Scurge: Hive (NDS, 2006)
Graphics-8 Sound-8 Control-7 Challenge-7 Story-5.5
Level Design-7 Frustration-7.5 Fun-7 Originality-6
Overall Score-7
+
Metroid Fusion-inspired setting, premise and gameplay besides the game using an isometric perspecitve (virus infection (called Scurge) theme in a sci-fi setting, AI assistant (although here its behavior is sometimes affected by the virus or a villain), start on a separate space station then land on an alien planet (SM), shooting and platforming, interconnected world, ability gating, female and bounty hunter protagonist)
Start with an item drop magnet
Some interesting movement and traversal abilities/tools (grappling hook/tether - lets you pull frozen enemies and some objects+works like a long jump accessed at certain points after upgrading it, adrenaline rush/time slow - slows down enemies and hazards around you, )
Three "elemental" guns with secondary functions and enemies have affinities to these (EMP - also powers up certain switches, Dissipate - also opens doors via certain switches, Combust - also burns vine obstacles and melts ice blocks). If hitting an enemy that's weak to a weapon then it has a chain effect / if the enemy is strong against it then they gain a stat bonus instead
Some other interesting weapons (cryostasis - freezes enemies near you (lets you use them as blocks for pressure plates), bombs/plasma - destroys certain obstacles, ultra shot - used vs the final boss' last phase only)
Teleporter hub room (activate teleporters as you explore the game world)
Decent bosses (puzzle element to some boss fights (intro, area 3/worm, area 4/transforming virus))
Decent puzzles (blocks and switches, water level manipulating in one area, some spatial reasoning puzzles - falling down through pits in area 1 2nd visit for example and parts of rooms only being accessible via a detour, some timing puzzles which involve platforming+slowing down time while hitting timed switches)
Find text logs from previous crew members and later on receive radio transmissions from survivors (similar to System Shock, however you tend to get told where the next upgrade is here without having to pay attention to them much)
Can stand in place and shoot while aiming
Can grab and climb ledges - not moving platforms though?
Basic ranking system (you're ranked per area after beating the boss in it; enemies killed, efficiency)
Decent intro and ending (pretty minor animation but good artwork), Good art direction overall, Pretty nice dialogue portraits with minor animation, Some large and detailed (some multi-jointed) sprites
Enemies are pretty good at chasing the player in the sense that they can jump to higher platforms (similar to Spider-Man: Web of Shadows DS) but they also tend to get stuck on corners in narrow paths
Some shortcuts however it can be tricky to use them effectively since they are often one-way and/or you have to take a less direct route or fall down to a lower floor
Unlockable hard/insane/ultra modes (stat tweaks and less health dropped by enemies?, ultra mode=start with ultra shot and max HP), alternate avatar color schemes and boss rush mode
Control config, Separate music and sfx volume sliders
DS ver.: Separate map screen (have to go into the pause menu on GBA), Higher resolution/more zoomed out view
+/-
Linear structure overall (mostly linear progression through areas for your first time through them as well besides the order in which you collect keys - taking alternate paths leads to dead ends). Temporary points of no return when reaching new areas meaning you can't backtrack into the hub area/area 1 to test out a new upgrade until finishing that area
Single entry points to all areas after the first and you can't revisit them later
Some backtracking to previously visited sub areas in the hub area (area 1) to progress
Teleporter hub room in the first area
Collectathon elements (some doors require up to 6 keycards, activating the nodes that unlock the boss room in each area - about 6 per area)
Killathon element (sometimes have to clear a room to be able to solve a switch puzzle in it)
Pretty frequent save points and the game reveals their location (but not the routes to them) early on in each area
Destination markers on the map (can also tap the destination with the stylus for some mission info)
Experience point leveling (collect dropped green blobs from enemies to level up - these also heal you a bit) - no stats shown on the status screen but leveling up increases HP, energy and AP. You also get HP and energy upgrades from defeated bosses
Infection mechanic (basically a time limit - need to visit save points to decontaminate, infection level increases faster if stepping on red scurge matter)
Pointless gooey visual effect on the screen when killing enemies
Stamina/draining weapon energy mechanic (stop firing if energy runs out, regenerates pretty quickly while not attacking)
Two upgrades function more like keys (light - hard gating on dark rooms as your char will just say it's too dangerous to move in the dark and turn back, gas protection)
Enemies respawn as soon as you leave the room they spawned in - can be annoying as rooms tend to have a lot of enemies that chase and surround you. Some rooms also have enemy spawning machines. In a few cases this respawning doesn't happen but it's rare
Can't fire as fast as you press the button (see Mega Man) - sort of true to Super Metroid's default weapon (can fire faster than its auto-fire) but not Fusion/ZM
Can't stand on frozen enemies - could've been used to reach higher but would've messed with some puzzles and the progression path and since you can move them around might've been too simplistic
No downward, upward or volley shots
Some side view focused segments
Day/night cycle in area 3 however it's just a visual effect
Maps are top down view and don't show room topology
Contact damage/touch damage
No neutral or friendly creatures
-
Solved puzzles often don't stay solved leading to having to redo some switch puzzles (even activating a node (unlocks boss rooms) resets the puzzle in the same room)
No dodge or block moves and no strafing/aim lock - could've been added in DS ver. since it has two more buttons
Annoying repeated beeping sfx when at low health+loud and repeated heartbeat sfx when virus infection reaches 60% (+a more subtle repeated sfx when in a room with a keycard in it; can at least mute all sfx?)
