LogFAQs > #967117366

I just beat the game and had a very good time with it, so I decided to ramble here. For reference I've played Zero Mission, Super, Fusion, Prime 1, Prime 3, and Other M before this.

The environments looked great for the most part, the sterile EMMI backgrounds got a bit repetitive but other than that I don't have a complaint. Ferenia in particular was pretty striking with all its stately architecture, I don't think I've seen an area like that in the series before. It reminded me a bit of Castlevania actually. The intro area becoming the cold biome when you return later on was also fun, though I kicked myself for not seeing it coming given its name was 'Artaria' >_>

The level design was super too, I know it's kind of a given for Metroid but I always love how everything interconnects. And I like that things were varied even within each biome. I'm not one for sequence breaking/speedrunning but the game felt like it probably accommodated that stuff well too, I know that was the plan for them going in.

I liked the new abilities- I hope the Aeion stuff gets incorporated into Samus's regular moveset going forward, Cross Bomb has potential but they need to think of more ways to implement it, and Storm Missile was the MVP as far as combat is concerned. Though I did weirdly think that the overall traversal felt less interesting once I got the Screw Attack. I know that's always one of the final upgrades and it's supposed to make blasting through the world a breeze, but I think it made the combat too trivial (it renders the otherwise cool melee counter completely irrelevant) and it solves a few too many of the problems of moving around considering that there's a fair amount of game left after you get it. And the Power Bomb was pretty weak this time around, its only real use was to break blocks that have no good reason for not being regular bomb blocks other than to hold you back.

But those are minor quibbles, for the most part moving around and shooting felt really good, especially in the midgame when you have a handful of abilities you can push to their limit to open up little slices of the world here and there. I found getting 100% much easier than I have in other Metroids, which is not a complaint. Part of it was how clear things were on the map this time, and part of it is probably that I played Zero Mission earlier this year and remembered all the usual Speed Booster tricks lol.

The combat was more interesting than usual, especially in the boss fights. Free aiming, the melee counter, and Storm Missiles made combat feel fluid and fun, and I really enjoyed most of the boss fights and found them decently challenging. Though I lost count of how many Chozo Soldier fights there were. Could've done with some more variety there! My fav fight was probs the giant X in Cataris.

I'd heard some talk about the plot being unusually good for a Metroid game before playing this, and I guess I kinda understand it? It's great to finally see the Chozo, though in retrospect they were probs a bit underwhelming. Quiet Robe exists for a big exposition dump, and Raven Beak is cool but a pretty generically evil villain (though I admire how much he planned things through). I really appreciate that they didn't lean on empty fanservice- no Ridley resurrection, no secret lab full of Metroids, no Space Pirates at all. ...Except Kraid, who appears for 5 minutes with no explanation. Seriously, what was Kraid doing there? I assume Raven captured him (how?) but I don't recall Kraid ever having a connection with Metroids themselves so I've no idea why. An odd addition, though the fight was fun.

The X were used well, I like that you see them once and suddenly they're all over the planet, it's a cool way of showing how dangerous they are while also levelling up earlier enemies. And the X inside Quiet Robe gets more character development than anyone else in the game! I wish that 95% of the plot wasn't just dialogue given to us through either Raven!Adam or Quiet Robe, but whatever. Things got pretty bonkers at the end and then the game just cut out without any sort of epilogue lol, I thought I maybe pressed a button by mistake and skipped a scene but nope. My pre-release prediction that the Galactic Federation would be the real villains was quashed (my hopes went up for a minute when Adam started turning heel), but maybe next time...

I understand why the EMMIs were marketed so heavily, they needed to show that the series was moving forward without spoiling things, but it maybe hurt their appeal in the long run. Don't get me wrong they're decent, some of those sections were very tense and I like that each one added its own gimmick, but there wasn't quite enough to them to hang so much of the game around. If they return in future I hope that they elaborate on the stealth sections some more, and make the combat parts more complex than 'find the longest horizontal platform and start charging'. That said, it was intense slowly charging the beam as they creep towards you. I wish they'd leaned into the survival horror aspect to them more too, I was hoping that one of the later areas would have the EMMI roam around the whole map Mr X style.

Onto Samus herself. It seemed to me like the writers were under strict mandate to not let her talk or show vulnerability, which was maybe a slight overcorrection to Other M. There were a lot of closeups of her eyes that I felt didn't convey enough of what she was feeling/thinking, and she didn't really get to react to some of the massive revelations going on (most of which directly involve her!). But the game did a great job at using body language with her- one of my favourite moments in the game is when she recognises Kraid and immediately drops her guard, knowing he's no threat to her and he's a mere nuisance to occupy the next few minutes. And props to whoever decided she was allowed a single line of dialogue, that moment is very powerful and done perfectly (and in Chozo!). I was also very amused to realise that all the people who think the main character of the series is 'Metroid' suddenly became correct.

The music was fine but much more in the background than usual, so I can't say any of it stood out. I think I liked Burenia's the most, but I'd have to listen to the OST in isolation to judge.

Overall, it was a blast to be back in the Metroid universe and I really hope we get a direct sequel to Dread reasonably soon. Any of my criticisms are minor in the grand scheme of things, at its core this was a very fun game to play and that's all I needed. If anything I want them to push the envelope more going forward, keep introducing new concepts and elaborate on the ones they've brought in. I have no idea where the plot will go from here, but Samus being the only Metroid in the galaxy seems like enough of a setup in itself (unless the X at the end neutralised her DNA or something, I'm not sure how far that went). Also how many planets has she blown up at this point? The woman is a menace.

I know I'm... 10 months late to the party, but what did you all think of this game? And where do you want the series to go from here?