Fox's Review: Metroid Fusion

[Fusion]

The Bounty Hunter, Samus Aran returns in the latest in the Metroid timeline: Metroid Fusion.  Only... Her return isn't as glorius as one would expect.

Story (8/10):

The game starts off with Samus Aran flying next to a BSL ship.  The on-board computer of her ship, which is her ship from Super Metroid, warns her that she is flying towards an asteroid field.  Samus doesn't change course... And veers into the Asteroid field crashing her ship.  For a moment, the player may think "OMG!  Is Samus dead!" Then you start the intro cutscene.  You learn that shortly before, Samus had encountered a strange parasite that basically flew into her, and basically made her life a living hell.  The asteroid crash is explained by this: Just BEFORE she crashes the ship ejects her.  Then there's the confusing plothole that basically says she died and then came back.  The intro sequence as a whole says that "this is the new Samus" which doesn't work very well, as we see the old hunter just seem to "die" as the machines operate on her body.  Then we get into the game, and as the story progresses it never leaves Samus & her efforts against the X, which seem to be for nothing.  Every Metroid fan believes that Samus has no interest in guys, yet she speaks of Adam very highly.  There goes the belief that she was single, too.  Sorry folks, she's married to her own ship.  Well, at least that's how it ends.  That and the BSL station blows up with SR388, which is coincidential.  The ending kinda sucks, it's a "we did something right, yet everybody else will be pissed off about it" ending.  The plot doesn't make sense, as the SA-X is both mentioned as the "Infected Suit Parts" and as Samus Aran herself.  Yet it's quite easy to outrun and kill the damn thing...

Gameplay (6/10):

This part I didn't really like.  Unlike other Metroid games, you are under mission-based gameplay, being told where to go what to do and how to do it, plus vague hints at what else you may need to do.  There is NO problem solving involved, just a lot of repeated events in different environments.  Somehow, you fight two things that SHOULD be complete machines: A security robot & A military weapon.  PLUS your very own self!  Most of the bosses seem to have an unfair advantage, and all through the game you cannot deviate from your mission by heading to different sectors because Adam somehow links up with the entire station and controls where you go.  Kinda ruins the exploration element.  What is also lacking is ease of beating bosses.  There are very few bosses you can just run in and beat them down with a regular beam.  Your beam, more than half the time, must be a charged weapon, or you must be using a missile, to even inflict damage to a boss.  What's sad is that you have to use Charged Shots almost all the time, and even then some enemies just can't seem to be beaten.  Enemies deal far too much damage, which makes Samus seem a lot... Weaker.  Probably to fit with the plot.  Instead of chozo giving you stuff, it's the Federation.  And a poor substitute for the Ice Beam is here: The Ice MISSILE.  You heard me right... Ice MISSILE.  There are no separate Missile & Super Missile weapons.  You upgrade straight from Missiles to Super Missiles to Ice Missiles and you can get a *gasp* Diffusion effect for the Ice Missiles!  Also, there is no bomb jumping at all.  Tried it myself.  In short: Too restricted for a Metroid Game.

Sounds:

While most of the sounds are okay, some of them are just a tad on the loud side.  The music can get annoying with attempted suspense, and hardly any classic themes are used.  Nothing special to get detailed about.

Overall:

Metroid Fusion is a good game, with detailed visuals, but the overall "Metroid" feeling leads one ot believe Nintendo pulled a Star Fox Adventures with this one.  It doesn't really feel like Metroid... Yet it boasts the name.


Oh, and I think I do better detailed reviews than the person whose head is on a stick.