Paragon's Hack Reviews - Metroid Construction

So Little Garden by MetroidMst [

Exploration], rated by Paragon on May 05, 2020 (

)

No completion stats.

First hack I've ever played.

It's really very interesting, and quite difficult. The music lulls you into a false sense of security before dropping you into a deathpit of angry Shaktool gears and Rinkas. (Oh god the rinkas) Pausing will lag really bad. I thought I'd crashed the first time, but it resumed really, really slowly. So if you need to pause, use the emulator. I haven't died this many times since 1996. It's great!

Temple of the Winds by Moehr and Albert V. [

Exploration], rated by Paragon on Nov 18, 2020 (

)

99% in 1:09

Very highly exploration-based, extremely beautiful, and the music is wonderful. There are a couple of frustrating parts, but overall, it was a very fun experience and the first hack I've ever completed. I highly recommend this one!

Stardust by Tyjet66 [

Quick Play], rated by Paragon on Dec 01, 2020 (

)

92% in 3:55

Fun little hack! Graphics are a little funny in some areas, but there are many different ways you can go through it and it's legitimately fun to play. Item hunting wasn't a chore, but there were a few I couldn't figure out. Escape is pretty narrow.. honestly surprised I survived the first time with milliseconds left.

Definitely a hack to play, especially for people new to hacks.

V I T A L I T Y by Digital_Mantra [

Exploration], rated by Paragon on Dec 15, 2020 (

)

89% in 11:37

In a word: incredible.

This was a game that was beautiful to look at, fun to play, and a delight to get lost in. Backtracking and wandering didn't feel like a chore, so item hunting was a lot of fun (even if I did get trolled by the same item orb like 8 times, but that's completely on me). The ending was a total punch to the sternum and blew me away!

This is going to be a hack that I will play over and over again, that's a fact.

Super Metroid: Hotlands by MetroidNerd#9001 [

Exploration], rated by Paragon on Aug 07, 2022 (

)

75% in 3:17

(Video Link to be added later.)

I'll be up front about this: this hack was not meant to be easy. If you're not at least semi-good at playing vanilla Super Metroid, or you're not stubborn with a high frustration tolerance when your skill is at my level, you probably should go play something labeled "Vanilla" or "Beginner".

Now that that's out of the way: I did enjoy this hack. It absolutely challenged me and I died a lot. That's totally okay, that's my skill level and my frustration tolerance is high. The boss battles were different than the norm and definitely a little more puzzle oriented than combat and I thought that was really interesting. The music was fantastic! Easily my favorite part. A couple of the secret passages were a *little* too obscure and could use some graphical adjustment, but I'm also aware they were made apparently easier? I watched MST's play of an earlier build and one of them was significantly easier to spot for me. The rooms these secrets were in were rooms that I knew there had to be a secret in, but all the places I zeroed in on weren't the correct spots and I legitimately found them on *accident*. If they had been only heading towards a missile tank, I wouldn't mention it, but both were pretty significant (without spoiling anything). These two spots (Nerd is aware, since he was watching my stream) just need a little bit of love, in my opinion. But no big deal if he chooses to leave it. But for someone looking to play: trust your instincts about weird dead ends where anything that looks traditionally suspicious isn't doing anything. Finding these secrets is worth it!

Overall, this is a nice, though challenging, little hack and I can see the effort that went into it. Even when I was frustrated, I was still having a good time and didn't feel like I couldn't get past anything without a little bit of trial and error. I will probably play this again to try for 100%.

distressCall by moehr [

Exploration], rated by Paragon on May 29, 2023 (

)

100% in 4:34

Hacks for Metroid 2 are scarce at the time of my review, so I am definitely hoping that we'll get more (Moehr) hacks down the line even better than this one.

Bear in mind, my play time is largely because I wanted to make sure I got everything and saw everything, so I was taking my time, and I was also messing around a little to figure out some weirdness that has been solved by now. This will be apparent in my video. This is not a very long hack and could probably be beaten in under an hour.

That out of the way, I loved it. I'm a huge fan of Moehr's hacks and I love the innovative things he likes to do when he's building. This one is no different! He's built a map screen, animated tiles, and a means to switch beams (no beam stacking.. yet, but you don't have to have only one beam at a time), and new items. The game itself has a few rough patches, but nothing that completely ruins the fun. There's lots to explore in this little hack. It's not particularly difficult, either, but it has its own challenges that are worth checking out.

I'm looking forward to what Moehr and LAMP will bring to this game!

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