Ice Metal Uninstall | ||
Release date: Aug 31, 2010 |
Author: Crys
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Genre: Exploration [?] Game: |
Difficulty: Vanilla [?]
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Average runtime:
4:07 Average collection: 78% |
Read Me: Read Me |
Forum Thread: Forum Thread |
Rating:
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Awards:
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Description
The great forces of the Galactic Federation Marine Corps were forced to evacuate planet Nerion III.
The issue was too big for them to handle, yet too big for the federation to ignore.
Therefore, once again, they had no choice but to turn to Samus Aran.
An extraordinary bounty hunter armed with the end-all-be-all of Chozo warfare and survival technology, her mission was simple:
"Venture into the deepest reaches of the planet and disable the Aurora Unit originally placed there for research."
But what vicious creatures lurk below the surface that can make even the fearless GFMC turn their backs and flee like sissies?
This is a ticket into the world of Ice Metal. Can you uncover the dark, deep secrets buried in Nerion III? Or will you die trying...?
Ice Metal is a Super Metroid hack that puts a great emphasise on exploration, rather then combat. There are some new power ups and tricks you need to master in order to beat the game completely. However, the main aim of the hack is to be as close to vanilla Super Metroid in difficulty as possible!
There is one new move you need to learn to beat the game: Which is mid air morphing. How-to: Press down twice in mid air while holding jump button down.
Ice metal was made for everyone, not just experienced, beginners, nor casual players. Rather, regardless of your experience with Super Metroid you can jump in and enjoy this hack.
This is also one of the few Super Metroid hacks that futures a major plot. It is generally set after fusion in a “what could happen after fusion” scenario.
Hope you enjoy!
The issue was too big for them to handle, yet too big for the federation to ignore.
Therefore, once again, they had no choice but to turn to Samus Aran.
An extraordinary bounty hunter armed with the end-all-be-all of Chozo warfare and survival technology, her mission was simple:
"Venture into the deepest reaches of the planet and disable the Aurora Unit originally placed there for research."
But what vicious creatures lurk below the surface that can make even the fearless GFMC turn their backs and flee like sissies?
This is a ticket into the world of Ice Metal. Can you uncover the dark, deep secrets buried in Nerion III? Or will you die trying...?
Ice Metal is a Super Metroid hack that puts a great emphasise on exploration, rather then combat. There are some new power ups and tricks you need to master in order to beat the game completely. However, the main aim of the hack is to be as close to vanilla Super Metroid in difficulty as possible!
There is one new move you need to learn to beat the game: Which is mid air morphing. How-to: Press down twice in mid air while holding jump button down.
Ice metal was made for everyone, not just experienced, beginners, nor casual players. Rather, regardless of your experience with Super Metroid you can jump in and enjoy this hack.
This is also one of the few Super Metroid hacks that futures a major plot. It is generally set after fusion in a “what could happen after fusion” scenario.
Hope you enjoy!
Screenshots
Ratings and Reviews
This hack is somewhat of a mixed bag.
The difficulty was just about right. The openended-ness is good, but it's a little annoying that the terrain almost never sets you on one specific path. It's not always bad, but the map is incredibly vague, so it's very easy to find yourself in a spot where you're running around in a large area that you've already covered and can't find anything new.
Non-linearity is good but I often found myself ill-equipped beam-wise, which was very frustrating.
Levels-wise, it's a little bit disappointing. A lot of rooms are very clunky and claustrophobic. lots of crumble blocks and thin walls and just randomly placed obstacles that made the game feel a lot more like a toybox rather than a mysterious foreign planet.
It's a good hack but it's difficult to ignore the bad.
The difficulty was just about right. The openended-ness is good, but it's a little annoying that the terrain almost never sets you on one specific path. It's not always bad, but the map is incredibly vague, so it's very easy to find yourself in a spot where you're running around in a large area that you've already covered and can't find anything new.
Non-linearity is good but I often found myself ill-equipped beam-wise, which was very frustrating.
Levels-wise, it's a little bit disappointing. A lot of rooms are very clunky and claustrophobic. lots of crumble blocks and thin walls and just randomly placed obstacles that made the game feel a lot more like a toybox rather than a mysterious foreign planet.
It's a good hack but it's difficult to ignore the bad.
Interesting hack.
