hoboka's Hack Reviews - Metroid Construction

hoboka's Ratings and Reviews

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Super Metroid: Subversion by TestRunner and AmoebaOfDoom [

Exploration], rated by hoboka on Jun 27, 2023 (

)

86% in 13:30

NOTE: Play time is probably closer to 35 hours, but I chose to restart my run, this time on Easy Mode. I had a certain vendetta on a certain Switch/Laser Beam puzzle that I HAD to beat. Lmao. Don't think there is any animals* to save.

--PROS--
-Level Design feels like a Metroid Prime game. There is even information on every area, item and boss. I enjoyed the flavor texts very much!!

-Level design is mostly good.

-The 'infrared' visor you get, coinciding with dark rooms is neat. Wish you could use it with the X-Ray scope. Oh well.

-New music and 'soft' remixes of existing material. Most of them click. But this is subjective stuff. Nice use of Fusion music too!

-Grappling Beam has a use and is even required for some interesting "lever switches", rather than just spamming it on broken blocks and seeing what's behind em.

-You get to use the Hyper Beam CONTEXTUALLY and is required for item % and progression IRRC.

-Mission objectives to help sort you out...until the very end.

-Cool Laser Beam puzzles, which also tie into a new suit and beam :D

-Boss fights feel fresh and not too difficult, whether it is Easy or Normal. Getting to them is the hard part, naturally.

-Looks amazing. Nice blend of vanilla and new tile work.

-Speedball and Jumpball are blended into one.

-All auxilary weps share same ammo type and you find a LOT of ammo!!

-An "Item Map" is available towards the endgame, when you take down the Space Station.

--CONS--
-'Subversion' has what I like to call "Z-Factor-Itis". It kinda drags towards the end and is labyrinthine and huge, so you're apt to forget that there is "screw attack" or "Spazer-Beam" blocks for hidden rooms etc.

-At the very end, you may be stumped as to where to go, since there is no objective to tell you. Did I mention there are objectives? Would've been neat if the objectives carried through to the $@*%ing end >:3

-An important Progression Item is hidden behind a very cumbersome puzzle. A Switch/Laser Beam puzzle that forces you to go back and forth at least 20 times, fighting 4-6 mocktroids and 4-6 invincible wall-faces that can at least be frozen, but still, it gets old after the tenth time or so... Just NO NO NO NO. That is NOT how you design a puzzle!! At least put the Switches in the same room as reflector blocks or number them!! ((If the item in question for it was not required for Progression I wouldn't be so bothered. But there it is.))

--TL;DR--
Good but not perfect. I enjoyed Eris, Ascent, Phazon and VITALITY a bit more. But much less frustrating than the likes of Axiel Edition, Hyper Metroid or Z-Factor. (I'm gonna catch flak for that opinion hehe)

V I T A L I T Y by Digital_Mantra [

Exploration], rated by hoboka on Apr 09, 2024 (

)

85% in 12:30

IMO, the best hack on this site so far. Definitely a bold claim, but it's my personal favourite...

Man, VITALITY is creepy, fun and a fair challenge, but not unreasonable like say Redesign... It's about the ATMOSPHERE, horror and psychological thrills! The tilework and thematic tone is quite similar to Eris, but also different - maybe less campy? Anyways, I really digged the art and story progression. Also, watched MST's LP of VITALITY after beating it and had a good laugh or two. Good times.

PS: I even have the V I T A L I T Y poster as my desktop wallpaper.

(Also, shout out to Super Junkoid, which just came out, another GREAT hack I recommend you guys try out!)

Metroid: Desolation by jasinchen [ MZM

Exploration], rated by hoboka on Jul 11, 2024 (

)

76% in 6:14

I'm having a hard time breaking down how I feel about this game, so I deleted my old review. I'd love to give this hack a 5/5, but I had such a bad time with 1.3fin. V1.2.2. felt a bit more fair at parts. I also couldn't find the Varia Suit in 1.3fin, which lead to a lot of dead-end acid/heat runs, so I just moved on to V1.2.2 and had such a better time.

Plus side, the AM2R music and tiles/graphics were an IMPRESSIVE touch. A lot of the exploration was cool and fresh feeling too, but I think that Spooky Mission 2 did it better, as far as MZM romhacks go. Still, good effort jasinchen, and I'm impressed by what you've done with Desolation. Just not really my cup of tea per se. Sorry if I came off harsh T-T

(Side Note: the Prime Charge-Beam item vacuum powerup was super helpful for my exploration and saved my a$$ more than once.)

Super Junkoid by P. Yoshi [

Exploration], rated by hoboka on Jul 30, 2024 (

)

100% in 4:25

Almost all of the original Junkoid elements are here.

-The world-building is insane, the music picks were great. Super Castlevania IV's Waterfalls theme being one of my favorite themes of all time. YoshiP has a great taste in music.
-I also love the new take on Brinstar Red Soil's theme, with that Prime-Whistle and "organic" sfx patch that felt like breathing or ghostly murmuring.
-The monster and boss re-sprite work is BEAUTIFUL and creepy, similar to VITALITY, but more dark-fantasy oriented.
-The tile-work is also surreal, sometimes very explicit and there are genuine parts that are gonna creep you out, but also wow you. Sort of like French art, hoh hoh hoh hoh.
-Turning the missiles into charge-shot is a brilliant idea. And making shine-spark a consumable item rather than having to speed-boost first is also a great idea - I wish hacks did this more often. Also, the rat is super cute. And so is Junko, in that sort of chibbi way lawl :3

Anyhow, I pin this game up there with VITALITY, Ascent, Subversion... This is top-tier SM hack wizardry. Nice work P.Yoshi!

Eris by Digital_Mantra [

Exploration], rated by hoboka on Jul 30, 2024 (

)

70% in 12:10

An easy 3 Points for the tile-work, design layout and background distortion filters/FX. As well as the out-and-out Ridley Scott's Aliens references here. Just the best tile-work you'll ever see in a romhack for quite some time, I imagine. And the background FX are absolutely amazing too.

But Eris loses 2 points for me, due to...
-Enemies having 20,000 HP and being very frequent/fast - especially those damn crabs LOL.
-Energy tanks are spaced out too far and the Varia Suit is hard to find.
-Another sticking point is a major early section that is suitless underwater and requires PERFECT platforming, or you'll be stuck for good. In fact, I think that the hit-boxes on the moving platforms are slightly coded incorrectly too.
-I wound up beating this game out of spite towards the end, but having plasma and gravity suit made it a lot easier (kinda nice that gravity suit is an optional choice too lol)

The Bosses were fine though. I don't mind difficult bosses, especially since you can simple make a save-state at the beginning of the fight.

I will rate this hack higher if D-Mantra ever returns to this hack and scales back the hitpoints of all basic enemies (the bosses were fair difficulty imo) and at least gives you 1 easy-to-find E-tank in the earlier portion of the game. Otherwise, I imagine a lot more gamers are gonna overlook this game in favor of newer hacks, which is a bit depressing, given how beautiful and visceral the art work is.

I know it sounds like I'm ripping this game to shreds, but I do appreciate a lot of aspects of ERIS, and I think that veteran SM players would be fools to ignore this game. But let's be real...this isn't a romhack for everyone by a LONG, LONG shot.

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