The past few years have seen many independent games trying to emulate the art style and design of old-school Nintendo games. While many gamers are heartily enjoying the rush of new pixel-art games, many more are feeling inundated with the sheer amount taking on this style.
The game “Shovel Knight” perfectly nails the concepts it draws inspiration from, while also building on it and taking into account advancements in game design from the past 20 years. On the other hand“Axiom Verge” – recently released for the PS4, PS3 and PC – does a good job nailing the first half down, but falters while building on those games’ strengths.
As far as genre, “Axiom Verge” is considered Metroidvania-style, where the player slowly explores a large, 2D-world while gaining abilities and tools to access its far reaches and depths. It gets its name from two of the biggest franchises in the genre, including “Castlevania” (particularly the later games in the series, such as “Castlevania: Symphony of the Night”) and Nintendo’s “Metroid.” The latter series is what “Axiom Verge” most closely relates to, specifically the SNES installment, “Super Metroid.” In fact, if one were to replace the main character of the game with the original game’s hero, Samus, the world, bosses and level design of “Axiom Verge” would easily pass as a new “Metroid” game.
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The similarities are virtually endless. Pods players can enter to save the game and regain all lost health, including the one players awaken from to begin the game. The tall pathways with zigzagging platforms are reminiscent in feel and design to those found in even the earliest “Metroid” title. Early on, players are required to get specific weapons to bypass obstacles. There are even small pathways the player cannot pass through until they gain a certain upgrade, which immediately brought to mind Samus’ morph ball.
However, the differences are welcomed. While a few of the guns are necessary, most of them are hidden away and it is the job of the player to discover. And there are definitely a whole lot of them. In my own 10-hour play through, I didn’t even manage to collect half of the 20 guns hidden throughout the world.
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Most of the upgrades in “Axiom Verge” felt like nothing special, but late in the game many of them gain even more powerful, enjoyable and unique uses. The best is the drone upgrade, which is a little mechanical mite one can fire in any direction and use to enter places players otherwise could not. Late in the game, players gain the ability to teleport to that drone, making traversal of even simple hallways enjoyable. This was a good addition, as the one area of the game that really could have been improved was how players get from one side of the world the other.
In the middle of the map, there is a big area with a giant head that can take players to other areas, but getting to this area and taking the time to ride upon it felt unnecessary.
Thankfully, a save point was always placed right before a boss room. This is good because several bosses’ difficulty is unpredictable. The hardest boss of the game is a large bee later in the game – yet far in advance of the final boss – whose weakness feels more like luck than a puzzle that needs to be solved.
“Axiom Verge” is an imperfect game, but is not a bad one. Traversing levels and gaining powers is as enjoyable as it has ever been in a Metroidvania game, no matter how mundane retreading hallways can be from time to time. And while it doesn’t feature a story that will carry most players’ attentions from start to finish, it is interesting enough to carry it through the first two arcs of the game.
In the end, the criticisms are really secondary to the overall experience. “Axiom Verge” is an excellent game that fans of the “Metroid” series should most certainly be playing, and those unfamiliar to the Metroidvania genre should consider checking out.
4/5
