Metroid Dread sits in a strange space, albeit one that Nintendo exclusives often inhabit. A place where the incredible pedigree of game design is clear from the very start of the game (and sometimes made apparent to the audience through audio cues that adapted from titles that came out 30-40 years ago). At the same time, these games tend to exhibit oddities and, in my opinion, design mistakes that make them appear amateurish and poorly planned - a quality that Nintendo games rarely display, if you ask the average gamer. Describing Metroid Dread probably makes the point for me, in many ways.
Firstly, the animation is wonderfully executed. Samus navigates the world with a smoothness that other 2D platformers rarely replicate. There is a childish quality to it too that I really appreciate. Samus turns towards the came before saving for, instance. She adopts a questioning posture, almost addressing you directly, "Do you want to save?". It's almost a The Office shot of Jim turning towards the camera and giving a 'What can you do?' pose. By the end, that comparison was making me laugh every time I saved. Samus communicates with you in really subtle ways, through excellent animation work.
I love that the game often presents obstacles that clearly need specific new abilities and then subverts expectations by giving you a different one. The chronology of each ability rarely fits with the chronology of when matching obstacles are presented to you. The abilities are really well-designed, except for the rolling space jump, which I now think is a deliberate janky addition made by the developers in all 2D Metroid games to annoy me, specifically. The game also demands that you use your abilities in smart ways and often in combination. I love that each ability has a use case and its use cases are potentiated by the additions of other abilities. It's clear that real care has been put into designing these and the game world, in conjunction.
Despite all of these details, I have four specific issues with this game that brings it down from 5 to 3.5:
1. Enforced game length through fights with repeated and minor evolutions of Mawkins. I beat the game in 7 hours. It would have been 5 had it not been for the repeated Mawkin fights. I appreciate each one having minor evolutions of the last, but it's never enough to justify that many battles
2. E.M.M.I.s - I liked the first 3 or 4. I like that each teaches you how to use your newly gained abilities efficiently. I especially like that I managed to sucker punch the purple one three times in a row, after getting the omega cannon, allowing me to finish him off. But by the end, the repeated usage of them, much like the Mawkin's, made me weary and annoyed.
3. Enforced 'fake' non-linearity. The game often shuttles you from one place to another and then back and forth over the course of the game. It makes you feel like the game is non-linear (and that it is allowing you freedom to explore), but it's quite clear, once you get through 1/4th , that the game is almost entirely on rails. Veering away from the obvious path often results in drawn out backtracking which maybe rewards you with extra rockets, a resource that gets replenished incredibly quickly anyway.
4. No resource management. You don't have to be economical with your rockets and you don't have to hit with that many of them, as a result. They are replenished way too quickly. Just use your rockets, they do more damage. This is not good game design.
Last boss fight is difficult but amazing and a joy to overcome. I wish more of the boss fights had eased us into that difficulty curve. It was quite a substantial jump up in difficulty.
Firstly, the animation is wonderfully executed. Samus navigates the world with a smoothness that other 2D platformers rarely replicate. There is a childish quality to it too that I really appreciate. Samus turns towards the came before saving for, instance. She adopts a questioning posture, almost addressing you directly, "Do you want to save?". It's almost a The Office shot of Jim turning towards the camera and giving a 'What can you do?' pose. By the end, that comparison was making me laugh every time I saved. Samus communicates with you in really subtle ways, through excellent animation work.
I love that the game often presents obstacles that clearly need specific new abilities and then subverts expectations by giving you a different one. The chronology of each ability rarely fits with the chronology of when matching obstacles are presented to you. The abilities are really well-designed, except for the rolling space jump, which I now think is a deliberate janky addition made by the developers in all 2D Metroid games to annoy me, specifically. The game also demands that you use your abilities in smart ways and often in combination. I love that each ability has a use case and its use cases are potentiated by the additions of other abilities. It's clear that real care has been put into designing these and the game world, in conjunction.
Despite all of these details, I have four specific issues with this game that brings it down from 5 to 3.5:
1. Enforced game length through fights with repeated and minor evolutions of Mawkins. I beat the game in 7 hours. It would have been 5 had it not been for the repeated Mawkin fights. I appreciate each one having minor evolutions of the last, but it's never enough to justify that many battles
2. E.M.M.I.s - I liked the first 3 or 4. I like that each teaches you how to use your newly gained abilities efficiently. I especially like that I managed to sucker punch the purple one three times in a row, after getting the omega cannon, allowing me to finish him off. But by the end, the repeated usage of them, much like the Mawkin's, made me weary and annoyed.
3. Enforced 'fake' non-linearity. The game often shuttles you from one place to another and then back and forth over the course of the game. It makes you feel like the game is non-linear (and that it is allowing you freedom to explore), but it's quite clear, once you get through 1/4th , that the game is almost entirely on rails. Veering away from the obvious path often results in drawn out backtracking which maybe rewards you with extra rockets, a resource that gets replenished incredibly quickly anyway.
4. No resource management. You don't have to be economical with your rockets and you don't have to hit with that many of them, as a result. They are replenished way too quickly. Just use your rockets, they do more damage. This is not good game design.
Last boss fight is difficult but amazing and a joy to overcome. I wish more of the boss fights had eased us into that difficulty curve. It was quite a substantial jump up in difficulty.