Played a frankly unhealthy amount of this game all through the last few years of education. It provided a good-enough sandbox for my friends and I to piss around in every evening. On reflection though, I really didn't get much out of this and it served as cheap entertainment that everyone else just happened to be playing at the time. The single-player also has a very weak story of pointless plot twists and one-note characters - though this is expected for most GTA games at this point.

Really, everything about this game is just 'good enough'.

I didn't find this to be as "profound" as most fans specifically do, and the gameplay suffers from attaching RPG mechanics onto what could have been a fantastic combat system with those beautiful animations you come to expect from Platinum. Still, this is unforgettable thanks to EXTREMELY brave story decisions, a very fitting soundtrack (if not personally my favourite), and god-tier character design to elevate the occasionally stilted dialogue.
I'll probably not come back to this one but it made a very strong impression. Took me a few attempts to stick with it, though.

Lovely environments and soundtrack, and a very good translation of Metroid into a 3D space. Definitely feels more like a first-person Metroid game than an actual FPS. This does leave the gameplay feeling a little rough though, but I suppose this was necessary to keep it distinctively Metroid (you aren't supposed to be able to dodge every shot), even if the responsiveness doesn't match up to the Metroid design philosophy all of the time.
Easily made worse by the poor backtracking and then having to do that all again to get any of the Chozo runes or whatever that you missed. At least has a cool final boss.

Basically follows on from Zero Mission's gameplay and progress design, but with Fusion's story approach, but told WAY better. They even made the "Any objections, Lady?" thing seem less forced by giving ADAM an extremely monotone, robotic voice while saying it, highlighting how strange it is for a literal AI to be essentially reciting something from it's RAM once said by a real human.
Gameplay is great for the most part. Still a little too linear but an improvement on Zero Mission. FAR too many enemies though and very little time allowed to soak up the atmosphere. Needed more quiet/empty areas.
As an action game though, it's a great time and a great return for Metroid, especially after I bounced off Samus Returns.

Still unmatched. Worlds that actually feel alien, gameplay that feels just good enough to be engaging, excellently told story with environmental design and zero dialogue, THAT soundtrack.
For the most part the exploration/progress ratio is done well, but there were a couple times where I felt like I was bashing my head against a wall for hours, finally caved in and checked a guide for where to go next, and being in disbelief at how I was supposed to figure that out.
Still, this is probably the only Metroid game to have it all. Highly regarded for a reason.

Absolutely love the open world and how the gameplay has a perfect balance between complexity and streamlining, abstracting real-world survival concepts just right.
Unfortunately you need to spend a huge portion of your playthrough mucking about in shrines to ensure you aren't getting one-shotted in later areas. They have some great puzzles in there, but the lack of variety in visuals and sound (I believe there is only one song for all the shrines) make the jarring disconnect between the over & underworld even worse. The 'dungeons' have this same issue, too.
Still, I can understand the immense extra work it would have taken to implement all this variety and the actual gameplay is good enough that it's not too distracting. I just wish more of the puzzles were integrated into the overworld - they already do this at points, just not enough IMO.
Absolutely gorgeous game, though. The rolling hills and valleys and the way the light bounces off the grass will never leave my memory.