Some control/interface issues (some delay before you start shooting when pressing the button, stop shooting if you're hit while holding down the button (have to press it again), can't move while shooting - can jump but again there's a bit of a delay so you'll only get one shot off at most+if you were using auto-fire it is canceled AND messes with jump length (annoying because some enemies will insist on flying around above you), map doesn't mark found keys and you can't place map markers, tutorial messages pause gameplay, dialogue text is pretty fast but you can't instantly speed it up on a per text box/paragraph basis, somewhat unresponsive aiming while holding down the fire button - have to hold down the direction or sometimes changing direction won't register, shimmying is kinda slow and jumping from a wall railing back to the ground feels clunky, using the ice attack as a desperation/breakout move isn't completely reliable, not being able to aim lock or stand still and aim the tether is sometimes an issue during timed platforming puzzles, the camera lags behind when jumping too far with the grappling hook as well as when falling too far)
Some points of no return within areas - seems pointless overall
The contamination mechanic is kinda harsh which discourages you from taking alternate paths through areas instead of always going for the nearest save point/decontamination point, and occasionally you might misjudge a route and have to backtrack just to decontaminate (certain enemies could've dropped energy for a portable decontaminator or there could've been some hidden items that made the infection slow down for that area since there basically aren't any hidden items besides some keys)
Very spongy final boss unless you grind (at least lvl 50+, since there the contamination mechanic is still in effect you'll have to or you can't beat it in time, last phase is pretty tedious even if you did grind)
Some other tedious elements (no fast travel within areas - starts getting rather tedious in area 3 onwards (just being able to open up more shortcuts, enemies not respawning as quickly and/or a dash ability might've been enough), usually not being able to open up shortcuts to decontamination rooms to avoid repeated shimmying or puzzle solving when needing to go back to one, some rooms where you have to drag an object quite far to reach the switch you need to place it on (the nodes) while fighting off a lot of enemies, spongy large spider enemies that also spawn a bunch of spiders when killed - not an issue after getting combust/fire shot, shimmying segments where you also get attacked by flying enemies (until you get time slow) - can't shoot while shimmying, backtracking to decontaminate can get annoying at times, the area 3 boss is kinda drawn out due to the vulnerability window being so small, when the camera shows what happened after activating a switch the camera is pretty slow)
Occasionally hard to judge distances and heights - perhaps a rewind feature could've been gained or you could've gained the double jump sooner
Some trial & error (sometimes get locked inside a room until you've cleared it from enemies/solved the puzzle in it, enemies sometimes spawn pretty close to you while exploring a room, activated switches could've stayed activated to avoid confusion in larger areas, weird hit detection for a wall during a tether jump in area 3/desert, blind fall for a key in area 4/ice area, some boss patterns)
Bit of a shame how both the gas rooms and dark rooms are hard gates as it could've been a fun challenge to try to get through these earlier without the right tools
About 14 seconds of delay before you can reload after dying
The stacked meltable ice blocks could've been used in a more interesting way (see Boulder Dash for example)
Some palette swapped enemies
Few frames used for certain animations and overly exaggerated idle animation for the player avatar
No weapon upgrades (rate of fire, spread shot, homing, etc.)
