Shortly after getting my hands on a copy of Silas I was left with a thought. If Unreal Tournament and Mario Kart had a strange love child, this would be that kid. From the non-stop fun stages to cooky characters that will leave you stuck with quotes like “squeed!” (man, I love Squeed), Silas is bound to leave you smiling. This game was developed painstakingly by William Sworin who was only 16 years-old when he began developing it with some friends. Just from that it can easily be said how obvious of passion project this is.
You may think at first that Silas is your everyday run of the mill kart racer. I would have to say yes… if it was on crack. Between the creative assortment of colors and fantasy based location,s players will enjoy navigating through stages like Dyna Greens all the way down to Lands End. With twelve totally unique racers to choose from, all with their own individual personality, there’s a driver here for everyone.
Of course no kart racing game would be complete without a large assortment of power-ups and weapons. While some of these weapons do err on the side of expected and feel tired, a good chunk of the arsenal is wholly unique. Unlike other kart racing games, this one comes with a little something extra. When using certain weapons, the view switches to first person while the trigger is pulled. I have to say that it is pretty hard at first. I kept running into walls and just screwing everything up completely, but after a while I started to get the hang of it, even though the controls could be a little better.
Silas includes a few different gaming modes that will keep players interested for quite a while. When it comes to playing solo, you are given the option of Versus, Trials, or Mercenaries modes. Versus and Trial mode are what you would expect; each of them including single race, grandprix, and quick start. Mercenaries mode is basically a trials mode that extends beyond the usual racing. Some of the trails that are given involve blowing up targets through other objectives as well. I think the hardest part of all these modes would have to be Mercenaries – for the life of me I couldn’t complete the fourth trial.
The multiplayer in Silas is quite fun and includes such modes as Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Pipe Snatch, and Survival. All of these modes are fun to play and each has its own goals to be completed. There are two great elements to be had in Silas’ multiplayer: a turret mode and the ability to use the glider power-ups. The glider mode gives you the ability to take to the sky like a rabid eagle, making the game way more interesting. For those players looking to play online, there are options to host your own matches with a lobby which lets you customize every thing down to the weapons.
The overall feel that Silas gives is a pretty good one even though I did encounter some problems. I did keep running into glitches which did get annoying once in a while. The main glitch involved getting stuck in corners and falling off the stage without being able to respawn. The game’s graphics are pretty decent and most of the stages had a brilliantly quirky look that players will definitely enjoy. The layout of the tracks is a bit annoying as it can be hard to tell an invisible wall from a drivable area.
Silas is definitely a game that every one should play once. It’s a fun experience, especially with friends. The gameplay may have a few problems that could be fixed, but the overall package is an impressive package for what is basically a one-man job. For that, William Sworin, I salute you. Silas is available on GamersGate for $9.95.
