This was a fun time! For a first foray into 3D, this game captures the spirit of Metroid quite well, having many interesting areas, enemies, and lore scattered about. The combat takes some getting used to, but I found it enjoyable once it clicked with me. There's a few quality of life things that weren't amazing? Switching beams mid-combat was a challenge and I'm not sure it was really meant to be... Also, perhaps it's just because it was a 3D environment this time, but the backtracking felt exceedingly tedious at times, especially when collecting the Artifacts, in a way unlike the 2D games for me.

Having said that, I do believe this game presented some interesting new ideas for the series and overall just felt like everything I wanted it to be, albeit with a few small hiccups.
8.5/10