Isn't it just such a cool feeling to play a game and realizing that the things you're seeing had most likely never been done before when they made the game? From the very beginning, Super Metroid catapults you into this excuisitely crafted world, full of personality and atmosphere. It guides you seamlessly through all these different areas towards your next item without it every feeling like it's handholding too much. You can feel the creativity and inventiveness hammered into every frame of this game, and it continues to amaze you for the entire playthrough. The graphics are crisp and gorgeous, and the music and sound design are both top notch, perfectly capturing the haunting lonelyness as you stalk through another unfamiliar path.
I don't think I can stress enough how well made this map is. It's almost impossible to overstate how effectively it manages to feel both organic and foreign, how rich and detailed the environments look, how weaved together the visuals and mechanics are, leading to satisfaction both when you follow the carefully curated intended path and when you pull of a sequence break so simple, yet so precise it makes you feel like you can do everything. And it's not like these things feel like they disrupt the pacing, no, I'd say the developers knew very well what they were doing. Why even include the wall jump if not for players to experiment with how far up they could go? It's this combination of freedom and guidance that make this game stand out, even by todays standards.
Playing through Super Metroid is a hypnotic experience, the story is so simple, yet so effective. It is a textbook example of how little tidbits of plot enhance the gameplay, it pulls you in and keeps you there, your mind entirely focused on the task at hand, your purpose always driving you forward. The lack of fasttravel almost doesn't matter at times, the map is so well designed and condensed, it never takes long to get where you want to go. This setup also makes way more sense from a thematic perspective, you'd certainly lose a lot of immersion if you could just fly to whereever you wanted. The map is also full of items and upgrades, being thorough anywhere will lead you to a missile pack or an energy tank, there is no part of Zebes that ever feels empty and pointless.
It's a good thing the upgrades are so plentyfull, because you'll need them, a lot. This game is not easy. There are areas that bring your health down super fast, there are bosses that are almost impossible if you haven't got enough health and ammo. But to be honest, that just feels like a natural part of the game. It's about exploration, of course the main objectives are gonna be crafted with the assumption of you having taken your time and finding the things you need. If I were to complain about something, it would be that some endgame bosses are so hard they're actually impossible without almost every energy upgrade, but this is just a balancing issue, not a direct design flaw.
All these things that make Super Metroid a dream to play disappear all of a sudden when you reach Maridia. It fucking sucks, it is ass, it's too big and confusing, the sandpits made me want to kill someone, the traversal in general is frustrating the entire time, there is just so much shit here. The boss is super lame, impossible if you don't know its super specific weakness, pathetically easy if you do. This entire area is an awful stain on this otherwise fantastic game.
Super Metroid is a cornerstone of gaming, its influences are still felt with the release of new metroidvanias, it is creative and innovative without ever feeling like it forsakes polish for the sake of novelty. If it wasn't for Maridia I'd consider this to be close to perfection, but even factoring it in, the game is still an excellent experience that every gaming fan should try at least once.
I don't think I can stress enough how well made this map is. It's almost impossible to overstate how effectively it manages to feel both organic and foreign, how rich and detailed the environments look, how weaved together the visuals and mechanics are, leading to satisfaction both when you follow the carefully curated intended path and when you pull of a sequence break so simple, yet so precise it makes you feel like you can do everything. And it's not like these things feel like they disrupt the pacing, no, I'd say the developers knew very well what they were doing. Why even include the wall jump if not for players to experiment with how far up they could go? It's this combination of freedom and guidance that make this game stand out, even by todays standards.
Playing through Super Metroid is a hypnotic experience, the story is so simple, yet so effective. It is a textbook example of how little tidbits of plot enhance the gameplay, it pulls you in and keeps you there, your mind entirely focused on the task at hand, your purpose always driving you forward. The lack of fasttravel almost doesn't matter at times, the map is so well designed and condensed, it never takes long to get where you want to go. This setup also makes way more sense from a thematic perspective, you'd certainly lose a lot of immersion if you could just fly to whereever you wanted. The map is also full of items and upgrades, being thorough anywhere will lead you to a missile pack or an energy tank, there is no part of Zebes that ever feels empty and pointless.
It's a good thing the upgrades are so plentyfull, because you'll need them, a lot. This game is not easy. There are areas that bring your health down super fast, there are bosses that are almost impossible if you haven't got enough health and ammo. But to be honest, that just feels like a natural part of the game. It's about exploration, of course the main objectives are gonna be crafted with the assumption of you having taken your time and finding the things you need. If I were to complain about something, it would be that some endgame bosses are so hard they're actually impossible without almost every energy upgrade, but this is just a balancing issue, not a direct design flaw.
All these things that make Super Metroid a dream to play disappear all of a sudden when you reach Maridia. It fucking sucks, it is ass, it's too big and confusing, the sandpits made me want to kill someone, the traversal in general is frustrating the entire time, there is just so much shit here. The boss is super lame, impossible if you don't know its super specific weakness, pathetically easy if you do. This entire area is an awful stain on this otherwise fantastic game.
Super Metroid is a cornerstone of gaming, its influences are still felt with the release of new metroidvanias, it is creative and innovative without ever feeling like it forsakes polish for the sake of novelty. If it wasn't for Maridia I'd consider this to be close to perfection, but even factoring it in, the game is still an excellent experience that every gaming fan should try at least once.
Reviewed on Aug 10, 2022