“Dear Kejardon: where the hell are you? :(”
Amso71's Ratings and Reviews
Metroid Fusion Master Quest V2 by Gameringly [
Exploration],
rated by Amso71 on Mar 19, 2023 (
)
Exploration],
rated by Amso71 on Mar 19, 2023 ( )
42% in 4:09
Metroid Fusion Master Quest is an cool hack. It adds new things to existing level designs to freshen up and add new difficulty to the original experience. There is no brand new content, although unused parts of the game have been brought back in this hack.
So, what does this hack bring to the table?
Well, for starters, new puzzles are added, so much so that the experience never truly feels like vanilla fusion. 95% of rooms have changes in SOME form, and no one puzzle is the same as the original. This is good! It shows the attention to detail that the author had in making sure the experience felt fresh. But this does bring up an issue. Remember how I said that the level design just adds new things to the vanilla game? This can sometimes be to the game's detriment. Very few new rooms have been put into each sector, and when they're in the game, it's just for the sake of a puzzle. Often times, the make the experience feel different, the main path will be blocked off, and you'll need to find a hidden breakable block to progress further. This is not horrible once or twice, but because your moveset is so limited at the beginning, these puzzles appear a lot because there is only so much it can do to make it feel fresh without using upgrades as puzzles. This is especially egregious in the very beginning, during the first visit to the Main Deck. Luckily, if you're worried, this gets better over time as your moveset expands (although it still appears once or twice in each sector.) Most of the new puzzles are creative, or at the very least, inoffensive. Occasionally they were too cryptic for my tastes, but I'm not the greatest at exploration, so I won't knock on the hack for that. There was one particular puzzle that I found to be genuinely bad, though, in Sector 6. After getting the Varia Suit, there's a platform where you need to press Down+A to fall through. This goes unused in the vanilla game, and it's not conveyed well here. Otherwise, not bad.
The highlights of this hack for me were the bosses are the SA-X sequences. The former have small edits added to increase difficulty, wether it is adding/removing platforms, changing HP values or more, it made nearly all bosses feel fresh and more challenging. The SA-X sequences are insane, making use of unused parts of the SA-X AI. Never does it feel dumb or scripted this time, and you will be scrambling to escape as soon as you can, I loved it!
The dialogue doesn't take itself seriously at all, and I chuckled many times. I won't spoil anything about it, but I'm sure you'll find it quite enjoyable, though not all lines are changed.
Be warned: This hack is NOT easy. The description mentions that it is slightly harder than the vanilla game. It is correct that advanced techniques are not required, but lots of precision and a good grasp on the mechanics will be required! I recommend 100%ing the vanilla game at least once before trying this hack out, as many item locations are used for progression, and the game makes sure you know this. Adam, alongside his silly lines, does give you tips throughout the adventure, and the advice does turn out to be useful, so that's much appreciated.
Be wary that the Sector 2 poles are used in many sections. These were very janky in the original game, and they continue to be here. In both Sector 2 and Sector 4, I got softlocked because of these. The Sector 2 pole is on the main path too!
Lastly, the endgame has some... interesting surprises. I won't say anything but I recommend playing until the end!
Overall, I give this a 3/5. Mostly great bosses, amazing SA-X sequences, and good levels. but not particularly consistent. Quite difficult, so it's recommended that you have quite a lot of experience with the vanilla game!
Finished.
No savestates used.
Recommended (with caution.)
So, what does this hack bring to the table?
Well, for starters, new puzzles are added, so much so that the experience never truly feels like vanilla fusion. 95% of rooms have changes in SOME form, and no one puzzle is the same as the original. This is good! It shows the attention to detail that the author had in making sure the experience felt fresh. But this does bring up an issue. Remember how I said that the level design just adds new things to the vanilla game? This can sometimes be to the game's detriment. Very few new rooms have been put into each sector, and when they're in the game, it's just for the sake of a puzzle. Often times, the make the experience feel different, the main path will be blocked off, and you'll need to find a hidden breakable block to progress further. This is not horrible once or twice, but because your moveset is so limited at the beginning, these puzzles appear a lot because there is only so much it can do to make it feel fresh without using upgrades as puzzles. This is especially egregious in the very beginning, during the first visit to the Main Deck. Luckily, if you're worried, this gets better over time as your moveset expands (although it still appears once or twice in each sector.) Most of the new puzzles are creative, or at the very least, inoffensive. Occasionally they were too cryptic for my tastes, but I'm not the greatest at exploration, so I won't knock on the hack for that. There was one particular puzzle that I found to be genuinely bad, though, in Sector 6. After getting the Varia Suit, there's a platform where you need to press Down+A to fall through. This goes unused in the vanilla game, and it's not conveyed well here. Otherwise, not bad.
The highlights of this hack for me were the bosses are the SA-X sequences. The former have small edits added to increase difficulty, wether it is adding/removing platforms, changing HP values or more, it made nearly all bosses feel fresh and more challenging. The SA-X sequences are insane, making use of unused parts of the SA-X AI. Never does it feel dumb or scripted this time, and you will be scrambling to escape as soon as you can, I loved it!
The dialogue doesn't take itself seriously at all, and I chuckled many times. I won't spoil anything about it, but I'm sure you'll find it quite enjoyable, though not all lines are changed.
Be warned: This hack is NOT easy. The description mentions that it is slightly harder than the vanilla game. It is correct that advanced techniques are not required, but lots of precision and a good grasp on the mechanics will be required! I recommend 100%ing the vanilla game at least once before trying this hack out, as many item locations are used for progression, and the game makes sure you know this. Adam, alongside his silly lines, does give you tips throughout the adventure, and the advice does turn out to be useful, so that's much appreciated.
Be wary that the Sector 2 poles are used in many sections. These were very janky in the original game, and they continue to be here. In both Sector 2 and Sector 4, I got softlocked because of these. The Sector 2 pole is on the main path too!
Lastly, the endgame has some... interesting surprises. I won't say anything but I recommend playing until the end!
Overall, I give this a 3/5. Mostly great bosses, amazing SA-X sequences, and good levels. but not particularly consistent. Quite difficult, so it's recommended that you have quite a lot of experience with the vanilla game!
Finished.
No savestates used.
Recommended (with caution.)
