{"id":1333,"date":"2025-01-03T19:00:12","date_gmt":"2025-01-04T00:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/?p=1333"},"modified":"2024-12-28T13:11:12","modified_gmt":"2024-12-28T18:11:12","slug":"metroid-dread-issue-51","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/index.php\/2025\/01\/03\/metroid-dread-issue-51\/","title":{"rendered":"Metroid Dread \u2014 Issue 51"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Metroid Dread a return to form for vet\u00ader\u00adan series<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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That fore\u00adbod\u00ading sense of \u2026 dread. The antic\u00adi\u00adpa\u00adtion of walk\u00ading into an unknown room and pos\u00adsi\u00adbly find\u00ading a secret. It\u2019s the stuff many old-school gamers and Metroid fans like me cut our teeth on grow\u00ading up with Metroid\u00adva\u00adnia games. The orig\u00adi\u00adnal Metroid set the tone, but Super Metroid is the house of cards that every\u00adthing in the genre rests on. And Metroid Dread, while an admirable attempt to recre\u00adate that nos\u00adtal\u00adgic feel\u00ading, is a few mis\u00adsiles short.<\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t mis\u00adun\u00adder\u00adstand me: I love Metroid Dread. It\u2019s the return to form that we all expect of a Metroid game, and you can tell that with\u00adin the first five min\u00adutes. The open\u00ading cin\u00ade\u00admat\u00adic picks the sto\u00adry up after Fusion where Samus Aran, the bad\u00addest boun\u00adty hunter in the known uni\u00adverse, has simul\u00adta\u00adne\u00adous\u00adly solved the X Par\u00ada\u00adsite threat and ush\u00adered in galac\u00adtic peace once again. Despite that, the Galac\u00adtic Fed\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion receives ver\u00adi\u00adfied proof that the X are not extinct and sends EMMI<\/span> (Extra\u00adplan\u00ade\u00adtary Mul\u00adti\u00adform Mobile Iden\u00adti\u00adfiers) to the plan\u00adet ZDR<\/span> to inves\u00adti\u00adgate the mys\u00adtery of why the X Par\u00ada\u00adsite has reap\u00adpeared. Soon after the EMMI<\/span> land, all con\u00adtact is lost with them. Ms. Aran is sent in to inves\u00adti\u00adgate their dis\u00adap\u00adpear\u00adance, and short\u00adly after land\u00ading, finds her\u00adself in com\u00adbat with a mys\u00adte\u00adri\u00adous fig\u00adure that resem\u00adbles a Chozo. Giv\u00aden that the Chozo oth\u00ader than her\u00adself are also extinct, it\u2019s an even deep\u00ader mys\u00adtery that Samus is deter\u00admined to solve.<\/span><\/p>\n

The sto\u00adry is inter\u00adest\u00ading, and I was gen\u00aduine\u00adly invest\u00aded in learn\u00ading about the EMMI<\/span> and what they found on the plan\u00adet. I was even more intrigued about the Chozo war\u00adrior because I\u2019m well-versed in the lore of Metroid and any\u00adthing that calls back to Super Metroid and Samus\u2019 ori\u00adgin sto\u00adry is going to have my atten\u00adtion. It also ref\u00ader\u00adences Metroid Fusion, obvi\u00adous\u00adly, and parts of Metroid II<\/span>: Samus Returns \u2014 which is the excel\u00adlent remake of Metroid II<\/span>: The Return of Samus. Lean\u00ading on the old\u00ader sto\u00adry is a smart move because you\u2019re prob\u00ada\u00adbly going to go back and play the old\u00ader games and the remake, and you\u2019re going to buy into the sto\u00adry of the cur\u00adrent game a lit\u00adtle bit easier. <\/span><\/p>\n

