Scurge: Hive isn't just a game its an infection! The question is can you beat the infection before it beats you?
Now I've played alot of Metroid games and enjoyed them but one strange and yet obscure Metroid like game managed to slipped through my fingers. It was called Scurge: Hive. I never really heard much about this game so I decided to find out more about it. Scurge: Hive was apperantly developed by Orbital Media which is supposedly a dead company now. It was released back in 2006 on GBA and on the DS. My first glance at the game I thought it was going to be a cheap and lame imitation of Metroid. But when I finally managed to locate the game and actually play it for the first time in the 7 years since its been released I was quickly proven wrong! Scurge: Hive is surprisingly a good game and its a shame that I didn't hear about it sooner! Scurge: Hive may have been a sleeper hit and it deserved to be heard but unfortunately it fell into the shadows of other main stream DS titles. Very saddening indeed but I enjoyed playing it and I believe I'm lucky to own it because its such a rare and obscure game and not too many people probably even heard of the game because I was one of them and I play alot of DS titles! Anyways, prepare to get Scurged as I review this game!
Storyline: You're a bounty hunter named Jenosa Arma. 48 hours ago someone sent a distress signal from a remote research facility on a planet called Inos. The research facility studied a strange alien virus that they called the Scurge. The Scurge is a very dangerous virus that can infect and control just about anything including machinery! All personel are presumed either missing in action or quite obviously dead. Being the bounty hunter that you are you must investigate this strange but deadly situation. When you reach the planet your ship is struck by the very Scurgedly hijacked security defense system and you immediately become at the mercy of the Scurge! Luckly for you you're Jenosa Arma and you arrive clad in a metal suit that is designed to resist alien infections! However, your suit can only resist the Scurge infection for a certain amount of time. When the infection starts to reach dangerous levels will you live or die? You make the choice. Let the Scurge begin!
Gameplay: You are at the mercy of the Scurge infection the ENTIRE game and you quickly see that when there this circular Scurge indicator above your screen. It reads 1% at first but then over time it slowly begins to climb turning orange as the infection levels within your suit increase! When it reaches 100% its time to get scared because you will begin to rapidly lose health until the Scurge take over your body! When playing Scurge: Hive its always crucial to know where the Sick Bays are because your life will be depending on them throughout the entire game. The Sick Bays not only save your game but they cleanse your body of the deadly Scurge infection levels by knocking the infection level back down to 1% with each cleansing. While exploring the many different rooms, areas, and fighting the hoards of Scurged infected monsters in the game you will be tasked to find the keycards scattered throughout the various rooms in each of the areas you have to explore. These keycards open special doors that require a certain number of them to unlock. Also as you search for the keycards you will eventually run into the upgrades that enhance your suits abilites. One such upgrade is very reminiscent to a hookshot from the Zelda series but most of the upgrades you get give your arm gun beam different elements to choose from. Each of the beams have an advantage over the various monsters you'll come across in the game. The Emp Beam has the advantage over machinery based monsters by frying them and it also recharges certain electrically powered machines which raises platforms. The Dissipator beam is great to use against high energy based enemies such as floating balls, and giant fire turtles enemies. The Dissipator beam also activates energy spheres that open certain doors as well. The Combustion beam my personal favorite sets bio based enemies on fire like those little annoying "critters" that come in either blue or green. It also sets spiders monsters on fire which I get a kick out of doing every time! The Cobustion beam can also clear pathes that are blocked by plant matter. There are a couple more abilties that I didn't mention and I will let Magellan handle that as I believe I explained enough on it already. Lastly though there is one more thing I want to mention and its about the nodes! There are 6 of them that you must find throughout each level. Activating them involves you dragging them on to there pads and once all 6 of them have been activated in the Nexus room you can fight the boss! Well, I believe thats it for gameplay moving on!
Graphics: The graphics remind me alot of Metroid Fusion and I believe thats why I sought after this game! The different levels are pretty cool and I loved the boss fights because the game never recycled the same boss music! Scurge: Hive is on GBA and DS but the only difference is that the DS version has the map on the bottom screen which is VERY helpful in those back tracking situations and the graphics along with the music are indeed better with the DS version. Scurge: Hive uses the isometric view graphics style which is cool but sometimes can be a pain because you get confused with which platforms are higher than others. An example would be I see a low platform and I believe I can make the jump but turns out the platform is higher than expected and I don't make the jump. Also it can be difficult to jump on the floating moving platforms sometimes because of the isometric style but afterwhile I got used to it and made every jump. Despite those flaws though the game is still very pleasing to look at and play.
Value: This is where the game falls short a bit. After you beat it there really isn't much do afterward because there are no collectables to go back and get and thats kinda boring. On the other hand though you can unlock extra difficulty and different color sprites for Jenosa which is fun if you are willing to play through the game once again.
Overall: Scurge: Hive may be a Metroid copycat but I believe it did a damn good job at it. Will there be sequel though? Probably not anytime soon with the death of Orbital Media and all but I'll keep a patient and watchful eye out for Scurge 2. I think anyone who is a fan of Metroid or Sci-fi games in general should atleast play Scurge: Hive because Scurge: Hive isn't just a game its an infection! The question is can you beat the infection before it beats you? I was lucky to survive the Scurge...
Uh...Link will win. This review was brought to you by Wolflink001.