Metroid: Zero Mission

"Samus is Back with a Vengeance"

The original Metroid sparked a frenzy of video game goodness that the series has lived up to, and the remake sets a high standard for any other game that comes out on the GBA.

GRAPHICS: 9/10
They are simply fantastic, just look at any screenshot of the game and you will see what I mean. The subtle things are what make the graphics here so amazing. The bubbles coming out of boiling hot magma, the glazed look of an unexpecting enemy frozen by the cold justice of the ice beam, Mother Brain being torn to shreds by the missiles of a female warrior, they all combine to make a great visual experience. The environments are simply extravagant, you feel lie you are actually inside a large mountain cavern or the inside of a floating tin can near the end of the game. They all form a flawless visual experience.

SOUND: 8/10
The sound that can be found within the cartridge is auditory. There is no dialogue in the game, so the sound score depends solely on the fact that music and sound effects play while you happily make your way through the game. The music is very simple in its goal; it is only there to convey the mood of the scene to the player of the game. When Samus is in a tense atmosphere in which she needs to escape or quickly kill an enemy, the music speeds up appropriately and uses different instruments to make the scene tenser, just like in a movie. When Samus is just exploring on her adventure, the music is slower and has a bold quality to it that shows that nothing can stop our heroine from accomplishing her assigned task.
The only flaw in the sound is the power of the GBA. It just doesn’t have the capacity to produce high-quality sound that would give this game a rating of a 10 in that department.

CONTROL: 10/10
Oh familiar controls, you have come back to me. Feel confident that your hands will easily pick up the simple control scheme that was ingeniously developed by the good people at Nintendo. The controls just feel right, that is all that this section is based on. All of the buttons are in the right places, it is almost physically impossible to have your hands accidentally slip from one button to the next, unless you are pressing Start or Select, both of which have little effect on your game play. You will not encounter a better control scheme than this one anywhere; especially on the Gameboy Advance (the controls are especially good on the SP).

GAMEPLAY: 9/10
This game blew me away, and that is exactly what I expect from every game of the Metroid series. I really feel that Metroid is meant to be in 2D, and I am happy that this game was made. That being said, there are many good points about the game that I need to point out. Although there is very little plot to the game (just as in every game in the series, this does not make it undesirable, it just makes the game a little different. The enemies are brilliantly crafted and armed with the weapons that they need to take on Samus, and she is armed in the same fashion with her beautiful power suit. There is always a way out of every jam, there is always a breakable block that will get you out of that hole that you got stuck in, and I am amazed that the developers were able to do this. There are so many places that need to have safeguards so that the player can escape if he gets caught in a tight situation, and endless hours must have been spent to fix all of the human errors that the player makes. This sheer effort of the developers to stamp out any imperfection in the game merits a high overall score.
The game is just entertaining and engrossing. When you buy this game, I guarantee that you will spend the majority of your time, at least before you have beaten the game and gotten your life back, wondering which enemy you will encounter next and, more importantly, how to kill it. This tendency may also wash over into your work habits, so beat the game quickly.
There are so many ways to play the game. You can play the original on three different difficulties, ranging from easy to hard, so that all levels of players can enjoy all that the game has to offer. You can go through the game to get all of the items or to get a low percentage of the available items, both of which offer a challenge to the hardened gamer. After you beat the game, you gain access to the excellent (and surprisingly very hard) original Metroid game. It comes equipped with a new save feature for Metroid pleasure, and so that you can take some time to sleep after a 56-hour run on the remake. The game also offers different endings which you can unlock and view, as well as galleries. All of them combine to make a fabulous gaming experience.

There is only one thing that keeps this section (and the entire review of the game) from receiving a 10, and that is the final area of the game. I detest this area so much that it takes a full point away from the game’s score, and I spit on the final area and all who helped create it, for it is a living nightmare on hard mode.

Other than this one fault, this is one great game.

THE BOTTOM LINE
I liked this game a lot, so much that I decided to write an FAQ for it. Fans of the series will be stunned with how much the game has changed since its original version was released so long ago. They may also suffer a lack of sleep from addiction to the game. Either way, I encourage all to play and enjoy the newest installment in the Metroid series.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/10/04