Rated: 3.5 / 5

Compared to Metroid Fusion, this is two steps forward, one step back. I had grievances with the previous game in the series when it came to both the gameplay (primarily with level design and game progression) and the story (more for the potential that it didn’t utilize as effectively as it should’ve). This game definitely corrects things in the gameplay department. Aside from a couple frustrating moments, and a few optional “puzzle” parts that is a series mainstay for completionists who want to get every single missile upgrade so they can 100% the game, gameplay was smooth and good. It was inevitable that the series would evolve from only being able to shoot horizontally, to shooting orthogonally and diagonally, to having full range of motion. And you’ll need it.

The usual upgrades are there, from the screw attack to the morph ball super bombs. The one thing the game didn’t have was the spider ball (let’s you roll along walls and ceilings, ala Metroid 2), but that’s fine, as the spider ball tends to slow the pace.

The main selling point that distinguishes this game from the rest is the feeling of being hunted in various sections by enemies you cannot defeat (until you beat this mini-boss and temporarily upgrade your blaster into something capable of decimating them). The seven dreaded E.M.M.I. robots. Those are great and tense… at first. Then it just gets a bit irritating each time they capture you; even if it’s possible to free yourself if you time it right. And if you get the timing right, a lot of tension is lost if you can do it consistently. 

Aside from the reflex timing for those E.M.M.I.s, you’ll need sharp reflexes for other portions of the game. This game strikes a great balance between fun challenge and being too difficult, definitely catering more towards actual gamers rather than the casual crowd, which is refreshing (and that’s just on Normal mode). Throw in a great challenging final boss, and it’s a complete package of nearly perfect gameplay. Also, rather refreshing to not have Ridley in a Metroid game (the pterodactyl who shows up too often).

And yet… it stumbles when it comes to the storyline. Spoilers incoming by the way.

The story is fine for the majority of the game. Then it gets to the last act, when you’re about to face the final boss. From that moment until the very end of the game, it becomes bullshit. Some of that dumb feminist propaganda gets thrown in when the game didn’t need it. The whole thing of Samus being the daughter of the final boss, subliminal anti-father message, the mixed bloodlines thing. It’s stupid, and raises some serious questions that shouldn’t really have ever been raised. The implications were strange enough in Metroid: Zero Mission, but acceptable in that game, if for no other reason than there wasn’t any talking. Oh right, Samus talks in this game. And yes, it’s cringe when she does it (it’s less that she talks and more what they get her to say with the very few words she utters in the game).

So when I read that, “there were about 120 cinematics left to do,” and those weren’t ever done, I say thank Christ for that, because I don’t want to know how much worse it could’ve been. Speaking of which, the game does this dumb thing during the finale that really irks me. How Samus seems powerless and about to die at the hands of the final boss near the end, life seems drained out of her; but then all of a sudden she goes into bird-rage-bitch mode and completely overpowers him in a seriously eye-rolling moment of stupidity. Is it to much to ask to have her just do that because she was slowly but surely overwhelming the boss due to your gaming skills and kicking his ass during the final fight, rather than pulling that bullshit? Piss-poor execution, and I hate it.

There’s also this dumb deus-ex-machina moment at the end too just before she blasts off the planet.

Stuff like this makes me worry about the direction the franchise is taking. They need to seriously ease off the character development and (biological) evolution, and go back to basics with her being a bounty hunter doing, you know, bounty hunting. Going to some planet to clean out a monster infestation, without any implication of it being related to Metroids or Xs. That may sound hypocritical, given that the franchise is named “Metroid,” but at this point I think it’s enough to know that all the Metroids and Xs are dead at this point, leaving Samus as the only thing left alive in the galaxy with DNA linking back to them, and so just her showing up is enough to carry relevance to the title. Especially if they’re just going to reset things back to square one by the end of the adventure (hence the deus ex machina at the end of this game).

Thankfully, all the gameplay stuff makes up for it. The story moments are just a blemish on an otherwise polished and very fun exploration platforming puzzle shooter. It is basically guided for the most part, like Fusion in a sense, but it’s less claustrophobic and less obvious about it. Plus you’re eventually given free reign to go anywhere once you’ve unlocked most of your abilities (especially the screw attack).

Recommended game.

PS: Not that this would’ve made things better, but I would’ve been amused if it had been her mother all along.