Review #1: Metroid Fusion

When it comes down to Metroid, I think of free roaming in a huge planet while getting lost in the gorgeous environments while blasting through enemies. Metroid Fusion was the first entry on the gameboy advanced and many critics and fans liked this game but said it was too short and very linear, lets see if what they say is true...

Concept:
Samus Aran, a galactic bounty hunter who rid the universe of the terrible mother brain is out on a science expedition on the planet SR388 with a couple of scientists to explore and observe some of it's peaceful and at times hostile wildlife. While exploring, Samus comes across a hostile and eliminates it. However, it turns out that an odd parasitic organism came out of it and attacked the bounty hunter. Not thinking of the concequences, she heads back up to the B.S.L. only to pass out and crash her ship. Things don't look too good as she is infected with a parasitic organism known as "X" and it is slowly killing her.
They have to remove parts of the infected power suit in hopes of curing it, but things seemed bleak.....that is until they use a vaccine obtained from the metroid hatchling found in one of Samus's previous adventure and it purged her of all X parasites but in exchange made her change, as she now has metroid like abilities and can absorb the X at will for her own need. She is then sent to a B.S.L. research station that fell under attack to investigate. The game has a huge emphasis on story and for the most part it is pretty damn good as it puts emotion into the bounty hunter we thought had no emotions. Many plot twists happen as well to keep the player keep coming back for more, it is truly a wonderful story.
20/20

Design:
The way this game is designed mirrors the previous metroid games to some extent. You are in a space station and you explore 7 areas within, which does not sound exiting but the areas acually have lots of wildlife inhabiting it as the X created an environment for themselves to live in. This brings many well designed environments such as sector one which mirrors the look of SR388 with similar enemies. The X parasites can mimic organisms, so you will see many farmiliar enemies that when you kill will turn into an X. Enemies range from hopping frog like enemies and classics like side hoppers. There is even a clone of samus who you will encounter numerous times in the game known as the SA-X, which is basically the removed parts of Samus's armor which were infected and now it lives to kill you.

Samus can absorb the X to give her health or missile ammunition and even new abilities when you kill a boss. Leave the X dropped by enemies out for too long, then they will either fly away or mimic a different enemy meaning you must collect every X you find or have a chance of suffering the concequences. There is one major difference in the design compared to the metroid games that came before it, it is objective based. This means that you go to a navigation room to talk to your computer, Adam and he will give you an objective you must do.

You will do these missions in point A to point B kind of fasion and the upgrades you get like suit and beam upgrades come at you in a linear fasion. It makes it more player friendly but as well makes it more linear and less emphisized on exploration. There is still hidden energy tanks and missile expansions, but it just does not feel entirely like metroid. It does not kill the game, but it does however make it much shorter. It will take atleast 8 hours on the first try to complete which in turn is not too long, but if you like speed running then this is perfect for you. Overall, the design is solid as the levels are well made and are each very distinct. While the new objective system is more user friendly, it almost removes the exploration factor of the game and it as well makes it shorter but the design is rock solid for the most part.
14/20

Gameplay:

The game plays like any recent 2D metroid game, you run around with the directional buttons, shoot with 1 button and jump with another. Unlike super metroid, to take out the missiles you just hold the R button and you will automatically weild the missiles as you hold the button. Another difference that affects gameplay is samus's new suit as it is FAR weaker than her other suits and certin conditions due to it's metroid-like properties so death will be frequent if you aren't careful. The SA-X brings a stealth portion to the game as when it appears, you must hide as you cannot hurt it with your weapons at first and as it gets further, evading it gets tougher. Samus has many weapons at her disposal wether it be returning weapons like the charge beam or super missiles to the entirely new ones like the wide beam which is basically makes all weapons after it look like a spazer beam-like shot and the ice missiles which freeze enemies much like the ice beam. The gameplay is fun but you won't be able to take all of it in due to it's short length.
18/20

Sound:
The music in this game is awesome. Each track equally compliments the area or situation and my favorites have to be Sector 1 and Sector 4's tracks. As great as the music is, some of the music repeats alot depending on the situation so a couple of tracks that sound awesome at first start to get tiresome to the ears. The sound effects are great as well and makes the space station feel desolate. When there is no music on the main deck, you can hear the distant beeping of computer terminals as well as hear the echoing footsteps of samus. The weapons also have great sound effects as well from the charging of the charge beam to the echoing blast of the super and ice missiles. It is solid all around in the sound department.
19/20

Presentation:
The presentation certinly is very different in comparison to most metroid games. It has a sort of comic book style to it and it looks great for a 2002 game. All the backrounds and environments are vibrent and colorful which is very different for a series that usually looks dark and eerie.

That is not to say it is not dark and eerie at times where in Sector 6 and some events in the game have such a creepy atmosphere. Samus and her enemies are greatly animaited too with tons of frames of animation for Samus and it all looks great. The graphics are a technical masterpeice for a 2002 game and the frame rate does not slow down one bit. It's production values are definitely impressive.
20/20

Overall: Metroid Fusion is a great game that needs to be played by anyone who loves Metroid. It is currently the final chapter in Samus's story and it is a well written and executed adventure, despite it feeling a bit too linear and short. It must be played.

91/100 SPECTCULAR