Lucina von Nolaran's Ratings and Reviews
SM Redesign: Axeil Edition by Drewseph [
Exploration],
rated by Lucina von Nolaran on May 03, 2021 (
)
Exploration],
rated by Lucina von Nolaran on May 03, 2021 ( )
62% in 10:19
-----------------------------------------------
Super Metroid Redesign - Axeil Edition Critique
-----------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------
Redesign's main purpose - To revamp Super Metroid, add new things, and make it feel fresh and new. Whether or not the result was achieved is up to the player. This is my experience, and I've created a list of things that I like, dislike, think is okay, and what can be changed to better the experience.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------
The good:
The map and hint system, water physics that allow for slight sequence breaking, identification of the current area.
The expanded layout makes for a much more vast, and mostly proper expansion for Zebes.
(I'll get back to that "mostly" in the bad)
Auto morph.
Pretty nice puzzles.
Respin.
Respin if going fast enough after letting go of a grapple block.
Weather changes at certain points of the game.
Earthquakes, though they feel too frequent when you aren't causing them. .-.
Upgraded Tourian. Much better than Vanilla.
-------------------------------------------
The okay:
Addition of reflection mirrors that make shots go in different directions.
Certain Major Items changed.
More aggressive Metroids. Kinda feels like they're too fast, though. Actually, it feels like their AI is based off the Baby
--------
--------
The bad:
First and foremost, the physics feel extremely heavy and slippery which is not how a player should move.
Vanilla was too floaty, but allowed for you to turn around easily. this feels too heavy and stiff.
The player needs to have comfortable control whenever possible, even if that presumably breaks a bit of logic.
Auto Morph can be inconsistent with where it activates..
Some pathways aren't revealed with X-Ray Scope, defeating the purpose of it. That might be an improper tile placement issue, but it's still jarring.
Screw Attack activating with the run button while spin jumping just doesn't feel right.
Some spots that lead to upgrades don't feel too obvious.
Going back to the "mostly" earlier, the layout can be either too long, or too confusing. Some areas look like they're the same, even with the map.
Draygon's fight room just... no, the quicksand there shouldn't exist. No Grapple kill for Draygon.
A bunch of mandatory upgrades feel REALLY out of the way. (See the Wave Beam, as an example)
Three bombs unless you can figure out the new timing. Granted, Vanilla has five or so bombs that you can place at a time; however, the bomb reload just feels too long.
Purple doors exist, and they take up 5 super missiles/ 25 missiles, on top of being in areas that don't really make sense.
The chozo guardian hunt. I think there should only be one per area as opposed to 3 per area. Had to look up a walkthrough for some of them, which isn't a good sign at all.
Rinkas can attack you from within the pipes.
The last two puzzles before Mother Brain exist, ruining any sort of tension or build up that there was already.
The Escape itself is a little long and tedious. Granted, that's the point, given the 10 minute timer, but it still feels too long. You can die to means other than the planet exploding during the escape because you don't have your equipment. I was expecting to have it all back somehow when Samus achieved the Hyper Beam.
--------
--------
Verdict:
--------
Overall, I feel that this hack has a lot of potential, but a lot of the new stuff just doesn't help. I'll give a list of suggestions as to what can be changed to make a new variation of Redesign possibly feel much better to go through.
As of present, I'd give it a 6.5 out of 10.
Again, there's a lot of potential, but there's a bunch that need to be changed, which I'll suggest down below. It manages to re-invent the wheel, but to do that, it changes things that were perfectly fine in the original.
--------
EDIT: Upon thinking a little further, and obviously taking into consideration that this is a redesign of Super Metroid, meaning it's not really fair to compare it to the original, when there's so much that different, I'll be altering my score to an 8.75 out of 10. When you consider that Super Metroid Redesign Axeil Edition is its own beast, a lot of the design choices are pretty interesting. I used some of my own faults as an excuse to judge the game, which was clearly unfair. A lot of it can still be changed for a different version, but when I think about it, this is actually an extremely good hack, but it feels slightly overshadowed by what it's based on, which was one of the best games to ever exist.
