A Worthy Follow-Up To Super Metroid
Metroid Fusion sees you take control of everyone’s favourite galactic female bounty hunter, Samus Aran, as she battles against her deadliest enemy. Herself. Kind of.
Its quickly clear to see that when you boot up Metroid Fusion, it’s quite the muscle flex for the GBA. Visually, this game is an advancement from Super Metroid (which was no slouch in the visual department) with many locations, even in the same sector, having different backgrounds. This also leads to Samus abilities looking much more impressive. And while the music is more of a mixed bag, with it being decent but lacking the oomph and atmospheric feel of Super Metroid, it’s at least its clear, considering how much of a bad reputation the GBA had for audio, and overall it’s still decent (though there is no fanfare when you get the missiles, power bomb or energy tanks, which is a shame.)
Gameplay is less of an evolution but this is no bad thing. The limited buttons could have led to something messy, but aside from a few quirks such as aiming down to shoot can be quite fiddly and speed boosting feeling weird (as there is no run button so you just keep “walking” uninterrupted until Samus just starts charging,) the controls are still very solid overall, with Nintendo finding intuitive ways of executing Missile and Power Bomb attacks. There is some nifty things like Samus being able to ledge grab, which makes platforming and some locations less of a pain and Wall jumping is MUCH easier.
This time, Samus is exploring the Biologic Space Labs Research Station and of course, because of circumstances (and this being a MetroidVania) we have to find abilities to help us progress further and permanent power-ups to helps her survive. Because even early game enemies hit hard here. Where in Super Metroid you could be a little careless in the early game, here it can cost you really quick. While being speedy is essential to get the “best” ending.
Samus is aided by a computer, nicknamed “Adam”, and he gives Samus orders. These orders are basically the game telling us where to go and while there’s a certain puzzle-like nature to how you end up getting to your destination. This leads to Metroid Fusion feeling a lot more linear in nature and less scope for you explore. There is a lot more secret passageways to find on the way to your “directives” so its not totally going from a to b but there’s less figuring out how to explore the Research Station. There is also the fact that most of the abilities you regain are the ones from Super Metroid, though not an issue if this is the first Metroid game you’ve played.
And this leads to probably the biggest issue, aside from the linearity; it can feel like a Super Metroid re-hash. A damn excellent one mind you but it has that familiarity that can make it feel not as special as Super Metroid (though again, if you haven’t played the SNES masterpiece, it’s not an issue.)
And really, Metroid Fusion is a fantastic game that any Metroid or MetroidVania fan should play. The emphasis on plot, with mini cutscenes or dialogues that give this more than just a Samus vs alien organism feel to it, is a nice inclusion and the gameplay is excellent.
A worthy game in the stacked GBA library.
Rating: 8/10
Metroid Fusion sees you take control of everyone’s favourite galactic female bounty hunter, Samus Aran, as she battles against her deadliest enemy. Herself. Kind of.
Its quickly clear to see that when you boot up Metroid Fusion, it’s quite the muscle flex for the GBA. Visually, this game is an advancement from Super Metroid (which was no slouch in the visual department) with many locations, even in the same sector, having different backgrounds. This also leads to Samus abilities looking much more impressive. And while the music is more of a mixed bag, with it being decent but lacking the oomph and atmospheric feel of Super Metroid, it’s at least its clear, considering how much of a bad reputation the GBA had for audio, and overall it’s still decent (though there is no fanfare when you get the missiles, power bomb or energy tanks, which is a shame.)
Gameplay is less of an evolution but this is no bad thing. The limited buttons could have led to something messy, but aside from a few quirks such as aiming down to shoot can be quite fiddly and speed boosting feeling weird (as there is no run button so you just keep “walking” uninterrupted until Samus just starts charging,) the controls are still very solid overall, with Nintendo finding intuitive ways of executing Missile and Power Bomb attacks. There is some nifty things like Samus being able to ledge grab, which makes platforming and some locations less of a pain and Wall jumping is MUCH easier.
This time, Samus is exploring the Biologic Space Labs Research Station and of course, because of circumstances (and this being a MetroidVania) we have to find abilities to help us progress further and permanent power-ups to helps her survive. Because even early game enemies hit hard here. Where in Super Metroid you could be a little careless in the early game, here it can cost you really quick. While being speedy is essential to get the “best” ending.
Samus is aided by a computer, nicknamed “Adam”, and he gives Samus orders. These orders are basically the game telling us where to go and while there’s a certain puzzle-like nature to how you end up getting to your destination. This leads to Metroid Fusion feeling a lot more linear in nature and less scope for you explore. There is a lot more secret passageways to find on the way to your “directives” so its not totally going from a to b but there’s less figuring out how to explore the Research Station. There is also the fact that most of the abilities you regain are the ones from Super Metroid, though not an issue if this is the first Metroid game you’ve played.
And this leads to probably the biggest issue, aside from the linearity; it can feel like a Super Metroid re-hash. A damn excellent one mind you but it has that familiarity that can make it feel not as special as Super Metroid (though again, if you haven’t played the SNES masterpiece, it’s not an issue.)
And really, Metroid Fusion is a fantastic game that any Metroid or MetroidVania fan should play. The emphasis on plot, with mini cutscenes or dialogues that give this more than just a Samus vs alien organism feel to it, is a nice inclusion and the gameplay is excellent.
A worthy game in the stacked GBA library.
Rating: 8/10