This game is a perfect example of good ideas with bad execution.
The concept of the game is you are a robot who loses his body at the beginning of the game, but fortunately you are in a space station filled with robotic animals you can take over. In each level there will be different animals which each come with different abilities and talents you will need to use to solve puzzles, bypass obstacles, and take on other animals: like the dog which is an all-rounder that can jump and bite, the RACING dog which can’t jump but can turbo around and fire missiles, and the sheep which can’t attack but can float long distances. Each level has a set number of missions to complete to activate the exit teleporter, as well as a secret item to collect via hidden objectives. As you go through the game you’ll go to different biomes which each have different animals and new hazards to overcome.
On paper the game sounds amazing, and it can be incredibly fun… At times. Problem is the game has many setbacks with its gameplay. The games difficulty has a habit of ramping up suddenly, and there are a lot of levels that will drive you crazy with inconsistent physics, precision platforming, and enemy animals that can kill you before you have a chance to react. These flaws become all the more annoying with the games jittery camera and the fact that NONE of the stages have checkpoints, so you need to start from the beginning each time you fail. Usually the game does a decent job keeping levels short enough where this isn’t a problem, but then it more frequently starts dropping longer levels and it becomes a migraine.
Space Station Silicon Valley is a game that can really benefit from a remaster or remake, it has a lot going for it from its ideas to its large amount of personality, but it needs another layer of polish. I would still recommend checking the game out, but be ready for the fun parts to be interspersed with early 3D Platformer jank and annoying level designs
The concept of the game is you are a robot who loses his body at the beginning of the game, but fortunately you are in a space station filled with robotic animals you can take over. In each level there will be different animals which each come with different abilities and talents you will need to use to solve puzzles, bypass obstacles, and take on other animals: like the dog which is an all-rounder that can jump and bite, the RACING dog which can’t jump but can turbo around and fire missiles, and the sheep which can’t attack but can float long distances. Each level has a set number of missions to complete to activate the exit teleporter, as well as a secret item to collect via hidden objectives. As you go through the game you’ll go to different biomes which each have different animals and new hazards to overcome.
On paper the game sounds amazing, and it can be incredibly fun… At times. Problem is the game has many setbacks with its gameplay. The games difficulty has a habit of ramping up suddenly, and there are a lot of levels that will drive you crazy with inconsistent physics, precision platforming, and enemy animals that can kill you before you have a chance to react. These flaws become all the more annoying with the games jittery camera and the fact that NONE of the stages have checkpoints, so you need to start from the beginning each time you fail. Usually the game does a decent job keeping levels short enough where this isn’t a problem, but then it more frequently starts dropping longer levels and it becomes a migraine.
Space Station Silicon Valley is a game that can really benefit from a remaster or remake, it has a lot going for it from its ideas to its large amount of personality, but it needs another layer of polish. I would still recommend checking the game out, but be ready for the fun parts to be interspersed with early 3D Platformer jank and annoying level designs
Space Station Silicon Valley is a mission-based puzzle platformer where you reanimate the corpses of dead animals (don’t worry, they’re all robots). It was developed by DMA design (makers of Lemmings, GTA and Body Harvest) and is an immense amount of fun. The game did ship with a bug that meant that you couldn’t pick up one of the collectables, but I played a version that had been patched by fans that fixes the issue.
You play as Evo, a robot that loses its body as he and his hero-for-hire partner crash into a mysterious station that’s on a course for Earth. Evo ends up as just a chip, but discovers that he can take over the bodies of deceased animal robots.
In each level, you must complete multiple objectives, usually done by killing the animals, taking over their bodies and using their various abilities to complete what you need. It all sounds horrific and disturbing when trying to explain it, but the game manages to be incredibly charming throughout this, with happy music that is played through the station speakers (which you can destroy to shut them up).
Discovering how each animal moves and how to use them is one of the main things I love about Space Station Silicon Valley. They all have different kinds of movement – some are like a typical platformer, others are like cars and some can only move when jumping – and the powers have various uses that aren’t just needed to solve the puzzles of the level, but to find all the collectables. This concept was also a large part of Super Mario Odyssey, so my like for this is probably why I loved that, too.
Each level has 15 power cells hidden in it to find, some are in plain view, others are hidden extremely well. A few of them can be quite frustrating to get to, such as some high up ones requiring using a vulture’s awful flight to get there. The game’s dreadful camera also doesn’t help matters, as you can never get a good look around and the cameral often likes looking downwards.
The other kind of collectable is a hidden trophy in each level, which is found by doing a secret objective. Sometimes these are obvious, such as the second level having a racetrack, and often killing everything will yield results, while others are very tricky, such as listing to penguins make sound and recreating it on a keyboard (being tone-deaf, I looked that one up).
Still, even with these annoying ones, it was a joy to collect everything. I’m not 100% completing every N64 game, but this one was one where I wanted to do so.
At the end of each of the four regions, you’ll encounter a level where you find a piece of Evo’s original body. These are quite different to the main gameplay, featuring different events. For example the second area ends with a Jetski-like race called Walrace 64 where you have to win a race as a robotic walrus boat.
Once all these are done, the final mission is defending Earth against invading robots, but unfortunately is probably the weakest level of the game. Still, that slight downer is just the end of a wonderful experience.
