An amazing experience from start to finish. The space station setting and overarching narrative really add to the horror atmosphere that Metroid is known for. The effect of this is that the game is quite linear, which is bound to put some off, but it also meant minimal backtracking which I was grateful for and the game really opens up and encourages exploration towards the end. Movement and animations feel really smooth. Bosses can be harsh, but fair. It is impressive that this is a GBA game as it is console quality.
My only complaint is that it is very short but I'd rather that than for it to have been unnecessarily padded.
While the gameplay is faster, and more responsive than ever before, MF manages to feel even more claustophobic than in the past. That's a good thing. [Feb 2003, p.75]
A throwback to "Super Metroid," offering most of that game's best qualities in an all-new adventure. It's disappointing that Fusion ends so soon, since it's such a great game while it lasts.
Follow up to the best 16 bit console game of all time, Metroid finds its true home on the GBA. A perfect blend of shooting, platforming and adventure that the overly convoluted 3D reinventions never quite recaptured.
Good aesthetics, story and sound.
Plenty of gadgets as usual in the franchise but without any innovation.
The game is quite well balanced. Good difficulty curve with several hard but not frustrating fights.
As any game of this franchise after a while it fells too much on a "find the hidden block" feature that I personally don't like a lot.
I played this game 6 years ago when I bought a 3DS. I decided to replay it in anticipation of the new Metroid game coming out this weekend. I've not played any Metroid game other than this one, and while I anticipated the plot to be light, I didn't realize it would result in the game being only about 10 hours long (4:45 on my playthrough- I guess I died a lot?). A lot of the game seems to be involved in finding secrets, but I found this to be more tedious than enjoyable- basically, I found myself throwing bombs at every wall and floor in hopes of finding a secret, or a place to advance the level. In fact, it seems that at least once every level you have to bomb an inconspicuous part of the wall in order to advance, or find a secret corridor as a ball. It didn't make me like the game any more, which made me wish it had been more straightforward and less frustrating. I found the combat to be pretty enjoyable, although one-sided. Samus is a killing machine, but she takes a lot of damage when she gets hit. Luckily, most of the enemies don't have ranged attacks, so it's easy to avoid most damage. Boss fights were slightly more challenging- basically, I would spend one life in order to find the bosses weakness, die, load my save, and then abuse the weakness through brute force. Not too difficult, until the final boss, which provided a real challenge. Overall, I enjoyed the game and its mechanics (due to the quick pace of the game, upgrades came fast and furious, which was enjoyable), but I hope that the new 3DS game coming out introduces something a little beyond what we see here.
I don't play Metroid games to be told what to do. If you like the exploration and independence of the other games, avoid Fusion. It is absolutely linear, plodding, and just plain wearying to play. Then there's the art. A lot has been said about how good the game looks, and I won't lie: it's pretty good. However, they try to throw so much on screen at times, it's hard to even tell what's foreground or background, what you need to be paying attention to and what you should ignore. It just ends up looking messy. Oh, and this is the game that introduced the Adam Malkovich albatross that culminated in the fiasco that is Other M.
This isn't the worst game in the series, but it DEFINITELY doesn't deserve the 100/100s that you see over on the critic side or the 10/10s on the user side. If you want a "return to form" GBA Metroid, play Zero Mission. The Prime games are also good examples of how to do Metroid gameplay (Hint: it's about the exploration).
SummaryWhile lending mission support on planet SR388, interstellar bounty hunter Samus Aran is attacked by an X parasite, an organism with the ability to mimic the abilities of any creature it infects. Near death, Samus is saved by a vaccine made from the DNA of the last Metroid--the X parasite's only natural predator. When the X spread to a re...