Metroid Fusion Reivew

Author's note: This review sucks. One day I might make a blog post here with my updated opinions on this game, but as of right now this is what it is. Just know before you read/watch this review that a lot of my opinions about this game have changed (and my writing has improved a bit too). Just a bit of fair warning.

UPDATE 12/31/17: I revisited this game. Check it out here: http://densgamecorner.blogspot.com/2017/12/metroid-fusion-winds-of-change.html

Metroid as a series has always been known for its atmosphere and being able to make the player feel isolated on an alien world. If you've ever played games like Super Metroid or Metroid Prime, you'd be lying if you said you didn't feel completely immersed in the world around you. The series has always done an awesome job of giving the player purpose without any context. All you need to know is that you're this badass bounty hunter that gets a ton of awesome powerups to make you even more badass. Metroid Fusion pretty much threw all of that out the window. But it still managed to make you feel immersed, just not in the way that Metroid games before it did. Up until Fusion's release, three other Metroid games had been made: the original for the NES, Metroid 2 for the Gameboy, and Super Metroid. All 3 of those games provided no context outside of the instruction manuals. By then, fans of the series were used to how the typical Metroid formula worked. So to say that the transition from the masterpiece that is Super Metroid to such a radically different game in Metroid Fusion is jarring is a bit of an understatement.

To prove my point, the game goes as far as to have a pretty long opening cutscene explaining the context of the game. Yeah, Super Metroid did this as well, but it was a bit less clear in that game. Really all you got out of the opening cutscene was "oh, I gotta go to this space station because it's getting attacked or something and there's a baby Metroid too." But Metroid Fusion opens up with a cutscene that goes into excruciating detail about how Samus absorbed an X-Parasite, which is an organism that's able to sap the energy and knowledge of its prey. It then talks about how she was able to survive the ordeal because she was injected with a vaccine containing DNA from the baby Metroid from the last two games, and how "she owes the Metroid hatchling her life twice over," referring to how *SPOILERS* (but not really because the game is 21 years old) the baby Metroid sacrificed itself to save Samus at the end of Super Metroid. This establishes the connection between Fusion and the previous two games before it by providing a sense of familiarity. So in a sense, this strange but different opening first few minutes of the game isn't as jarring as it seems at first glance. And while it's not necessarily a bad thing this connection was made in this way, it just seems very un Metroid like, I suppose. It's sort of like how people feel about Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts: it's not exactly a bad game in and of itself, but it was just a strange iteration in that series and didn't really fit with the previous games in the series. Just to clarify, I'm completely open to a more narrative Metroid game, and I personally like how the game goes about it, but it's understandable how some would be turned off by how the game presents itself. It makes me think about Metroid: Other M and how it tried to mimic what Fusion did, but... that just makes me angry and a tad bit upset.

So you'd think that after that long-winded opening you'd be done with all the dialog in the game, right? No, no no. Instead of getting to explore as much of the world as you're able to with your current abilities, you're forced to go back and forth between a destination and back to a computer that gave you that destination in the first place. Though, to be fair, you are actually able to go to different places than your destination (which happens to be conveniently marked on your map, which is something I'll complain about later), provided that you have the needed powerups, but you can't actually accomplish anything meaningful besides getting some items here and there like energy or missile tanks. Now this is something that annoys me, and it's also something that Other M pulled as well (and we all know how people feel about that game). Like I said in the beginning of this video, Metroid is known for its ability to make you feel immersed; while I will admit the game can be immersive while you're out and about carrying out a mission GIVEN TO YOU BY A COMPUTER, the fact that you're listening to that computer drone on and on about what you're supposed to do completely brings you out of the experience. Honestly, I've never given much thought to this before I started writing the script for this video, but now that I'm really thinking about it, it just seems so contrary to not only my philosophies on game design, but how the rest of the Metroid series was structured up until Fusion's release. And like I said in my last video, I commend anyone who builds upon an already established idea. That in and of itself isn't the problem. I feel like the way the developers went about building upon that idea, the idea being the design of the previous Metroid games, is where the problem lies. Like, why, WHY would you explicitly give me an EXACT destination to go to in a METROID game? What happened to that amazing feeling of satisfaction when you figure out where to go on your own? Metroid Zero Mission does something pretty similar to this, except you aren't given any context other than just a point on the map that basically says "hey listen, you should probably go here at some point, but feel free to do some other stuff if you want." Even then it's not something I'm a huge fan of being in a Metroid game, but it's miles better than how Fusion goes about telling the player where to go.

Jesus, I'm going full Sequelitus here. ANYWAY, I guess while I'm already on a tangent (picture of a tangent) about things I dislike about Metroid Fusion, I might as well continue just endlessly bitching. SO another problem I have with the game is the bosses. A LOT of them have completely random, sporadic movement patterns that you CANNOT predict. Yes, if you've played the game before you'll at least know what their forms of movement are, but actually predicting them is just... it's bullshit honestly. Let's take Serris as an example. Serris pisses me off. He's this giant lizard dragon guy that flies around the screen in a bazillion different ways. He can fly straight at you, he can curve over and under the platforms, he can fly straight above you, and there's probably a bunch of other movement things he can do that I can't think of off the top of my head. See, this WOULD be an okay design if there was ANY way of predicting where he's gonna go. He doesn't telegraph his movement at all. It's extremely frustrating to have to deal with, especially for how early in the game this boss is, so you don't have access to a lot of energy tanks by then. The eye doors that precede boss fights also behave randomly with their eye... laser... things? Yeah, let's just call it that. This isn't as frustrating as Serris's movement if you're playing the game normally. But I occasionally speedrun the game, and the eye doors' behavior can make or break a run if your luck with them is bad enough.

