A Metroid game where every 15 minutes you’re hit with either one of those awesome scripted bits from Super Metroid or that bullshit hidden wall on the way to Ridley’s in that same game. It’s more linear than the other Metroids I’ve played so far, it’s kind of annoying to be arbitrarily gated off from areas so frequently, but I wouldn’t go so far as to call it handholdy, you still have a fair amount of freedom to explore within a level. And it has more control over how things are paced and built up, this game has some of the thickest atmosphere and most effective suspense building in the series, every time the SA-X is on screen my heart stops, and I especially love the buildup to Nightmare. The problem is your progress is often halted by some unreasonably obtuse obstacles. It gets better later in the game when you unlock the power bomb (which are generous in quantity this time around) and you can just nuke the screen to reveal what breaks what, but still, such frequent roadblocks feel like padding to an already short game. I also think the bosses are mixed. I love the aforementioned Nightmare and the SA-X, but then I hate, hate, HATE the spider boss, which if it grabs you once, it’s over, you’re about to be stun locked to death.

Overall, a very different kind of Metroid game. I don’t like it as much as Prime, Super or Dread, but it’s a worthy outing.

Reviewed on Mar 16, 2023


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