The best Metroid game experience but is it a little short lived?
The first and most easily noticed change between the two is graphics. The graphics in this game have been signifigantly changed. The game has come a long way since the 1980's and now has beautful 2-d side scrolling graphics. The graphics are definately detailed and clearly had effort put into them. Enemies look more menacing, enviroments tend to look more impressive and bosses are massive and threatening all with the new graphics.
The sound will accompany the graphics and also has changed a lot. Although the sound isn't your surround sound movie type of sound it does do alright. The music isn't impressive hollywood music but it is pretty good.
However more important than sound or graphics is the gameplay. After years of building side scrolling shooter games, the metroid series has finally delivered it's prime experience. From the minute you start you are blasting with your arm cannon. You can get enemies from all angles with the ability to aim up, side, diagnol or even down. You'll never miss an enemy and you're ensured the maximum 2-d experience. Switching weapons proves to be easy as ever, you can press a button and your ready to fire a barrage of missiles. The game is so easy to get a hang of that the metroid nooby could pick it up and enjoy this fine adventure.
Besides the enemies the exploring is also well done. Traveling to any point on any part of the planet can be easy with the right tools. There are endless amounts of items to hunt down as you explore and they all give you a reason to explore the planet even further. As you get more tools, more of the planet will become accessible and you can explore more to gather more items. Although backtracking is frequently required and can get annoying at some times it still isn't near as upsetting as other games. With a map provided you can find that area that you haven't explored and get to it without too much hassel.
Fighting is also a great experience. Most enemies you can wipe out just by shooting them a number of times but others will require a strategy. Enemies despite this, are still very unique. Some will hang off theroof while other hop from place to place. Some can move across any surface no matter it's angle. Then the bosses, while there a few of them, theyare large and menacing. Most of the bosses require a strategy to defeat them. The bossesprovide a good difficulty and are by no means dissapointing. My only complaint would be that some of them still only require shootingmaking them too simple. But never-the-less they are still fun.
One of the big downsides of the game is the length. Your first play through you will most likely be to simply beat the game. You can accomplish that in a very short amount of time. Unless you aim to get all items it is unlikely that the game will last you very long. The replay value is also very small, especially it you'll gotten to the Space Pirate ship. At some point you won't be able to go back and get items. Your best bet is to restart the game and that can be annoying if your trying to get all items.
Overall this game is a great experience. It may be short but it is still the best that Metroid can offer and that's pretty good. If your a Metroid fan or your just searching for a good game, this is a must buy.