A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, Metroid Fusion was released. Or at least that's how long ago it seems since this game was released. I'm probably one of the last people to review Metroid Fusion, as I've owned it for a very long time but haven't gotten around to reviewing it until now. Still, there may be those of you who don't own the game but haven't already decided not to buy it for sure, so this Review still has a point to it.
The game itself is a flashback to old
times: Samus Aran, the female bounty hunter of Metroid, Metroid II, and
Super Metroid fame, comes back in a side-scrolling adventure very similar
to her games in the old days.
While Metroid Prime is the higher-rated,
more popular game of the two released in late 2002, I never
caught on to that game, and Metroid
Fusion is the game I did get hooked on for a while. It is a Gameboy
Advance game, with Samus usually either
shooting her gun or placing bombs for her attacks.
This game is rated on a 0-4 star scale. In all categories but difficulty, 0 is pathetic and 4 is excellent.
Graphics: ***
For the Gameboy Advance, I'd have to
say these graphics rank up near the top. You have pretty-looking
backgrounds, detailed characters and
levels, and nice effects to the shots and bombs. There really isn't
much to complain about here, though
I'm not one to complain about graphics too much.
Sound: *1/2
The music isn't the type I expected.
I really expected tunes like the theme song of Planet Zebes in Super
Smash Bros. Melee, tunes along the
lines of Mario Party's Eternal Star tune. Instead, the music really
doesn't quite cut it. It is alright,
and the theme before starting a chapter is a pretty good tune. But on the
whole, the music is below average. The game does pull up its ranking with
some excellent sound effects, a forgotten element when judging a game's
sound in today's gaming world. Unfortunately, the music doesn't quite measure
up with the sound effects, and we come out with a below-average ranking
here.
Difficulty: ****
You may think I overuse the four-star
ranking, and I'll be honest: I have. Maybe some times in the past I
shouldn't have given games four stars
in this category, as recent games such as F-Zero GX and Super Mario Sunshine
have redefined what a hard game is, and they really deserve four stars.
This game also is very, very hard, and frustrating as well. You can't save
at any point, only at the save points. That means you will sometimes have
to go through all kinds of uncharted territory, which won't show up clearly
on your map until you do go through it, but then if you run out of energy,
you'll have to start back at the save point again, going back through all
the uncharted territory again. Unfortunately, this can make things very
frustrating, but that's not the end of it.
The bosses and certain enemies in this
game are very, very hard to beat. There are these blobs that you
can't kill, as they can only be frozen.
They are very hard to avoid. Then you've got bosses that take almost
perfect strategy to survive. Even worse,
something known as a Core-X, which contains a new power-up, must be killed
after you beat a boss. This thing can only be shot with missiles, and it
takes off tons of energy
from you if it hits you, while it moves
in a pattern that makes it extremely difficult to avoid. As a result, the
boss levels may take a very long time to beat, and the game becomes awfully
frustrating.
In short, this game is very hard, and
you'll need to have patience in order to enjoy this game. While the
saving thing isn't that bad in this
game, the bosses really make this game frustrating, and while I like a
challenge, sometimes the challenge
is a little too much.
Characters: **
I have mixed feelings about the characters.
Yes, I like Samus, and it's good to see her back in a game. Though I never
played the original Metroids, I like the fact that an old character has
made a comeback.
However, the enemies are sometimes
just big blobs, other times strange-looking creatures, not enemies
that make a name for themselves like
the Mario enemies. These enemies aren't really ones we'll remember. This
leads to the average rating for this category.
Controls: ***
The controls are not really that hard
to understand, and you'll find them pretty easy to use. However, I do
find some faults with them. For example,
there are times where you'll have to shoot at a diagonal angle,
and that's really hard to do with the
Control Pad, though it's not that bad of a problem. Also, there is no room
for error in this game if your finger slips off the R Button or if you
hit the wrong button, so the controls such as R+B can be annoying. Nevertheless,
these problems aren't bad enough to ruin the controls for this game.
Gameplay: ***
Metroid Fusion succeeds in a lot of
ways with the gameplay. I really like the way the game is set up: you get
a mission from the computer, you accomplish something, then have to go
beat the boss, usually to get a power-up. Some levels are mazes, some have
almost-impossible-to-find secret passages, but if you experiment enough,
you can make it through. I really like the computer giving you a map and
a general idea
of what to do, because if it didn't,
I would have buried Metroid Fusion back with Metroid Prime and given up.
The computer gives you a chance, especially if you're someone like me who
can't pull rabbits out of hats and beat very difficult video games. You'll
need all the help you can get, because the bosses are extremely challenging
to beat. Okay, extremely challenging is a big understatement. How about
excruciatingly difficult?
So basically here's my opinion of the gameplay: if it were only a little easier, and if it didn't take an IQ of 257 to figure out how to beat the bosses, I think it would be excellent. The gameplay is too hard, and that's really the only bad thing I can say about the gameplay, meaning other than the difficulty, it's great.
Replayability: **1/2
The game is quite long, but probably
its length is determined by how long you can make it without getting
really frustrated. Most of you out
there don't give up very easily, while I'm one who can't take losing over
and over again and keep on going. I
did make it quite far into this game, or at least in my opinion I did.
I'll say the game is pretty good in its length, but its extreme difficulty
does hurt.
Fun Factor!: **1/2
Metroid Fusion is a pretty fun game,
though some of the difficult things can really take away the fun. For
example, you'll beat the boss, and
then that stupid Core-X comes and kills you. (Boy, do I wish that wasn't
in this game!) This game sometimes
looks like it's going to be really fun, then you enter a room and find
yourself stuck. If it were easier,
this could have been really, really fun. Instead, it's only above-average
in the fun category.
OVERALL: ***
I think my point has been stated enough
times: this game is good, but it would be even better if it were
easier. There were times during this
game I thought it was all-out awesome, and other times I wondered if it
were even possible. If you have a GBA,
I really think this one's worth buying, though this Review is a big
warning about the difficulty. Certainly
it joins Mario Kart: Super Circuit as the only two non-remakes on the GBA
that I enjoyed entering fall 2003.
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