Metroid Fusion
Game Boy Advance
Nostalgia Factor:
I've recently discovered the Game Boy Advance, and I have to say that I have been very impressed with many of its offerings. In particular, Metroid: Zero Mission is a game that I really, really enjoyed. It reinvigorated my interest in Metroid, and has made me want to play through other games in the series that I've never checked out before. Metroid Fusion is one such title.
I've heard lots of good things about Metroid Fusion over the years, but I've always written it off because of its handheld status. Well, now that I am taking the Game Boy Advance more seriously, I knew I had to give the game a shot. Would it live up to the high praise?
An emphatic yes! Read on for my full thoughts.
Story:
I'm the type of person who likes to play through things chronologically. My original intent was to play through the Metroid series in order. After all, I have played and reviewed the original NES Metroid and Metroid: Zero Mission - its remake. These are the first games chronologically in the series. I wasn't sure where Fusion took place, but I figured I'd play it anyway since Metroid games typically are not plot heavy.
As luck would have it, this is one of the very last games in the Metroid timeline. Go figure! But that was okay. In the past (my pre-blog days) I had played several Metroid games out of order, like Prime, Prime 2, Other M, and Super Metroid. I'd put the pieces together eventually.
In this game, Samus is infected by a mysterious X parasite while on the surface of a planet. Her life in danger, scientists inject her with a vaccine containing Metroid DNA to try and combat this parasite, since the Metroid is its natural predator. Samus is saved. Both she and her suit become super powered with the Metroid and X infusion. When there is an explosion at a nearby space station, Samus is sent to investigate. There, she discovers the X has gone rampant and is overtaking the station. She sets out on a mission to stop it.
While on her mission, Samus is stalked by the S-AX, which has chosen to mimic Samus's physical form. It kind of shows up from time to time to scare you, but it cannot be defeated in battle. You have to hide from it or run. These segments always made me think of The Terminator.
Samus discovers that there are Metroids hidden in the station's laboratory. The Federation (or whatever it is called) is experimenting on them to try and use them "for the good of humanity." It's just like Weiland-Tutani in Alien. Will humanity ever learn?
Samus decides the only way to wipe out the X is to destroy the station. The Federation tries to stop her, because they want to use the X "for the good of humanity" as well. Sigh. Samus sweet talks the station's security system, which she names Adam after some guy named Adam from a previous game. In a touching moment, Adam demonstrates the humanity of its namesake by defying Federation orders and allowing Samus to set the auto destruct timer and escape.
Samus battles through the S-AX clone and the Omega Metroid as time winds down. She gets in her ship and takes off just in the nick of time. The end.
I have to say, this is the single best storyline in a Metroid game I have ever played. The storylines for these games have always been second fiddle to the gameplay in my opinion. This is the first Metroid game where the story really stands out on its own, and is memorable. To top it off, the game is a blast to play, too. It is almost the perfect package.
Gameplay:
This game is very easy to pick up and play. Right off the bat I took notice of the crisp, responsive controls. Moving left, right, jumping, ducking, and firing your gun all came as second nature to me. I also enjoyed the space station setting of the game as well. It's much more of a familiar setting than the usual dark alien planet full of caves and caverns. Not even one minute into the game, I was like "yeah, I'm gonna have fun with this one."
If you are familiar with Metroid, you should be familiar with the formula of the game. You've got a big, open 2D environment. Many areas are blocked off or unavailable to you when you first come across them. You have to find weapon or character upgrades later on, and then backtrack to access areas you couldn't before.
There is a main hub in the space station - the habitation level. There are six different sections that peel off from that main hub. One is a rainforest habitat, one is a laboratory, one is shrouded in darkness, etc. They all bring something unique that adds to the diversity of the game's environment. Since you are on a space station, just simply walking around a bunch of metal corridors that all look the same would have been boring, so I am glad they spiced things up a bit.
Throughout the course of the game you are going to be visiting each of these six sectors. The game's navigation computer guides you where you need to go, and marks your destination on the map. While this may seem a bit hand-holdy at first, you'll quickly realize that things are not so straightforward. You may know where you need to go, but when you find your path blocked off, it is all up to you to figure out what you have to do next. Not gonna lie, I turned to the internet for help on a few occasions when I was getting stuck.
