Completed 11th April
I do love the Metroid games and I have finally started the newest entry in the franchise, Metroid Dread. This Metroid feels like the usual Metroid 2D exploration, however, it is a little different.
If the classic Resident Evil 3 Nemesis and Super Metroid had a baby then Metroid Dread would be the result. There are parts of the game where an unstoppable enemy will pursuit you and if you are caught then it is game over (there is a slight window of opportunity where the enemy can be incapacitated for a few seconds).
During the early points of the game I did not know how to feel about the unstoppable enemies as it felt like it was frustratingly interrupting the classic Metroid exploration that I have enjoyed since first playing Super Metroid on the Wii through the Virtual Console. When an unstoppable enemy is chasing you it will only happen in certain areas and not the whole map, so you can sigh in relief when you are out of the danger Zone.
The seemingly unstoppable enemies are actually stoppable, but you have to work to gain a once only use weapon that can defeat the foe - once defeated the danger area of the map can be explored in the traditional Metroid way.
In the second portion of the game I felt that the amount of mini bosses and boss encounters happen a little too frequently which, to me, interrupted the flow of exploration that I have always enjoyed in previous Metroid games.
I find that the bosses can take off too much damage of the player health bar and are, maybe, a little too unfair compared to earlier Metroid game boss battles, such as the bosses that can be fought in the Super Nintendo classic - Super Metroid. In the later half of the game I found myself battling tougher boss battles and when I won I felt accomplished and ready to explore the rest of the map - but the problem was that another boss encounter would be triggered not long after a previous boss (or mini boss) fight after minimal exploring.
The developer Mercury Steam also developed a remake of the second Metroid game for the 3DS and in many ways it was an improvement over the original to and made it feel more in line with the later Metroid games that were released, but I feel like the mistakes the developer made with the 3DS game were not addressed in Metroid Dread, but instead it felt like the developer doubled down on the elements of the Metroid II remake that could have been scaled back.
I did not mind the boss battles in Metroid Dread, but I just think there were too many of them and in turn my enjoyment of exploring the map was hindered. In the second half of the game it felt like I was visiting and exploring a couple of rooms and I was then suddenly thrown into a boss fight and then soon after a little exploration another boss battle would occur far too soon.
I did not mind the pursuing robots that you could only defeat after destroying a mini boss fight that allowed the gaining of an ability to defeat one of the robots at a time, but there were many times were you would face the same boss (or variations) over and over again, which lead to myself fatiguing and feeling that there were just too many repetitive battles that did not have to be in the game.
Also not being able to use the D-Pad to control Samus can be quite frustrating because, not only do I have the muscle memory, but sometimes the analogue stick feels like movement does not always keep accurate to the direction that I press - it is not a huge deal, but parts of boss battles require pin point precision and I think the directional pad would be more accurate and helpful for certain parts.
Mercury Steam have accomplished a great job at creating a Metroid game, but I feel they need to calm down on the amount of boss battles (and mini boss battles) for future Metroid games they may develop as it seriously ruins the pacing of a Metroid game.
I have heard of people talking about Super Nintendo hard type of difficult games and Metroid Dread (at least in the later half) feels more difficult than than it needs to be and seems actually harder than the average Super Nintendo game - I found the boss battles to be more difficult than other bosess on the Super Nintendo released Super Metroid.
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Metroid Dread in many ways feels like it was designed with Metroid speed runners and hardcore Metroid fans who have tried and mastered various Metroid hardcore difficulty mods. I am a big fan of Super Metroid, Fusion and Zero Mission, but I would not describe myself as a hardcore Metroid player.
Maybe in the lower difficulty boss checkpoints during each phase could be offered - although I do not think checkpoints during boss phases are needed, but the use of checkpoints during the three phases of the final boss could have helped to ease the stress of each varied phase.
Both Mercury Steam Metroid games have been really fun to play, but I just do not enjoy them as much as most of the 2D Metroid games that came before them (including the fan remake of Metroid II, AM2R) as I feel that they had a better difficulty balance and a better paced number of boss (and mini boss) encounters.
Despite my issues with the frequency of boss and mini boss fights ruining the pacing of the classic Metroid formula I highly enjoyed my time with the game as a whole. My final score for Metroid Dread is ...