Definitely vanilla difficulty other than a couple of spots where the non-linearity can put you into situations of certain death in an otherwise low-difficulty environment.
There are some mapping issues where using a map station will tell you you've been places you haven't, or where the mini map is just plain wrong.
I think the most striking feature for me is the visual aspect of this hack. It's very pretty. I'm a sucker for good palettes.
Definitely vanilla difficulty other than a couple of spots where the non-linearity can put you into situations of certain death in an otherwise low-difficulty environment.
There are some mapping issues where using a map station will tell you you've been places you haven't, or where the mini map is just plain wrong.
I think the most striking feature for me is the visual aspect of this hack. It's very pretty. I'm a sucker for good palettes.
One of the most open-ended hacks out there. Huge chunks of it can be done in any order you like, or are just outright optional. If you want a hack with a clear intended route, this might not be for you.
Visually it's very appealing with some good variety. Some of the level design is hit or miss, but on the whole it's solid. It was intended to be a fun exploration hack that's accessible to all players, and I think it hits that mark rather well.
Visually it's very appealing with some good variety. Some of the level design is hit or miss, but on the whole it's solid. It was intended to be a fun exploration hack that's accessible to all players, and I think it hits that mark rather well.
I personally love open-ended environments and exploration so this hack was an instant win for me.
The palette, rooms and area names are all brilliant.
In-fact it would be quicker to mention the bits I didn't like... Which I can't think of off the top of my head. That looks like an excuse to play it all over again. :D
Well done with this hack Luna.
The palette, rooms and area names are all brilliant.
In-fact it would be quicker to mention the bits I didn't like... Which I can't think of off the top of my head. That looks like an excuse to play it all over again. :D
Well done with this hack Luna.
I liked this hack a lot. It wasn't too difficult to find items, and it didn't railroad you; that might be good in some people's books, some bad, but to me I didn't find it too much of a problem since I don't remember a point where I was dropped on a boss without sufficient gear to kill it - not everyone will have the same experience thanks to how open-ended this hack is, and I think the forum thread proves that. Still, four item balls from me.
This had a lot of interesting graphics and ideas. Solid and enjoyable, but not one of my favorites. The hack was too open-ended for my liking and I spent too much time wandering aimlessly without feeling like I was accomplishing anything. It was too difficult to find beams, and once I did find them they were extremely weak. Charge beam was also much later than I would've liked. The difficulty is not too hard, that and the underwater physics make exploring pretty easy, although a bug with the map stations coloring in unexplored areas made it confusing at times. I did like how certain items could be obtained in multiple places, but this also confused me a bit when I found some rooms with empty-handed Chozo statues. I also liked the inclusion of lore in the map stations.
This is not a bad hack by any means, it just wasn't really my thing. I would say give it a try for yourself, it's geared toward a particular play style, but very accessible, and you may end up loving it.
This is not a bad hack by any means, it just wasn't really my thing. I would say give it a try for yourself, it's geared toward a particular play style, but very accessible, and you may end up loving it.
My favorite hack in existence, 10/10 would play again.
Proper Item Collection display: 100.0%.
No animals to be saved.
Quick Summary of the meaning of my SM hack ratings:
5 orbs: SM hacks within the 80% to 100% (90% ± 10%) range of perceived perfection; SM hacks for outstanding wholesome playing experiences and at most minor inconveniences.
4 orbs: SM hacks within the 60% to 80% (70% ± 10%) range of perceived perfection; Well done SM hacks with noticeable design problems.
3 orbs: SM hacks within the 40% to 60% (50% ± 10%) range of perceived perfection; Normal decent average SM hacks.
2 orbs: SM hacks within the 20% to 40% (30% ± 10%) range of perceived perfection; Overall messy, confusing, or punishing SM hacks with some upsides.
1 orb : SM hacks within the 00% to 20% (10% ± 10%) range of perceived perfection; Ruthlessly unplayable, broken, or barely from the original game changed SM hacks.
Judgement parameters summary:
° Creative ideas and features, polished design, how enjoyable and fun the hack can be, lack of hard to find or cryptic required game elements, the difficulty, and if the hack can be finished without major guides or tools.
° Note that the length of a SM hack will not necessarily contribute to my rating of the SM hack, since instead the averaged out experience over the whole hack will be taken into account to get a relative comparison between SM hacks.
