Axiom Verge - Game Review | Super Geek Bros.

Hi, Gabe here. And Johnny. In today's video we'll talk about Axiom Verge.
A 2015 game that was created entirely by a single man, Tom Happ. Otacon, sorry, Trace is a scientist, while conducting some sciencey experiment in his lab, some kind of malfunction happens and the whole thing explodes, which leads him to waking up in a weird-looking place.

Now he finds himself in an alien world, fighting for his life with some biotechnical weapons trying to find a way back home while helping the remnants of ancient sentient war machines from a now extinct civilization to overcome the genocidal uber-scientist responsible for the ruin of their world.

The base plot doesn't sound too complex at first, but the narrative expands as it explores scientific concepts and philosophical questions about multiverses, time travel and self-awareness, and if you only take a minute to pay attention to the dialogues and read the very few short documents in the game, you quickly notice how this world, its culture, technology and backstory were carefully thought through and well developed.

We can't talk about this game without mentioning its clear inspiration on Metroid. It's always there; the classic Metroidvania-like interconnected maps, where you must revisit previous areas once you have new abilities so you can explore previously unreachable places; the platforming and action of side-scrollers 2D shooters, even the menu layout.

It's not just set in the same genre that Samus made so famous, Axiom Verge is a great homage to Metroid all the way. Just take a look at the very first section of the game; it forces you to go back left to an enclosed area where you must get your very first upgrade and use it before going forward, just like in the original Metroid with the Morph Ball.

Your main and basically only weapon, is the Axiom Disruptor, a biomechanical weapon compatible with the majority of your upgrades, from the various types of ammunition, like your run of the mill lasers, shock blasts, flamethrower and even frozen shards of the atmosphere around you; to a bunch of gadgets like the laser drill, a wonky grappling hook and the most helpful drones.

I know we recently used the same reference on the Apocalypse video, but I can't help to think about the ZF-1, Gary Oldman's gun in the Fifth Element, whenever I look at the Axiom Disruptor, I mean, even the shape is similar. The game is reasonably hard, making death a part of the process, but finishing it is far from an impossible task.

It incorporates passcodes and intentional glitches as part of the retro experience, changing the properties of enemies and elements of the world. There're even some accessible "out of bounds" areas that you may find around, usually storing some non- essential but useful upgrade.

And incorporates them as part of its style and makes those characteristics plot relevant. Pure pixelated beauty, even with quite a few fancy effects here and there the game looks pulled out straight of a SNES. Axiom Verge masterfully embraces the game looks pulled out straight of a SNES.

Axiom Verge masterfully embraces the visual glitchiness of some mechanics adding it to its lore and art style. The audio really surprised me when first playing it; I already knew it was a one man project so I was ready to cut some slack on some flaws and, having already programmed and pixelated the whole game, I was expecting the sound department to be the weaker one.

But not only the soundtrack doesn't suck, it is in fact incredibly good. They fit perfectly in the extra- terrestrial atmosphere you play and are what helps the most to set it as a modern title and not from the actual 16-bit era. You could easily expect to hear something similar playing on a Metroid Prime.

Axiom Verge manages to outshine most recent AAA titles of the same genre and stays toe to toe with the classics. Which is very surprising because, like we said before, and can't stress it enough, this whole thing was made by one guy, and he manages to outdo what most big studios put out these days.

And this just goes to show that if you really like video games, and have passion, focus and determination, you can put out something good even if you don't have a lot of resources available to you. With all that in mind, if you are thinking about playing something new, consider giving Axiom Verge a try, I'm sure you're gonna be surprised.

Well, that's all for today, please remember to give this video a like and tell us in the comments below what game you'd like to see us review next. And if you want to support us even further, click here to subscribe, here to check our last video where we talked about the evolution of the Ritos from The Legend of Zelda series and here for our last Game Review about Mission: Impossible for N64.