SILPHEED:The Lost Planet

Aesthetic appeal aside, Silpheed: TLP is plenty solid. There is nothing revolutionary to be found here, but why bother trying to re-invent the wheel? If the gameplay is there and it's not too short, too hard, or too easy, then chances are most shooter fans are going to be reasonably satisfied. No exception here. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with the game. That is, unless you count having to go back to the beginning of the stage when you get killed and continue. Don't worry too much about that, though. Unlike most other shooters, your ship here can take some licks and not immediately blow up. Ten direct hits and you're dead. There's one point in every stage where four of your energy blocks will be replenished and you'll also have the opportunity to switch weapons. There are several to choose from and you can take two at a time, but you can't access them all right away; you'll have to progress in the game.

Without a doubt, the biggest flaw here is the distinct lack of superfluous goodies. There are no speed boosters, no additional ships to choose from, no screen-clearing smart bombs, no nothing! You can individually fire your left and right weapons, but you'll find dearth of purpose in doing that since you can use them both at the same time with impunity. Ergo, you can beat the game using only one button (not including the directional pad, of course).

On the audio front, the music is sufficient but not remarkable (except perhaps for the boss fight music, which conveys a suitably frantic feeling). Same goes for the "pilot's log" voice which precedes each stage. Throughout the game you'll hear transmissions from your fellow Silpheed pilots, but good luck deciphering them all. It's certainly nice, though, to know that humanity has decided to send more than one person to fight the coming wave of annihilation for a change. You won't see your buddies and they have no impact on the game, but it's an admirable touch nonetheless.

If you want to see your name on the upper portion of the high score board, you're gonna have to take some risks. The number of points you get for blowing up your adversaries increases as the physical distance between them and you diminishes. This system makes it quite tempting to indulge in all sorts of daredevil antics and foolhardy laughter in the face of death. You may find yourself running on a prayer, screaming at your weapons to shoot faster and sweating bullets trying not to flinch as seemingly endless enemy fire zeroes in on you (particularly while fighting big bad nasty bosses). These are the moments that shooter fans live for, and Silpheed certainly has its share of them.

This is the first old-school shooter new to the PS2 (Konami's Gradius collection doesn't count) and, despite its shortage of innovation, it sets the bar at a pretty good height. But, I don't think it's unrealistic to expect future shooters for the system to surpass Silpheed: TLP.


Decent arcade shooter style game   June 7, 2001
I first played Silpheed on my 286 in 1990 or 1991. I think this was actually before the Sega CD version (Anyone know? I have no idea). At any rate, it is one of my favorite games since that time. It took me a long time to win that thing, and there were 20 levels if I remember correctly. Destroying the final boss ship Gloire took forever and I ended up having to repeatedly pause and resume so I could follow the hundreds of bullets and lasers running across the screen because it was otherwise impossible...

Fast forward to 2001 where I rent Silpheed, my expectations set high due to my past experience. Well, I beat this thing with no cheats at all in maybe 8 hours. It wasn't particularly challenging or interesting. I expected weapons more like the cool array from Battle Squadrons, another of my fond memories of 10 years ago... nope, just boring stuff here. Most of the more "powerful" weapons were actually pointless, and I ended up going through most of the game using the Napalm Bombs which are gained after the first level if I remember correctly.

Graphics are pretty good, and the last board is challenging. So it's not completely bad, but I would rent this rather than purchase it since like I said it took me 8 hours to win it with no cheats. I think there are 4 or 5 levels? They're pretty long, but it still seemed like too few boards. The final enemy was cake. There was one mini-boss enemy on the last board that was difficult, but it wasn't the very final boss...

You can't save so you have to win it in a straight session... I just left my system on over night so that I didn't have to replay the first half of the game over again. So this certainly isn't the worst game out there, and it's far from the best. A very solid "average".


Decent arcade shooter style game   June 7, 2001
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

I first played Silpheed on my 286 in 1990 or 1991. I think this was actually before the Sega CD version (Anyone know? I have no idea). At any rate, it is one of my favorite games since that time. It took me a long time to win that thing, and there were 20 levels if I remember correctly. Destroying the final boss ship Gloire took forever and I ended up having to repeatedly pause and resume so I could follow the hundreds of bullets and lasers running across the screen because it was otherwise impossible...

Fast forward to 2001 where I rent Silpheed, my expectations set high due to my past experience. Well, I beat this thing with no cheats at all in maybe 8 hours. It wasn't particularly challenging or interesting. I expected weapons more like the cool array from Battle Squadrons, another of my fond memories of 10 years ago... nope, just boring stuff here. Most of the more "powerful" weapons were actually pointless, and I ended up going through most of the game using the Napalm Bombs which are gained after the first level if I remember correctly.

Graphics are pretty good, and the last board is challenging. So it's not completely bad, but I would rent this rather than purchase it since like I said it took me 8 hours to win it with no cheats. I think there are 4 or 5 levels? They're pretty long, but it still seemed like too few boards. The final enemy was cake. There was one mini-boss enemy on the last board that was difficult, but it wasn't the very final boss...

You can't save so you have to win it in a straight session... I just left my system on over night so that I didn't have to replay the first half of the game over again. So this certainly isn't the worst game out there, and it's far from the best. A very solid "average".


Lost Planet ...needs to stay lost   May 29, 2001
 5 out of 7 found this review helpful

I bought this game off the hype I picked up from this site and these exact reviews. Bad idea, thats fifty bucks I'll never see again. Oh, the pain. My wallet is woeing. To be honest, the game is "presented" well, but at a total loss. I used the cheat code to open all of the 9 weapons available and I was STILL highly dissapointed. You'd expect some cool laser weapons or high speed action, like Raiden, but I couldn't find myself playing longer than 10 minutes at a time. It is SOOOOOOOO boring. The graphics are super high speed. You can't even differentiate the background and the active environment (hence the one star). All in all, Silpheed was a total dissapointment and even bigger let down (if thats possible). If I would have rented this game first I probably would have returned it back to the rental place that day. I'm still upset that I wasted fifty bucks on a game that takes up space on my shelf. For those who liked the game, more power to you. It must make the programmers happy that someone is enjoying it... because I sure didn't. Happy game fishing, and throw this one back in the water.


A Great Shooter!   May 21, 2001
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

Silpheed is a fantastic shooter that I'd recommend to anyone. It is a sequel to a Sega CD game that appeared a few years back. This time, the masters at Game Arts have teamed up with Treasure(Gunstar Heroes) to produce this stunning sequel. You pilot the SA-77 Silpheed, a strategic space fighter with multipe weapon systems through 8 levels filled with gorgeous backgrounds, fantastic lighting effects, and great music/voice overs by your fellow wingmen. The original Sega CD intro is included as a little bonus, albeit redone with CGI and redone voices. One thing that's great about this release is that Working Designs really fixed up the slowdown that was present in the original import version. If you are a shooter fan, then this is no doubt a must buy!