drr3member's Hack Reviews - Metroid Construction

Metroid: Ice Break by ThatSpoiler [

Quick Play], rated by drr3member on Sep 25, 2020 (

)

No completion stats.

For beginners, this is a good hack. It has the basic elements of what Metroid is about: exploration, item upgrades, and platforming.

I liked the aesthetic and the colors. I really liked how the secret item was hidden too.

Not having any challenge was disappointing though. It's ridiculously easy.

I beat it in under 15 minutes.

Metroid Walljump by Parasyte [

Improvement], rated by drr3member on Sep 25, 2020 (

)

No completion stats.

Very interesting. But it's really stinking hard to get it right. If it could be just a tad easier to jump off a wall then it would be great.

Metroid - Rogue Dawn by Grimlock, Optomon, snarfblam [

Exploration], rated by drr3member on Oct 07, 2020 (

)

No completion stats.

This hack is great. The progression and puzzle solving is really fun and the environments are organic and interesting to venture through. The music is stellar and makes it feel like a completely new Metroid experience. Level design is really intuitive and the in-game map helps out a LOT. This is by far the best Nestroid hack to date.

Metroid 99 by Maximum Potion [

Improvement], rated by drr3member on Dec 10, 2020 (

)

No completion stats.

Not interested in playing because I've beaten vanilla 1000 times, but I concur this should be in resources and not on the hacks page.

V I T A L I T Y by Digital_Mantra [

Exploration], rated by drr3member on Dec 14, 2020 (

)

66% in 6:29

Damn. This was a really cool experience. I had to look up only one solution and it is rather embarrassing I didn't see it... anyway other than that I was not expecting this hack to be what it was. I'm not very good at SM so a couple of the bosses were frustrating but they're not hard at all if you know how to beat them.

The environments were so detailed it was hard to tell whether I was looking at a platform or part of the background. That was probably the intent but it's a nitpick. Each area is rich and it feels like I'm on a completely different world and not a Zebes-remix.

The hack's difficulty: a little harder than vanilla. Exploration is the focus in this hack, but the main bosses will require a good amount of skill. A couple of the solutions were not obvious to me at all, like I said, so one tip I will give new players is to look for clues, DON'T check every nook and cranny on the map (on rare occasions this helps but in general don't do it).

I did half-spoil myself on the story, but it didn't ruin my experience. Everything in the hack except for one thing I figured out on my own.

If I had anything negative to say about the hack, it would be that it does not have a high replay value. Actually that's not even a negative comment, because I feel like this is one of those things you experience once and you're satisfied.

In short, play this hack. It is by far the best hack for any Metroid game.

Super Metroid Nature by Jefe962 [

Exploration], rated by drr3member on Dec 21, 2020 (

)

78% in 5:19

I'm going to give an honest review with this one. This hack feels like a worse version of the original.

I was enjoying this hack 100% up until Kraid. Now this may seem like an early point in the game to not enjoy the hack, however the required path is so unintuitive that it overshadows the areas that were well-hidden. I searched literally everywhere I could think of that was suspicious for the boss entrance, only to find that you have to bomb a random wall. What??

Maridia was alright. Draygon was fine because I killed him the easy way, but when I saw the floor in Botwoon's room... *sigh* let's just say I was ready to be done there. But I kept playing because I had already put in 3 hours.

The moments leading up to the Ridley fight were cool. The first acid run was kind of BS, but the one after you get screw attack was exciting. There's a sense of danger and dread in Lower Norfair; you have to be careful how you traverse each room. Enemies in that area hit like a semi-truck though.

I thought Tourian was going to be different, but it was basically the same as vanilla. Some metroids and rinkas, and then Mother Brain. But the escape sequence was broken af, I had 5 seconds left on the clock. It should give you at least 3 minutes to get out.

Beam Burst is the new powerup in this hack, and it's okay. It's only practical use for me was in the Ridley fight, but other than that it's useless compared to X-ray scope.

In general, the world design is weird and not convenient. My game time would be under 5 hours if it wasn't for the crappy backtracking in this game. There are plenty of connecting to paths to other areas, but they are all so out of the way and annoying to get to that it's a pain to go anywhere. The OG layout had a flow that this hack doesn't match.

Like others have said, the creativity in this hack is lacking. I agree with that, but I also understand it. It's hard to make a rom hack for any game, Super Metroid in particular, since it's such a complex game. However it is noticeable that most of the game is unchanged despite the new layout. What I mean is that the item progression is almost exactly the same and only vanilla tiles are used, which isn't a bad thing, but it doesn't feel like a new planet or even a new Zebes.

Overall, it's not terrible, but it doesn't deliver a fulfilling experience. It's worth at least one playthrough. There are more interesting hacks out there.

Super Metroid: Black Plague by JamieWebb16 [

Quick Play], rated by drr3member on Dec 23, 2020 (

)

No completion stats.

I enjoyed the demo for the project this was intended to be. I really enjoyed the creepy atmosphere and dark corridors. For some reason it gave me Amnesia: The Dark Descent vibes.