° Besides this, lack of impactful changes from the original SM game also went into the evaluation of SM hacks (otherwise one may consider them among the 3 stars hacks) as follows: Ultimately, for my ratings I consider a situation in which an SM enthusiast that already has, knows about and is familiar with the original game and its prominent mechanics could only choose 1 new SM hack to play and thus would really want to make sure he/she will get a fresh and fantastic experience or journey out of his/her 1 choice.
The goal of all these SM hack ratings is so that rather new players have an overview of the whole spectrum of SM hacks and how to sort them in, in relation to each other, where SM hacks that are rated lower might still be enjoyable for more experienced players.
Finally, sometimes for SM hacks it can be relevant that they may be significantly more enjoyable from a player standpoint at which the player is well practiced and familiarized with Super Metroid's game mechanics in general, and that in particular some of the best SM hacks may not be the outright best first SM hack choices to play otherwise because of this, and for beginner SM hack players this typically steers the best first SM hack choices towards some of the SM hacks that I rated with 4 orbs instead of 5.
Rating for some hacks may be off by 1 Star, but arguably not more, and ratings are not attempted to be provided within the precision of ''half orbs''.
No animals to be saved.
Quick Summary of the meaning of my SM hack ratings:
5 orbs: SM hacks within the 80% to 100% (90% ± 10%) range of perceived perfection; SM hacks for outstanding wholesome playing experiences and at most minor inconveniences.
4 orbs: SM hacks within the 60% to 80% (70% ± 10%) range of perceived perfection; Well done SM hacks with noticeable design problems.
3 orbs: SM hacks within the 40% to 60% (50% ± 10%) range of perceived perfection; Normal decent average SM hacks.
2 orbs: SM hacks within the 20% to 40% (30% ± 10%) range of perceived perfection; Overall messy, confusing, or punishing SM hacks with some upsides.
1 orb : SM hacks within the 00% to 20% (10% ± 10%) range of perceived perfection; Ruthlessly unplayable, broken, or barely from the original game changed SM hacks.
Judgement parameters summary:
° Creative ideas and features, polished design, how enjoyable and fun the hack can be, lack of hard to find or cryptic required game elements, the difficulty, and if the hack can be finished without major guides or tools.
° Note that the length of a SM hack will not necessarily contribute to my rating of the SM hack, since instead the averaged out experience over the whole hack will be taken into account to get a relative comparison between SM hacks.
° Besides this, lack of impactful changes from the original SM game also went into the evaluation of SM hacks (otherwise one may consider them among the 3 stars hacks) as follows: Ultimately, for my ratings I consider a situation in which an SM enthusiast that already has, knows about and is familiar with the original game and its prominent mechanics could only choose 1 new SM hack to play and thus would really want to make sure he/she will get a fresh and fantastic experience or journey out of his/her 1 choice.
The goal of all these SM hack ratings is so that rather new players have an overview of the whole spectrum of SM hacks and how to sort them in, in relation to each other, where SM hacks that are rated lower might still be enjoyable for more experienced players.
Finally, sometimes for SM hacks it can be relevant that they may be significantly more enjoyable from a player standpoint at which the player is well practiced and familiarized with Super Metroid's game mechanics in general, and that in particular some of the best SM hacks may not be the outright best first SM hack choices to play otherwise because of this, and for beginner SM hack players this typically steers the best first SM hack choices towards some of the SM hacks that I rated with 4 orbs instead of 5.
Rating for some hacks may be off by 1 Star, but arguably not more, and ratings are not attempted to be provided within the precision of ''half orbs''.
I debated for a bit whether to give this hack a 4 or 5 rating, but ultimately decided 5, and I'll explain why. For me, a 4 star hack has to do almost everything well, and, for me, IMU does just that. It's got good level design, quality graphical edits, and is an overall enjoyable hack to play. To get 5 stars, a hack has to do something that makes it totally unique, and IMU had one thing for me that sets it apart from any other hack: it's difficulty. And the aspect of it's difficulty that is so unique to me is that it most closely mirrors the difficulty of the original game better than any other hack, especially considering the complete overhaul to the level design. It's possible to feel stuck without feeling lost. The game doesn't allow the player to get too far ahead only to have to backtrack and explore vast areas in order to find a progression piece. It doesn't throw you into unfair boss fights or leave you underpowered at any particular point. All of these aspects create the impression of excellent level design and difficulty curve. I'd recommend this hack to anyone, even without the qualifier that they've beaten the original game. That, to me, speaks volumes about this hack. 8.5/10
This was the first hack I ever played about 6 years ago but I never finished it until today.
