Metroid Fusion is a good-ass game. Going in, i had heard that this game is a lot more linear than other Metroid games and the early parts of the game kinda worried me it would be too linear but thankfully, the game quickly does away with that. So while it's still linear in the sense that your destination is usually marked on the map, you'll still be on your own when it comes to actually getting there. Gameplay-wise, it's basically a refined Super Metroid. And now that i've played a second Metroid game, i'm getting a newfound appreciation for one of the progenitors of the Metroidvania genre. There are a lot of good Metroidvanias out there but there aren't many that have that sense of pureness that 2D Metroid has. I'd say the Blaster Master Zero games come close but even they have their own little quirks that set it apart from Metroid.

My biggest problems with Metroid Fusion lie in the fact that bosses can essentially kill you after you've killed them. A few times, i killed a boss only to be killed by the X-Parasite that emerged from it and it's because of that that i'm really grateful for restore points. This game also does suffer from "what do i do moments" that affected Super Metroid but nowhere near to the same extent. I also kinda wish the SA-X was more prominent. Don't get me wrong, it's scary as fuck when it's chasing you but it only chases you for real like once. I never got the sense that it was hunting me down because of how rarely it showed up and most of it's appearances are a non-issue.

All that said, these issues don't really impact the game too much, as Metroid Fusion is a fantastic game and an overall improvement from the already fantastic Super Metroid.