Okay, so now that THAT’S out of the way, what can I really say about Hydellius? Well, let’s just say that it’s very good and get on with my typical review :P How’s that?

MAP: OOOOOO, BOY! Now THIS is what I like. I like when I go to play a hack like this and I definitely feel like I’m playing somewhere else….and not only that, but the locations look pretty good, in my opinion. So as mentioned on the main page, this game takes place in a HUGE research facility and the surrounding land. They pretty much conform to your standard levels, but they thankfully feel very different. Granted, there’s some slight nods to the layout of Super Metroid, which IS noticeable, but not in such a way that it feels like outright mimicry. The locales look good, and admittedly, I kinda wish that BSL in Fusion looked this good. The game IS pretty big though, by Super Metroid standards, so you’ve got plenty of game here.

GAMEPLAY: Standard Super Metroid with a few tweaks. The biggest and most noticeable change is the velocity when Samus is in the air. It feels significantly faster and she falls faster. Thankfully this isn’t QUITE as offputting as it could be in Redesign, but it does warrant a bit of play to grow accustomed to. Despite the renaming of the items, they’re all pretty well the same…except that the Spring Ball is now a merged ability with Hi-Jump Boots, and the Boost Ball is added as a new item. I think the only issue I have here is that the Boost Ball seems to oddly REDUCE Samus’s jump height when in a ball, meaning that sometimes it’s better to just turn Boost Ball off when not using it. I don’t know why this was done, and it’s a bit irritating. The other major thing, which the developer pointed out on the item page, is the introduction of colored towers. There’s four colored towers in every area, minus the Main Center (the Tourian of this game), all colored Red, Green, Yellow, and Blue. Many of them block key paths or some paths with upgrades until you find the same color tower in the area with a door on its top and open it with either your beam, a missile, a super missile, or a power bomb. This can be a very divisive thing for gamers, because it adds to your needing to search for hidden areas in order to continue the game. THANKFULLY they’re not TOO hard to find, and there are online maps if you need them, but I can understand if someone doesn’t like this part. I think it’s alright, so take it as you will. Overall, challenge is a LITTLE harder than typical SM games, as copious use of spikes early on can mean a quick demise, but if you’re careful, this game isn’t too horribly difficult.

STORY: So the story is that Hydellius has been working on a serum of some sort that can lead to total invincibility when they’re attacked by I guess terrorists (it’s never stated to be the Space Pirates), so Samus is sent to get the serum before they do. Okay, story is NEVER that essential in a SM game, but admittedly, this game is Samus running around this gigantic facility, trying to find everything she needs to break into the heavily secure Main Center and take the serum before making her escape. It feels like an enormous amount of work for something less than impressive. In Super, the infant metroid wasn’t just a way for the Space Pirates to regain their power after Samus kicked their asses before, it was in her mind her child and she was a mama bear on the rampage. Here…we’re out to snatch up a science experiment before someone else does, which sounds more akin to something you’d hear about in…say…a Tomb Raider game. I like the location, I like that we’re exploring a vast science lab, but the story feels…kinda meh here.

MY RATING: 7.5/10 Hydellius a rather fun romp, I really do believe that. It both looks very different from Zebes and yet feels oddly familiar at the same time in terms of overall design. However, some of the gameplay changes take some getting used to, and it can easily become a bit…laborious…finding a direction, only to see you need to find a hidden colored tower or one you passed AGES ago in order to move on. And forgive me, but the story is…a bit subpar. But hey, it’s not every day we get to see Samus doing other jobs than “go kick Space Pirate heiney”, so maybe this contract would be up your alley if you wanna try a brand new world to explore.