Metroid Fusion

"What it fails for in innovation, it makes up for in great game play."

Metroid Fusion: Handheld horror, or Metroid miracle? Neither, though it leans more toward the latter. This time, Samus embarks a new quest, vastly differing from her past experiences in terms of exploration and the way the game progresses. There are many additions, but not many of them seem exciting and new (such as the Beam combo power-ups in Metroid Prime). It’s not a bad game, but has an enormous amount of untapped potential; to sum it up, this game could’ve been a lot better.

Also, before reading this review, know that I mention Super Metroid a lot, in almost every department of the game. As I believe Super Metroid is easily the best game in the series, I’ll be comparing everything to it.

Story: If you’re not familiar with Metroid’s history, I’ll give a quick overview to catch you up:

Prelude: The galaxy’s at peace, many different alien races and nations form an alliance called the Galactic Federation to maintain peace and civilization in the galaxy.

A team from a Galactic Federation space frigate was exploring the planet SR-388, when they found the species “Metroid” (a small alien being with the capability to absorb energy and store it for itself).

On the way back to the Galactic Federation, the Frigate was attacked by the Space Pirates, a species of hostile aliens, extremely intelligent, devoid of mercy, decisive, and with one agenda: galactic domination.

Metroid: They were tracked back to Zebes, and the Galactic Federation sent in Samus, who destroyed the Mother Brain and the Metroids in Zebes, single-handedly thwarting the Pirates’ plans.

Metroid Prime: After the destruction of Tourain on Zebes, the Space Pirates split into two camps: One to begin reconstructing Zebes, and one to find a source of energy. They found Phazon on the planet Tallon IV, and Samus followed a distress beacon to find their space station horrible trashed by something evil.

Samus delved into the planet and foiled the plans of the Pirates once again, and took out the source of the Phazon.

Metroid II: Return of Samus: Samus heads back to SR-388, the Metroids’ home world to destroy the threat. She succeeds, and destroys all but one Metroid, being a baby, who believes Samus is its mother.

Super Metroid: Samus returns to the Galactic Federation’s science station and hands over the baby Metroid for experimentation. They find it can be used for the good of the galaxy, with its massive ability to absorb and transfer energy.

The Metroid is stolen, however, shortly after Samus leaves, and she follows its captor (Ridley) back to Zebes once again.

She destroyed Mother Brain once again, and the whole of Zebes was completely destroyed by a self-destruct bomb Mother Brain had planted in the surface of Zebes as a last-ditch effort to destroy Samus. She failed, and Samus escaped.

Metroid Fusion: Some time after the destruction of Zebes, Samus was called by the Galactic Federation to protect a science team. The team was out to head into SR-388 and check out the ecosystem there, and Samus, with her experience of the planet, was to guide and protect them.

On the way there, Samus encountered a simple alien and destroyed it; however, she encountered something she had never seen before, in the form of a shapeless, gel-like creature that floated through the air. The shot it, but her beams went right through it, and it flew toward Samus and seemingly disappeared.

It wasn’t until later that she realized what a threat this small creature was. On the way back, Samus loses consciousness inside of her ship, and it drifts off-course into an asteroid belt. Her ship’s ejection system launched her pod into the atmosphere just before her ship was destroyed, and a recovery team of the Galactic Federation recovered the pod.

They examined Samus, and found that the small creature that had invaded her earlier was a parasite, designated the “X Virus”. It had replicated inside her suit and infected it, so much that the pieces would have to be surgically removed; however, surgery was a risky maneuver, since the Power Suit’s organic components had become so integrated with her system that it could be hazardous to remove it while she was unconscious.

They removed the infected parts of her Power Suit that were still accessible, drastically altering her physical appearance. The surgery was only able minimize the number of remaining X, but was unable to completely alleviate the threat. Time grew short, and Samus was given a minimal chance of survival.

One scientist stated his crazy theory: inject Samus with a Metroid vaccine. Studying the ecosystem of SR-388 revealed that the X’s only natural predator in the universe were the Metroids, it might’ve been the only way to take care of it. The vaccine was immediately prepared using a preserved DNA culture of the infant Metroid. Upon injection, the X were quickly and completely eradicated.

After the vaccine was injected, Samus was given the task to head to Biologic’s Space Lab (BSL) and check out an explosion there. After the operation was done, the Galactic Federation had sent back the pieces of Samus’ suit to the frigate for examination. To get back to BSL, Samus was given a new ship with a built-in computerized CO, which would guide her on her mission.

Upon landing on the station, Samus explores a bit and finds that X were responsible for the explosion; BSL has been infested with them, and only Samus, with Metroid DNA, is capable of destroying the threat. With the Metroid DNA now part of her structure, she would be able to freely absorb X parasites.

