Metroid Fusion

"You will be fused to it!"

A thrilling, atmospheric game. You will be FUSED to it!
Metroid Fusion is a game for Game Boy Advance. It has a cinematic feel to it, and much like other Metroid games I have played - it is incredibly atmospheric. This game is a action side scroller, not really much exploration or back tracking like there is in the older 2D Metroids.

I'll say now that if you are a Metroid fan, 2D or 3D - absolutely get this guaranteed! An essential purchase.

GRAPHICS (10/10)

Metroid Fusion looks superb, and anyone who fondly remembers Super Metroid's terrific visuals will be happy to find that their high quality is matched in this game. Samus herself animates with amazing fluidity and is extremely detailed--for example, you'll notice how her asymmetrical armor looks different depending on whether she's facing left or right. Many of the monsters she'll face also look great, especially the game's huge bosses.

The environments she'll traverse are as colorful as they are varied, and there's usually something very interesting to look at in the very cool background. Even the game's cutscenes are slick, oh yeah they're slick! Oh yes!

Thankfully Nintendo hasn't made anything look too cartoony and everything looks nice and realistic. Nothing looks pixelated and I think it's one of the best graphics on GBA.

Please know that I'm rating the graphics considering the GBA's power, and this games seem like it has used all of its power in the graphics. Every single room in the game is very detailed. The backgrounds are brilliant, if you observe them closely you can get a real insight of what the BSL station is like.

I'm glad it doesn't look too colourfull, this isn't the darkest installment but it still looks kind of dark at points. But not bland. The cutscenes feature fully drawn Metroids and Samus, and are really cool and interesting. You also get to see what Samus looks like when you die!

Samus wears a blue suit this time round instead of her orange one. It looks pretty cool, and doesn't look half as heavy. Proberly explaining the new amazing agility! There are some cool animation efefcts for Samus too.

The bosses and character sprites look great, there is a nice dark use of colour and some style. The creatures are creative. Samus has a smooth running animation, and quite detailed too. Overall the graphics are fine for a GBA game.

GAMEPLAY (8/10)

The story is part of the gameplay, it sets the mood for playing. Most of the time you will be frantically dashing to new rooms and sectors. There are a lot of thrilling moments.

The controls are perfect and responsive. When you first play this game, you'll notice the athletic feel of Samus. You can wall jump of the walls and it's really fun. She can run really fast, jump really high - and it can only get better as you progress through the game. As you collect items you'll get more abilities that add to the gameplay alot. Morph ball is here, and can be used for some brilliant moments when you're hiding from the SA-X (I'm not saying anything about the story, but the story is good!) and quikly getting through the nook and crannys.

I've noticed that as you get further in the game, the path forward involves alot of tiny morph ball spots hidden about. When you get the power bomb they're easy to find, but before you will find yourself rolling around the place trying to find the passage alot. I think there is a bit too much of this and instead there should be more great platforming.

You can also shoot while hanging. This is very cool, it allows for more varied combat where you can use stealth techniques.

The basis of the gameplay is to take objectives from the computer named Adam. So you don't feel as alone and lost as in previous Metroid games. It will order what you have to do, and you'll get to it. But often lots of twists happen that spoil your plans, and you are notifyed with terrible news and think all hope has been lost. I prefer the objective formula.

The difficulty is alot easier than previous 2D Metroids (thankfully) although there are still some challenging moments. And bosses really get your heart pumping when they're on low health and things get more extreme!

It's quite different from otehr 2D Metroids: Metroid, Super Metroid and Metroid II: Return of Samus. Although if you've played Zero Mission this is alot like it. I might aswell mention now that if you like Fusion go buy Zero Mission! But this isn't anything to do with the Fusion review.

Although the whole game takes place in a scientist labratory, don't let that put you off. Much like other people I would've liked to go down to a planet and have different environments - that doesn't happen, but not everything is grey. The sectors have different environmnetal conditions, one is a giant freezer - snow will form. There is fiery, freezing cold, watery, nocturnal, tropical, arid, and more - yes that is odd. But there is an explanation - the station was modelling various planetary biospheres. Yes, it was.

After completing the game, I looked at my playtime: 4 hours 30 mins! That's pretty short. I'm no expert speedrunner. So thats how long the game will last. I don't suggest playing the game for 4 hours straight - but if you do, I'm afraid you will have finished the game in one day! I finished it in about a week of purchasing it, about half an hour to an hour play sessions. The game quenched my thirst though - and it's coolness surprised me.

SOUND (9/10)

Metroid Fusion also sounds great, and while its musical score doesn't attain the same level of greatness as that of Super Metroid, it certainly does a fine job of giving the game some extra atmosphere. In fact, the plot's suspenseful moments work as well as they do largely on account of the fitting music. The rest of the audio is also very good. The numerous creatures all sound different, as do Samus' weapons and various upgrades.

Creppy, atmospheric, triumphant, military. The sound is brilliant. The music seems to reflect the emotions of Samus, because when going through a room that normally has slow and atmpshperic music can change to happy, triumphant music.

The music can warn of a boss, and it has some classic themes. But not many. I've always like Metroid music and this hasn't been a failure music wise. Yep the music is good. There's even some voice acting at some points!

STORY (10/10)

It's a good story, and it effectively drives the action along as Samus' CO (Commanding Office named "Adam" by Samus after an old CO of hers before her Bounty Hunting days) guides her through the research facility's numerous infected quadrants.

But the focus on plot has a certain effect on the gameplay. While Metroid Fusion essentially features the open-ended design of its predecessors--Samus gains numerous new abilities over the course of the game, enabling her to access numerous previously unreachable areas--there's so much urgency to the storyline that you'll likely find yourself constantly following the CO's orders without taking the time to explore.

There's few point in the game when the situation isn't desperate, and so rather than carefully surveying your surroundings as in past Metroid games, in Fusion you'll find yourself rushing from one checkpoint to the next, all the way until you finish the game about six hours after you begin, give or take one.

The fact that you can't outright skip the story sequences also diminishes Metroid Fusion's replay value, as you'll wish you could just play the game rather than have to sit and read a bunch of text every so often. Though the first time you play it you should find all the CO's order interesting and will gladly read what it has to say.

Normally in Metroid games and most games, the story is introduced at the beginning and then continued at the end before coming to a close. But it's cool in this game cos the story unfolds as you play, constantly adding to the plot and finding more about the plot as you go on like in Metroid Prime.

Although each information said by the computer really adds to the story. And sometimes Samus speaks herself and says her views on things, and even doubts if she should trust the computer. Those are really cool and I think there should've been more of them.

OVERALL (8/10)

A worthy installment of the Metroid series. It is cinemtaic, grabbing. It'll suck you in. You will be immersed in events folding and all the brilliant rooms of the BSL station. A excellent purchase. And it's presented in such a great way.

And the addition of the SA-X really brings out a lot of "Oh, crap!" situations. Watching the Samus clone patrol an area from close proximity is brilliantly tense, considering that one false step means you're instant toast. Several instances throughout the adventure will put your quick reflexes to the test so as not to get blasted to smithereens by the SA-X clone...and some of the most fun and tense moments in the game are from the Samus/SA-X encounters.

Metroid Fusion is really an outstanding game. Extremely responsive controls, terrific graphics, and great audio make Fusion easily one of the best action games for the Game Boy Advance.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/27/06