I don’t know what more I can say about Axiom Verge that
probably hasn’t already been discussed ad nauseam across the various social
media sites, gaming websites, YouTube, personal blogs, etc. Hell it made a
cameo appearance in my 12 Games of Christmas as Game number one. You can watch
it here:
It was a day back in early 2015
that I remember first hearing someone talk about this great new game they had
played on the PS4 called Axiom Verge. I didn’t really think much of it until I
started hearing more and more people mention it on Twitter. It was at that
point that I decided to look a little deeper at this thing called Axiom Verge.
It was reported that the whole game was developed by only one person.
What I ended up finding quickly set
my heart a flutter. I spent a good chunk over the next few weeks watching
various videos on YouTube of people playing this amazing indie title. That’s
right reader, you read that correctly, my 2015 Game of the Year (GOTY) is an independently
developed game that is NOT produced by a major game publisher. Three cheers for
the little guy!
It was at that point I knew that
Axiom Verge was one of those special games. A game that would be talked about
for a long time. Unfortunately I do not
own a PS4 system, so I was unable to play this title myself. Then I discovered
that is was scheduled for release on May 14th 2015 on Steam for the
PC. I nearly shat myself with excitement, to the point that I even set up an
alert on my calendar to remind when this game became available. Then I moved on
with life…
My gaming life can best be
described as somewhat chaotic. Meaning I jump from game to game with relative
speed, so after setting that reminder I all but forgot about Axiom Verge. I was
able to distract myself by doing what I do best, playing video games.
Then I awoke that fateful May
morning. I had an alert on my phone….blinking at me….trying to tell me
something, important.
Imagine my face when I unlocked my
screen and read my alert, only to discover that it was the reminder that Axiom
Verge was now available on Steam. It probably looked something like this:
In an excitement that is only
rivaled by an 8 year old on Christmas morning, I rushed out to my laptop and
logged in to Steam as quickly as possible. Then I remembered…I had recently had
the good fortune of getting a Steam gift card for my birthday in April. I had
loaded it on to Steam at the time, and was planning on using it for a future
purchase, possibly even for this very game. In hindsight that was a brilliant
move, because when I went to checkout, I noticed the option to pay using my
Steam balance. My life has not been the
same since.
Finally. It was my turn. My chance
to finally experience first-hand, what I had only seen online. My time to play
Axiom Verge. Oh wait, I have to install it first…
Okay, now I was ready. I was ready
to lose myself in the strange environments found within the strange high-tech
world that the game is set in.
I will admit that at the time of
this writing, I have yet to complete the game in full. I can hear some of you
reaching for that mouse, but before you discredit me and click the exit/back
button on your browser, hear me out.
While I have yet to complete the game,
I can tell you that the hours I have had a chance to sink in to this game have
all been worth it. The gameplay is fantastic, and I find myself actually
getting really excited to explore new areas. Having grown up playing the games
that inspired this title (Super Metroid, Castlevania, etc.) I can usually spot
features or areas within the game that I know may come in to play later on. The
ledges/platforms that are just a little bit outside of your initial jumping
capabilities. Areas that have doors, barriers, or even walls with cracks or strange
artifacts on/near them. I just know that I will eventually pick up an upgrade
of some kind that will unlock an ability or allow me to transverse to new areas
to explore. It’s a classic formula that works well, and one that has been
executed very well in Axiom Verge.
As I sit here reflecting on this
game, deciding on what to write next, I find myself trying to pick out flaws
just so that this doesn’t sound like too big of a gush-fest. And in all
honesty, I have found it almost impossible to find anything I don’t like about
the game itself. The graphics are superb, the music is an absolute masterpiece.
Seriously if the soundtrack alone doesn’t win some major awards I will be
offended.
If I must nit-pick and find a flaw
with Axiom Verge it would be the weapons selection process. The game is played
by plugging in an Xbox controller in to an open USB port on your computer. No
need to map or configure anything. The controls, for the most part are good,
and are not much different than you would find in any other game of similarity.
The left analog stick is used to control Trace’s movement, left, right, crouch,
aim up, etc. You can also use the D-Pad if you so choose, and I sometimes find
myself switching back and forth between the two. The right analog stick is used
to cycle between your various projectile weapons.
At first it’s not too bad, as you
only have a small handful to start out. Cycling through them is quite simple,
and it’s easy to change on the fly to a gun that meets your current needs or
situation. As the game advances, and you
pick up additional guns, it becomes a little more difficult to remember what
gun does what exactly, so you may need to cycle through them in a tense moment
before you find the one you are looking for. I know it’s better than the
alternative of cycling through weapons one at a time at the push of a single set
of buttons, but it can still be time consuming in a game that sometimes
requires you to make a quick weapons change.
The other problem is not really a
game design flaw, but rather a flaw of my ability to hold a smallish controller
in my rather large hands. It should come as no surprise that a dude housed in a
6’ 5” frame would have large hands. For
you metric readers that equates to 1.95 meters (or is it meteres?). Playing
games on a standard sized controller can be challenging at times, and the
problem I have had with Axiom Verge is that my ginormous thumb will sometimes
accidentally click the R3 (right analog stick) button in the heat of battle,
and switch back to a default gun. Yeah, to go from killing enemies in a single
shot, to something weaker or less effective can kill a good run pretty quickly.
Other than those two minor flaws
with the control mechanics, the game plays really smoothly. The only other
complaint I may consider throwing out there is that the world designs tend to
become somewhat similar in texture and appearance after a while. It is easy to
lose your sense of direction, and after on more than one occasion I found
myself lost, and thinking that I had already explored this area. It was kind of
like Deja-vu. The in-game map is certainly a very handy tool for when it
becomes necessary to do a little bit of backtracking in this lovingly dubbed
“Metroidvania” game.
If I haven’t convinced you to play
this game yet, let me continue on by talking about the bosses. The few I have encountered up to this point
are skillfully designed, and even border on a slightly more whimsical side.
Some of them reminding me more of the robot bosses found in the MegaMan games.
They are challenging, and will require you to study their movements and attack
patterns in order to conquer them. So far they have been very fun and
rewarding. I expect them to ratchet up
the level of difficulty on these bastards as the game progresses, and I may
find myself hating some of them with the passion of a million suns. I guess I
will find out.
At this point I really don’t want
to run the risk of spoiling it too much for those that haven’t played the game
yet, and I don’t want to research much further so as to not spoil it for
myself. I will however, leave you with these final words:
GET OFF YOUR ASS (ARSE) AND PLAY THE CLASSIC
CONSOLE EXPERIENCE’S 2015 GAME OF THE YEAR AXIOM VERGE!
