889th played so far

Genre: Action
Platform: Playstation
Year of Release: 1997
Developer: Treasure
Publisher: Entertainment Software Publishing/Working Designs

I feel like we’ve been covering a bunch of games by Treasure recently, with action shooters being one of their clear fortes that we’ve covered with Alien Soldier and the Gunstar Heroes series. Silhouette Mirage draws from the same base, a semi-platformer that has you race around killing various enemies, this again with its own twist.

Our Thoughts

The gimmick of Silhouette Mirage is interesting enough. Your jester-like appearance comes from your body being split in half. The one that faces the screen is the active one, and you change by facing the other way – or doing a slower switch of sides, which is a bit more situational. Each side is more effective against certain enemies and a lot of the time you end up fighting in one side as you try not to be attacked in the back. It’s challenging although aside from the threat of falling, it tends to make battles more similar. There are a bunch of special moves, including some grabs and throws as well as reflecting moves, so it becomes more of a challenging beat ’em up.

What helps is that the game looks good. The graphics are pretty cartoony, looking fun but going smoothly, and the enemies have a slapstick feel toย  them sometimes. There’s this looser, more animated feel to it – it hides the difficulty, but it’s still a treat for the eyes.

Final Thoughts

Silhouette Mirage‘s twist works for it most of the time, although at times the one direction you face for most of an encounter can feel difficult to stay on top of. Still, it’s a treat for the eyes and feels replayable.