It might have been amazing back in the day, and it does do a remarkable job at bringing metroid from 2D into 3D... but compared to those 2D games, especially after Dread, it's so by the numbers that it's a bit of a snorefest. The 2D games do about everything better, so all I can hope is that the sequels improved upon the formula to add its own improvements to it. The high point is without a doubt the meta ridley fight, if the entire game was like that, I'd agree wholeheartedly with everyone else that this is a masterpiece. But as it is, that's a very cool high point in a game that isn't bad, but it's also not particularly good at anything, especially when you have the 2D metroid games hitting it out of the park in terms of snappy gameplay and atmosphere.