“Metroid” is a Chozo word: it translates to “Ultimate Warrior.” With the Metroid now part of her, Samus truly fits this label.

Gameplay: Metroid is different this time around. Instead of wandering about, looking for the next area to go or explore, you’re told where to go and explore. That’s not the only element changed, however; instead of Energy Orbs and Missile Recharge icons have also been replaced by X parasites.

The way the X survive is by infested and killing a host, then absorbing them, essentially. By taking over a host, it also gains its abilities, essentially becoming that host. When Samus destroys the host, its physical body is destroyed, and the X is free to roam that atmosphere once again. By touching these parasites, Samus will absorb them and take their respective energies: orange is health, green is missiles, and red (the rarest of the three) restores everything significantly.

Essentially, Metroid’s core game play is unchanged. You run in a 2D environment, you’re able to aim in 8 directions, and you shoot everything that moves. The button configuration of the GBA can make things a little difficult, of course. Holding R will open your cannon for Missile fire, and holding L will aim your cannon diagonally upward (pressing down while holding L will aim diagonally downward). The real trouble comes from the actual placement of the buttons. Upon your first few hours of play, chances are, with having to use these buttons constantly, your fingers will really be aching. You get used to it after a while, though. It doesn’t even both me anymore.

As far as the mission-based element goes, consider it taking the place of the Hint System is Metroid Prime, but instead of just telling you where to go, it tells you what the point of going there is, and even gives you almost the entire map. Adam (this is what Samus named the computer) gives you the specifics on your mission and displays a map of the area you’re in, along with the target area. The redeeming quality of this, however, is that most of the time your path is blocked by something you can’t bypass, meaning you’ll need to take a different route. This keeps the exploration element very much alive in the game, it’s just no where near its caliber in past games.

Actually, Metroid Fusion had me stuck in a few areas. As with the past games, it requires some trial and error with bomb placement, but anyone with knowledge of the Metroid series knows that there’s always something to give these away. Playing Super Metroid, you can feel which walls need to be bombed. You just know. The same feeling returns in Metroid Fusion.

Some say there isn’t any exploration left with Adam being in the game. That’s ludicrous. Metroid Fusion has some extremely cleverly hidden items, requiring many of Samus’ abilities to be able to perform. After you beat the game, there’s even a counter in each area telling you if you’ve gotten all of the power-ups there. It doesn’t tell you where they’re hidden, only if they’re still there. This makes acquiring 100% a little less confusing, because you know what area to look in for the items. It’s still no walk in the park; I’ve got a game I’ve been running around in for weeks trying to get all of the items. From what I know, I’ve scoured every feasible area of Sector 3 (PYR), and I still can’t find all the upgrades hidden there. It can almost be frustrating, but dang it, I love every minute of it (and this is my fourth time through).

Ah well. As with past Metroids, this game also features a large amount of power-ups to add to your suit. Returning favorites are the Speed Booster, Space Jump, and the Gravity Suit, among other things. Only in Metroid Fusion, things happen a little differently. You’ll still encounter bosses, but they’ll have two forms: the first form is the boss creature itself, possessed by an X parasite. The second form comes after you kill the boss, in the form of a Core X. It’s a large X parasite with a hard shell that will take Missiles to penetrate it. The good (and bad) thing about these Core X, is that merely shooting them makes them eject regular X parasites, with both Missile and Energy properties. This tends to make this stage of the fight a little less challenging, however.

After you destroy the Core X’s shell, the large X will float helplessly into the air. Jumping up and absorbing it will assimilate its abilities and add them to Samus’ repertoire. Getting abilities in this way is interesting, but means you’ll no longer find power-ups spread across the terrain. Not like it matters much; this is just an observation.

The “world” in Metroid Fusion is, like the other games, split into areas, or sectors, this time around. There are 7 different areas: the main deck, and the 6 sectors below that. The sectors range from SRX (a recreation of SR-388’s atmosphere) to AQA (Aqua, Metroid Fusion’s iteration of Maridia). Each atmosphere has its own dangers and environmental look. The areas are also completely different from each other in layout, which is to be expected, with different enemies and all that good stuff. Note, also, that this game isn’t as big environmentally as Super Metroid.

Another change in the game play is the fact that there are ladders and ceilings covered in rungs, so Samus can climb certain walls and hang from certain ceilings. She can also cling to ledges. It’s not huge, but this is one of those things that makes the game surprisingly fun to play, just because it goes so smoothly. When you grab onto a ledge, it doesn’t take Samus 2 seconds to climb up it, like some games. It goes fluidly, and Samus grabs and climbs ledges very quickly. Also, if there’s a ledge leading into a hole that’s Morph Ball size, pressing up with make Samus automatically curl into the Ball and roll into it.
While hanging on ledges, you can press away from the wall and jump for a pseudo-wall jump, but you can’t shoot. You can shoot while hanging from a ceiling or on a ladder, however.

