Review: Scurge: Hive
Sunday, February 10th, 2008 at 8:49pm by Derek
Within the context of the gaming realm, Scurge: Hive is old news.
Released in late Oct. 2006 by independent publisher SouthPeak Interactive, Scurge: Hive was met with mixed critical reception, no publicity and extremely modest sales figures. So why revisit this obscure, unrecognized game more than 15 months after it hit store shelves?
Quite simply, because it rocks.
Scurge: Hive introduces players to Jenosa Arma, a female bounty hunter commissioned to investigate a high security research lab on the planet Inos from which a distress signal was sent 48 hours ago. Scientists there were tasked with studying the Scurge, a virulent plague with dangerous manipulative properties. Fearing the worst, Jenosa has been assigned to recover any surviving research.
Obviously, the entire premise of Scurge: Hive is a respectful nod to Nintendo’s own Metroid series, as is the character herself. Similar to Samus Aran, Metroid’s first lady of galactic ass-kicking, Jenosa Arma wears an experimental prototype battle suit equipped with the ability to fire top-secret projectiles by giving a mere throwing motion. The suit can be upgraded with new firing abilities and power-ups.
Metroid fans should feel right at home, but others should know that Scurge: Hive has more than enough unique attributes to distinguish itself as a competent, original action adventure title. At no point does Scurge: Hive feel like a derivative Metroid clone. It achieves its own atmosphere and gameplay despite the expectations resulting from its Metroid similarities, which is an accomplishment itself.
Speaking of the gameplay, Scurge: Hive can be downright manic. Shooting beams as fast as possible is a catastrophic strategy, as certain enemies are vulnerable to, and actually helped by, certain beams. For example, firing Jenosa’s electric beam at a small monster may kill the organism faster than other beams, but firing the same beam at an infected robot will actually increase the enemy’s HP. Players must learn the strengths and weaknesses of each beam, as well as which enemies are affected and benefitted by them.
Making her travels even more perilous, Jenosa herself becomes infected with the Scurge. Because of her infection, players are on a constant timer, of sorts, as Jenosa’s health drains by the second. So while fighting off enemies, solving puzzles and finding hidden door keys, players must also find save stations that cleanse Jenosa of her Scurge, restoring her health and resetting the timer.
Upon stepping away from the save station, however, her infection begins anew. This adds dramatically to the vigorous action of the game, as well as its intense pacing.
Despite its addictive nature, the gameplay is far from perfect. Jenosa can fire in eight directions: up, down, left, right and the diagonals. While this inherently limited aiming mechanism is already an obstacle, the Nintendo DS hardware doesn’t make things any easier. The DS directional pad can make aiming a laborious process, as players may find they simply cannot shoot an enemy without compromising their position. This eight-directional limitation also hinders the otherwise quick and nimble Jenosa’s jumping precision, sometimes making simple platforming harder than it should be.
Scurge: Hive was originally developed for, and also released on, the Game Boy Advance. And it shows; the game doesn’t push the DS hardware and inexplicably looks slightly better on the GBA.
But that’s not to say Scurge: Hive is an ugly game. Quite the contrary, it is very pleasing visually. The colors are explosively vibrant, the backgrounds are detailed and the animations are spectacular. It calls upon the dusty criteria we used to define “beautiful graphics” during the SNES era, and it serves as a reminder that pretty games don’t necessarily need to be in 3D.
The game’s animations deserve specific mention, particularly those of the protagonist. Jenosa Arma is a well designed character, and she is remarkably well animated. Her absurdly long ponytail whips about the screen as she blasts through her environments, circling around her body when she flips and bouncing from side to side when she runs. The strength of the charming Jenosa, an original character, also significantly improves the experience. Scurge: Hive is perhaps most noteworthy because it is an original IP, a welcome breath of fresh air our industry takes far too infrequently.
Though the game released on both Nintendo handhelds, the DS version is clearly the better choice. The visual discrepancy between the two is quite minimal, and there are no touch controls; Jenosa is controlled entirely with the directional pad and buttons. But the strength of the DS version lies with its dual screens. Some of the environments Jenosa must explore are massive and almost labyrinthine in their design. Dual screens afford players constant view of their map, which can come in handy in later levels.
Most players will have between 10 and 12 hours of gameplay with Scurge: Hive, a meaty game for a handheld title. But there isn’t much to do after the game ends. Aside from some unlockable costumes and content, Scurge: Hive is very much a single-player game in the old-school vein. No multi-player, no frills. Players should consider this, as well as their individual tastes, before committing to a purchase.
But especially at it’s current price tag, Scurge: Hive is an under-exposed gem, an absolute steal for “hardcore” DS owners.
Given our industry’s tendency to rely on its established icons, it is immensely refreshing to assume the role of a new character, even if she is heavily influenced by some of those icons. Despite its flaws, Scurge: Hive is a polished, surprisingly slick package.
Undeniable atmosphere, masterful music, inventive boss battles and fun gameplay get Scurge: Hive three stars out of four.
