Axiom Verge Reviews
Over the past few years, I've heard my friends complain that games are just too easy compared to what they grew up with. Axiom Verge doesn't fall into that category per se, but it does offer a good challenge for those that seek it. For others, it is a game worth exploring to get back with your gaming roots while experiencing a new take on classic gameplay, even if you hit a proverbial wall along the way. It is rewarding to overcome adversity in the platforming or to watch a boss be reduced to thousands of pixels. Axiom Verge leverages everything you've come to expect from retro gaming and uses it all to create a memorable new platformer that gives even the best classic Metroidvania games a run for their money.
Axiom Verge is an excellent example of inspired game design that takes old ideas and improves upon them, leaving a mark that won't soon be forgotten.
It's just a shame that given the obvious talent and passion involved, it doesn't really have much of its own to add to the Metroidvania template. As charmed and delighted as I often was with its smartly paced escalation, its perpetually teasing construction, I kept waiting for some new element to appear, a eureka moment that either hadn't been thought of in 1986, or that could only be done today. It never quite happens. Axiom Verge seems content to be a homage, rather than a revival or reinvention. That's fine, since there's already plenty to justify your interest, but it feels like Happ has more to contribute than he's showing here.
The tightly designed 'Axiom Verge' combines the best elements of the 'Metroidvania' genre with throwback visuals, a thumping soundtrack, and clever mechanics.
Whereas many modern takes on classic retro genres fall foul of style over substance, this has been built with such skill that it doesn't need to rely on our annoying fondness of the past to impress.
As suggested by other outlets prior to release, Axiom Verge is PlayStation's very own Metroid. That may sound a teensy bit degrading, but there's no denying that this and Nintendo's own space-faring adventure have more than a few things in common. Still, if being compared to one of the most beloved game series of all time isn't a compliment, then we don't know what is. If you've never seen the appeal of these types of games, then chances are this won't change your mind. Devoted fans of the genre, however, will no doubt adore Tom Happ's opus.
The ways that Axiom Verge resembles Metroid help set up and drive home the ways that Axiom Verge is most definitely not Metroid.
Although it closely follows the Metroidvania blueprint, the brilliantly designed and executed Axiom Verge adds enough new and original features to make it a truly great game in its own right. An absolute must for retro fans.
The level of execution and polish in Axiom Verge makes it seem as though it came from a well-established studio, let alone a single person. There's a confidence in the design that channels the best parts of successful Metroidvania games.
Tom Happ's Axiom Verge keeps the best of the past and improves on every facet, crafting a game about singularity, identity and pure pixellated fun. This is concentrated, unfiltered, Super-Nintendo-excellence given the modern treatment, and a landmark indie title.
Axiom Verge comes loaded with this feeling. It might have been a revelation if Happ released it within a year of when he started development, when the indie market was still fresh. Nowadays, it's just a solid game. Nothing extraordinary, making me wonder if the extraordinary $20 price, a few dollars on top of typical PSN indie releases, is worth it.
Axiom Verge is a love letter to another time. While games from that era don't impress in terms of visuals any longer, there's still fun to be found in the exploration and discovery facets of this intricate, well-formed world. Axiom Verge is one of the purest forms of Metroidvania titles that we've seen in recent years.
Nostalgia is similarly addictive, but Verge's confidence sees it through the challenge of invoking Metroid better than just about anyone who's tried before it. It copies more than aesthetic and ambiguous notions about variety, and the specificity is what matters. It's not a perfect match, and the absence of a powerful lead leaves an indelible mark on the experience.
A wonderful throwback to a bygone era, Axiom Verge's focus on classic gameplay provides a welcome change of pace, even if it could've benefitted from a hint of modern design.
Flaws aside, Axiom Verge is a stunning achievement for one man to have developed entirely by himself. It's not as good as Super Metroid, but it's close.
Axiom Verge may not be much more than an homage to Metroid, but it's a very good homage.
It draws you in with nostalgia and slaps you with innovation when you think you know what's next
This game may lean far more heavily on the Metroid homage than most, but it still manages to perfectly capture the tried-and-true gameplay elements of Nintendo's classic while also incorporating several new ideas to let it stand out on its own, turning an homage to a retro classic into a modern classic that future titles will want to follow.
Old school merely in looks, Axiom Verge is the definition of a great action and explorations game. The Metroidvania genre has rarely been done this well and this adventure deserves to be held up there among the greats like Symphony of the Night and the original Metroid.
At its apex, Tom Happ's brainchild unequivocally proves just how far video game development has come in such a short space of time and that you can in fact teach an old dog new tricks.