S.O.S.

"Words of Wisdom of the day: Don't judge a review by its tagline."

Imagine, if you will, a typical sidescrolling action-adventure game. Then, please take away all enemies. Without enemies, it's also safe to remove the concept of health. Of course, lives are useless without health. And without enemies, there would be no need for attacks, so scratch those, too. And finally, abandon linear level progression.

Feeling offended? I don't blame you. But as S.O.S, an SNES game that lies somewhere between the adventure and platforming genres, such a blasphemy can also be fun.

The premise of S.O.S is simple: you're a passenger on a sinking ship (which has turned over), and you must escape. However, you only have one hour to make it to the exit before the ship starts filling with water. Make it out in one hour, you've beaten the game. Fail, you lose. Your only enemy here is the clock, and your only savior is exploration.

You can begin the game as one of four characters. Each starts at a different location on the ship. In the beginning, you'll see a brief intro featuring your hero. After some brief dialogue (which is pretty well written given that it's an action game), everything will suddenly go black. You'll see a still of the ship turning over, and then you'll see your character waking up in a completely different surrounding: everything has gone dark, the ceiling is now the floor, and everyone around you is now gone. Your adventure now begins.

Being normal human beings, none of the characters have particularly exciting powers. They can jump, open doors, and pull themselves to higher ledges. There is no difference whatsoever in jumping power, agility, control, etc., between the characters. One of them begins with a map of the ship, but that can easily be acquired by the others. With this limited arsenal of moves, you must navigate the ship's interior right up to the exit.

Of course, it's not as simple as it sounds. Since the entire ship has turned over, previously easy tasks such as climbing stairs have become quite difficult. Periodically the ship will also toss and turn (think level 4-2 from Super Castlevania IV, but not nearly as extreme), making the floor slanty. This can be a blessing or a curse, as it can allow access to places previously unreachable by jumping (you can climb walls that are tilted at angles, as long as it isn't too steep) - or block off certain areas. There are certain hazards as well: fire, getting hit by falling furniture, and falling from too high will all lose you five minutes from the clock.

Along the way you'll meet some of your fellow passengers. Most are already dead, but occasionally you'll come across a living, breathing, talking person. Somehow these people never seem to want to escape on their own (those idiots), but if you're feeling chivalrous you can attempt to save them, which is a somewhat frustrating task - you'll have to move, push one of the shoulder buttons to make your character beckon, thus making the person you're trying to save run up to where you are. The people don't move on their own. They scream out ''excess baggage'', but saving certain passengers can trigger new endings.

Once you get past the novelty of S.O.S's concept, though, you may find it somewhat limiting. True, you have four characters to choose from, but there is no difference whatsoever between them besides the starting point on the ship. Saving fellow passengers does little more than make your escape even more perilous. In fact, you can say that in this game you're nothing than a rat running a glorified maze.

That said, S.O.S is still a wonderfully made game. A rat running a maze you might be, but what a maze it is. It's big enough for you to explore and get lost in, but never so the one-hour limit seems too tight. It never gets futile, either. There's always another exit to try, another ladder to climb, or another person to talk to. Considering the tiny array of mover you possess, there are a surprising amount of obstacles. But they're never layed out unfairly - while you'll be jumping around a lot, for instance, the game doesn't require much precision with them, which is a godsend since your characters aren't exactly the most agile people ever seen in a videogame. There are still some obstacles (falling chairs, for instance) that are virtually impossible to get by, but thankfully they pop up only once in a while.

And even despite what seems like a very small scope, S.O.S captures the feel of exploration perfectly. When the game begins, it gives you no hint whatsoever on where you should go. Every path you take at a fork is by your own decision; every time you meet a dead end, you must take it on stride and find another way out. Finding out a new path to get out of a dead end is a very gratifying experience. And every time you play the game again, it will seem new, simply because there are so many different ways out of the ship.

The graphics and sound of S.O.S are effective at best. The people are scaled surprisingly accurately, but the sprites are sorely lacking in detail. The same goes for the backgrounds. You can tell between things, and the effects used when the ship turns are quite nice, but overall the graphics lack pizzazz. The music is decent, but it's not catchy and there are a grand total of three songs in the game.

Fans of typical sidescrolling adventures may find S.O.S lacking in depth and variety, and that's probably true in a way. But that does not mean that it is not enjoyable. Not only is it a refreshing change, but every play-through will be different due to the sheer largeness of the ship. S.O.S is a game perhaps limited by its premise, but it still manages to make the most of it - and perhaps beyond it.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/08/02, Updated 03/08/02