While the difficulty is more of a rollercoaster than a curve, you do get used to some of the techniques the game uses, and the wild and wacky robot animals are always an absolute joy to discover – each time you see a new one, you’re eager to kill it and give it a spin.
Space Space Station Silicon valley is a wonderful platformer and one I think more people should try out.
You play as Evo, a robot that loses its body as he and his hero-for-hire partner crash into a mysterious station that’s on a course for Earth. Evo ends up as just a chip, but discovers that he can take over the bodies of deceased animal robots.
In each level, you must complete multiple objectives, usually done by killing the animals, taking over their bodies and using their various abilities to complete what you need. It all sounds horrific and disturbing when trying to explain it, but the game manages to be incredibly charming throughout this, with happy music that is played through the station speakers (which you can destroy to shut them up).
Discovering how each animal moves and how to use them is one of the main things I love about Space Station Silicon Valley. They all have different kinds of movement – some are like a typical platformer, others are like cars and some can only move when jumping – and the powers have various uses that aren’t just needed to solve the puzzles of the level, but to find all the collectables. This concept was also a large part of Super Mario Odyssey, so my like for this is probably why I loved that, too.
Each level has 15 power cells hidden in it to find, some are in plain view, others are hidden extremely well. A few of them can be quite frustrating to get to, such as some high up ones requiring using a vulture’s awful flight to get there. The game’s dreadful camera also doesn’t help matters, as you can never get a good look around and the cameral often likes looking downwards.
The other kind of collectable is a hidden trophy in each level, which is found by doing a secret objective. Sometimes these are obvious, such as the second level having a racetrack, and often killing everything will yield results, while others are very tricky, such as listing to penguins make sound and recreating it on a keyboard (being tone-deaf, I looked that one up).
Still, even with these annoying ones, it was a joy to collect everything. I’m not 100% completing every N64 game, but this one was one where I wanted to do so.
At the end of each of the four regions, you’ll encounter a level where you find a piece of Evo’s original body. These are quite different to the main gameplay, featuring different events. For example the second area ends with a Jetski-like race called Walrace 64 where you have to win a race as a robotic walrus boat.
Once all these are done, the final mission is defending Earth against invading robots, but unfortunately is probably the weakest level of the game. Still, that slight downer is just the end of a wonderful experience.
While the difficulty is more of a rollercoaster than a curve, you do get used to some of the techniques the game uses, and the wild and wacky robot animals are always an absolute joy to discover – each time you see a new one, you’re eager to kill it and give it a spin.
Space Space Station Silicon valley is a wonderful platformer and one I think more people should try out.
i went to the gamestop(or whatever it was called at the time i forget) employee saying 'hey my game is broken' because i couldn't pick up the last trophy you need to get every trophy and he was like 'uhhh'
Space Station Silicon Valley built a reputation of being a surprising hit game with very positive reviews back in the day. This prompted me to rent the game and check what the fuzz was all about but truthfully the game never really clicked with me.
For the time, it had some interesting concepts and ideas setup with a mission based 3D-Environment. What held this back for me personally were some of the cryptic puzzles, game bugs, and frustrating control at times (depending on the animal/robot you were in control).
For the time, it had some interesting concepts and ideas setup with a mission based 3D-Environment. What held this back for me personally were some of the cryptic puzzles, game bugs, and frustrating control at times (depending on the animal/robot you were in control).
A charming and original 3D platformer with a fun gimmick that's sadly held-back a bit by some infuriating game breaking bugs. Be sure you've still got a jumper pack and use a Gameshark or an Everdrive to fix the collision glitch at the end.
Secure Zones: 25, Species Encountered: 41, Power Cells: 187
An extremely unique game with cute visuals and a very old-school design sensibility that proves frustrating at times and exciting at others. You really have to think and plan your strategies based on trial and error and you're forced to explore the areas properly as if you were actually there. The adorable sound effects and creature designs betray the difficulty of this thing and I think savestates are permitted here to at least remove the busywork from progressing through some long, easy challenges just to get another crack at the one that kills you in seconds.
I really adore this game even if I kind of hate playing it. They really packed in so much using this concept and bespoke engine to squeeze as much as they could out if it. Yet the ceiling is still the limit and I would have loved to see an expanded sequel. One of the few games I feel would have made for a really fun open world game, imagine possessing all the different creatures to traverse certain biomes easier or attack certain enemies. Alas, I doubt Take Two will ever allow for this to be rereleased or licensed out in any format, and DMA Design will forever be cursed to the GTA mines.
I really adore this game even if I kind of hate playing it. They really packed in so much using this concept and bespoke engine to squeeze as much as they could out if it. Yet the ceiling is still the limit and I would have loved to see an expanded sequel. One of the few games I feel would have made for a really fun open world game, imagine possessing all the different creatures to traverse certain biomes easier or attack certain enemies. Alas, I doubt Take Two will ever allow for this to be rereleased or licensed out in any format, and DMA Design will forever be cursed to the GTA mines.
I don't fully remember the specifics of this game. All I remember is thinking that possessing the bodies of various animals to solve puzzles was really cool. It's a super neat gimmick and I'd love to see a modern reimagining of this idea.