Silverload (PS1) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
337A playthrough of Vic Tokai's 1996 horror point-and-click graphic adventure for the Sony PlayStation, Silverload.
Silverload supports the PlayStation mouse, but I'm playing here with a gamepad.
Silverload presents an unfortunate and a surprising conundrum - what do you do with an adventure game that has fantastic production values, good puzzles, great writing, and good voice acting (at least per mid-90s standards) with gameplay that is utterly hampered by an horrendous interface?
Silverload has a lot going for it. It oozes atmosphere and doesn't hesitate to get "adult" with its content. The story is pretty unlike most games of the era, and it's awesomely stylized: it may be a western, but it's certainly not in the Clint Eastwood spaghetti style. The puzzles are also really good - they all made sense in context, though a prompting once in awhile
from the look icon would've been appreciated.
I originally played this on the PC, and I had a great time with it. It was spooky and graphic, and really pulled me in. I got excited for the PlayStation port when it was being previewed, since it was supposed to be a big upgrade. New graphics, re-recorded dialogue, and no more bugs that would randomly crash the game. They almost succeeded.
By in large the PS1 port is better, until the changes to the interface made the game a frustrating slog. There are no hotspot indicators in this version, which is usually fine, except that this game has some of the most ridiculous, pixel-specific clicking areas. You could very well know what you're supposed to do, but never be able to do it because yout were expected to click within a 5 pixel radius of where ever the invisible hotspot might be (anyone that has played The Riddle of Mastet Lu knows what I'm talking about, but it's much worse here). What sounds like a fairly minor qualm unfortunately undermines the entire experience. If only we could combine the best of the PC version with the best of the PlayStation game, we'd have an insanely awesome title all-around. Since that's not the case, though, I couldn't in good conscience recommend the PS1 version over the PC version. Despite looking and sounding substantially worse, the Dos original is by far the more enjoyable of the two. If you only want to watch though, the PS1 is where it's at. All the coolness handed to you with the frustrations already taken out. Kinda like eating seedless cherries, no?
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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