Popo Sensei was prostelyzing about this game a month or so ago, and that got me hella hyped to try it. As luck would have it, it came out on Wii U a few weeks ago, so I picked it up immediately, and then finally got to playing it over the last few days. My hype and excitment was very well warranted! For reference, my ending stats were: Difficulty: Normal, Time: 8:25:40, Items: 78%, Map: 94%, Death Count: 10.
I'm kind of in two minds about the combat. On one hand, there are SO many different guns you can find (like 30+, but good luck finding them all), and I found them at such a rate that it seemed to compliment the difficulty curve quite nicely. There were a good few I never used and didn't really like, but there were like 10+ guns that had quite a bit of use by the end of the game (I found like 17 of 'em). On the other hand though, I really didn't feel the bosses were that great. A good portion of them felt more like environmental puzzles than bosses, per se, and without something like a Castevania-style backdash or melee weapon, a lot of them just felt like a trick of finding the blind-spot in their line of fire (basically every enemy uses guns) where you could still hit them. Though, I suppose, in a game with so many different types of guns, it would be difficult to make bosses that synergize really well with all of them, but a necessary evil is still an evil.
Continuing on that, the controls are great. They really utilize all of the buttons on the controller (this is the first Wii U game I've seen to actually use the R3 L3 buttons, which I wasn't even sure it had) to make you feel like you have all of your powers at your disposal all the time. The curve on when you get powers is also very good, and the game is very consistent at that "teaching you without telling you"-style that the Metroid games are so good at. Relating back to the combat, the only gripe I have is with the short-range teleport/dash you get. You have to double tap the direction you're moving in to use it, and because you're using a projectile weapon, this makes it very difficult to use the dash to any calculated effect while you're in combat. I tried quite a bit in the last half of the game to find a method to the madness of that dash, but I feel it was just far more considered a platforming and exploration tool than a combat device.
Speaking of exploration, this game is soooo good at it. There are quite a few different sub-areas on the main, large map, with tons of hidden guns and power-ups squirreled away everywhere for you to find. There are even whole sub-dungeons hidden away in some places that guard some killer gun (I think there's one for all 8 main areas, but I only found 2), but those are really well hidden. You can also put two check marks on each main area's map to mark points you want to go back to, and they even stay there between play sessions! cough Castlevania cough. I'm not sure it's really the kind of "isolating" thing that someone like Exhumy Sensei likes in his Metroidvanias, though, because you have a fairly Metroid Fusion-esque story going on.
I won't say too much about the story, other than that it's well written, and surprisingly engaging for a Metroid-type game. You do have a voice that regularly communicates with you though, in a very Metroid Fusion-esque fashion, so this isn't a 0% narrative/dialogue thing like Super Metroid or Zero Mission. I really liked it though. The character dynamics are interesting though, and had a fairly System Shock-ish feel to them, which is the last I'll comment as to avoid spoilings.
Verdict: Highly recommended. This is one of the best Metroid-vania games ever. It's up there with Order of Ecclesia and Super Metroid/Zero Mission as top of the top of the crop. If you like Metroidvanias at all, you will thoroughly be delighted by Axiom Verge.
Side Note: The Wii U port is great, and I never had any problems with it other than some slight framerate dips when entering 1 or 2 larger rooms.
I'm kind of in two minds about the combat. On one hand, there are SO many different guns you can find (like 30+, but good luck finding them all), and I found them at such a rate that it seemed to compliment the difficulty curve quite nicely. There were a good few I never used and didn't really like, but there were like 10+ guns that had quite a bit of use by the end of the game (I found like 17 of 'em). On the other hand though, I really didn't feel the bosses were that great. A good portion of them felt more like environmental puzzles than bosses, per se, and without something like a Castevania-style backdash or melee weapon, a lot of them just felt like a trick of finding the blind-spot in their line of fire (basically every enemy uses guns) where you could still hit them. Though, I suppose, in a game with so many different types of guns, it would be difficult to make bosses that synergize really well with all of them, but a necessary evil is still an evil.
Continuing on that, the controls are great. They really utilize all of the buttons on the controller (this is the first Wii U game I've seen to actually use the R3 L3 buttons, which I wasn't even sure it had) to make you feel like you have all of your powers at your disposal all the time. The curve on when you get powers is also very good, and the game is very consistent at that "teaching you without telling you"-style that the Metroid games are so good at. Relating back to the combat, the only gripe I have is with the short-range teleport/dash you get. You have to double tap the direction you're moving in to use it, and because you're using a projectile weapon, this makes it very difficult to use the dash to any calculated effect while you're in combat. I tried quite a bit in the last half of the game to find a method to the madness of that dash, but I feel it was just far more considered a platforming and exploration tool than a combat device.
Speaking of exploration, this game is soooo good at it. There are quite a few different sub-areas on the main, large map, with tons of hidden guns and power-ups squirreled away everywhere for you to find. There are even whole sub-dungeons hidden away in some places that guard some killer gun (I think there's one for all 8 main areas, but I only found 2), but those are really well hidden. You can also put two check marks on each main area's map to mark points you want to go back to, and they even stay there between play sessions! cough Castlevania cough. I'm not sure it's really the kind of "isolating" thing that someone like Exhumy Sensei likes in his Metroidvanias, though, because you have a fairly Metroid Fusion-esque story going on.
I won't say too much about the story, other than that it's well written, and surprisingly engaging for a Metroid-type game. You do have a voice that regularly communicates with you though, in a very Metroid Fusion-esque fashion, so this isn't a 0% narrative/dialogue thing like Super Metroid or Zero Mission. I really liked it though. The character dynamics are interesting though, and had a fairly System Shock-ish feel to them, which is the last I'll comment as to avoid spoilings.
Verdict: Highly recommended. This is one of the best Metroid-vania games ever. It's up there with Order of Ecclesia and Super Metroid/Zero Mission as top of the top of the crop. If you like Metroidvanias at all, you will thoroughly be delighted by Axiom Verge.
Side Note: The Wii U port is great, and I never had any problems with it other than some slight framerate dips when entering 1 or 2 larger rooms.