I like the map system. Everything is very user friendly and easy to figure out. I know some people probably like the "wandering blindly" aspect of Metroid, but I like to be guided in the right direction. Life's too short for that shit.
Power ups are a little different here. When you destroy an enemy, it releases some kind of X cloud into the air that you have to collect. Yellow is for health and green is for missiles. If you don't get them quick enough, they'll either regroup and form a brand new enemy, or zap over to an existing enemy and make them stronger and more powerful. I totally loved this added wrinkle. Definitely makes the game more interesting and adds a much needed spark to the usual Metroid formula.
Bosses in this game are plentiful. They hover right on the edge of being too hard and too easy. Too easy in the sense that their patterns are easily recognizable, and you can adapt your strategy quickly. Too hard in the sense that they deal a MASSIVE amount of damage to you. If you get stuck in a corner or if the boss breaks its pattern and catches you in its crosshairs, you are going to be in for a world of hurt.
That leads me to my next talking point: the difficulty. I "save scummed" my way through this game, so I didn't have too tough of a time with this. But the enemies deal huge amounts of damage to you, unlike anything I've seen in past Metroid games. For example, I'll have nine health tanks and full health. I will make my way through an enemy-infested corridor, getting hit about three or four times. When I emerge from that corridor, I'll find that I'm down to one health tank left. WTF? How much damage are these enemies inflicting?
If I had played through this game without save states, no doubt I would have found myself dying dozens and dozens of times. The game is pretty generous with its save points, but this would have still been pretty annoying to me. Not a game breaker or anything, but still annoying.
Overall, I still found the game to be quite enjoyable. This is perhaps the best 2D Metroid I have ever played. Granted, I have only played Metroid, Zero Mission, and Super Metroid. But those are all widely heralded games. For this to be mentioned in the same breath is quite the accomplishment. And the idea that it is even better than those games? Let's just say that this will bode well when it comes time for me to post my final grade.
Graphics:
Don't let the fact that this is a handheld game scare you off. This game looks incredible, and it easily could be passed off for a 16-bit title. If you just handed me the controller and didn't tell me what system I was playing, I would have guessed that this is a Super Nintendo game. And a gorgeous one at that.
Samus looks great. The sprite and character design is wonderful. The cutscenes are awesome. The level design is top notch. I love all the little environmental effects you run across. Everything is bursting with color and personality. Definitely a fantastic looking game.
Sound:
Right off the bat, the game greets you with a twist on that classic Metroid intro tune, this time infused with music that sounds like it was ripped straight from Star Fox. Whatever it is, it works.
The music of Metroid Fusion definitely helps make this entire game a very immersive and atmospheric experience. The sound effects do their part as well. You really feel like you're a part of this big, action-packed science fiction romp on a space station. The only thing this game is lacking is a new original tune of its own. Something you hear and immediately shout out: "that's from Metroid Fusion!" I feel as if in two weeks you played this game's soundtrack for me, intermixed with music from other Metroid games, I wouldn't be able to tell you which songs came from this game and which ones didn't.
Overall:
If you've been paying any attention to this review whatsoever, you should know by now that I really liked playing this game. I've only played and reviewed two Metroid games so far for this blog, but this is easily the best of the three. As much as I like the original Metroid, when I think back on my time with that game, it is nowhere near as good as my time with this one. I gave both that game and Metroid: Zero Mission the score of A. If Fusion is better than both of these games, does that mean it should automatically get an A+?
On principal, no. After all, I gave Zero Mission an A as well even though I said it was better than the original Metroid. I think I overrated the original Metroid just a little bit. But all of that is a moot point because this game deserves an A+ on its own merits. I just can't see 2D Metroid games getting any better than this. This is the greatest Metroid game I have ever played. And the fact that I expected so little out of it, and I wrote it off as "just a handheld game" is one of the craziest things about it. This game came out in 2002 and I am just playing it now in 2023 for the first time ever. That's just wild to me. 21 years.
Should you play Metroid Fusion? Yes. Don't walk to the game, run! If you're a fan of Metroid or a fan of this type of game in general and you haven't played this, you are missing out big time. Don't make the same mistake I did and keep putting it off!
THE GRADE:
A+
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