stretch, especially with the lame boss battles that aren't nearly as challenging as the rest of the game. I've been playing Silver Surfer since I was young, yet could never wrap my mind around the intense difficulty. I still can't, and it was only when I discovered that a slow button works like a charm with the game did I make any progress. Can't complain about the music, since it's been stuck in my head for years. ......BOTTOM LINE: Silver Surfer is a decent blast-fest that is only mildly enjoyable if you are able to cheat. The great visuals can't make up for the fact this is a stupidly hard game, though it isn't the worst. Definitely try this one out before you decide to ride the cosmic waves with a purchase. -The Collector