Metroid is back with a vengeance. This game rules, the EMMI sections are tense and exciting, the gameplay is exceptionally smooth, The levels are very well designed and the game keeps your attention til the very end. It's a wonderful blend of new and old that cements this game as one of the best metroidvanias ever. Enough gushing aside, i did have a few gripes with this game.
The controls really needed some work, there are so many buttons required for every little action and using aeon powers/ the grapple feels clunky. A sharp contrast to the smoothness of Samus' other tools. The game is also overreliant on the melee counter. It's made exceptionally clear by enemies who die in one hit to the counter will easily soak up dozens of shots from your main weapon otherwise. It's also made clear by the required counters to progress in boss fights. And i wish developers would stop putting mashing in their games. It annoyed me to no end that the best way to deal damage was to mash harder and harder.
The game also has a bit of an issue with conveyance. It's pretty difficult to tell if your attacks are doing damage, it's difficult to tell how much health you are missing and how much damage you're taking. Many of the windows of opportunity to use a counter attack are near impossible to catch unless you knew they were coming beforehand. As if you're expected to get hit by every attack at least once casually. it's a cheap trick honestly.
There was an overabundance of minibosses with way too much health in the latter half of the game. The EMMI sections felt somewhat shoehorned and i really feel there was a missed opportunity there. They're so short and they end up feeling repetitive with no real variation between them. A damn shame because the EMMI sections are some of the best gameplay dread has to offer. The ending also felt really lame, the story spent a lot of time building up something interesting and then just fizzled out with an incredibly nonsensical and unsatisfying finish. The game is very light on story details except for when it's info-dumping you during two cutscenes.
The controls really needed some work, there are so many buttons required for every little action and using aeon powers/ the grapple feels clunky. A sharp contrast to the smoothness of Samus' other tools. The game is also overreliant on the melee counter. It's made exceptionally clear by enemies who die in one hit to the counter will easily soak up dozens of shots from your main weapon otherwise. It's also made clear by the required counters to progress in boss fights. And i wish developers would stop putting mashing in their games. It annoyed me to no end that the best way to deal damage was to mash harder and harder.
The game also has a bit of an issue with conveyance. It's pretty difficult to tell if your attacks are doing damage, it's difficult to tell how much health you are missing and how much damage you're taking. Many of the windows of opportunity to use a counter attack are near impossible to catch unless you knew they were coming beforehand. As if you're expected to get hit by every attack at least once casually. it's a cheap trick honestly.
There was an overabundance of minibosses with way too much health in the latter half of the game. The EMMI sections felt somewhat shoehorned and i really feel there was a missed opportunity there. They're so short and they end up feeling repetitive with no real variation between them. A damn shame because the EMMI sections are some of the best gameplay dread has to offer. The ending also felt really lame, the story spent a lot of time building up something interesting and then just fizzled out with an incredibly nonsensical and unsatisfying finish. The game is very light on story details except for when it's info-dumping you during two cutscenes.