Metroid Fusion

The Short


Pros
- Brought Metroid back to its 2D Exploration roots
- Did something clever and unique with the Metroid formula in terms of combat and weapons
- Fantastic music and atmosphere, the staple of Metroid games
- A large space station to explore that opens up quickly
- Beautiful graphics
- The first Metroid game to actually have a "story" that was told to you rather than you making your own

Cons
- The story was a bit overdrawn and presented through long text scrolls
- Game could be a bit more linear than Super Metroid
- With the exception of one or two bosses, the game is very easy
- Often considered the "black sheep" of the Metroid series (though I think it is)

New ship, new suit, new Samus. 

The Long

A weird confession: Metroid Fusion was the first Metroid game I ever beat. Growing up we never had any home game systems, and it wasn't until I was a teenager that I managed to convince my parents to let me get a Game Boy Advance. With it I bought two games: Super Mario World and Metroid Fusion. I'd played a bit of Super Metroid on emulators, but had never really experienced a Metroid game before.

It absolutely floored me.

Imagine, if you will, somebody who has never played a Metroid game. Who has no idea how the map thing works, the exploration, and the atmosphere. It might have been the first time you booted up Metroid or Super Metroid, how that felt. It's a crazy thing when you load up one of these games and are just completely blown away by the atmosphere and tension the game throws at you.

Anyway, Metroid Fusion was essentially one half of the rebirth of Metroid, being released just one day after the 3D Metroid game, Metroid Prime. Fans had been clamoring for a new game since Super Metroid, and despite a cameo in Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee, Samus had been absent. So...does this new mission and new take on the series bring things back to form?

New Samus actually monologues, though I'm pretty sure it's mostly just in her head. 

Metroid Fusion marks the final game on the Metroid timeline, and with good reason. It starts with Samus (who now works for the Space Federation) getting infected by an alien parasitic virus known only as "X" while on a mission. She manages to survive only by using a vaccine created by the deceased baby Metroid from Super Metroid. In order to save her, her power-suit (of which parts were grafted to her body) had to be removed, giving her a completely new suit, a new look, and the idea she was probably super mangled under there due to the disease.

I loved this intro, and love it more now that I've played Super Metroid. Fusion does one thing very well: incorporating the bits of Metroid we know and love (like the plot elements from Super Metroid) whilst simultaneously stripping them away. It's letting you know "Hey, we know the old games, but we are doing something new and we aren't afraid of it." It's a good "reboot" to the series, and actually a pretty cool plot twist in the timeline of things.

This game does get a bit chatty though. 

In terms of story, however, not all are for the better. Throughout the game you (as Samus) converse through an AI construct sent to guide you on your mission as well as unlock various levels on a space station Samus was sent to investigate. While some parts of this dialogue are interesting (and a twist reveals a surprisingly personal bit of Samus' backstory), most are too long-winded for their own good. May fans complained because the AI basically tells you where to go, removing the whole "explore everything with no hints" element from Super Metroid.

While I can agree that the chatting is a bit long (and not particularly well written...and slow to scroll through) I don't think it destroys that exploration element of the gameplay. Usually it just gives you a general idea of where to go, and your actual route ends up being quite different. Situations change frequently, requiring you to go off the beaten path and explore in order to continue. While Samus monologing for hours on an elevator is aggravating, I do appreciate they at least tried to flesh her out as a character. They certainly did a damn better job that that atrocity Metroid: Other M.

The game is gorgeous, especially for an early GBA game.

Beneath that, you are looking at a fairly standard Metroid game, with a few twists. You still spend a good chunk of time exploring (despite the game nudging you to the right areas), seeing items you can't get until you have the right powerups, and killing a variety of space life. Despite the whole game taking place on a space station, it's split up into different sectors that have unique themes and keep it interesting. Perhaps one of the coolest parts is when you visit an area early one, and there are weird crawling caterpillars about. When you leave they've started to crystallize, and when you come back much later the husks are on the ground and these crazy hornet flying things are there instead. Revisiting areas after the X (or SA-X, a weird parasite Samus clone) have visited them is cool.

Exploration is limited, though, until really the very end of the game when you have enough powerups to go free-reign across all areas without restriction. But, to be honest, this has been true of Super Metroid as well, it just didn't wear it on its sleeve as obviously. Rather than tell you to go somewhere, Super Metroid just locked all the doors with power-up restrictions until you got them later. Yeah, it was less obvious, but the concept is still the same. 

That can't be good. 

So you spend most of the game exploring, finding powerups, using tricks to get to other powerups (though infinite bomb-jumping is gone, which sucks), and watching short text cutscenes. Like all Metroid games, Metroid Fusion has its share of awesome bosses, though Fusion seems to throw a boss at you before you can say "Power Suit." It's actually kind of like the Zelda games: if you get a power-up, expect to fight a boss who will require that power-up's use, sort of a trial-by-fire. At least, unlike Zelda, Fusion seems less blatant about it. 

There are a few other minor changes. Since Samus is infected with the Metroid vaccine, she now has a natural weakness to ice (what a cool touch), so you can't use the ice beam but now have ice missiles. Cold areas also hurt her much more than they did before, and she is susceptible to being frozen. She also looks completely different than in previous (and future) Metroid games, which I think is very cool. It's kind of crazy they took Samus out of retirement to so dramatically alter her appearance, but I think it was a move in the right direction and something the series needed (along with the 3D switch to Prime).

The music can't compare to Super Metroid, but it still is quite good. 

Of course, Metroid games are nothing without atmosphere, and Fusion fires on all cylinders here. Paired with the absolutely gorgeous pixel art is a sense of darkness and foreboding reminiscent of Super Metroid, in a good way. Areas are dark and creepy, some requiring Samus to turn on a light and only see a distance in front of her, and the X-mutated monsters are disgusting, creepy, and would fit right into a sci-fi horror movie. While it might be pushing its "look how creepy this game is!" a bit harder than most other games in the series, I think it works very well, and the X is a formidable and gross opponent. 

The music is also top notch, if among the weakest in the series (it's still better than Other M, though). But the weakest in a Metroid game is still leagues above others; it fits the atmosphere and adds to the creepy sense of dread. It could have been a little better, but for what it is we'll take it. 

The heat ripples are awesome. 

As it stands, Metroid Fusion is a fantastic game, despite being a bit chatty. It's a relatively quick run (probably due to its slightly more linear approach), and if you axed the cutscenes you could probably beat it in under an hour. My record was an hour and a half, blasting through all the text and missing most of the items. And while Metroid games scream "replay value," this one's overzealous story does tend to detract from that a bit.

All that aside, Metroid Fusion is still absolutely great, and if you haven't played it you should. While it can be tricky to find something to play GBA games on these days (you'll need either an original GBA, an original DS or DS Lite, or the GBA player on the Gamecube), the game HAS been re-released 3DS e-shop, so get on that!

As a 2D return to form, Metroid Fusion delivers. It's a crying shame that it's sequel, the 2D Metroid Dread slated for the DS, was scrapped. A real damn shame.

Four out of five stars. 

See you next mission.