I do like this game, but I've never been able to fuck with it as much as Super or Zero Mission. The atmosphere and narrative are the strongest aspects, in my view. They streamlined the controls down to two buttons, owing to its platform, so well that I think it's better than Super Metroid, which over-complicated itself with redundant functions like the run button.
My main gripe with it is how railroaded it can get, it being linear wouldn't necessarily bother me as much if it didn't arbitrarily block you from backtracking in some of the sectors for seemingly no reason beyond denying you a second chance to get a missile expansion or energy tank you might have missed the first time through, the game often does this and it gets on my nerves whenever it happens as it just blocks any sense of freedom you get, I've seen some people argue this reinforces the theme of Samus not being in control this time around and being the one getting hunted as opposed to the hunter herself, but most of the time the blocks aren't from Adam but just convenient changes in the sector which stop you from properly exploring them unless you get everything possible on the first visit.
You might also think that it's not too big of a deal to wait till later to get all the items, but that's really where the big tedium in Fusion lies, going for 100%. Unless you're consulting a guide, it is not at all well communicated where the hidden paths and areas are to get a lot of the end-game powerups, unless you're spamming power bombs in every other area, the player on a first playthrough CANNOT use the elevators or go into a navigation room as that locks you into the endgame scenario where Adam forcibly locks all doors except the ones that go to the self destruct trigger, on subsequent playthroughs of the same file that restriction is removed, I have no clue why they did that, as the objective marker for the self destruct room is marked at all times, so it's unlikely any player is going to get lost even if they did put the game down for a time. In addition, most of the challenges to get the last few items are often very tricky, like shine spark puzzles or precise jump puzzles that require near pixel-perfect accuracy, or else you need to start over. Simply put, it's not very fun to do and can take up a fair bit of time in what's otherwise a brisk adventure.
Overall, I respect what this game was going for with its tighter hub-based level design and a greater focus on narrative and storytelling than any prior Metroid title, but I do think it loses some of the sense of isolation and piecing together events through what is shown rather than made explicit through an AI telling you everything. The changes to the level design make sense in context of its being a handheld game with a more bite-sized pick-up and play philosophy; that said, it does get a little too handhold-y for my tastes. I don't think the game's major themes would be hurt too badly if they made it a bit more open to at least letting the player backtrack through previously explored areas without arbitrary blocks at your expense.
Despite these flaws, it's still a well-made action game worth playing on its own merits and as a blueprint for where the series will go.
My main gripe with it is how railroaded it can get, it being linear wouldn't necessarily bother me as much if it didn't arbitrarily block you from backtracking in some of the sectors for seemingly no reason beyond denying you a second chance to get a missile expansion or energy tank you might have missed the first time through, the game often does this and it gets on my nerves whenever it happens as it just blocks any sense of freedom you get, I've seen some people argue this reinforces the theme of Samus not being in control this time around and being the one getting hunted as opposed to the hunter herself, but most of the time the blocks aren't from Adam but just convenient changes in the sector which stop you from properly exploring them unless you get everything possible on the first visit.
You might also think that it's not too big of a deal to wait till later to get all the items, but that's really where the big tedium in Fusion lies, going for 100%. Unless you're consulting a guide, it is not at all well communicated where the hidden paths and areas are to get a lot of the end-game powerups, unless you're spamming power bombs in every other area, the player on a first playthrough CANNOT use the elevators or go into a navigation room as that locks you into the endgame scenario where Adam forcibly locks all doors except the ones that go to the self destruct trigger, on subsequent playthroughs of the same file that restriction is removed, I have no clue why they did that, as the objective marker for the self destruct room is marked at all times, so it's unlikely any player is going to get lost even if they did put the game down for a time. In addition, most of the challenges to get the last few items are often very tricky, like shine spark puzzles or precise jump puzzles that require near pixel-perfect accuracy, or else you need to start over. Simply put, it's not very fun to do and can take up a fair bit of time in what's otherwise a brisk adventure.
Overall, I respect what this game was going for with its tighter hub-based level design and a greater focus on narrative and storytelling than any prior Metroid title, but I do think it loses some of the sense of isolation and piecing together events through what is shown rather than made explicit through an AI telling you everything. The changes to the level design make sense in context of its being a handheld game with a more bite-sized pick-up and play philosophy; that said, it does get a little too handhold-y for my tastes. I don't think the game's major themes would be hurt too badly if they made it a bit more open to at least letting the player backtrack through previously explored areas without arbitrary blocks at your expense.
Despite these flaws, it's still a well-made action game worth playing on its own merits and as a blueprint for where the series will go.