Metroid: Samus Returns

Metroid’s back ya’ll!... Well, kinda… Metroid: Samus Returns is a pretty faithful remake of Metroid 2: Return of Samus from back on the original Gameboy. Now… I say faithful because I don’t wanna spend too much time reviewing the original game here so much as I’d like to critique where this game differentiates itself from it. Much of the general map layout, story, and objectives are essentially the same in this version; what’s mainly been overhauled here is the core gameplay and presentation. I had no reason to doubt this remake’s potential given how well they improved the NES Metroid game with Metroid: Zero Mission for the GBA… Still… I can’t help but feel kind of indifferent to this remade game (which was kind of a 2nd rate Metroid to begin with).

Story wise all that really happens is that you’ve been sent to the planet that Metroid’s originate from and your task it to exterminate every last one of them. It’s a pretty simple premise true; but what I’ve always enjoyed about it is getting to slowly follow the life cycle of the Metroids. As time goes by they progressively grow larger and more dangerous. The original game had fairly solid world design for it’s day, the game has you progressing through the world in a giant circle which made it more linear than say, Metroid NES. But it made it easier to tell where you’d need to go and I never really felt as aimless as I did in the first Metroid. This remake pretty much successfully adapts the base design of the original but alters it to account for the new enemies and upgrades that this version introduces. There’s also a “scan pulse” upgrade you acquire early on that actually lets you visualise breakable blocks and walls cutting the exploration time down quite significantly from that of the original (this version also does a better job at guiding you to the Metroids rather then you just aimlessly stumbling upon them).

The sometimes cluttered enemy placements from the original game always pissed me off but here it’s made slightly more tolerable with this new parrying mechanic that has you countering enemy attacks with a well timed button press, and they also threw in some re-worked enemies that better suit this mechanic. There’s also Aeion energy that’s used as a resource to power new abilities like the scan pulse, lightning armour, and even a time altering ability which is pretty sweet. Another new feature is 360 directional aiming but only if you hold down the left trigger and stay stationary which is silly… The big problem for me is that there was just a little too much going on with regard to the controls that I really struggled to get a hang of them. Having to manage holding down the left and right triggers to aim and fire missiles and simultaneously be conscious of my movement during hectic battles broke my brain a little. Samus would constantly crouch when I didn’t want her to because I’d accidentally press down very lightly. Also I didn’t like how they handled the usage of the Aeion abilities having to change modes and activating and deactivating shits. This is the 3DS for crying out loud just let me touch an icon on the bottom screen to use the damn thing! The Gameboy had like two f***ing buttons so this was not a problem with the original lol.

And can I just say that the game looks like proper ass. The Gameboy had limitations there’s no doubt; but with it’s very minimal black and white graphics it got across a much darker and ominous mood with it’s visuals than in this version. This should have been a Switch game or something since the outdated and rough looking visuals from the 3DS do not do this game any favours. Best thing I can say is that it makes the different areas in the game feel more distinct aesthetically which IS admirable. And in terms of audio I mean… I don’t know why they even bothered to publish an “official soundtrack” since all they really did was recycle audio and music from the Prime games… With the exception of a few ambient pieces but I don’t really feel like they’re worth mentioning here.

The original Gameboy game certainly had it’s technical limitations back in the day, and in certain respects I feel like this version mends some of the more frustrating elements of that game’s design (or makes them a bit more tolerable). Hell it even makes the game feel a bit more fresh with the addition of some new power ups and mechanics. But I feel like in doing this the remake not only inherits some of the original’s remaining flaws but it also presents some new ones like with it’s unsightly visuals and over convoluted controls… Sometimes simplicity is better ya’ know? Hmm, I don’t know folks this one’s gonna be for the Metroid super fans only, something to tie us over until Prime 4 drops. If you’re new to Metroid then I’d strongly suggest Super Metroid as a starting point over this.