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What isn\u2019t a lit\u00adtle eas\u00adi\u00ader, even on the easy dif\u00adfi\u00adcul\u00adty lev\u00adel, is the com\u00adbat. Lis\u00adten, I\u2019m a Super Metroid expert and I can even claim beat\u00ading the orig\u00adi\u00adnal Metroid, but the first hour of Dread is hard. I got stuck on the sec\u00adond EMMI<\/span> chase sequence and had to go watch a detailed demon\u00adstra\u00adtion of what to do because I just was\u00adn\u2019t get\u00adting it. And, yes, I love this about Dread. Metroid, at its core, is about explo\u00adration, prob\u00adlem-solv\u00ading and fig\u00adur\u00ading out things by tri\u00adal and error. I\u2019m doing that in Dread, though my old-man reflex\u00ades and patience are get\u00adting in the way. But this is what I want out of my Metroid game to a point. The oth\u00ader side of this, how\u00adev\u00ader, is that I did\u00adn\u2019t care for the mad dash away from an all-pow\u00ader\u00adful ene\u00admy in Metroid Fusion in 2002, and I don\u2019t par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly care for the mad dash away from an all-pow\u00ader\u00adful ene\u00admy in Metroid Dread now. That fran\u00adtic feel\u00ading of not know\u00ading what to do in a sequence that means instant death con\u00adstant\u00adly is not a good one, and I had hoped that it would\u00adn\u2019t return 20 years lat\u00ader, but here we are. I\u2019ll fig\u00adure it out and learn to live with it, I guess, but it\u2019s not one of my favorite parts of the game.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the oth\u00ader things I do love about Dread is the atmos\u00adphere. The music hits the sweet spot of nos\u00adtal\u00adgia and new with leit\u00admo\u00adtifs of Super and the orig\u00adi\u00adnal game mixed in, and the graph\u00adics are gor\u00adgeous. I\u2019ve long been a fan of the music of Metroid, and this is just anoth\u00ader mas\u00adter\u00adpiece in the long his\u00adto\u00adry of the series. Also, Samus has nev\u00ader looked bet\u00adter. She\u2019s more fleshed out with mod\u00adern graph\u00adics, but my favorite hero\u00adine is sim\u00adply stun\u00adning even in the stripped Pow\u00ader Suit. And while ZDR<\/span> is no Zebes, it\u2019s a deli\u00adcious\u00adly dark envi\u00adron\u00adment that invokes the best part of brood\u00ading moody dark plan\u00adet that fits right in Metroid lore.<\/span><\/p>\n

While I love a lot of Dread, there are some things that I don\u2019t quite love. First, as a vet\u00ader\u00adan Metroid lover, I can\u2019t help but won\u00adder why it took so long to get a side-scrolling ver\u00adsion of Metroid again and why it fol\u00adlowed Fusion after so many years. Dread is fan\u00adtas\u00adtic, but Fusion was not exact\u00adly Super, and Dread tries a lit\u00adtle too hard to make Fusion work. I\u2019d rather Dread had its own iden\u00adti\u00adty aside from the cleanup of Fusion\u2019s mess. <\/span><\/p>\n

And while we\u2019re at it, Dread tries a lit\u00adtle too hard to lean into Super\u2019s lega\u00adcy. It\u2019s well-known that Super is our favorite game of all time. That is not a secret. How\u00adev\u00ader, unless you\u2019re going to give me a full mod\u00adern remake of Super, don\u2019t tease me with some\u00adthing almost there. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Dread is a tease, a \u201cwhat if we were to remake the great\u00adest game of all time with mod\u00adern con\u00adtrols\u201d exper\u00adi\u00adment. To quote the awful Ronin in Avengers: Endgame, don\u2019t give me hope. Don\u2019t give it to me halfway and then be like, naw, you know what? Let\u2019s just call it Metroid 5 and we\u2019ll revis\u00adit that Super remake lat\u00ader. This tech\u00adni\u00adcal\u00adly isn\u2019t Dread\u00ad\u2019s fault, because it\u2019s an excel\u00adlent game and it\u2019s giv\u00ading me, the Metroid fan who did\u00adn\u2019t want a first-per\u00adson shoot\u00ader Metroid, exact\u00adly what I\u2019ve been ask\u00ading for since Fusion. I\u2019m not ding\u00ading Dread per se; I\u2019m ding\u00ading Nin\u00adten\u00addo for being a tease and a ter\u00adri\u00adble one at that.<\/span><\/p>\n

Metroid Dread does almost every\u00adthing right: The atmos\u00adphere is Metroid, the graph\u00adics are Metroid, the sto\u00adry is Metroid and the secre\u00adcy is Metroid. It\u2019s a must-play if you\u2019re into the series and even if you aren\u2019t, you still need to expe\u00adri\u00adence it just to see how the grand dame of Metroid\u00adva\u00adnia does her thing and cre\u00adates per\u00adfec\u00adtion. It\u2019s just that if you\u2019re walk\u00ading into this think\u00ading you\u2019re going to get Super Metroid lev\u00adels of per\u00adfec\u00adtion, you\u2019re going to be dis\u00adap\u00adpoint\u00aded. It\u2019s not Oth\u00ader M lev\u00adel of dis\u00adap\u00adpoint\u00adment, but the lay\u00aders of Super haunt the out\u00adcome. Then again, let\u2019s face it: Noth\u00ading is going to touch Super\u2019s lev\u00adel of nuance. And Dread is still fine for it. Dread near\u00adly hits on every lev\u00adel, and it\u2019s the side-scrolling Metroid adven\u00adture we non-first-per\u00adson shoot\u00ader fans have been wait\u00ading for. It\u2019s just that you must be will\u00ading to look past the dread\u00aded com\u00adpar\u00adisons to Super Metroid to see its true finesse.<\/span><\/p>\n