Metroid Fusion

"Samus Advanced..."

For years and years, the Metroid brand has been a game that features both adventure and action along with some sort of storyline attached to immerse the gamer in a world of science fiction. With only a handful of titles that are available in this series, the most recent handheld version of the game, Fusion, brings to life both the adventure and exploration that most of the games in the series have featured. Action around every corner, and elements of Super Metroid around every corner, there is something here for every Metroid fan to sink their teeth into and enjoy.

A Long Time Ago, In A Galaxy Far, Far Away…

Samus Aran has been called back into service to help investigate and survey planets for colonization after the complete eradication of the Metroid race. After a run in with a new and mysterious organism, Samus returns to her ship in a sickened state. With her body suit having taken on a new parasite, she nearly crashes into a research vessel that has hired her to help with the re-colonization process on SR288. After being rescued from her doomed vessel and brought on board, pieces of her infamous body suit are surgically removed and sent off to be analyzed for infection by this mysterious organism. With her health in dire straits, she is injected with the last of the Metroid genes, which has an effect on the mysterious creature designated as X. Within hours, she is healed, though she has taken on the same characteristics of the Metroid creatures to which the X is a natural prey. A distress call comes from the space station in which the X has been sent, and Samus is sent off to investigate only to find the station in shambles and the X having taken over the station and the creatures located there.

Danger Around Every Corner? Come on…

Metroid is all about action and exploration and this installment on the Game Boy Advance is nothing different. As with most of the different Metroid games, the main focus that you have to contend with is the fact that Samus is no longer the woman that she used to be. With her suit altered and her special skills taken away, you must guide Samus through several different locations in order to reacquire the items that made her such a bad ass in all the other games. This is no easy task in which the enemies that you face off against are all extremely strong and take a good chuck of health off of your hero. As you progress through the game, you’ll find that your patience is tested by the fact that one wrong move can cost you plenty of covered ground.

Items such as Missiles and Power Bombs can be found throughout the various passageways that you encounter, but you’ll find that when you defeat an enemy, it is no longer a small health icon that you find. With the invasion of the X creatures, when you defeat an enemy, the X which have inhabited the creature in question flee the body and either float in one area, or in some cases, turn into a much stronger version of the previous enemy. Locations of the items that you find are clearly marked on the maps that you have at your disposal, but you’ll find that the game forces you to explore ways of getting to the items and weapons through the use of security keys and lock outs. Where you might find a locked door in one area, it is unlocked in another area altogether, which forces you to backtrack plenty of times in order to complete explore an area.

Boss battles and the like are more on a pattern basis and you’ll find that when you fight the different boss characters throughout the game, the patterns become apparent on most counts. When you boil it all down, you’ll find that as long as you recognize the pattern with the boss character and have enough health tanks, you should be able to blaze through the first few sections no problem. However, if you happen to run into your copy, which is an exact replica of your character, you’ll find that the character you are facing off against has all of the same characteristics that you do and then some. Those encounters are few are far between, but they will leave a mark if you’re not prepared to face off against it.

Once you’ve found your way around the locations and learned how to handle the different enemies that you encounter, then the rest of the task is easy enough to fulfill. Learning to control Samus is easy to pull off as well, though the cramped control setup of the Advance is hard to deal with when you’re playing for extended periods of time. The missile and bomb usage is easy enough, with just a simple shoulder button hold and then a press of the action button. Jumping and fine jumping is pretty simple, though using the continuous jump can be a bit of a bother. One problem that I had personally with it was the fact that the controls were a little unresponsive when dealing with your alter-ego and getting away was luck of the draw.

It’s Dark…Too Dark To See…

The one drawback that Metroid Fusion has is the fact that it is extremely dim in the lighting with most of the stages. When you get into certain areas, it takes a little bit of eye strain to really see what you’re looking at and unless you have a good light source {such as the backlighting option that you can have done if you send the unit in}, you might have some problems really getting a good handle on the game. The characters and enemies as well as the bosses and the overall detail of the game is spectacular, though you will find that it looks like a toned down Super Metroid. Explosions and weapons effects are all done in excellent fashion, so purists of the Metroid world shouldn’t have a problem with the way that the game looks, though seeing it might have a little bit of a drawback on the experience.

No! Don’t Open That Door!

The music that you find in Fusion is top notch for a Metroid game and the opening theme at the title is right from Super Metroid. Most of the game music that you encounter has a quality to it that you will notice to keep the theme of the locations and even the overall mood to a dark and dreary one. You’ll hear the sweet sounds of boss characters thundering into the arena and the enemies themselves have plenty of effects to them. The two different options that you have with the sound of the game really don’t have much of a difference. You can either listen to the game from the Advance speaker, or you can switch it to a more toned down version with the headphone option. Either way, you still have the same themes and the same mood as you normally would.

Yep…It’s Metroid

Metroid Fusion is probably one of the premiere action games that you can find on the Advance and just begs for a sequel in some respects. You’ll find that with the amount of exploration and action throughout the title, there is plenty for everyone. However, you’ll also find that the game itself is a one time through trip that doesn’t have a replay value worthy of mentioning, and once you’ve been through the game, the only play you’ll get afterwards is beating it in the least amount of time possible {under 2 hours}. If you’re a Metroid fan, then you’ll enjoy the title for what it is and what it has to offer, but if you’re looking for a game that has something that you can constantly come back to, then you might want to head for a role playing game and leave this title to those who are the die-hard fans.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/03/03, Updated 02/03/03