Some issues were the spike damage, holy crap it kills you quick. Spo-Spo's room stops spawning spores after a while so I couldn't get any missile refills. And then the floor in Botwoon's room has water, so that's kind of annoying.

Other than those minor things, this hack was really good. I enjoyed exploring the area and it will be cool to see what Version 2 has to offer (the author posted back on May 5 a screenshot of a new room for Black Plague, so they're probably working on something...).

Metroid Reborn A Call to Valor by David Turnblom [

Exploration], rated by drr3member on Jan 10, 2021 (

)

No completion stats.

This is very much a vanilla hack, as there are no palette changes that I could see and quite a few rooms are either unchanged or changed slightly.

As far as I'm concerned, the velocity increase is completely unnecessary and makes the game experience very annoying. Trying to execute precise platforming while Samus is zooming back and forth is ridiculous, coupled with the fact that this hack doesn't fix and even includes more of the issues present in vanilla Nestroid. Enemy spam is everywhere, enemies fly into doors and into your face right when you enter rooms, and the room design is uninspired. There was a strange door glitch in Kraid where I entered the right door in a shaft, and the door I came out was two rooms to the left...??

There are also invisible floors and walls in some rooms. I'm puzzled by this because instead of using transparent blocks you can use regular blocks and make it so the environment blocks the player instead of an invisible wall that removes all immersion into the game.

Also if Tourian doesn't work and I can't beat the game then why play? Collecting the items did not feel rewarding because all the rooms look the same, so there's no point in doing that either.

In conclusion, this hack is mediocre. It's playable.

Did not finish.

Super Metroid: HISHE by Scyzer [

Unknown], rated by drr3member on Jan 16, 2021 (

)

No completion stats.

Best hack ever, period

beth by JonnyManjiro [

Challenge], rated by drr3member on Apr 03, 2021 (

)

100% in 0:00

I was able to beat the game without using save states. It's definitely very hard. There are a few sections with cheese that I discovered. Overall, the level design is pretty good, but some rooms are unbearably annoying with the enemy placements.

Tech you must learn if you want to beat this thing is un-morph jump, vertical and horizontal bomb + jump, and bomb jumping at least two levels.

I enjoyed the simple platforming sections and exploring the map, but the boss fights were poorly designed. For Ridley, if his fireballs fall down the pit then he's defenseless. For Kraid, the fight is literally just shooting through a one-block hole until he's dead.

Tourian was short and not too hard. The fight was complete chaos, although by that point I had all the E-tanks so I was able to get through it without focusing too much. Rinkas are mean though.

I think if this hack had more consistent palette choices and more interesting environment designs, I would give at least 4 orbs. But props for the platforming and an interesting take on building a Nestroid hack.

Super Metroid Exertion by Mentlegen [

Improvement], rated by drr3member on Apr 07, 2021 (

)

36% in 1:09

Some spoilers ahead:

I thought this hack was alright. I liked the colors, the custom music, and exploring the map. Brinstar and Crateria were my favorite areas, but the other two areas felt empty. To me it felt like a "here's all the items, now fight the boss" kind of hack. It was easier than vanilla, save the boss fight, which was pretty tough because Phantoon is hard to predict. But the escape was a leisurely walk back to the ship.

Something I found bizarre was the mini-map. I go into a room, which I know is the one displayed on the map, but the blinking square has me a block above in empty space. And then I also accidentally softlocked myself into an infinite elevator ride in Sector Z. It doesn't take away from the hack too much, but I think that one elevator in Sector Z doesn't need to be there.

This hack could've been so much better if there were more puzzles and boss fights. It also doesn't need every single item. All the items were just waiting to be collected one after another, and that became boring to me because the pacing in the first two areas was great, and then I just started getting item after item without fighting any more bosses. So in that regard there is some improvement to be made.

All that aside, when I heard that boss music though I laughed out loud.

Super Metroid: Z-Factor by Metaquarius [

Exploration], rated by drr3member on Aug 30, 2021 (

)

No completion stats.

I played for about 2-3 hours. I put in a decent amount of time trying to figure out where to go and what items to get. I got to Norfair and put it down; this hack honestly baffles me. Some of the rooms are well-thought out, some of the graphics changes are quite good. But there are so many things locked behind power bombs and gray doors that you really can't go anywhere, there are crumble blocks in multiple rooms that if you don't perfectly jump off of, you have to spend 2 minutes or more, every time, getting back to that spot to try again. Thanks...

There's something about Tourian being the best Tourian ever, but the gameplay and navigation in this hack is so boring and monotonous that I don't have the patience to see the end. I don't see how this hack is so amazing.

This hack isn't bad. It has certainly been designed with an intentional progression and difficulty curves. What I've played it seems pretty linear. Pretty much vanilla progression. But there's really nothing too interesting here. In my opinion the beginning and end of a hack don't justify 4 or 5 orbs. Not that I technically got to the "middle", but it was an overall annoying experience that I'd rather not continue.

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