Super Metroid (Review)

Super Metroid was the third game released in the Metroid series, but is the seventh game in the series's timeline. The game's story ties together elements from the original game and the Game Boy sequel. The game sees Samus returning to planet Zebes and entering the Space Pirate's base. She finds a lone Metroid in a room which is instantly captured and is taken somewhere deep within Zebes, with Samus in pursuit to find out where the Metroid has been taken and why. The story isn't that interesting, as is the case with most Nintendo games, but the story does take place on the same planet as the first game so I got to see some familiars enemies and places. The game not only uses the worlds from the original game but expands on them. Many of the repeated rooms have also been re-designed, providing the right balance of nostalgia and new challenges, which was something I enjoyed.

Not much has changed since the first game, you're still exploring the depths of the planet, killing alien enemies, finding new power-ups to help you progress. As with most sequels there are new power-ups like the speed booster which lets you crash through certain walls, the power bomb, which destroys extremely hard surfaces and the very helpful X-ray visor, which lets you finds hidden paths and power-ups. A lot of people have often referred to Super Metroid as the best game in the Metroid franchise and one of the best games of all time and maybe because that's the only thing I ever hear when someone talks about the game, I find it rather easy to disagree. While exploration is the main hook of the series, it's still way too easy to get stuck/lost with no clue where to go. While this did help me feel fustration in the same way Samus was probably feeling, it's not fun to be at a complete loss of what to do for long periods of time. Also some of Samus's abilities control like crap, I'm mostly referring to the untrustworthy grapple beam and the dreadful to use wall jump. Despite those complaints, Super Metroid is still a wonderful game filled with top-notched gameplay and an haunting atmosphere. Definitely one of the Super Nintendo's best titles and one of the better games on the Wii's virtual console.