Game Review: Silkworm (Commodore 64, Virgin Mastertronic)

Silkworm (released as Silk Worm in the arcades) is originally an arcade game, made by Tecmo. Virgin Games got the rights to produce the home conversions and they were released at full price, produced by The Sales Curve for them. Most of the home conversions appeared to show the title as Silkworm on the inlay and so on, despite the loading and title screen showing the game as two words. When the game was re-released by Mastertronic on the Mastertronic Plus label, all the cassette inlay showed one word, and that was replicated in the second re-release on Tronix as well.

In terms of the plot, this takes up a chunk of the cassette inlay, and basically explains how the planet is clinging on with a group of weapons scientists working on projects for helicopters and land vehicles, with a very small possibility that a skilled pilot or driver could take out all of the generals, who are threatening a military coup. As the thread of life is so fine it could be gossamer silk, the last stand is dubbed Operation Silkworm. So, you step forward with the briefing to get to the end of each level before the time limit expires, and take out the general at the end of each of those levels. It is at least an entertaining read, but effectively all you need to know is shoot everything that moves, and then some.

Silky Smooth

The game loads with a really nice shaded helmet in green and black, and a thumping soundtrack by Barry Leitch, which is partly based on one of the arcade themes, but plays way better on the SID chip as it develops into its own rousing piece. Sadly, a cassette mastering bug did mean that the tune gets out of sync about two thirds of the way through, but thankfully there is a fixed version in the High Voltage SID Collection, so you can listen to that as it was originally intended. The game loads relatively quickly, and it is all in one load too, so you can get on with blasting and not think about rewinding the tape any time soon.

The game loads with the Silkworm logo on the title screen, and with the option of whether you wish to start a one player game as either the helicopter or the jeep, or move left and right on the joystick to select between one or two players. It is worth noting that once you start the one-player game, the other player can still join in at any time for two player action. That does mean you can either way at least have double the potential fun, with the jeep taking out any land targets and some aerial ones too.

Jeep Command

The jeep controls are very different from the helicopter, in that you can only move along the ground – there is no jump functionality available. It also seems a lot more difficult too, as you can change the direction of your firepower from straight right all the way to straight left, but that does mean that wherever your firepower aims, that is all you can aim at. Although this makes ground targets potentially easier to hits, the aerial targets are much more difficult. Generally, you will find that this mode in solo player is tougher, and so most players will tend to stick with the helicopter instead for the game.

The helicopter does allow movement across most of the screen, and your firepower also has a diagonal fire down as well as firing right across the screen, so you do at least have a chance to take out some of the ground targets as well. The movement and scrolling is fluid whichever you play as, and although not quite parallax, the backdrops are at least not in the way of the enemies. These range from helicopters, ground to air missile defences, bouncing aliens and plenty of surface targets too.

Mine, All Mine

The landmines are ground targets which you can shoot down. The first time you shoot one, it releases a cloud of plasma gas. Steer into that and this becomes a shield for a short space of time, allowing you to be protected. If two clouds appear, you can shoot or run into the second to create a smart bomb explosion, meaning that any enemies are destroyed. This can be very useful indeed for some attack waves. You will also note one oddity: at the bottom of the screen beneath the wave (level) number is a counter with the number of enemies left to shoot. This counts down in hexadecimal instead of decimal, so worth noting for example that 0F means 15 targets left.

Once you have shot down enough targets, the gooseneck helicopter appears on screen. You can shoot it before it assembles if you shoot the neck section, which is where you need to hit when fully assembled. Once destroyed, it leaves behind a weapon upgrade which is handy to have, from twice the firepower to increased shot speed and extra points. The weapon level is shown just below your score at the top right if playing as the helicopter, or top left if the jeep. If you manage to shoot the gooseneck before it assembles, double the upgrades drop, which can be very handy.

Get to the Chopper

Once you reach the end of the level, the general lurks inside their command craft. This can often be either a large helicopter or a large tank. These are armoured and need several hits before being destroyed. However, sometimes it is noticeable that some of the bullets being fired can disappear and re-appear on screen, and you may run into one without realising. It is a small glitch but can prove annoying when you are blasting away. Defeat the general, and it is on the next level where more ferocious attacks await. There are some well animated walker-like enemies which could have been from Star Wars, as well as some surface to air missiles which come at you on later levels too, so some new enemies are gradually introduced.

Whilst the game is playable, and does offer plenty of firepower for the trigger finger, it can get somewhat repetitive with limited weapon upgrades available the fear of losing some of those when losing a life. Most of the core enemies also do not change, they just get faster and with better firepower that aims at you a lot quicker. However, on the flip side, the arcade original game has all of those faults too, and a side-by-side comparison does show that the conversion is at least faithful in that it plays in a very similar way.  In the same way that Green Beret’s difficulty matched that of the arcade machine, it is the same here too, with plenty of fast and furious firepower to defeat as you progress.

Graphics and Sound

The graphics in Silkworm are well drawn, from the backdrops that scroll nicely (although not parallax scrolling) to the animated enemies including some larger tanks and helicopters, all of it is of a very good standard and with some sprite multiplexing to handle the number of objects on screen. It can glitch out a little bit during play, but with the extensive action on screen this was perhaps understandable.  The soundtrack is a rousing piece from Barry Leitch, with a really gritty determined feel to drive you on as the game loads. It is a shame that there was no option to play that during the game, but the sound effects are raucous enough and plenty of good explosions as you battle through, so no complaints there at all.

Final Thoughts

Silkworm may have faults as an arcade game with its gameplay being repetitive, but on the Commodore 64 conversion, whilst those original faults remain, the conversion is faithful. The option for two player mode with separate controls is very welcome, and the game plays at a good pace with some very good graphics and loud explosive sound effects. Whilst you may get much more longevity playing as the helicopter, there is a sizeable challenge of the eleven levels and all the shoot-em-up action that you could wish for. Without the arcade licence, this would have been an excellent game, and as a conversion, it is a well programmed and slick job, that shows off how good a Commodore 64 can be at this genre of game. Well worth a play.

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