EDIT TWO: Upon a quick revisit, I feel like I'll bump it down to 8.5. Again, this feels like a very ambitious hack, and I would be completely behind it if the mid air controls weren't so awkward. They were completely fine in Vanilla, and changing them to pretty much restrict exploration as much as possible, making the whole thing essentially linear just bogs down the experience. Yes, this is a redesign, but there are certain aspects that should not have been redesigned.
------------
Suggestions:
------------
Firstly, changing the physics and layout so that the player is in much better control at all times, like how it should be.
-The physics feel too heavy, as mentioned previously, and as a result, some jumps feel like I could literally fall through the Earth with them. This also applies to morph ball.
Don't make the physics feel too floaty, though. Try and find a balance between the two, and have people play test the physics to be sure it feels just right no matter what. Heavier gravity should not be a thing unless you have it occur in specific areas. A heavy gravity mechanic would work well in Tourian, for instance. (Essentially, make the control snappier and much easier to utilize.)
-Make the layout not extremely big. The hack feels really big, and it is; I can appreciate that, but some times it feels too big. Part of that is due to how the physics are now, which don't exactly work now, especially given how slippery 1.6 feels. I'll find myself crashing into enemies quite frequently.
Secondly, make the chozo hunt be six guardians as opposed to 12.
I know this is meant to be a reference to Prime 1, but with some of these guardians, I needed a walkthrough in order to solve (See the Maridia Puzzles), which I really don't want to have to use; not with this hack.
-Less guardians means less time hopping all over the world.
-Additionally, place them in relatively moderate spots, difficulty wise; especially since a good chunk of the map download doesn't show the general area the chozo guardians are in.
One in Crateria, Brinstar, Norfair, Lower Norfair, The Lost Caverns, and Maridia.
Expand the Lost Caverns area a little. It's too short once you figure out the trick to it.
Don't make Screw Attack activate with the run button while spinning, and have it disable when you change directions. It was perfect in Vanilla. Additionally, the horizontal speed for Screw Attack is extremely fast, but very awkward when going up a vertical shaft. Furthermore, when it comes to taking damage, the Screw Attack shouldn't be disabled. The player can find themselves saumersaulting straight into an enemy and taking more damage because the screw attack wouldn't activate.
Put Health and Ammo refills directly before boss rooms (and bring back the eye doors to better indicate that the room just ahead is a boss room.) so that the player doesn't have to backtrack to another one, and then come back, while risking taking damage and leading them back where they were just at.
Purple doors should only take 10 missiles, similar to how they operated in NEStroid. This would take up a lot less ammo consumption.
Maybe lessen the lightning effects, if possible. I was playing this mostly in the dark, so when I was on the surface of Crateria, the lightning flashes would really hurt the eyes, especially when it was "dusk".
Turn off Rinkas when in the pipes of Tourian.
Don't block off Mother Brain with the two security puzzles at the end. This is clearly padding, and isn't enjoyable in the slightest. It also ruins the tension. The player will be frustrated by the point they get to Mother Brain, rather than excited or pumped up, especially given that they went through a massive puzzle of navigating Tourian, killing Metroids, and turning off the electric beams.
Disable the items during Mother Brain's Beam rampage, until you have the Hyper Beam, at which point, the player has the option to turn them back on, or turn it all back on right then and there automatically.
Travelled 241.45 km
Energy Lost: 36,531
Enemies Killed: 2,581
Shots Fired: 16,202
Doors Traversed: 2,182
Super Metroid Redesign - Axeil Edition Critique
-----------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------
Redesign's main purpose - To revamp Super Metroid, add new things, and make it feel fresh and new. Whether or not the result was achieved is up to the player. This is my experience, and I've created a list of things that I like, dislike, think is okay, and what can be changed to better the experience.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------
The good:
The map and hint system, water physics that allow for slight sequence breaking, identification of the current area.