The hack is very open-ended and it's possible to miss a lot of items. I didn't find Ice Beam, Spazer and Screw Attack. Also speaking of beams I found them all extremely weak with the exception of Grapple. I believe this was done on purpose for balance reasons so different beam combinations work better but it wasn't balanced very well in my view.
I wasn't much of a fan of the level design. Many rooms felt a bit annoying to traverse and I wasn't very fond of having to do the Deep Ice -> Surface sewers -> Steamfair -> Subterrane route just to backtrack to the Surface every time. I felt there should have been a shortcut unless I have missed it.
I did however like the lore and the general open-ended nature of the hack.
All in all it's mostly enjoyable with some annoying parts. Worth a try.
The hack is very open-ended and it's possible to miss a lot of items. I didn't find Ice Beam, Spazer and Screw Attack. Also speaking of beams I found them all extremely weak with the exception of Grapple. I believe this was done on purpose for balance reasons so different beam combinations work better but it wasn't balanced very well in my view.
I wasn't much of a fan of the level design. Many rooms felt a bit annoying to traverse and I wasn't very fond of having to do the Deep Ice -> Surface sewers -> Steamfair -> Subterrane route just to backtrack to the Surface every time. I felt there should have been a shortcut unless I have missed it.
I did however like the lore and the general open-ended nature of the hack.
All in all it's mostly enjoyable with some annoying parts. Worth a try.
I was excited for that one, first one I played where actual custom graphic were used, like new graphic made by the author, kudos to you.
A full hack that old with custom visuals and custom layout and custom items, man this was good.
I liked mostly everything exept that I needed to watch a walkthrough to know where to go because finding that one spot in such an open world map
wasnt really fun.
Never understood why the metal is uninstall though.
A full hack that old with custom visuals and custom layout and custom items, man this was good.
I liked mostly everything exept that I needed to watch a walkthrough to know where to go because finding that one spot in such an open world map
wasnt really fun.
Never understood why the metal is uninstall though.
A lot of cool stuff here! But too some problems.
Good points:
-very unlinear, you can do every zones in any order you want.
-well designed, you can easely understand where to go.
-nice palette.
Bad points:
-sometimes it is a bit boring to do some long ways to go to one point, there should have more shortcuts.
-There is one door in Deep Ice, if you take it, you are back on the surface and you can't go back so you have to do a very long way just to go back.
-The room may be a bit boring, there isn't a lot in them.
conclusion:
The hack worth it, it is really good and is rebuilding super metroid in another way, it would deserve a 5 if there wasn't these little mistakes.
Good points:
-very unlinear, you can do every zones in any order you want.
-well designed, you can easely understand where to go.
-nice palette.
Bad points:
-sometimes it is a bit boring to do some long ways to go to one point, there should have more shortcuts.
-There is one door in Deep Ice, if you take it, you are back on the surface and you can't go back so you have to do a very long way just to go back.
-The room may be a bit boring, there isn't a lot in them.
conclusion:
The hack worth it, it is really good and is rebuilding super metroid in another way, it would deserve a 5 if there wasn't these little mistakes.
Solid and fun hack. It's not amazing but it avoids any fatal flaws. I think the maps could be better with exits marked and the beams were too weak for my liking with wave being awful. Grapple beam is honestly the best weapon other than missiles for most of the enemies. I never found Ice or Screw Attack, I assume they exist but I don't know for sure. The escape was odd but I didn't mind it. I liked the attempt at a story, it's a nice touch. Quality hack, well done.
It seems good... but isn't, it's annoying, too many unlinear makes it confusing and boring... and is VERY tedious with the bomb jump
Ice Metall tiene muchas cosas interesantes, como el cambio visual y la pequeña historia que se relata, particularmente ciertos ambientes me parecen bastante bonitos, pero como en todo existen errores:
-Es un mundo completamente abierto lo que también hace que la exploración se vuelva tediosa
-Los cuartos no estaban bien diseñados para navegar (muchos espacios que no te llevan a ninguna parte, estatuas de Chozo que no tienen nada, etc.)
