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‘Axiom Verge’: Getting their ‘Super Metroid’ on

Courtesy of Thomas Happ Games
Shane Foley

Connector Editor

Being a Metroid fan is tough these days. While Nintendo’s other franchises are frequently updated with new material, such as Pokémon and Zelda, the Metroid franchise has been stagnant for five years. The 3DS will see a new Metroid title named Federation Force, but it has earned much ridicule from fans. There is a petition to try to stop the game’s release. The last home console release was 2010’s “Metroid: Other M,” a polarizing game that did not live up to fan expectations. A once revered name in gaming almost seems to be neglected as Nintendo focuses on their other areas.

Many Nintendo fans wonder if a classic Metroid-style game will ever be released again. So an indie game company took care of it.

Thomas Happ Games took everything good about classics like “Super Metroid” and Metroid Fusion and put it into their latest feature, “Axiom Verge.” Available on the Play Station 4, Play Station Vita, PC and Steam, the game is a side scroller in 61 bit graphics that are meant to emulate the Super Nintendo look. The similarities from this game to “Metroid” range from the graphics, to the environments, to the many weapons available in the game, to even the soundtrack.

“Axiom Verge” is also a “Metroidvania” game. This means that, as you obtain new weapons in the game, previous areas you could not reach before now become accessible. “Axiom Verge” brags a large, long list of new weapons and even allows you to explore after you have completed the main story. To beat the game in general is an accomplishment, but it is even harder to do a 100% run through because of all the upgrades and the size of the map.

Beyond standing on its own as a title, “Axiom Verge” may have just shown Nintendo the future of “Metroid.” “Axiom Verge” being a successful game means that a side scrolling Metroidvania game can survive in today’s gaming market.

Of course, a return to a classic “Metroid” game was what “Metroid: Other M” was supposed to be. The game incorporated new elements that were not to the fans’ liking. While “Metroid: Other M” was mostly side scrolling, albeit in 3D, there were points in the game that prompted the user to switch to first person to commit an action, like shoot a missile. This at times would be problematic since the camera would then focus in on what Samus, the main character, has her line of sight on, not necessarily what you are looking at. Movement was also suspended in first person, so players had to move the sights around until they found the enemy or target they needed.

The game also received much criticism for its plot. The gameplay would be frequently broken up with long cut scenes. A big objective of the producers of this game was to explain the origins of Samus and draw her out as a character, since no other Metroid game had done so. These cut scenes, therefore, served as filler, rather than pushing the current storyline the player is engaging in at that moment. Players would be stopped in the middle of a mission with a long scene about Samus’ past that was irrelevant to the mission at hand. The storyline also made Samus look weak as a person, as her item upgrades cannot be used until she is authorized by Adam Malcovich, her former commanding officer. They meet in the game with Samus as an independent bounty hunter, not under any authority to Malcovich, but throughout the game she “chooses” to follow his orders.

What is odd about the criticisms of “Other M,” though, are that it has very little to do with gameplay. The plot may have been unappealing, and certain controls were hard to figure out, but other than that, it was deemed an enjoyable experience. It received an 8.5 rating from IGN. So, perhaps Nintendo should not wipe their hands of “Metroid” altogether. Perhaps they should just give us what “Axiom Verge” did: a side scrolling Metroidvania game. If it is a bad idea for Nintendo, then there would be no reason why anybody would pick this indie game up.

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