Sometimes repeats pretty basic switch puzzles far into the game
No breakable walls besides the caved in doors/blocked holes and no false walls
No new enemies when backtracking through an area
Almost nothing to do in the first area after the second to last boss (activate a couple of nodes and then you face the final boss)
Bugs:
-Some enemies can despawn when exiting the screen in one direction but then suddenly respawn when moving in the opposite direction
Level Design-7 Frustration-7.5 Fun-7 Originality-6
Overall Score-7
+
Metroid Fusion-inspired setting, premise and gameplay besides the game using an isometric perspecitve (virus infection (called Scurge) theme in a sci-fi setting, AI assistant (although here its behavior is sometimes affected by the virus or a villain), start on a separate space station then land on an alien planet (SM), shooting and platforming, interconnected world, ability gating, female and bounty hunter protagonist)
Start with an item drop magnet
Some interesting movement and traversal abilities/tools (grappling hook/tether - lets you pull frozen enemies and some objects+works like a long jump accessed at certain points after upgrading it, adrenaline rush/time slow - slows down enemies and hazards around you, )
Three "elemental" guns with secondary functions and enemies have affinities to these (EMP - also powers up certain switches, Dissipate - also opens doors via certain switches, Combust - also burns vine obstacles and melts ice blocks). If hitting an enemy that's weak to a weapon then it has a chain effect / if the enemy is strong against it then they gain a stat bonus instead
Some other interesting weapons (cryostasis - freezes enemies near you (lets you use them as blocks for pressure plates), bombs/plasma - destroys certain obstacles, ultra shot - used vs the final boss' last phase only)
Teleporter hub room (activate teleporters as you explore the game world)
Decent bosses (puzzle element to some boss fights (intro, area 3/worm, area 4/transforming virus))
Decent puzzles (blocks and switches, water level manipulating in one area, some spatial reasoning puzzles - falling down through pits in area 1 2nd visit for example and parts of rooms only being accessible via a detour, some timing puzzles which involve platforming+slowing down time while hitting timed switches)
Find text logs from previous crew members and later on receive radio transmissions from survivors (similar to System Shock, however you tend to get told where the next upgrade is here without having to pay attention to them much)
Can stand in place and shoot while aiming
Can grab and climb ledges - not moving platforms though?
Basic ranking system (you're ranked per area after beating the boss in it; enemies killed, efficiency)
Decent intro and ending (pretty minor animation but good artwork), Good art direction overall, Pretty nice dialogue portraits with minor animation, Some large and detailed (some multi-jointed) sprites
Enemies are pretty good at chasing the player in the sense that they can jump to higher platforms (similar to Spider-Man: Web of Shadows DS) but they also tend to get stuck on corners in narrow paths
Some shortcuts however it can be tricky to use them effectively since they are often one-way and/or you have to take a less direct route or fall down to a lower floor
Unlockable hard/insane/ultra modes (stat tweaks and less health dropped by enemies?, ultra mode=start with ultra shot and max HP), alternate avatar color schemes and boss rush mode
Control config, Separate music and sfx volume sliders
DS ver.: Separate map screen (have to go into the pause menu on GBA), Higher resolution/more zoomed out view
+/-
Linear structure overall (mostly linear progression through areas for your first time through them as well besides the order in which you collect keys - taking alternate paths leads to dead ends). Temporary points of no return when reaching new areas meaning you can't backtrack into the hub area/area 1 to test out a new upgrade until finishing that area
Single entry points to all areas after the first and you can't revisit them later
Some backtracking to previously visited sub areas in the hub area (area 1) to progress
Teleporter hub room in the first area
Collectathon elements (some doors require up to 6 keycards, activating the nodes that unlock the boss room in each area - about 6 per area)
Killathon element (sometimes have to clear a room to be able to solve a switch puzzle in it)
Pretty frequent save points and the game reveals their location (but not the routes to them) early on in each area
Destination markers on the map (can also tap the destination with the stylus for some mission info)
Experience point leveling (collect dropped green blobs from enemies to level up - these also heal you a bit) - no stats shown on the status screen but leveling up increases HP, energy and AP. You also get HP and energy upgrades from defeated bosses
Infection mechanic (basically a time limit - need to visit save points to decontaminate, infection level increases faster if stepping on red scurge matter)
Pointless gooey visual effect on the screen when killing enemies
Stamina/draining weapon energy mechanic (stop firing if energy runs out, regenerates pretty quickly while not attacking)
Two upgrades function more like keys (light - hard gating on dark rooms as your char will just say it's too dangerous to move in the dark and turn back, gas protection)
Enemies respawn as soon as you leave the room they spawned in - can be annoying as rooms tend to have a lot of enemies that chase and surround you. Some rooms also have enemy spawning machines. In a few cases this respawning doesn't happen but it's rare
Can't fire as fast as you press the button (see Mega Man) - sort of true to Super Metroid's default weapon (can fire faster than its auto-fire) but not Fusion/ZM
Can't stand on frozen enemies - could've been used to reach higher but would've messed with some puzzles and the progression path and since you can move them around might've been too simplistic
No downward, upward or volley shots
Some side view focused segments
Day/night cycle in area 3 however it's just a visual effect
Maps are top down view and don't show room topology
Contact damage/touch damage
No neutral or friendly creatures
-
Solved puzzles often don't stay solved leading to having to redo some switch puzzles (even activating a node (unlocks boss rooms) resets the puzzle in the same room)
No dodge or block moves and no strafing/aim lock - could've been added in DS ver. since it has two more buttons
Annoying repeated beeping sfx when at low health+loud and repeated heartbeat sfx when virus infection reaches 60% (+a more subtle repeated sfx when in a room with a keycard in it; can at least mute all sfx?)