I do love the Metroid games and I have finally started the newest entry in the franchise, Metroid Dread. This Metroid feels like the usual Metroid 2D exploration, however, it is a little different.
If the classic Resident Evil 3 Nemesis and Super Metroid had a baby then Metroid Dread would be the result. There are parts of the game where an unstoppable enemy will pursuit you and if you are caught then it is game over (there is a slight window of opportunity where the enemy can be incapacitated for a few seconds).
During the early points of the game I did not know how to feel about the unstoppable enemies as it felt like it was frustratingly interrupting the classic Metroid exploration that I have enjoyed since first playing Super Metroid on the Wii through the Virtual Console. When an unstoppable enemy is chasing you it will only happen in certain areas and not the whole map, so you can sigh in relief when you are out of the danger Zone.
The seemingly unstoppable enemies are actually stoppable, but you have to work to gain a once only use weapon that can defeat the foe - once defeated the danger area of the map can be explored in the traditional Metroid way.
In the second portion of the game I felt that the amount of mini bosses and boss encounters happen a little too frequently which, to me, interrupted the flow of exploration that I have always enjoyed in previous Metroid games.
I find that the bosses can take off too much damage of the player health bar and are, maybe, a little too unfair compared to earlier Metroid game boss battles, such as the bosses that can be fought in the Super Nintendo classic - Super Metroid. In the later half of the game I found myself battling tougher boss battles and when I won I felt accomplished and ready to explore the rest of the map - but the problem was that another boss encounter would be triggered not long after a previous boss (or mini boss) fight after minimal exploring.
The developer Mercury Steam also developed a remake of the second Metroid game for the 3DS and in many ways it was an improvement over the original to and made it feel more in line with the later Metroid games that were released, but I feel like the mistakes the developer made with the 3DS game were not addressed in Metroid Dread, but instead it felt like the developer doubled down on the elements of the Metroid II remake that could have been scaled back.
I did not mind the boss battles in Metroid Dread, but I just think there were too many of them and in turn my enjoyment of exploring the map was hindered. In the second half of the game it felt like I was visiting and exploring a couple of rooms and I was then suddenly thrown into a boss fight and then soon after a little exploration another boss battle would occur far too soon.
I did not mind the pursuing robots that you could only defeat after destroying a mini boss fight that allowed the gaining of an ability to defeat one of the robots at a time, but there were many times were you would face the same boss (or variations) over and over again, which lead to myself fatiguing and feeling that there were just too many repetitive battles that did not have to be in the game.
Also not being able to use the D-Pad to control Samus can be quite frustrating because, not only do I have the muscle memory, but sometimes the analogue stick feels like movement does not always keep accurate to the direction that I press - it is not a huge deal, but parts of boss battles require pin point precision and I think the directional pad would be more accurate and helpful for certain parts.
Mercury Steam have accomplished a great job at creating a Metroid game, but I feel they need to calm down on the amount of boss battles (and mini boss battles) for future Metroid games they may develop as it seriously ruins the pacing of a Metroid game.
I have heard of people talking about Super Nintendo hard type of difficult games and Metroid Dread (at least in the later half) feels more difficult than than it needs to be and seems actually harder than the average Super Nintendo game - I found the boss battles to be more difficult than other bosess on the Super Nintendo released Super Metroid.
.png)
Metroid Dread in many ways feels like it was designed with Metroid speed runners and hardcore Metroid fans who have tried and mastered various Metroid hardcore difficulty mods. I am a big fan of Super Metroid, Fusion and Zero Mission, but I would not describe myself as a hardcore Metroid player.
Maybe in the lower difficulty boss checkpoints during each phase could be offered - although I do not think checkpoints during boss phases are needed, but the use of checkpoints during the three phases of the final boss could have helped to ease the stress of each varied phase.
Both Mercury Steam Metroid games have been really fun to play, but I just do not enjoy them as much as most of the 2D Metroid games that came before them (including the fan remake of Metroid II, AM2R) as I feel that they had a better difficulty balance and a better paced number of boss (and mini boss) encounters.
Despite my issues with the frequency of boss and mini boss fights ruining the pacing of the classic Metroid formula I highly enjoyed my time with the game as a whole. My final score for Metroid Dread is ...