-Los rayos están muy desbalanceados tiene el plasma más débil que he visto hasta ahora
-Aunque gráficamente algunos lugares son muy bonitos, en otras partes esto no le sienta tan bien
En general lo recomiendo, pero por todo lo anterior sí puede ser frustrante
-Es un mundo completamente abierto lo que también hace que la exploración se vuelva tediosa
-Los cuartos no estaban bien diseñados para navegar (muchos espacios que no te llevan a ninguna parte, estatuas de Chozo que no tienen nada, etc.)
-Los rayos están muy desbalanceados tiene el plasma más débil que he visto hasta ahora
-Aunque gráficamente algunos lugares son muy bonitos, en otras partes esto no le sienta tan bien
En general lo recomiendo, pero por todo lo anterior sí puede ser frustrante
Hack starts off ok. New sprites tiles are always a plus, even though these look like a rush fab (only created the 90°s&45°s causing everything to look really blocky)... The sewer looked like the tiles were ripped from a Wario game.
Little confusing on where to go. Items weren't the easiest to find. Lot of odd holes that look like you should be able to go into but can't. Back tracking was a burden.
I was having an ok time, despite the map errors, until the water area. A blind playthrough, hah! There's a graphics layer above all the sprites so I couldn't see what was going on... Somehow wandered into Tourian. The thought of traversing back through that travesty cause me to pave forward (wave, spazer, varia, all HUD items, lot of health)
Nearly impossible bosses at that point. Had to dodge every rinka because they did way too much damage. Finding charge at that point and the heat damage on top of it was insult to injury. Could not escape even with abusing save states.
Little confusing on where to go. Items weren't the easiest to find. Lot of odd holes that look like you should be able to go into but can't. Back tracking was a burden.
I was having an ok time, despite the map errors, until the water area. A blind playthrough, hah! There's a graphics layer above all the sprites so I couldn't see what was going on... Somehow wandered into Tourian. The thought of traversing back through that travesty cause me to pave forward (wave, spazer, varia, all HUD items, lot of health)
Nearly impossible bosses at that point. Had to dodge every rinka because they did way too much damage. Finding charge at that point and the heat damage on top of it was insult to injury. Could not escape even with abusing save states.
It's a good hack but not as great as Hyper Metroid.
This is just another bullshit ass hack. Too many ways and areas to get trapped in. Do not sequence break in this game. In fact, don't even play it.
This is ANOTHER hack that makes me NOT want to play ANY hack at all.
This is ANOTHER hack that makes me NOT want to play ANY hack at all.
This hack is...really weird. It has a lot of custom palettes and a different HUD, but it has a problem with its lack of direction; it can be really hard to figure out what to do next. It's unique and has an extra upgrade too, and fortunately isn't too difficult. Ending's kinda cool too. Lack of direction bumps down to 3 stars.
Finished.
Recommend.
note: This is retroactively reviewed, from March 9, 2019
Finished.
Recommend.
note: This is retroactively reviewed, from March 9, 2019
Came for the quirky ship and HUD graphics, stayed for the gameplay. I believe that early on it's pretty easy to get lost/stuck. However, as you shoot and bomb all the things you will eventually find where to go next, and from there it only picks up steam. I admit it's been a hot minute since I've played this hack, maybe it's time to play again.
Finished.
Recommended.
Finished.
Recommended.
I really love this hack. the aesthetics look really nice. the world is also extremely open, you can go to a lot of places in a lot of different ways, i enjoyed that a lot.
I don't get tho, why:
-Beams have been weakened drastically (the more beams you have on, the less damage you deal)
-charge beam is only accessible after a different major upgrade
other than that, most of the hack is a lot of fun, especially running around exploring.
I don't get tho, why:
-Beams have been weakened drastically (the more beams you have on, the less damage you deal)
-charge beam is only accessible after a different major upgrade
other than that, most of the hack is a lot of fun, especially running around exploring.
