Metroid - Samus Returns (Game For This, Boy?)

Turns out it took a while for me to finally get around to this properly, but here I am, complete with The Lady's old-style 3DS and claw-hands.

Samus feels wonderful, doesn't she? I've heard people question the controls, but she moves like a dream in my hands (no). The parry's glorious, natch, and I seem to be getting better at it.

Killed me first Metroid too. All good fun thus far.

You and your pianist's hands, able to adapt to (nearly) any control system... *groan, grouse, grumble*

The thing I'd forgotten was how stressful Metroid games felt. Whether it's the confines of the Chozo Ruins or the SA-X pursuing you in Fusion, or just the simple combination of ambient music and not being able to save everywhere... Let's just say I can't play it for almost an entire evening, like I can Mario or Zelda. Taking a break now!

I has five Metroids in my pocket. So the game has only just begun. It feels good, the first 2D Metroid I've properly given a chance to.

Snowballadeer wrote:

The thing I'd forgotten was how stressful Metroid games felt.

That's a big part of what makes them so great, and so unique. One of the only places I've ever gotten a similar feeling is Da*is silenced by a precision snowball to the face which may or may not have had a rock at the centre*

YouKnowNothingJonSnowBalladeer wrote:

or just the simple combination of ambient music and not being able to save everywhere...

I found the amount of save points in Metroid: SR to be quite generous, at least compared to most other games in the series.

I'm about 3 hours in and had genuinely forgotten about the parry mechanic. I am bad at this.

That's the best part of the game! Nicely done sir.

The_Jaster wrote:

I found the amount of save points in Metroid: SR to be quite generous, at least compared to most other games in the series.

They're not too bad, and when I died a couple of times I just got sent back to the start of the room. A generous game indeed, but it still feels stressful.

Drunkalilly wrote:

That's a big part of what makes them so great, and so unique. One of the only places I've ever gotten a similar feeling is Da-

ASnowballamandeer wrote:

A generous game indeed, but it still feels stressful.

Getting sent to a planet to wipe out a life form that's threatening the universe isn't going to be a walk in the park though, is it?

True, but neither should saving the world from the apocalypse be, and this is more stressful than BotW! (Apart from a couple of bits when I was underprepared for Lizalfos right near the start.)

It's got its claws in though (and is draining my life force ). I've just swept through most of Area 2 in one sitting, now onto Area 3. Looks like the biggest area in the game...

Snowballadeer wrote:

Samus feels wonderful, doesn't she?  I've heard people question the controls, but she moves like a dream in my hands (no).  

I didn't have too much bother with the controls until one specific point - you'll know it when you get to it.

I don't think I've got there yet. I am, however, through to Area 4. I have more than half the game's Metroids!

The areas have felt a bit samey, to tell the truth, except when they've gone lava-ish. I think the unremarkable non-music might contribute to that.

Double post, but I wanted to confirm what we all already knew: that Jay is bad at games. I just beat that boss, and while it was hard (satisfyingly so) I didn't have any problem with that particular control aspect.

Did u no:

And after that and all of those mini-bosses, I can now Space Jump like a pro!  Now that's fiddly.

So that's the both of us admins, then. Nice.

Blew through the penultimate area, I believe (at times literally).  I'm into the endgame.  It's been fun, but I have slightly rushed the latter stages.

EDIT: Last area!

Spoiler:

Snowballadeer wrote:

Double post, but I wanted to confirm what we all already knew: that Jay is bad at games. I just beat that boss, and while it was hard (satisfyingly so) I didn't have any problem with that particular control aspect.

Ohhhh, that's not the bit I was on about! He was a tough cookie, but I was on about:

Spoiler:

Oh. Oh yes, that was bloomin' awful. But a rare black mark on an otherwise pretty good game! Which - yes - I have finished.

Controversial opinion:

I agree with your controversial opinion.

Agreed, but he was still somewhat tricky!

What are your overall thoughts on the game, Balla?

Good! A strong sign-off for my 3DS days. As I said in the LGYF thread, I thought it lacked charm just a tad - the two things I can trace that back to are a lack of lore, like the Primes offered through their scanning, and the lack of tuneful music for much of the game. That latter point is also a reason I felt that environments merged into one another a little, in a way Phendrana and Magmoor (say) never would.

But the gameplay's very strong. Samus was a joy to control (other than that bit), the combat was great, the game had perfectly pitched difficulty, the rare bosses were great to fight, and

endgame:

Snowballadeer wrote:

 That latter point is also a reason I felt that environments merged into one another a little, in a way Phendrana and Magmoor (say) never would.  

That's a good point - nothing stood out like those two areas. Hopefully some area variance is something we'll see in MP4!

What did you's make of the Aeion abilities? I really liked the extra layer they added on top of the standard pick ups, loved the beam burst as it would absolutely shred certain enemies and bosses & the scan pulse was much better than just finding a map station as well.

I personally hope the latter returns in MP4 as I'd like to see if it could work in a 3d environment.

The scan pulse got a wee bit tiresome towards the end of the journey, so I'd like to see that refined in some way. The barrier was a neat crutch for me at points, so props for including that.

They're other Metroid abilities, aren't they? I largely forgot about three of them when I didn't have to use them. The Scan Pulse did a job, and I used the yellow rapid-fire wotsit in the final battle. They're a'right.

Bar a little exploration and a couple of orange spike puzzles I haven't worked out yet, I'm onto the final boss of this game and I've enjoyed it very much. Samus handles well, the dynamic cutscenes are just infrequent enough to enjoy, and I particularly like the bits where it zooms into the visceral action of boss battles for extra drama.

Only real things I can criticise are the 3DS circle pad in extended play sessions (hardly a fault of the game), and some of the longer boss battles that gate off progression behind the quicktime events - not a dealbreaker, but it's annoying to have to start a phase again essentially because you missed a cue. Successfully acing it is gratifying, however.

I'd say the game is pretty much the ideal length, though maybe one or two more varieties of the smallest mutated Metroid types would've been appreciated, as you get good at those early encounters quite quickly. Also: I miss the Speed Booster for late-game exploration - Samus starts to feel a wee bit slow when you've learned the maps.

All in all, I'm even more stoked now for Dread! Can't believe how long it's been since the last "proper" Metroid game.

I just polished off the "Zero Mission" part of Zero Mission, so I'll be making a start on this soon. You've made that sound a very exciting prospect indeed!