Scurge: Hive

November 14,2006 - It is difficult to play, or even read about Scurge: Hive without immediately making comparisons to the Metroid franchise. Its setting, style, and protagonist are all highly reminiscent of Samus Aran and her adventures. Is it a fair comparison? Yes and no. While Scurge clearly takes a lot of inspiration from Nintendo's moody series, the game is far more action than adventure, and represents a fairly original re-envisioning of its inspiration. As long as you are prepared to accept the game as Metroid-esque rather than Metroid itself, and deal with some design quirks, you'll find a tense game that sucks you in like few portable titles can.

The story of Scurge: Hive is tantalizingly sparse. The game promises a plot-driven tale with a cinematic and reasonably well-written opening, but soon pushes the story aside. It's particularly frustrating, because all the elements of a good story are there. A virulent organism named Scurge, which has overrun a lab that was performing tests upon it, has infected Bounty Hunter Jenosa Arma,. The few characters you meet are engaging, and are written appropriately. Combined with an impressive sci-fi setting, the game is practically begging for a compelling plot, but it never really takes the time to tell it. There are occasional journal entries scattered about the levels, commenting on the situation and where items may be, but for the most part, the story side note. Its only ambitions are to contribute to the atmosphere and give some context to Jenosa's next objective, and on that level, it succeeds.

Indeed, the atmosphere is probably where the game takes the most inspiration from Metroid, and it pays off big. It's a deep, dark, futuristic dungeon that you find yourself in, complete with a ton of hostile enemies and few allies. Much like Metroid, there’s the same simultaneous feeling of wondrous discovery and brooding solitude on a cold, yet fascinating, foreign planet. Unlike Metroid, the game focuses more on the impact of the environment and less on discovering every nook and cranny, though the game is no less effective for it. The art of Scurge: Hive is really good, with enemies that seem to be appropriately diverse and unsettling, though the game does reuse the enemy designs a bit much. The art is represented well by showcasing some of the most beautiful 2D you'll see on the GBA, and even on the DS it holds up well against its peers. There are little touches, such as little computer screens that blink and fog on the foreground, that really impress. So does the game's top-notch soundtrack. It's moody and melancholy, and enhances rather than intrudes. The various little sound effects perform a similar function, though they're tame next to the game's excellent soundtrack. It may seem strange, but Scurge: Hive is one of the few portable titles that may benefit from shutting down the lights and just soaking in the visuals and sound. There's still only so much that can be done with a three inch screen and the GBA's sound quality (which isn't really upgraded on the DS), but as far as portable titles go, few games can capture you as well as this one.

The most original feature in Scurge is the infection meter. Throughout the game, the meter will slowly tick from one to a hundred percent. Once the meter reaches one hundred percent, Jenosa loses her health very rapidly. Only by hurrying to a cleansing station can you reset the infection back to one percent. The result is that you will be pressed to hurry from one cleansing station to the next, giving the game a fairly frantic pace. The mechanic proves that developer Orbital has a critical element in mind that most designers seem to forget: swift pacing. It pays off big, adding a layer of intensity to the mood and gameplay.

Scurge: Hive employs an isometric perspective. With the ability to wander in all directions, the game's world feels more open than a sidescroller, which contributes to a sense of openness. There's a decent amount of platforming, and while it's not the major component of gameplay, the game does a decent job in keeping your actions varied. The isometric camera does make it difficult to line up certain jumps, yet not often enough to be a major issue. There are a few abilities that are designed for run-and-jump type gameplay, but overall the focus is on combat.

The combat is where Scurge: Hive distinguishes itself from Metroid. The game forces you to stand still while shooting, and will often throw multiple enemies at you, forcing the player to constantly reposition him or herself and take aim. It’s awkward at first that you can't fire while running, and aiming has a learning curve, however once the player masters these skills, the results are tense fights in which you must pick your spots to open fire, quickly deal damage, and run before your opponent can counter-attack. Adding further to the depth are three different types of shots and three different types of foes. Yours shots, in addition to your basic arm cannon, are the combustion, EMP and dissipate modifications. Combustion silences biological fiends but strengthens mechanical foes; EMP destroys your mechanical enemies but makes your energy nemeses deadlier; dissipate ends your energy enemies, but brings brawn for biological battlers. The multiple enemies you will face at one time, and their differing weaknesses and strengths, will make for some tough decisions about which weapon to use. Combined with the constant threat of succumbing to the infection, and Scurge's frequent firefights are intense.

By defeating enemies, you gain experience points. If you consistently fight more enemies than the game expects you to, the game becomes much easier. However, even if your level is ahead of the curve, Scurge: Hive is never quite a cakewalk, especially when you fight the game's final boss. For most gamers, Scurge will provide a satisfying challenge, and for those that want more, there are higher difficulty settings that can be unlocked by completing the game. Overall, the difficulty level contributes to the intensity of the experience.

In deciding between the DS and GBA versions of the game, there isn't a whole lot to choose between. They both look exactly the same visually (The GBA version looking better than average for the system). The audio quality seems to be identical as well. What the DS version boasts is a map that is constantly displayed on the bottom screen, which can be useful. If you're playing the GBA version on the DS, it is a bit annoying to have those black borders. The DS version is slightly superior overall, but not by much. On the other hand, the GBA version is cheaper, and the improvements of the DS version aren't necessarily worth the extra money. If you're searching for something to put in the GBA slot of your DS, there's nothing really lacking about the GBA version. Either way, you're getting a quality game, and there isn't enough of a difference between the two versions to make you regret buying one over the other.

Scurge: Hive is an impressively intense handheld game that may garner too many Metroid comparisons for its own good. While the similarities are there, and the majority of Metroid fans will enjoy Scurge for many of the same reasons, Scurge: Hive deviates in intelligent and interesting ways. The game isn't perfect: small design flaws are scattered throughout, but the moodiness of the game's atmosphere, the intensity of the pacing, the original infection mechanic and the overall quality of the gameplay combine into what may be the best game of 2006 you haven't heard of.

Games, News, Reviews, Media and More