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Other Games / Metroid Dread
« on: November 01, 2021, 09:16:38 pm »
So "the first new metroid 2D game in 19 years" came out a few weeks ago. Of course, since Metroid Fusion, we've had Metroid Prime 2 and 3, Hunters, Other M, Federation Force and the remake of Metroid 2, so it's not like nothing has happened with the franchise since then... but it's still a very meaningful addition. I have played through the game three times now. Once normally, getting 100% after beating the final boss, once again looking for places to "sequence break", and a casual speedrun on hard difficulty. And I have some thoughts that I need to get out.
Main one is that Dread is a sequel to Fusion in more ways than one. The emphasis is not really on exploration anymore. While the game doesn't spell out for you where you have to go, it has a tendency to close paths behind you as you go and leave very few options open at any given time. I don't mind that much that there's rarely more than one unopened door (or equivalent) at any given time, heavily pushing you towards The One True Path, but locking your options to backtrack for collectibles or just to check if you missed anything else than the obvious path in front of you is super annoying, especially when the "locking" comes unexpectedly, such as "random" pitfall blocks. The game only really lets you explore towards the end of the game. There are some occasions in which you can sequence break with clever/skillful platforming, placed there by the devs, but most are curiosities that don't last long before you're forced back to the main path. Some glitches allow further sequence breaking, but I don't know much about them.
That being said, movement is a joy. Controlling Samus has never felt better, you're zipping around at light speed, jumping, bouncing, sliding, etc., and it only gets better with additional upgrades. I believe it's this expanded mobility that really let MercurySteam go wild with the (few "true") bosses in the game, which are hands down the best in the whole series. Previous 2D Metroid games mostly had you trading blows with bosses, and while skill was still involved, it was mostly a check for how many missiles/energy tanks you had collected. In Dread, all boss attacks can be dodged, and with a bit of practice bosses can be beat without ever getting hit (the flipside, of course, is that any hit *hurts*, so you'll likely die a few times to each boss).
The EMMIs are fine. They're overall better than the SA-X, from a gameplay perspective, expecting quick planning and actual reactivity from the player, but they can also feel a bit unfair in that their placement is somewhat randomized. Luckily Dread checkpoints often, so they fact they instakill you is not too frustrating. They mostly test your capacity to exploit the level design to avoid them, so some feel more fun than others depending on how interesting the "platforming" around them is. I thought they were fun my first time around the game (though they seem to be polarizing online) as an occasional break of the usual gameplay, but on replays they get a bit boring since they're a bit too linear and there is very little you can do to optimize their sections. Maybe if their areas were a bit more open that would have alleviated the problem, but alas (check Rainworld if you want to see this concept pushed into a fullscale game).
For more general stuff, the game is obviously the best looking Metroid to date, by far. Music is just fine, not memorable but not bad. The plot (there is one!) is good enough with a couple of twists, and mostly references Fusion and (I think) M:SR. Loading screens between areas are long. One particular returning upgrade (grapple beam) gets some cool additional tricks, but unfortunately suffers from horrible inputs, often requiring 4 (!!!!) simultaneous inputs to use - I think the devs were aware of the issue, because you rarely need to use it precisely and quickly, but still, a different scheme would have allowed additional puzzles and platforming with it. The map is particularly useful this time around, quick check will usually tell you where to go if you've ever played a Metroid game before. Lots of hidden breakable blocks stopping progression, I only had to check a guide twice in Dread (even while getting 100%), and both were early on due to this problem, before I got in the habit of missile-ing and bomb-ing everything; I am very iffy about this.
Anyhoo, overall Dread is still a really good Metroid game, I would argue almost strictly better than Fusion. The fact that it's rather linear is more than made up for the fluidity of its movement and the quality of the bosses. Really the main issue with Dread is the price compared to indie alternatives (there is a before and an after Hollow Knight), but if the main thing you want from it is the progression from acquiring upgrades or want to know the next episode in the Metroid story, this is still a very worthwhile investment. I played AM2R right after (never had before, turns out I should have), and it's definitely a very different feel in terms of exploration even though it's somewhat linear itself; hopefully the next (?) Metroid game MercurySteam develops can capture that too.