Some control/interface issues (some delay before you start shooting when pressing the button, stop shooting if you're hit while holding down the button (have to press it again), can't move while shooting - can jump but again there's a bit of a delay so you'll only get one shot off at most+if you were using auto-fire it is canceled AND messes with jump length (annoying because some enemies will insist on flying around above you), map doesn't mark found keys and you can't place map markers, tutorial messages pause gameplay, dialogue text is pretty fast but you can't instantly speed it up on a per text box/paragraph basis, somewhat unresponsive aiming while holding down the fire button - have to hold down the direction or sometimes changing direction won't register, shimmying is kinda slow and jumping from a wall railing back to the ground feels clunky, using the ice attack as a desperation/breakout move isn't completely reliable, not being able to aim lock or stand still and aim the tether is sometimes an issue during timed platforming puzzles, the camera lags behind when jumping too far with the grappling hook as well as when falling too far)
Some points of no return within areas - seems pointless overall
The contamination mechanic is kinda harsh which discourages you from taking alternate paths through areas instead of always going for the nearest save point/decontamination point, and occasionally you might misjudge a route and have to backtrack just to decontaminate (certain enemies could've dropped energy for a portable decontaminator or there could've been some hidden items that made the infection slow down for that area since there basically aren't any hidden items besides some keys)
Very spongy final boss unless you grind (at least lvl 50+, since there the contamination mechanic is still in effect you'll have to or you can't beat it in time, last phase is pretty tedious even if you did grind)
Some other tedious elements (no fast travel within areas - starts getting rather tedious in area 3 onwards (just being able to open up more shortcuts, enemies not respawning as quickly and/or a dash ability might've been enough), usually not being able to open up shortcuts to decontamination rooms to avoid repeated shimmying or puzzle solving when needing to go back to one, some rooms where you have to drag an object quite far to reach the switch you need to place it on (the nodes) while fighting off a lot of enemies, spongy large spider enemies that also spawn a bunch of spiders when killed - not an issue after getting combust/fire shot, shimmying segments where you also get attacked by flying enemies (until you get time slow) - can't shoot while shimmying, backtracking to decontaminate can get annoying at times, the area 3 boss is kinda drawn out due to the vulnerability window being so small, when the camera shows what happened after activating a switch the camera is pretty slow)
Occasionally hard to judge distances and heights - perhaps a rewind feature could've been gained or you could've gained the double jump sooner
Some trial & error (sometimes get locked inside a room until you've cleared it from enemies/solved the puzzle in it, enemies sometimes spawn pretty close to you while exploring a room, activated switches could've stayed activated to avoid confusion in larger areas, weird hit detection for a wall during a tether jump in area 3/desert, blind fall for a key in area 4/ice area, some boss patterns)
Bit of a shame how both the gas rooms and dark rooms are hard gates as it could've been a fun challenge to try to get through these earlier without the right tools
About 14 seconds of delay before you can reload after dying
The stacked meltable ice blocks could've been used in a more interesting way (see Boulder Dash for example)
Some palette swapped enemies
Few frames used for certain animations and overly exaggerated idle animation for the player avatar
No weapon upgrades (rate of fire, spread shot, homing, etc.)
Sometimes repeats pretty basic switch puzzles far into the game
No breakable walls besides the caved in doors/blocked holes and no false walls
No new enemies when backtracking through an area
Almost nothing to do in the first area after the second to last boss (activate a couple of nodes and then you face the final boss)
Bugs:
-Some enemies can despawn when exiting the screen in one direction but then suddenly respawn when moving in the opposite direction