Dread is a great return for the series. Almost everything that people love about Metroid is here, with a ton of new ideas to push the series forward, like any good sequel should. My problem with Dread is that it doesn't exactly stand out like every other Metroid does. It's a weird criticism to throw out, but when I think back on the other 4 Metroid games and their respective remakes, I look at Dread and I see MercurySteam treading old ground. Which is fine. It's their first shot at a brand new Metroid title and for what it's worth, It's a fantastic metroidvania. Extremely well designed with tight controls, movement options, combat, and a massive, meticulous world to get lost in. 6 hours in though, I couldn't help but think that they really could've gone further. The world design aesthetically is great but again, nothing really popped and made me go "holy shit" like other entries have and still do. The boss fights themselves were great from a gameplay standpoint but pretty forgettable aside from the final fight (which was incredible). There's nothing here that's going to match Nightmare or Crocomire. Even the music was boring. All the good tracks in the game were remixes of old, iconic tracks. It's so disappointing.
The EMMIs were a great addition, though. It does make Metroid 5 earn it's namesake. These things made me tense up whenever they got close, and escaping their kill by parrying at the right moment? I always let out a huge breath of relief when I pulled it off. It's great. The way you have to kill them by charging up a huge attack is really suspenseful too. I think they pulled it off really well. It's no SA-X, but it gets the job done.
Dread is a fantastic game held down by a lack of either Nintendo's reluctance to let MercurySteam go crazy, or just a lack of creativity by MercurySteam that could've pushed the game to the next level. I've been a fan of Metroid my entire life, and I've been playing the games for nearly 2 decades. It's almost upsetting to watch the first mainline sequel in 19 years get so close, but still miss the masterpiece tier.
The EMMIs were a great addition, though. It does make Metroid 5 earn it's namesake. These things made me tense up whenever they got close, and escaping their kill by parrying at the right moment? I always let out a huge breath of relief when I pulled it off. It's great. The way you have to kill them by charging up a huge attack is really suspenseful too. I think they pulled it off really well. It's no SA-X, but it gets the job done.
Dread is a fantastic game held down by a lack of either Nintendo's reluctance to let MercurySteam go crazy, or just a lack of creativity by MercurySteam that could've pushed the game to the next level. I've been a fan of Metroid my entire life, and I've been playing the games for nearly 2 decades. It's almost upsetting to watch the first mainline sequel in 19 years get so close, but still miss the masterpiece tier.
AngryExpo
2 years ago