February 11th, 2008 at 12:11 am
I overlooked it when it was first released, but a friend of mine dragged me to Wal-Mart sometime middle of last year because he was going to buy it. He briefly explained what the game was liked and I was intrigued. The game itself was only 20$.
It sounded like a decent Metroid-like game and I had been craving some good alien blasting pixely goodness.
Definitely worth getting if you can. I myself, have the GBA version (DS version was not available).
I saw it at Wal Mart again recently, this time for 10$. Even more of a deal.
February 11th, 2008 at 8:38 am
It looked awesome when i first saw it in Nintendo Power. i wanted to get it when it came out, but it must have gotten delayed, or something because i kept asking myself “where the heck did Scurge:Hive go?”
Too bad im way to busy with other games to check this one out
February 11th, 2008 at 9:38 am
i’ll pick this up once i’m finished with advance wars and assassin’s creed DS. both of which i got yesterday and both of which are awesome.
I mentioned a few posts ago that I would let you guys know how AC:AC was when I got it and my first impression is that it’s good. Not great, but good. It’s certainly the most solid third-person adventure game I’ve played on the DS in a long time. The platforming is unique and quirky, although it reminds me a fair amount of Sew Super Mario Bros. except for the jumping mechanism, which in Mario Bros. is laggy and gives you air time and in AC:AC is more accurate to how real people really jump with real physics.
When I first read previews of it I was worried by the fact that it had “touch-screen minigames” that would break up the actual gameplay. This reminded me of the catastrophic Spiderman 2 and 3 for DS. Fortunately, these minigames are few and far between (at least so far) and are actually pretty fun.
The graphics are very impressive for the DS. Occasionally there are some snags where your arm goes through a wall or something, but these are rare, brief, and easily ignored. Many times I found myself walking right past the ladder I needed to use to get to the rooftops simply because I was staring at the beautiful scenery or the detailed civilians. However, it wouldn’t be a fair review if I didn’t comment on the bad aspects of the game as well. The free-roaming aspect of the the environment is practically non-existent. The paths are pretty linear and very rarely do you come to forks or places where the paths diverge. Collecting blue orbs, which allow you to upgrade your health and weaponry, isn’t very difficult because the blue orbs are always pretty much right in the middle of the path you have to walk on anyways. You can get blue orbs from killing guards as well, which is optional as you can generally run past them, but I would have preferred an experience points system where you get exp from killing guards.
The combat also has some key flaws that aren’t evident until you examine not only the combat, but how it relates to the enemies. At the beginning of the game, they teach you how to block and then do counter attacks, which prove very effective against low-level guards and are fun to watch. However, soon into the third or fourth level, they introduce guards who will block and or counter about 90 percent of your attacks - including your counter attacks. The only way to kill them is with button mashing combos, which I strongly dislike. However, those enemies aren’t terribly common.
There’s another flaw relating to fighting enemies. The group AI is virtually non-existant. They’ll try to surround you, which at first I tried to avoid, but then they’ll only attack you one at a time. The best bet when fighting a group of enemies is to disable the weaker ones by knocking them on the ground, then button mash the strong ones into submission and finish off the weak ones when they get up.
Despite these flaws, the game really shines when you get outdoors and are following a path through a city via the rooftops. Usually you start out on the ground and walk through the city, careful not to bump into any guard, looking for a ladder or low roof. Then you transform (figuratively) into a white eagle, flying from rooftop to rooftop, strutting slowly across helpfully-placed beams, until you reach the end of the level, climb quietly off of the final building, sneak up behind your target and end his life (followed by one of four lame catchphrases, including, “give Death my regards,” which is my personal favorite).
Score (out of ten)
Gameplay: 8.0
Graphics: 9.0
Soundtrack: I can’t really comment on this because my DS won’t display sound, not even through headphones.
Replay Value: 4.0. I haven’t beaten the game yet but the level select feature is basically useless - there’s no reason to replay levels except for the fun of it.
Total Score: 7.0. Assassin’s Creed: Altair’s Chronicles is a good game. I wouldn’t have minded waiting an extra month or two to play it if it meant that Ubisoft would have finished the game - added a real upgrade system where you can upgrade things other than just health and sword damage, made the outdoor levels more explorable, fixed a few of the graphical glitches, etc.
February 11th, 2008 at 11:46 am
I’d still recommend the GBA version over the DS version of Scurge: Hive, if only because of the ridiculous low price. The DS version doesn’t really add too much value, you can’t really pay attention to the map while playing, so it is actually better that in the GBA version you can pause and switch to the map to view your current location.
And if you own a micro, I think you will find the higher resolution graphics in that platform much nicer-looking than in the DS version…
February 12th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
I bought the DS version when this first released, I never finished it because I got stuck and forgot what to do, but aside from missing certain enemies because of isometric aiming (and those evil critters could get you without being stuck in 8 directional limbo) it still rocked, except for me forgetting what to do, lol.