I'm a bit of a late arrival to this hack seeing as I've been out of the community for a number of years now, but on a whim I decided to check back and after seeing the glowing reviews decided it was time to dive back in for another grand tour of Zebes. I can safely say that the trip was well worth the effort.
+ This could be the best that Super Metroid has ever looked. I loved the aesthetics throughout pretty much the entire experience. Of particular note are the Wrecked Ship and Lower Norfair.
+ Physics are very fluid and make Samus that much more maneuverable. I understand a lot of this comes from Project Base but that doesn't take away from how much better the game feels as a whole.
+ Surprisingly, for such an open ended game, the difficult felt spot on for the most part. Other than a few specific locations which I'll mention below I never felt too out of place no matter where I traveled.
+ The ammo system makes item acquisition much more rewarding as it gives an incentive to find as many expansions as possible. The fact that these weapons were more powerful and useful on top of that only adds to this factor.
+ Although I'm not usually a fan of the required gate system, here it works. You can see most of them right from the start, and furthermore, you can actually reach most of them before the final push to Tourian.
+ The Escape Sequence. While it wasn't particularity difficult, there is definitely an increased level of desperation as your path continues to be blocked at every turn. A true race to the finish in this regard.
- The difficulty does stumble at times, particularly on the bosses. Phantoon and Draygon were the only ones that gave me any sort of real trouble and I don't know if being more equipped would change this much due to how they are designed. (At least there's a warning about Gold Torizo, so he gets a pass)
- This level of exploration does allow for some moments of frustration when it seems every path is blocked by yet another obstacle, with Super Missiles and Power Bombs being the worst offenders. I was about ready to call it because of these two items alone but I'm glad I pushed on.
Overall, Hyper Metroid has managed to once again exceed my expectations for what a Super Metroid experience can be. Easily within my top 5 favorites! Amazing job!
Exploration],
rated by Prime Hunter on Apr 19, 2017 (