Alright, now let's get to what I, you know, LIKE about the game, because yes, believe it or not, I like Metroid Fusion. Contrary to what you might have assumed before, I DO actually enjoy the story of the game, despite the fact that I dislike how it's conveyed. Chronologically, Metroid Fusion is the last game in the Metroid canon. And you can sorta get that vibe early on, as her new ship and Fusion suit aren't seen in any other game (except being able to wear the Fusion suit was a sort of easter egg in Metroid Prime). If you didn't know anything about the previous games' story, it's pretty heavily implied in the opening cutscene that by this point in the canon Samus had already destroyed all the Metroids. So just to recap on the immediate story presented in the game, Samus absorbs an X-Parasite, which corrupts her Power Suit and nearly kills her, until she was cured with a Metroid vaccine. Once she's recovered, what's left of her Power Suit becomes the Fusion Suit, a more sleek and minimalist suit than she previously had. From there, she's sent to the Biologic Space Labs, a large spaceship used for research on, well, biology, to investigate an unexplained explosion that took place there. This is where the game takes place, and is yet another difference that this game has from the games before it. It's the first Metroid to take place in a setting that's not an alien planet. Samus takes orders from a computerized Commanding Officer, who Samus refers to in some of her inner monologues as Adam, after her old Commanding Officer, Adam Malkovich. It is revealed that the BSL has been infected with X-Parasites. For most of the game, Samus evades an X-Parasite resembling her old Power Suit that Adam calls SA-X. Near the end of the game, she discovers that the Galactic Federation had secretly been breeding Metroids on BSL in a secret laboratory on the ship that she wasn't supposed to enter. She encounters SA-X there, who's destroying the breeding area. The breeding area enters self-destruct mode, and it detaches from the BSL, plummeting into space. It is also revealed later that the Federation plans to harness the power of the X-Parasites for their own purposes. Knowing that the X-Parasites would overwhelm the Federation once they arrived on the BSL, and subsequently the rest of the universe, Samus destroys the ship by propelling it into SR388, the former home planet of the Metroids. Here's my problem with the story, though: the plot moves really, and I mean REALLY, slowly. Basically nothing happens plot-wise between the beginning of the game and near the end of it. It's pretty clear that the developers were trying to make a more story based Metroid, but they kinda just completely dropped the ball on any sort of real plot progression.

I love how the game controls and how awesome you feel after getting a new powerup. You definitely feel rewarded after taking down challenging bosses, or discovering secret areas that aren't recorded on your map. In fact, despite how linear the game can be at times, it actually requires you to go out of your way to explore at certain points in order to progress. This definitely offsets the linear feeling the game has, but not enough to make exploration as rewarding as it is in previous games. The game's controls are super tight. One criticism I have with Super Metroid is how wonky the controls can be at some times; it feels very floaty and hard to control. But Metroid Fusion fixes every issue I had with the controls. Your beams and missiles and whatnot move super fast, you have pretty precise aim, there's multiple different jump heights, somersault jumping is actually POSSIBLE to do unlike in Super Metroid... the game gives you a lot of freedom with the controls.

The game also looks very nice too, especially with enemy sprites. They're really, really detailed. It's nice that it turned out this way, because looking at beta screenshots, the game looked AWFUL early in development, with some people even comparing the graphics to that of the Gameboy Color. The soundtrack is definitely good, but nothing amazing. Its style is another thing unique to the game. While previous games, especially Super Metroid, had really atmospheric soundtracks, Metroid Fusion's music is much more melody-based and upbeat. Again, nothing special, but I do appreciate where the composers were going with it.

So, in the end, is Metroid Fusion worth playing? Yes. Despite the many problems I have with it, it's still a blast to pick up and play. In retrospect, I have a feeling the game was designed the way it was because it's a handheld game. Many handhelds are designed in such a way that they're meant to be played in short bursts. The game telling the player essentially exactly where to go just follows that philosophy. Was this intentional? Perhaps, but at the same time, I feel like if the developers were going for that more handheld based design, there probably wouldn't be any save rooms or things like that, and you could just save anywhere, or maybe the game wouldn't be as story based as it is. Overall, Metroid Fusion is without a doubt a good game, and sadly one of the last 2-D Metroids to be released. With the cancellation of Metroid Dread during its development, and with the release of Federation Force ever imminent *groan*, it's possible we won't see another 2-D Metroid game for a long time, possibly ever. It's a shame, and I really feel like if they took the good aspects not only of Fusion, but every 2-D Metroid game, and add their own twist to it, Nintendo, or maybe even Retro Studios, could make an amazing new entry in the series. Anyway, again, if you liked Super Metroid or any of the other 2-D Metroid games, give Metroid Fusion a shot. It's eight dollars on the Wii U Virtual Console, so if you have eight bucks, I highly recommend it.