Silver

"Silver is Silver, but not quite Gold."

Introduction
Rpgs, Turn Based or Real Time, it does not matter. I'll buy them all. Even when I've heard something bad about an RPG, even if a game comes from a developer known for rubbish games, even when a gave hasn't been covered by many of the most revered reviewers due to obvious reasons. I'll still but the RPG if I can get it for the right price.

Story 8/10
The story follows David, a hot-headed, eager to please, virtue of a knightly man. One day David has his wife (along with the rest of the villages) kidnapped and taken to Silvers palace. Silver then has a choice of whom will be wed to him. Fuge and Glass, Silvers children, deal with Silvers dealings while he regains powers. The story was quite interesting until the cliched collect eight orbs of power in order to stop the evil sorcerer storyline enters the picture.

Gameplay 7/10
Silver is a Hack and Slash real time RPG. You'll come across a variety of environments and basically kill anything that gets in your way. Enemies can offer at times reasonable challenge (The lycanthrope for example is a tough enemy) and other times you'll just be slashing through hordes of weak enemies and you don't get experience from them either. Experience comes from defeating bosses, well levels come from defeating bosses.

The game plays similar to Diablo, but lacks its depth. Enemies aren't smart either and there are too few of them when compared to Diablo or Record of Lodoss War. Silvers camera angles aren't brilliant either. When David walks into the background he'll get smaller as the camera doesn't follow him, and when he wals towards the camera he gets bigger. David's swordsmanship is a bit weak, all he has are a few slashes and a lunge, but they are very simple to pull off.

Once orbs are collected, David and co can uses their powers, from thunder, earth and fire magic. The most interesting gimmick though is that as the game progresses new characters will join your party and you can switch between them at will, assign them with orbs or abilities and the other two, based on average AI, will fight until you decide to use them. This was an interesting feature that could have been utilized much better than what they did her, but its input certainly brightened up the game.

Visuals 6/10
The visuals were very nice, environments were very detailed and the whole feature had a medieval feel to it. Glasses palaces looked like an Ice princesses palace and bore similarities to that of The Ice Queen or even the White Witches castle from the Narnia series. Snowy areas, open grass lands, the vast library all well designed. Though the characters themselves were sloppy. The DC has a great processing power and we have seen games that have given characters great facials (Shenmue anyone?) Silver though just gives you a bunch of spite like characters with zero features. The sprites though are accompanied by head shots when the character talks. It would have been nice if they would have given the characters proper faces as it would have given them more life.

Audio 9/10
This is the best area of the game. The soundtrack is fantastic. Eerie themes from the town of Rain, the Library and Glasses palace are orchestral master pieces (in gaming terms anyway) All music brings every area to life. Silver has brilliant voice acting, some of the best I've ever heard in the game. Davids voiceover was great, Grandfathers even better and the rest of the voice were done so well it made it allowed me to really enjoy the well written story the game possessed. Silver struck gold in the Sound department.

Replay Value 2/10
Although Silver is a very good game, it doesn't offer anything new the second play through. There are no unlockables as with all RPGs and once you've completed it a first time, the second time is a little boring. However, while Silver lasts it manages to keep your attention.

Conclusion
Silver is a good game. There are few flaws and its execution is pretty good. Its music and voice acting is top notch and boosts the games overall score for me. Silver is Silver and there is nothing wrong with not striking gold, taking silver can also leave a lasting impression.

Pros and Cons

+ Fab Soundtrack
+ Great Voice Acting
+ It's fun while it lasts

- Its level up system is a bit daft
- The well written story is cliched
- Character Animation is poor for this stage in gaming
- No reason to replay the game a second time.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/31/09

Game Release: Silver (EU, 06/23/00)