Remember what I said about New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Sonic 4? About making sequels to 2D platformers that still manage to feel like they belong in this generation? Well, looks like I found the game that did it right!
But first, a little history! Back in the 8 bit era I never really got to play Metroid. I was familiar with the character and thought it was neat, but the game wasn’t appealing enough for me to go out of my way to play it. A couple of years later, a friend of mine was completely hooked on Super Metroid. I decided to sit down watch and I guess that first impression, entirely out of context, completely threw me off. All I remember was my friend running along a tunnel, stopping at a random spot, placing a bomb and crawling into the hole it made to go to another passage. I thought “are you expected to place bombs on every single floor tile in order to find stuff?” That sounded horribly boring, and the suspenseful music was not helping.
Skip a decade or two and I am playing the original Metroid on an emulator. I liked the game, but I have a very short attention span for 8 bit games. A couple years later I rented “Zero Mission” for the GBA. That’s when I decided I liked Metroid. Even though I didn’t play the original that much, the nostalgia was so intense! The ability to shoot diagonally made the game a lot more playable. I rented it over and over until I beat it and found most (if not all) of the secrets. Later on I tried the sequel, Super Metroid, but a slow emulator and the downgrade from 32 bit graphics threw me off once more.
About five years passed until I saw this video titled Metroid and Me: By Samus Aran on the Wii’s Nintendo Channel. They did such a great job at narrating the first games through Samus’ voice over actual gameplay video from the original games that I felt like the world’s greatest Metroid fan. I looked it up and watched the other videos and decided to go and buy it for myself on my birthday.
I am so glad I did, let me tell you why. Right out of the box the game sets the mood that makes Metroid games so awesome. The first few pre-rendered and real-time cutscenes not only do that, but they are also great at revising the story and giving you a quick tutorial of the game. Once you gain control you know it’s the real Metroid, none of that FPS bullcrap... but then, it IS 3D! Most of the time the camera will be aiming at an angle reminiscent of classic beat-em-ups, although zooming in and out and turning ever so slightly to enhance the ambience or to show a clue. You move left or right through a narrow corridor and you can move “up” or “down” to dodge projectiles or avoid obstacles. Of course the environment is not composed of ONLY corridors, there are open fields, elevator shafts, tunnels… yet the camera always seems to go where the gameplay feels natural using the d-pad. There is an auto-aim system that helps the 2d feeling, so even when the monsters are swarming from any and all angles, you only shoot up, down, left or right. Only in a handful of occasions the camera follows behind you, and it’s only for dramatic purposes. At any moment you can point your Wiimote at the screen to switch to 1st person view from the point you were standing, just keep in mind you can’t move like this, only turn. This is useful to scan the room for clues, power-ups or hidden enemies. It is required, though, if you want to use missiles, as this is how you “lock on” to your targets, but after some practice you’ll be shooting missiles intituively as part of your run-and-gun routine. You can shoot and charge tour regular arm-cannon like this, using the cursor to aim manually which is actually fun when you’re not surrounded. There are times when you are forced to look for clues this way, and the game will stay on 1st person mode until you find and zoom in to the clue, so far half of the time I never see it until I accidentally move the cursor over it and it beeps.
Besides the regular running, jumping and shooting they have added a couple of melee attacks. I’ve heard many hardcore fans complain about this but to me these are added tools and you don’t have to use them if you don’t like them. I love it when I accidentally pull one off and the game plays the scene in slow motion. BAM! Take that, space mutant!
Also, monsters no longer drop health and ammo, (which is totally absurd) instead you use something called “concentration” which is, I presume, based o the same technology that makes the suit appear out of thin air. As for health, when you’re about to deplete your last tank you can fully recharge it the same way, all you need is a relative safe place (nearly impossible to pull of during boss battles) so you’re NOT immortal. To heal ALL your extra tanks you need to find a save point.
What’s entirely new is the storytelling. Samus now has a voice, and this implies a personality. Many hardcore fans find it offensive that she turned out to be more girly than they expected. It didn’t bother me although I did notice it. Others complain about how she is now following orders to the point of being submissive. I believe this is a huge exaggeration; she decides to help a group of soldiers she already knows and respects because she cares about their safety. She follows orders in the exact way a (very smug) soldier would, in turn the other characters are clearly aware of her martial superiority and always turn to her when the going gets tough. Besides, the team of squishy soldiers with a “divide and conquer be killed attitude” actually helps the suspense and sense of isolation.
Another complaint I’ve heard is about how Samus has been sexualized. Yes, many admired the character for breaking the stereotype of the princess in peril or the bikini-clad barbarian. Yes, I think that is neat too. But no, this is no Bayonetta. As far as I’ve gone into the game she isn’t even nice to guys and barely even appears without her armor. The image of the young, voluptuous blonde in a blue skin-tight suit has been around for a while now, and while at times it seems the camera is placed a bit lower than necessary, it’s not done in a distasteful manner.
In conclusion, if you're already in love with the Prime series this may feel as a bit of a downgrade, but if you have any respect for Nintendo, Metroid, or classic gaming in general, you owe it to yourself to give this one a ride. You will have fun.