As much as this game has going for it, there are bad things to be said. Perhaps the biggest disappointment with Metroid Fusion, is that it has so much untapped potential. It kills me to think about what they could’ve done with this game. Think about it: Samus has been infused with Metroid, and all they do is give her the ability to absorb X parasites? Sure, it’s important, but they could’ve done a lot more. In the somewhat disappointing footage we saw at “Metroid IV’s” unveiling, we saw Samus firing a homing beam and running up walls. What happened to those?

There ARE new power-ups to Metroid Fusion, but both of these (Ice and Diffusion Missiles) are nothing special, excellent, or even exciting for that matter. The Ice Missiles speak for themselves, while the Diffusion Missiles split when they hit a wall, and anything hit by them is frozen (though not damaged). That’s all I can think of in the way of new power-ups, and the way I see it, they could’ve been a ton better.

Want to know something else? The bomb jump is history. You can still do a single bomb jump, but nothing after that. If you lay a bomb in the air, and you’re hit by it, it simply slows your descent. Luckily, the wall jump and Shinespark are back, so not all is lost in the way of special moves.

Graphics: Not bad for a GBA. Things are colorful and Samus has definition. She doesn’t look as good as she did in Super Metroid, but still doesn’t look bad. It’s not too dark a game, so it’s still pretty easy to see. There are many different enemies in the game, and bosses are intimidating and always interesting to fight. The areas all have contrast, from the fiery sector 4, or PYR (Pryo), to the flooded sector 4, or AQA. Metroid Fusion is a nice looking game. Some of the areas are rather dull (i.e., Docking Bay – Sector 6 ((NOC)) ), but that’s easily overlooked. This game doesn’t match Super Metroid’s beauty, but it doesn’t disappoint.

Sound: Fusion’s sound is satisfying, but nothing spectacular. The music is quiet, for the most part, and doesn’t even come close to the brilliance of Super Metroid’s tracks. As a matter of fact, it doesn’t come close to…well, brilliance at all. None of the songs sound anything like Metroid, really, and are all more reminiscent of the Wrecked Ship in Super Metroid than anything else. Not much different here, not much to make it stand out.
The sound effects aren’t anything special either. Like I said, they get the job done, but they fail to stand out. The sound you’ll hear the most is your gun, firing off at anything that moves. Dirty Harry, yeah, that’s it. Only not. I really can’t say I’m proud of anything the sound has accomplished, other than existing. It works, but it fails to do anything noteworthy.

Replay Value: I can say without a doubt that Metroid Fusion is a game chock-full of replay value. The sound effects are nothing to brag about, graphics aren’t the top of the line, but this game is a lot of fun. Despite the guided missions, just maneuvering and jumping around, blasting at anything in your path, taking out and absorbing X, staggering into a room and laying a Power Bomb for no reason like some kind of drunkard; it’s all a lot of fun. The controls are so easy to use, despite the obvious lack of buttons, the game is easy to get the hang off, and everything feels so right. That’s why it’s fun to play time and time again. I’ve beaten it four times, and I’m on my next run. Not only that, but the aforementioned counters that help you find missing items always leave something for you to go back for. After that’s done, heck, play it again.

Rent or Buy? As always, I can’t recommend an absolute buy. I loved the game, it’s probably my most preferred GBA game, over all the others I have and love, but I’m not going to recommend a buy. I know that Metroid isn’t everyone’s game. Still, if you’d like a slow-paced adventure with a decent plot, and a taste at what Metroid would be like on an easier scale, this game is worth a rent. I’d recommend a rent to anybody; no sense in letting this game pass you buy. You might like it, you never know.

Overall, Metroid Fusion is a game I don’t regret buying, nor would I want a single cent of the purchase back from Nintendo. There are a lot of games I have that I like, but wouldn’t pay as much as I did for them if asked about it. Metroid Fusion isn’t one of those. It’s an excellent game. Despite its lack of exceptional sounds, it succeeds in every other aspect in making it a worthwhile game, and one that I’d suggest any Metroid fan check out. It has a ton of untapped potential, but if you’re not expecting anything new or spectacular due to the Metroid cell injection, Metroid Fusion is a great game.

Story: 7
Gameplay: 10
Graphics: 7
Sound: 3
Replay Value: 10
OVERALL: 8

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/11/03, Updated 04/11/03