This was the best mod made in 2010, with 2010 being the keyword here. The mod has not aged well but unlike nearly all of the other mods made before 2014, this actually has tremendous potential to be an extremely good metroidvania if it is ever remastered. The world design is on par with hollow knight in how things are interconnected and how multiple passageways can lead you to tackling your goal in multiple ways. This mod contains an excellent palette and customisation that really makes you feel you're playing a new entry in the metroid franchise rather than a mod of super metroid. Unfortunately, it has rusted badly enough over the years to the point that it can't be recommended in its current state. The problems are as follows:
- The map has no QoL improvements over the original and instead features a bug where the map shown by the map revealer terminal will be shown as explored (except on the minimap). This makes it extremely hard to know where to go next.
- garbage sprites occasionally show up on the HUD. They can be cleared vi saving and loading however.
- There is an entirely new plot, but the opening cutscene is missing and unmodded. Whats worse is when starting a new game the loading menu opens up and shows PLANET ZEBES when we clearly are not on zebes.
- the geography of the map is unnatural and claustrophobic... and also illogical with how the ship is under terrain that it would not be able to pass through when landing on the planet. the geography leads to several minor problems and this needs remastering more than anything else.
- music switching is glitchy, particularly between outside criteria and inner criteria (known in this mod as "surface")
- the tunnels immediately under the surface are weird and illogical and will likely turn off many players before they can get to see how much this mod has to offer.
- inconsistent tile properties. Tiles in one area behave completely differently to identical tiles placed elsewhere. This problem is most common with tall thin structures.
- The X-RAY vision item is unreachable.
I hope in the future this gets remastered, I would happily give it a 5/5 when that happens.
- The map has no QoL improvements over the original and instead features a bug where the map shown by the map revealer terminal will be shown as explored (except on the minimap). This makes it extremely hard to know where to go next.
- garbage sprites occasionally show up on the HUD. They can be cleared vi saving and loading however.
- There is an entirely new plot, but the opening cutscene is missing and unmodded. Whats worse is when starting a new game the loading menu opens up and shows PLANET ZEBES when we clearly are not on zebes.
- the geography of the map is unnatural and claustrophobic... and also illogical with how the ship is under terrain that it would not be able to pass through when landing on the planet. the geography leads to several minor problems and this needs remastering more than anything else.
- music switching is glitchy, particularly between outside criteria and inner criteria (known in this mod as "surface")
- the tunnels immediately under the surface are weird and illogical and will likely turn off many players before they can get to see how much this mod has to offer.
- inconsistent tile properties. Tiles in one area behave completely differently to identical tiles placed elsewhere. This problem is most common with tall thin structures.
- The X-RAY vision item is unreachable.
I hope in the future this gets remastered, I would happily give it a 5/5 when that happens.
One of the best hacks i have ever played. I didn't complete it yet. Recommend
I missed a lot of items & never found kraid.
Ridley requires all the ammo you can find w/o the charge beam.
I don't like the underwater physics either, but it's still a good game.
Thankz for the hack!!
Ridley requires all the ammo you can find w/o the charge beam.
I don't like the underwater physics either, but it's still a good game.
Thankz for the hack!!
pretty good for a full hack, I usually don't take 3+ hours to complete a hack since I'm a proficient speedrunner but it took me a while to get everything since I had to double and triple check the map and make sure I got everything since I usually always only go for max%/100% but anyways, this was a pretty fun hack to play through and I would definitely recommend it to people who love SM & SM hacks.. I'll give it a solid 10/10 for being a really good and fun hack
I know I played this when it originally released but it's been so long that it was pretty much a new experience. It's not that bad given its age but it's still kind of a middle of the road hack even accounting for that.
The exploration aspect is both really strong and really weak. Sure, you can explore the world pretty openly, and find copies of some items in a few different places, but it means that if you find those rooms where the duplicates would normally be, you're left with an empty feeling. I'm a bit baffled by the decision to backload most of the beam pickups, including Charge Beam until post-Speed Booster and Space Jump. Steamfair is quite possibly completely optional depending on where you go, as are a number of major items in general. Navigating the world can get pretty confusing at times too, and even when you do get Plasma Beam or manage to find Screw Attack, neither help speed up your exploration very much because both have had their damage values sunk straight into the ground.
It's a strange experience to play these days but you could do a lot worse.
The exploration aspect is both really strong and really weak. Sure, you can explore the world pretty openly, and find copies of some items in a few different places, but it means that if you find those rooms where the duplicates would normally be, you're left with an empty feeling. I'm a bit baffled by the decision to backload most of the beam pickups, including Charge Beam until post-Speed Booster and Space Jump. Steamfair is quite possibly completely optional depending on where you go, as are a number of major items in general. Navigating the world can get pretty confusing at times too, and even when you do get Plasma Beam or manage to find Screw Attack, neither help speed up your exploration very much because both have had their damage values sunk straight into the ground.
