Environmental Station Alpha

Boy, do I have a treat for you old school gamers with Environmental Station Alpha. This game actually came out quite a few years ago, but for whatever reason, went completely under my radar. I was looking for Metroidvania games when this one popped up so I decided to try and give it a go. Holy crap was I blown away, it was a game that I just got more and more into as I played it and I had a fantastic time finding out the secrets of this supposed unfunctional space station.

Robo Action

The basic premise of the plot of Environmental Station Alpha is that we play as this little robot character who has been sent to investigate an old abandoned space station. For whatever reason, there have been readings coming from this space station that indicate there is power there and stuff is happening. It is our task to explore this space station and find out what is happening. As this is an old school game inspired by the original Metroid. It is not super driven, but you can find bits of lore hidden about the place to flesh out the story. Plus, there are multiple endings to check out too.

The Mania Of Metroid

The fact that games like the original Metroid are what inspired Environmental Station Alpha is awesome. This is a very fun and challenging kind of game, actually, when it comes to the challenge I personally felt that the middle of the game was the hardest part as by the time you get to the final portion, you are super powerful and have all your abilities. This is a game that is all about exploring. You need to explore the different areas as much as you can until you need to find a new ability be it a double jump or a grappling hook to help you get past an area that was previously inaccessible. There are fun boss fights and challenging platforming sections, and in general, the game is just a real joy to play from the start all the way until the very end.

Putting The Super Fun In Super Metroid!

I adore the gameplay of Environmental Station Alpha and found that exploring, taking down enemies, and platforming my way through challenging sections and those boss fights were a to of fun. However, while this does play into the whole inspired by Metroid thing. This game has some awesome modern quality of life things that take away some of the most frustrating elements that some Metroidvania style games have. To start with, the map is pretty damn big, but there are teleporters all over the place, making getting from one end of the map to the next much easier. You can still traverse it if you want, but I liked being able to zip around the map to avoid backtracking. The game is also very generous with its save system, save points are located all over the place so when you die, you never have to do too much of the stuff you just did again.

A Diverse Kind Of Space Station

At first glance, Environmental Station Alpha has a very, very basic look to it and I can see it putting some people off. However, I will say that this is a very stylish looking game and I loved how this space station had many different biomes. My personal favorite was the lava one that had all these awesome little heat and fire effects that would be around the screen as you progressed through it. The boss designs are pretty cool, although most of them are stationary parts with a few moving parts that attack you. They also change up some of the biomes as you progress in the game which I thought was neat and it not only looked cool, but it played into the story as well.

Pros:

• I loved the “abandoned” space station setting
• Each new upgrade is fun to use
• This is a fantastic old school Metroidvania style game
• It adds some neat QOL improvements to the Metroidvania formula

Cons:

• Some may not be able to get past the visuals
• It does get much easier the further into the game you get