The expanded layout makes for a much more vast, and mostly proper expansion for Zebes.
(I'll get back to that "mostly" in the bad)
Auto morph.
Pretty nice puzzles.
Respin.
Respin if going fast enough after letting go of a grapple block.
Weather changes at certain points of the game.
Earthquakes, though they feel too frequent when you aren't causing them. .-.
Upgraded Tourian. Much better than Vanilla.
-------------------------------------------
The okay:
Addition of reflection mirrors that make shots go in different directions.
Certain Major Items changed.
More aggressive Metroids. Kinda feels like they're too fast, though. Actually, it feels like their AI is based off the Baby
--------
--------
The bad:
First and foremost, the physics feel extremely heavy and slippery which is not how a player should move.
Vanilla was too floaty, but allowed for you to turn around easily. this feels too heavy and stiff.
The player needs to have comfortable control whenever possible, even if that presumably breaks a bit of logic.
Auto Morph can be inconsistent with where it activates..
Some pathways aren't revealed with X-Ray Scope, defeating the purpose of it. That might be an improper tile placement issue, but it's still jarring.
Screw Attack activating with the run button while spin jumping just doesn't feel right.
Some spots that lead to upgrades don't feel too obvious.
Going back to the "mostly" earlier, the layout can be either too long, or too confusing. Some areas look like they're the same, even with the map.
Draygon's fight room just... no, the quicksand there shouldn't exist. No Grapple kill for Draygon.
A bunch of mandatory upgrades feel REALLY out of the way. (See the Wave Beam, as an example)
Three bombs unless you can figure out the new timing. Granted, Vanilla has five or so bombs that you can place at a time; however, the bomb reload just feels too long.
Purple doors exist, and they take up 5 super missiles/ 25 missiles, on top of being in areas that don't really make sense.
The chozo guardian hunt. I think there should only be one per area as opposed to 3 per area. Had to look up a walkthrough for some of them, which isn't a good sign at all.
Rinkas can attack you from within the pipes.
The last two puzzles before Mother Brain exist, ruining any sort of tension or build up that there was already.
The Escape itself is a little long and tedious. Granted, that's the point, given the 10 minute timer, but it still feels too long. You can die to means other than the planet exploding during the escape because you don't have your equipment. I was expecting to have it all back somehow when Samus achieved the Hyper Beam.
--------
--------
Verdict:
--------
Overall, I feel that this hack has a lot of potential, but a lot of the new stuff just doesn't help. I'll give a list of suggestions as to what can be changed to make a new variation of Redesign possibly feel much better to go through.
As of present, I'd give it a 6.5 out of 10.
Again, there's a lot of potential, but there's a bunch that need to be changed, which I'll suggest down below. It manages to re-invent the wheel, but to do that, it changes things that were perfectly fine in the original.
--------
EDIT: Upon thinking a little further, and obviously taking into consideration that this is a redesign of Super Metroid, meaning it's not really fair to compare it to the original, when there's so much that different, I'll be altering my score to an 8.75 out of 10. When you consider that Super Metroid Redesign Axeil Edition is its own beast, a lot of the design choices are pretty interesting. I used some of my own faults as an excuse to judge the game, which was clearly unfair. A lot of it can still be changed for a different version, but when I think about it, this is actually an extremely good hack, but it feels slightly overshadowed by what it's based on, which was one of the best games to ever exist.
EDIT TWO: Upon a quick revisit, I feel like I'll bump it down to 8.5. Again, this feels like a very ambitious hack, and I would be completely behind it if the mid air controls weren't so awkward. They were completely fine in Vanilla, and changing them to pretty much restrict exploration as much as possible, making the whole thing essentially linear just bogs down the experience. Yes, this is a redesign, but there are certain aspects that should not have been redesigned.
------------
Suggestions:
------------
Firstly, changing the physics and layout so that the player is in much better control at all times, like how it should be.
