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 Metroid:: This game, which was released in 1986, looks old and the graphics clunky, and is a game totally outdone by todays standards. But I'm not reviewing todays technology verses yesterdays. No no, I'm reviewing one of the classic icons of gamings history. Metroid is one of the best games ever made, and what got it there was unparalleled gaming to any of it's competition at the time.
Gameplay:: The gameplay to Metroid is at best long and puzzling. This game, while in the action genre, is more about solving puzzles and riddles rather than just trying to kill everything you see. The build of the game is a mixture of corridors and tunnels making a huge maze for players to try and get through, one that seems to me to be unending. But the scale of this maze like world is so large that players of the time fell in love with it.
Graphics:: There's really not much to say about the graphics. I can't remember much about the times and how one games graphics look better than anothers, only that this is an 8-bit game and if you're looking for something superficially graphical to play then you should not play Metroid...believe me you'll be very dissapointed. But I'm certain the games graphics were superior at the time of its release.
Music:: The music score for Metroid is astoundingly accomplished. As all games of the late 80's, it used Midi music, but the music was formatted to fit the mood, and fit the mood it did. A warped science fiction world utilizes nothing better than synthesizers and low notes combined with flats to make it that much more enjoyable. The music in Metroid has become popular throughout the gaming world because of it's unique sound and more so because of it's accomplishments of meshing so well with the game it represented.
Story:: My favorite thing about Metroid, the story. As with all the Metroid stories, they are in depth, intriguing , mysterious, and most of all, entertaining. The first Metroid game is no exception of course since it sets the stage for all of it's sequels. You are sent to a world, a bounty hunter hired to eradicate a galactic threat, and your failure could mean the destruction of civilization as you know it. Unlike other games however, when Metroid came out nothing was revealed about the hero of the game. For all you know you could have been playing a hermaphrodite monkey in a rubber suit. That type of suspense was one of the key ingredients in keeping the players coming back for more and more. It's not often you don't even know about your own hero!!! So trying to defeat the game to find out more about Samus Aran was one of the pinpoints of the games popularity. Back to top
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Metroid II:The Return of Samus:: Sadly I haven't played this game and don't have anything to say about it!!! SORRY EVERYONE!!! Here is something I hope makes up for it though, Metroid II Review from Metroid Planet. Back to top
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Super Metroid:: Super Metroid, released in 1994 for the Super Nintendo, was the game that got me addicted to the Metroid Franchise. I was so young when the first one came out that, well, you know how children are, I was scared of the metroids and I didn't want to play it. The game itself though is nothing less than classic, and like it's predecessor Metroid, Super Metroid blew everyone out of the water.
Gameplay:: Another 2D side scroller, Super Metroids gameplay out-did the first game by adding new abilities, movement, and new worlds you could imerse yourself in. While a maze like environment, this game added the use of maps to Samus's inventory, and made it much easier to navigate around in. Also, it added a more interactive story that partly took place on screen instead of almost 100% in the instruction books.
Graphics:: The graphics of this game are smooth and much more advanced. They are detailed also, down to the way Samus breaths. (If she's low on energy her breathing is much quicker) The use of color as well as the simple look of the game combines very well and makes it not only fun to play, but look at as well!!!
Music:: This game combines old melodies with new ones as well as new sound techniques. Some might call the use of music a blast from the past, and simply an attempt to recreate an old classic game, but I thought of it as a reflection of the future and how much better things are going to get!
Story:: The storyline in this game picks up not long after the second. In the second game, she'd captured a metroid larva which had seemed to mistake her for it's mother. In this game, she delivers that larva to a science space station only to have it stolen by the space pirates and an old foe. Making this game much more dramatic than the original, the storyline for Super Metroid is a fitting addition to the entire series.
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Metroid Prime:: Metroid Prime is a game which takes place between the first and second Metroid games. The game also takes the first leap into 3D and allows us to see what our Heroine does as the view is first person. Called an FPA or First Person Adventure, Metroid Prime puts us into the action like no other Metroid game has.
Gameplay:: Totally immersive, Prime's gameplay is not only fun, but also lasts alot longer than the others. (Typical times to defeat Super Metroid were 4 hours, this game promises around 7 solid hours of play) Some say the controls are unusual, but only take about a minute to get used to, I myself however took to the controls like second nature. The programming is solid, and loading times are cleverly hidden behind opening doors and riding elevators.
Graphics:: Nothing bad can be said for the graphics of Metroid Prime. Running at a frame rate of 60 FPS and not glitching once, the textures of the world surrounding you are smooth and flawless, and everything is different, hence you don't get the cookie cutter background effect that you might from a 2D Side Scroller. Badies come at you in swarms (Literally) and the game doesn't lag or skip at all. Detailed down to the tiniest thought of realism, from shooting a beetle and watching it's guts and blood splash onto your visor, to seeing condensation on your visor in hot environments, to watching rain drops bead up on your cannon and bounce off when they hit as well, Metroid Prime is truely an accomplishment in the graphical world.
Music::While using midi music like it's predecessors, Prime's musical score brings old hits up to date with new sounds, and as always adds new sounds to new environments, broadening the world of Metroid that much wider. The music in this game fits the worlds which contain it. The Underwater Frigate uses a fantastical oceanic sounding tune while Magmoor caverns uses an old melody from Norfair with a hyped up drum beat. However, if you don't like the music, you may switch it off on the start menu screen, and play without it, which is equally good because the sound effects of Metroid prime are so realistic it honestly makes you think you could be there.
Story:: The best thing about Metroid Primes story is that it brings into light just how much tension there is between the Heroine and her main enemies the Space Pirates. The story is delivered, I believe, ingeniously through hacking into space pirate logs and chozo transcripts upon walls and telling you what's going on where and why. Though subtle in it's manner, the story for Metroid Prime definantly brings new perspectives to the series as well as enjoyable entertainment.
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Metroid Fusion:: Sadly I haven't played this game either, unless you count an emulator, and so I don't have much to say about it as well!!! SORRY EVERYONE!!!
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