As an introduction to Metroid, totally awesome.
First off the bat, you will notice that the game presents itself with sound precision. The world you’re playing in is totally immersive and rich, I guess that’s something you get with a series that’s been around for nearly two decades, but still these graphics are terrific. It’s a style that you look at, remember, and know that Metroid OWNS this, THIS is Metroid.
The sound is perfect, particularly the effects. Footsteps echo in empty hallways and machines sort of buzz really softly, these kinds of things really set the ambience for the world you’re playing in and it sounds fantastic.
The gameplay runs equally with the presentation. The controls are tight and work really well. Samus has about ten moves and each one can be pulled off with tremendous ease. It makes fighting enemies all the more engaging. Speaking of which, the boss battles are really something. Although there are only a few they will throw you for a spin as you got to figure out patterns and weak points.
Any criticisms I could make would have to do with exploration. Some games have this ability to make the activity of merely browsing around a level a lot of fun. Metroid Fusion sadly is not one of these games mainly due to the fact that you’re always guessing –sometimes to the brink of frustration-how the hell you’re meant to advance, and then you discover it’s something stupid like shoot that bit of wall you’ve been neglecting there to reveal a passageway. It’s something that actually occurs quite a lot so you’ll find yourself making futile attempts to blow up pieces of wall that had you inkling that there might be something beyond it.
The plot, to be honest, wasn’t really considered on my expectations, which is why I was pleasantly surprised to see some good story writing here. You read the script and you think, damn, the developers sure thought this one out and know what they’re talking about. It was actually engaging!
My introduction to the Metroid series has proved nothing short of totally impressive.