-The physics feel too heavy, as mentioned previously, and as a result, some jumps feel like I could literally fall through the Earth with them. This also applies to morph ball.
Don't make the physics feel too floaty, though. Try and find a balance between the two, and have people play test the physics to be sure it feels just right no matter what. Heavier gravity should not be a thing unless you have it occur in specific areas. A heavy gravity mechanic would work well in Tourian, for instance. (Essentially, make the control snappier and much easier to utilize.)
-Make the layout not extremely big. The hack feels really big, and it is; I can appreciate that, but some times it feels too big. Part of that is due to how the physics are now, which don't exactly work now, especially given how slippery 1.6 feels. I'll find myself crashing into enemies quite frequently.
Secondly, make the chozo hunt be six guardians as opposed to 12.
I know this is meant to be a reference to Prime 1, but with some of these guardians, I needed a walkthrough in order to solve (See the Maridia Puzzles), which I really don't want to have to use; not with this hack.
-Less guardians means less time hopping all over the world.
-Additionally, place them in relatively moderate spots, difficulty wise; especially since a good chunk of the map download doesn't show the general area the chozo guardians are in.
One in Crateria, Brinstar, Norfair, Lower Norfair, The Lost Caverns, and Maridia.
Expand the Lost Caverns area a little. It's too short once you figure out the trick to it.
Don't make Screw Attack activate with the run button while spinning, and have it disable when you change directions. It was perfect in Vanilla. Additionally, the horizontal speed for Screw Attack is extremely fast, but very awkward when going up a vertical shaft. Furthermore, when it comes to taking damage, the Screw Attack shouldn't be disabled. The player can find themselves saumersaulting straight into an enemy and taking more damage because the screw attack wouldn't activate.
Put Health and Ammo refills directly before boss rooms (and bring back the eye doors to better indicate that the room just ahead is a boss room.) so that the player doesn't have to backtrack to another one, and then come back, while risking taking damage and leading them back where they were just at.
Purple doors should only take 10 missiles, similar to how they operated in NEStroid. This would take up a lot less ammo consumption.
Maybe lessen the lightning effects, if possible. I was playing this mostly in the dark, so when I was on the surface of Crateria, the lightning flashes would really hurt the eyes, especially when it was "dusk".
Turn off Rinkas when in the pipes of Tourian.
Don't block off Mother Brain with the two security puzzles at the end. This is clearly padding, and isn't enjoyable in the slightest. It also ruins the tension. The player will be frustrated by the point they get to Mother Brain, rather than excited or pumped up, especially given that they went through a massive puzzle of navigating Tourian, killing Metroids, and turning off the electric beams.
Disable the items during Mother Brain's Beam rampage, until you have the Hyper Beam, at which point, the player has the option to turn them back on, or turn it all back on right then and there automatically.
Travelled 241.45 km
Energy Lost: 36,531
Enemies Killed: 2,581
Shots Fired: 16,202
Doors Traversed: 2,182
Super Metroid: Cristener Homenag by Juan Dennys [ Vanilla+],
rated by Lucina von Nolaran on May 11, 2021 ( 
)
Vanilla+],
rated by Lucina von Nolaran on May 11, 2021 ( )
No completion stats.
0 out of 10. Don't play this hack. Rooms are either cryptic, lazy, unnecessarily changed to be bullshit, or- No, it's all of the above with this this hack. It feels wildly incomplete, and isn't fun to go through at all.
Super Metroid: Recovery by MetroidNerd#9001 [ Exploration],
rated by Lucina von Nolaran on May 11, 2021 ( )
![[Watch Video]](images/video.png)
Exploration],
rated by Lucina von Nolaran on May 11, 2021 ( )
75% in 3:13
Really good hack. Nice little spin on the plot, where Samus gets hit by an asteroid and loses her power ups. As this is slightly branched off from the main timeline, we don't get to go into Ceres this time, which means that Samus doesn't see Ridley capture the baby. It's essentially "What if Samus went to Zebes and not get the distress signal from Ceres?" 9.5/10