It's a strange experience to play these days but you could do a lot worse.
Completion time is for 3rd or 4th playthrough.
This hack succeeded in scratching the exploration itch. To facilitate that exploration identity, it hands out morph, missiles, and bombs within the first 15 minutes and turns the player loose. Also to aid in exploration, enemy drops have increased recovery to cut down on farming time. There is a bottleneck or two, (can feel stuck if you miss the way to power bombs) but the progression is very open ended with a great deal of freedom in which order to obtain major upgrades. The custom graphics do make it feel like a unique world, one of the reasons I was drawn to try the hack to begin with knowing nothing else. The endgame has been tweaked to suit this hack's storyline; it's not a routine blaze through Tourian, bash the brain, escape setup. Seeking out the various hidden items was fun, a vital component of an exploration focused project.
Maybe it's because I'm more experienced by the time I tried this out but difficulty felt very relaxed. I don't think I ever saw the Game Over screen unless I was overextending myself like trying heated rooms without Varia, running out of ammo at Botwoon without Charge, or something similar. Did come close to biting it at the final boss fight but somehow clawed my way back. So it's not entirely toothless but I expect a seasoned player to breeze through the combat.
There's some other wrinkles to the gameplay that cause this hack to stand out. One is Charge being located rather late. Combined with the increased drop values, the message I got was "use missiles." So I used missiles to handle bulky enemies and never felt bogged down or restricted on that front. Also, the beam damage values have been tweaked; they are no longer linear damage increases. I encourage experimenting with the different combinations to find the combo that suits your playstyle.
Normally with full-sized hacks, I don't really sweat my completion time. This is one of the few that drew me in enough to plot a route through the game to finish in under 3 hours. Could have gotten a higher item percentage but chose to skip a number of them that felt time-consuming to grab. Though the overall difficulty is low, some of the pickups are located in tricky locations to reach so greater technical skill is called for to reach 100%.
Giving it the full 5 orbs is based more on vibes than more objective criteria. This hack's atmosphere appealed to me combined with the enjoyable exploration and relaxed accessible gameplay.
This hack succeeded in scratching the exploration itch. To facilitate that exploration identity, it hands out morph, missiles, and bombs within the first 15 minutes and turns the player loose. Also to aid in exploration, enemy drops have increased recovery to cut down on farming time. There is a bottleneck or two, (can feel stuck if you miss the way to power bombs) but the progression is very open ended with a great deal of freedom in which order to obtain major upgrades. The custom graphics do make it feel like a unique world, one of the reasons I was drawn to try the hack to begin with knowing nothing else. The endgame has been tweaked to suit this hack's storyline; it's not a routine blaze through Tourian, bash the brain, escape setup. Seeking out the various hidden items was fun, a vital component of an exploration focused project.
Maybe it's because I'm more experienced by the time I tried this out but difficulty felt very relaxed. I don't think I ever saw the Game Over screen unless I was overextending myself like trying heated rooms without Varia, running out of ammo at Botwoon without Charge, or something similar. Did come close to biting it at the final boss fight but somehow clawed my way back. So it's not entirely toothless but I expect a seasoned player to breeze through the combat.
There's some other wrinkles to the gameplay that cause this hack to stand out. One is Charge being located rather late. Combined with the increased drop values, the message I got was "use missiles." So I used missiles to handle bulky enemies and never felt bogged down or restricted on that front. Also, the beam damage values have been tweaked; they are no longer linear damage increases. I encourage experimenting with the different combinations to find the combo that suits your playstyle.
Normally with full-sized hacks, I don't really sweat my completion time. This is one of the few that drew me in enough to plot a route through the game to finish in under 3 hours. Could have gotten a higher item percentage but chose to skip a number of them that felt time-consuming to grab. Though the overall difficulty is low, some of the pickups are located in tricky locations to reach so greater technical skill is called for to reach 100%.
Giving it the full 5 orbs is based more on vibes than more objective criteria. This hack's atmosphere appealed to me combined with the enjoyable exploration and relaxed accessible gameplay.
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