Welcome to our CHEATfactor Game Review of Axiom Verge. We review the game and then factor in how the available cheats affect the overall game experience. For better or worse, our reviews will help you decide whether or not to use cheats when playing the game.

Like most kids born in the middle of the original video game boom I played a lot of games. I played Mario, Zelda, and Contra most but by far my game of choice was Nintendo's other franchise - Metroid. I would spend hours pouring through it's remarkably constructed levels looking for secrets then call my friends and talk about what we may or may not have found. Hell, I'll still pull out my NES and Super NES and play through the games from time to time (playing on the original beats playing re-releases by far). That's why I've enjoyed Axiom Verge so much, it takes me back to that time like no other, but it doesn't challenge itself to do anything different and I would find myself wondering why I wasn't just playing Metroid in the first place.

You play as Trace, a would be scientist conducting a series of experiments in his lab in the middle of the night (because when else would you do these experiments?). As you probably expected, something goes wrong and a giant explosion sends Trace into a strange place and he's soon enlisted in a war he knows nothing about and is tasked with helping out a series of powerful but barely functioning robots. It's not a bad story by any means but it's often presented in a series of cut scenes that just dump exposition on you. I never felt like Axiom Verge took it's story serious enough and these scenes often felt rushed and you're hit with a ton information in a short amount of time. It's okay though because the story matters so little here that you could just skip these scenes altogether and still get most of the game.

What Verge does remarkably well is channel the combative spirit of the Metroid series quite well. Throughout the ten hour campaign I was constantly finding new weapons and skills that made Trace feel like a extremely powerful soldier and a far cry from the docile scientist he started off as. This sense of progression is a major theme and a major win for the game and as a result I always felt like I was moving forward and always doing so with a sense of purpose. These new weapons also allow you to go back and open up dead ends you just passed to open up new paths in true Metroid fashion, allowing for some mostly great exploration.

I say mostly great because the worlds of Axiom Verge never feel like they were created with as much thought as the ones in games like Super Metroid.  That may be a tall order but all these years later I would hope that someone would be able to at least come close to recreating the magic. While Metroid's levels felt unique enough but still well put together, Axiom Verge's feel small, uninspired and disconnected by comparison. Rather than a connected statement, most sections of the games often feel like a series of unremarkable rooms that repeat themselves and make it not only hard to explore but no fun to do so at the same time. I know it's a bit unfair to compare a game like this to a masterpiece like Super Metroid but the difference is striking here, as the source material's worlds felt alive and here they just feel like they exist with no purpose.

By far though one of Axiom Verge's best features are the remarkably fun and challenging boss battles. If you lived through the eight and sixteen bit eras you'll feel right at home here, memorizing attack patterns and frantically trying to find weak spots. It was remarkably satisfying each time I was able to get passed one of these bosses. They often explode in fantastic fashion and I found myself feeling just as I did when I beat bosses in Metroid as a kid..only now you know...I'm 30. Even better yet, I rarely felt cheated by these bosses and I always felt like the fights were fair enough that I shouldn't throw down my controller in a rage now...remember I'm 30.

I was also a bit disappointed that Axiom Verge didn't take a lot of chances with the already established formula. I get it, I really do - this is a love letter to the a bygone era, and I appreciate that but I couldn't help but crave something new from a game nearly thirty years later. Maybe I feel this way because I still play Super Metroid from time to time but I couldn't find anything that Axiom Verge even attempted that Metroid didn't, and for that matter didn't do better.

If the old adage is still true and imitation is still the sincerest form of flattery then Axiom Verge is a sloppy love note doused in the heaviest of perfumes. It tries so hard to emulate the Metroid series and in ways it succeeds but seemingly in form only as it often lacks the heart and creative push that made Nintendo's series such a classic to begin with. I still recommend playing Axiom Verge, especially to those from my generation who grew up with the Metroid series, even if just to rekindle their love for the series.