GuestLog in

Fan hacks have a common problem: they're designed by fans, but not always designers. This can leave a lot of hacks with bad balance, or level design, or poor pacing.

While I love custom content, Z-Factor sadly is too frustrating to play at times. The level design is arbitrarily windy very often, and so many necessary parts of the game require hidden access points or obscene amounts of back tracking, without a clear goal or focus. Once you get the xray visor, you basically walk the entire game world scanning for what to do next.

At the same time, the level design punishes players by leaving trap tiles for you to fall through, setting you back quite a distance and forcing you to retrek the wooly levels. If you forgot how you even got to that point, good luck getting back.

The new things the hack does are really cool, but after other hacks like Hyper Metroid, Z-Factor leaves an unsatisfied taste in my mouth. It doesn't respect the player's time or their resources. It plays as if the author assumes that, Because I know how I made the levels, it should be easy for the player to also figure it out.

This is one of those hacks that could lose 30% of the level design and not really suffer for it. When that amount of filler space can be taken out without consequence, was it really useful to be there in the first place?

If someone else were to go through and tidy up the hack, prevent a lot of the running around without a clear goal or stunted level design, I think it would really benefit the hack and make it more approachable.

As it is, I've had to resort to constant save states and the fast forward feature just to get through the slog of the hack. And when a game does that, I don't feel like I'm playing to enjoy the work. I'm working to find something to enjoy.

Check it out if you're hard core or have run out of other fan hacks to play. Otherwise, it may not be worth your time.

Just finished this hack recently and decided I wanted to do a bit of a review on it. I normally highlight points of interests and how I think they stack up, but in this case, I don't think that's necessary to divide into sections. First off, I want to point out that I have a fan-made map of this hack, which I always use as a guide to give me ideas on where to go next. Super Metroid is always a great game, but never was difficult at figuring out which direction one should attempt once they get a new powerup. That becomes my first major deal with Z-Factor, which can be a positive or negative depending on your point of view: IT'S FREAKIN DIFFICULT FIGURING OUT WHERE TO GO!! Seriously, my first attempt at this hack was me going a direction, finding that didn't work...so check the map and think to myself "Okay, I'll go for THAT, since that's what I need here"...getting there only to realize I need something else, so check the map again, find another potential path, but now I need something totally different to go THAT way...check map again, find another path, but can't even reach it cause I need to go around from another direction to go that way! So long story short...you'll really get your fill of exploring EVERYWHERE playing this. There's no sense of direction in the sense of "Okay, I saw a power bomb door earlier, so I go there once I have it" like the base game. Rather it's more like finding an item and trying to remember everywhere you could use it that you had seen trying to even find it in the first place, lol. So yeah, a lot of trial and error in terms of directions. If that isn't to your liking, you may want to avoid. Otherwise I don't believe it's that offputting as it means more gameplay :P I will admit...this has one of my favorite versions of Tourian to date. Granted, it feels underwhelming when you enter as there are enemies you can't kill and every door is locked, forcing you to find alternative paths through the place. I won't spoil anything, but an event after doing this for a bit actually rather intrigued me and was rather creative as I had yet to see a hack do it. It was unexpected and added a new level of tension I hadn't felt before when playing in Tourian in other hacks. Kudos to you on that, developer! So in the end, "Where Am I Going" simulator is actually a great hack and a lot of fun. I've been fighting for a LONG time to get a version of this I could play and get working, and I was glad I did ^_^ Lots of fun, lots of exploration... 9/10 I'm docking a point cause that jump to get the Speed Boost is crap :P You can do better than THAT!

NOTE: I played entirely on 1.0 version, some things have since been updated, but after reading about them, I believe the original is still best.

Z-Factor is quite possibly the most impressive Super Metroid hack to date. There was a lot of work put into it, as you will discover shortly into the game. Custom stuff litters the game and adds some amazing pizazz into an otherwise great hack. That being said, there are some issues to beware of.

Pros:

• Huge world to explore
• Difficulty is just about perfect
• A ton of custom work done for multiple different applications
• Great item locations, will keep you occupied looking for 100%
• A great translation error to give you a hint to the ultimate "Super Secret Room" in a hack
• Has some very good challenge, without being frustrating
• Tourian

Cons:

• Some hidden paths are just that, hidden. They have "hints," but they aren't specific or great in some instances
• Might be too much backtracking for some
• There is a heat run if the player doesn't do a sequence break
• Entrance to Lower Norfair
• Either love/hate the escape sequence

This hack is probably the best Super Metroid hack out there right now. But, I can see, and have seen that it has one serious issue that most players may not enjoy. Personally, I loved it, but it could be a deal breaker to some. The hack is full of exploration and backtracking, but sometimes the thing you are looking for is not hinted at very well.

Keep in mind that my experience is based entirely off of the 1.0 patch, and some of these concerns have been addressed. There is a lot to explore, as this is either the second or third largest hack out there. (Over 2,000 explorable screens.) There is a lot of backtracking, and there is a lot of being lost. Which being Metroid is not a bad thing in itself. Z-Factor does tend to take that a little far in some places. Especially "Zaridia."

Now Maridia, or Zaridia as we have named it, is nothing but a maze of "where do I go?" I personally enjoy these kinds of hacks that make you explore everywhere, but it might be a little much for some. And it isn't just one area. The hack starts out going straightforward, then becomes an open-ended exploration fest, then back to pretty linear, and then really opens up again. It might be a bit too much for some.

Like I said, this hack is just about the best there is to me. There really is a lot of custom work done, and it shows. On top of everything else, when you finally get to the final area, Tourian is just plain amazing. I won't spoil anything here, but seriously, if you are looking to make a hack, you need to see how Tourian is done. Metaquarius absolutely nails that area.

I highly recommend this hack. It is amazing and for those exploration and backtracking nuts out there, you will easily get your fill. It does get a bit obscure in the hint department, so it is quite possible you will be lost for a while. Other than not knowing where to go though, there isn't much to fault with Z-Factor. It isn't an easy hack, but it isn't really difficult either. You should check it out and discover what could possibly be the best Super Metroid hack out there.