Metroid Fusion

"Game Informer says this is the best Metroid ever. What are they smoking?"

I'm one of those people who absolutely adores the Metroid series. The first Metroid game on NES opened up a new, nonlinear world of gameplay, Metroid II: Return of Samus rocked the house on Game Boy, and Super Metroid is one of the greatest games of all time (frankly, I'd like to know why the Big N hasn't ported it to GBA yet). So, you can bet that I'm always eagerly anticipating the arrival of a new Metroid title, especially for Metroid Fusion, since we all had to wait a painful eight years to get it, from 1994 to 2002. People lined up to grab Fusion (the fourth game in the series) on the day of its release, and I was among them. Was it worth the wait?

I typically loved it when I first played it – after waiting eight years for an original Metroid, this was an incredible experience for me. But, after only a few days, the truth began to sink in. Was this really the Metroid I had waited eight years for? I loved the previous three games in the series, and I loved GameCube's Metroid Prime, which was released on the same day. But Fusion, to me, feels like a decent concept ruined by underachieving. They had eight years to make this game, but at the end of the day Fusion somehow feels rushed.

In the series of five Metroid stories, this is actually the last one, taking place right afterSuper Metroid. Samus and her team go to SR388 and encounter a strange, jelly-like organism known only as X. This X infects Samus, and soon begins tearing her apart from the inside. She's nearly dead. But then, a scientist makes a discovery. It turns out that Metroids were the main predator of this X. So, a serum is created from the remains of the Metroid that saved Samus in Super Metroid, and is then used to destroy the X virus. This is where Metroid Fusion gets its name – Samus fuses with the Metroid. Shortly after, she's sent to investigate an accident at a space lab, only to find that the lab has been infected by X. As she's now resistant to X, Samus is the only one who can defeat these X organisms.

The story is much deeper and more complex than that of any other previous Metroid, showcasing Fusion's one major strength. At the beginning and end of the game, Samus frequently narrates the game, and sometimes has conversations with her computer buddy, whom she's nicknamed Adam. We really do learn more about the Metroid universe, and the story takes a few twists and turns along the way. Really spectacular. If only the entire game was this good.

On the outside, Fusion feels just like any other game in the series. You're in an isolated environment with lots of stuff to shoot. You get upgrades (all of which are the traditional Metroid gizmos). You find hidden areas. There's lots of action. This is all good, right? Right. So what went wrong?

Fusion fails because it's lacking the elements that made the other games in the series so popular. The original Metroid was great because it was so open. You could run around the world, shooting anything that moves, and collect items in whatever order you choose. You could play the game ass-backwards if so desired. The big problem with Fusion is that it's constantly restricting you into little “sectors,” which not only limits exploration but also takes away the sense of openness that the series is practically known for. I want to break out and explore this world at my own pace. But I can't do that.

Control works fine, but without the six-button setup of the SNES controller, Samus doesn't control quite as smoothly as she did in Super Metroid (I still curse Nintendo for putting only four action buttons on the GBA). The A button jumps, B button fires, R switches to missiles, and L is used to shoot at an angle, while requiring you to press a direction on the d-pad to determine what that angle is. There's no button for dashing, which hurts. The select button is used to switch to super missiles. So the problem really isn't control, since, aside from a few things, Fusion pretty much controls a lot like Super Metroid.

One of my issues is the lack of many (if any) new power-ups or upgrades. All of the upgrades you'll get it Fusion are rehashes of ones you found in previous entries in the series. I mean, don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want to go without the Morph Ball, the Power Bomb, the Wave Beam… But at least gives us some new upgrades that make the experience all worthwhile. Traveling through the game using the same ol' weapons leaves a serious feeling of deja vu hanging through the air.

Fusion also constantly forces you to go on the same little pixel hunts that you went on in Super Metroid. Many times, you've got to find a hidden room or item by bombing on particular spot, while leaving no clues that you're supposed to do so. This was fine in the Super Metroid era, but nowadays it's just not very fun to go around bombing every little spot into you find what you're looking for. The game is also much shorter than previous games, which is a major letdown.

As far as tehcnology goes, Metroid Fusion pretty much pushes the Game Boy Advance to its technical limits. The graphics are absolutely superb. The animation completely rocks, with Samus bursting to life like never before and enemies looking completely gorgeous. The game is colorful and very, very detailed, the the art direction looks typically excellent. The soundtrack is also good, though there are too few tracks and not enough classic Metroid themes. The sound effects are also a bit loud, but the game features a headphone setting for non-GBASP users (although Fusion was made before GBASP... ahem).

Fusion certainly isn't all bad – it's an above-average game, especially on GBA, and if it were given any other title, I wouldn't be nearly as critical as I am now. But given that this is a Metroid game, it's hard not to take into consideration what this game is as opposed to what this game could have been. It's still got many of the elements that made the Metroid series popular and successful, but at the same time it's missing out on some of them as well.

Pros

+ It's a Metroid game.
+ Lots of action, big thrills.
+ Nice, responsive control scheme.
+ Excellent plot is a big step up from typical Metroid fare.
+ Challenging enemies and devilish bosses.
+ Some very fun segments.
+ Great graphics.

Cons

- Far too short and linear.
- Very few new power-ups and upgrades.
- Not much exploration.
- Control is a bit lacking with only four buttons.
- Not many unlockables or extras (if any).
- Repetitive music.
- You're constantly engaging on little pixel hunts.

Overall: 6/10

Metroid Fusion gets a recommendation from me to any Metroid fans simply because it contains new and vital story elements that any fan of the series would love to get in on. However, don't play Fusion solely for gameplay. It's a fun game, but it's just nowhere near as fun and enjoyable as previous games in the series, and therefore receives a six out of ten from me. I enjoyed Fusion, especially on the first run, but it's just too short and disappointing to be known as a classic like the other games were, and is quite simply the worst Metroid game to date.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 09/26/04