Review by Aaron Bernardino
I might be terrible at reviewing video games because I am an optimist. I am always looking for the good things in life. Let’s push that aside for a moment so I can tell you about Axiom Verge. This game is one of the good things in life. I’ve been waiting for this game to come out for a very long time. If I could have given my money away a year ago to make sure I had this game as soon as possible, I would have. The only reason I didn’t have this game on day one release was because of a technicality that my playstation wallet was about $2.00 short of purchasing funds.
About 7 months ago I had my first experience with this game, playing the demo on a PS4 at my local Best Buy. I quickly realized this game was gonna bring back memories of Castlevania and Metroid or “CastleTroid” as the kids say these days. But it wasn’t until I delved deep into the full version of the game that I was able to truly appreciate it. Unlocking weapons and abilities that make it possible to traverse the intelligent level design is where this game really shines. I know that hidden areas drive my friend Ryan crazy. I watched him trying to drill every wall hoping to find a secret passage. At one point he made it farther in the game that I was at the time and he found and alternate dimension/hidden level. The crazy thing was when I went to the same area, the hidden level wasn’t there for me but I stumbled into a different hidden area not too far away on the opposite side. It should be noted that Ryan was playing on a harder difficulty setting and that may have something to do with the absence of this particular hidden level.
As I progressed through the game, I was able to find multiple other hidden levels. I decided to go online and see if there were more but some of the walkthroughs showing where some hidden levels are were not actually in the same spot in my play through. As I researched Axiom Verge’s secrets, I found that others had this experience as well. The only negative was I never found the hidden level that had what is arguably the games best weapon “The heat seeker”. I did manage to acquire every weapon in the game other than that one. I’ll say that the flame thrower did make beating the game much easier than any other weapon that I had in my arsenal. Once I obtained the remote drone, I loved being able to use its small but easily regenerated life bar as sacrifice to scout area before I cleared them. Using the address disruptor to glitch your enemies is a new concept to me and it’s a much welcomed feature. Later in the game you get the ability to launch an address disruptor grenade that will glitch every enemy on screen and a little beyond. Each class of enemy that you glitch has a unique effect. Some enemies will behave very interestingly when they are glitch, including limited control of their movement and attacking.
While I actually enjoyed the story, it isn’t necessarily something to brag about. However this game delivers on what it set out to do and the man that made this game deserves more good fortune in his life. Unfortunately he suffered a loss of a loved pet around the launch of this game. I was personal upset that the person that brought this great joy into my life had lost a great joy of his own at the same time. I have an immeasurable amount of respect for him because he made this game by himself with very little to no help. It took him years to complete this game. Axiom Verge will forever be part of my personal favorites much like the recent Guacamelee and Shadow Complex.
5 stars out of 5