Main one is that Dread is a sequel to Fusion in more ways than one. The emphasis is not really on exploration anymore. While the game doesn't spell out for you where you have to go, it has a tendency to close paths behind you as you go and leave very few options open at any given time. I don't mind that much that there's rarely more than one unopened door (or equivalent) at any given time, heavily pushing you towards The One True Path, but locking your options to backtrack for collectibles or just to check if you missed anything else than the obvious path in front of you is super annoying, especially when the "locking" comes unexpectedly, such as "random" pitfall blocks. The game only really lets you explore towards the end of the game. There are some occasions in which you can sequence break with clever/skillful platforming, placed there by the devs, but most are curiosities that don't last long before you're forced back to the main path. Some glitches allow further sequence breaking, but I don't know much about them.
That being said, movement is a joy. Controlling Samus has never felt better, you're zipping around at light speed, jumping, bouncing, sliding, etc., and it only gets better with additional upgrades. I believe it's this expanded mobility that really let MercurySteam go wild with the (few "true") bosses in the game, which are hands down the best in the whole series. Previous 2D Metroid games mostly had you trading blows with bosses, and while skill was still involved, it was mostly a check for how many missiles/energy tanks you had collected. In Dread, all boss attacks can be dodged, and with a bit of practice bosses can be beat without ever getting hit (the flipside, of course, is that any hit *hurts*, so you'll likely die a few times to each boss).
The EMMIs are fine. They're overall better than the SA-X, from a gameplay perspective, expecting quick planning and actual reactivity from the player, but they can also feel a bit unfair in that their placement is somewhat randomized. Luckily Dread checkpoints often, so they fact they instakill you is not too frustrating. They mostly test your capacity to exploit the level design to avoid them, so some feel more fun than others depending on how interesting the "platforming" around them is. I thought they were fun my first time around the game (though they seem to be polarizing online) as an occasional break of the usual gameplay, but on replays they get a bit boring since they're a bit too linear and there is very little you can do to optimize their sections. Maybe if their areas were a bit more open that would have alleviated the problem, but alas (check Rainworld if you want to see this concept pushed into a fullscale game).
For more general stuff, the game is obviously the best looking Metroid to date, by far. Music is just fine, not memorable but not bad. The plot (there is one!) is good enough with a couple of twists, and mostly references Fusion and (I think) M:SR. Loading screens between areas are long. One particular returning upgrade (grapple beam) gets some cool additional tricks, but unfortunately suffers from horrible inputs, often requiring 4 (!!!!) simultaneous inputs to use - I think the devs were aware of the issue, because you rarely need to use it precisely and quickly, but still, a different scheme would have allowed additional puzzles and platforming with it. The map is particularly useful this time around, quick check will usually tell you where to go if you've ever played a Metroid game before. Lots of hidden breakable blocks stopping progression, I only had to check a guide twice in Dread (even while getting 100%), and both were early on due to this problem, before I got in the habit of missile-ing and bomb-ing everything; I am very iffy about this.
Anyhoo, overall Dread is still a really good Metroid game, I would argue almost strictly better than Fusion. The fact that it's rather linear is more than made up for the fluidity of its movement and the quality of the bosses. Really the main issue with Dread is the price compared to indie alternatives (there is a before and an after Hollow Knight), but if the main thing you want from it is the progression from acquiring upgrades or want to know the next episode in the Metroid story, this is still a very worthwhile investment. I played AM2R right after (never had before, turns out I should have), and it's definitely a very different feel in terms of exploration even though it's somewhat linear itself; hopefully the next (?) Metroid game MercurySteam develops can capture that too.
