About 8 years ago, I played Uncharted 2 at a friend's house and was blown away. I was a Monster Energy-drinking edgelord Xbox 360 user who'd never touched a Playstation controller. I was disgusted by my friend who advocated Sony's supremacy over my precious Xbox. Nothing could replace Halo or Gears of War (LOL). The illusion was shattered once I started playing Uncharted. The gameplay was heart racing, the story impossible to pull away from. The shooting and climbing were better than in any game I've ever played.

This is all to say that back then I loved the formula. But playing an Uncharted game now makes for a slightly disappointing experience. The gameplay felt unsatisfying. I couldn't climb anything I wasn't meant to climb. The shooting was hard to aim, and it was obvious the designers would have preferred you turn on auto assist instead of programming better shooting. The story and pacing were sluggish and every chapter is repetitive, and the few chapters that aren't exactly the same as the others manage to be the most boring in the whole game. I could only ever see myself replaying the chapters in Madagascar. Besides that, there's only a few worthwhile segments in the whole game.

The difficulty is way harder than in past entries, making stealth the optimal play style. This strikes a great balance between the mandatory shoot and cover sections and the stealth sections. It's the puzzles and climbing that bog everything down. There's definitely ways these sections could be way more enjoyable, but in this state they feel like glorified cut scenes. Especially when all the puzzles beg to spoil the answer if you cant solve them after a few minutes.

My biggest problem in particular is everything they do to make this feel like a cutting edge current-gen game that end up feeling like half measures. There are massive open areas for you to explore, but unless you explore it in the exact on-rails fashion the game demands you to, you cant actually explore. The graphics are amazing, but yet the game feels the exact same, if not less than, the amazing games the series was born from a decade ago.

Besides all my complaints I still had fun and the online is great too.

If you're wanting to play something easier/less of a time sink than Super Metroid, but retains mostly the same identity, this is the go-to. The accessibility of this title makes it the ideal Metroid game, but Super is still the definitive experience.

Honestly I wish the game was longer because it's really fun, but also there's virtue in there being a Metroid game that requires less commitment. This could easily be beaten in an afternoon on repeat playthroughs.

I was pleasantly surprised by the additional ending. Since this is a remake of the original, I expected the game to be over once I defeated the final boss, but thats not the case. Theres an added epilogue reminiscent of the survival sections in Fusion. It doesn't add much to the overall story (besides Mecha Ridley which is epic), but it does pad out an otherwise short game.

I'll probably go back through the game soon and get 100% completion. It's worth it for a game this short.

Metroid 2 has a great concept, and this is a really good rendition of it

A lot of the original's DNA is replaced with that of Super and Fusion but to me thats a good thing. This is the definitive way to experience this chapter of the Metroid saga.

The bosses are especially amazing - most of them rivaling the best of Super Metroid.

The music is the only thing that disappointed me slightly because it went too far in making Return of Samus feel like Super Metroid. It's still an excellent soundtrack, just not in the context of capturing the macabre and desolation of Return of Samus