Gaming Metroid just took a few steps back?

[Reploid]

The game is fine. It looks nice, controls are super tight, level design is well intrigued. But I'm talking about something more meta.

Yes, the plot, and maybe not the plot itself, but more like narrative structure. It feels like the game was designed by Myamoto, it's that primitive. But it's supervised by Sakomoto, the series' daddy.

It basically Metroid 5, while Fusion was Metroid 4 and was the last chronological game in the series. In Metroid 4 Samus finally got personality, the game had proper dialogues and even some kind of character development, as ADAM the computer became more emotional and human-like, akin to the person he's based on, Adam Malkovich.
Now Samus is mute again, even tho gaming audience finally getting sick of mute protagonists, and ADAM is just your typical cold Amazon Alexa again, degraded into a regular smartphone app. And his generated-like voice is so unpleasant to hear, for the first time I've tried to disable voices in the game, but was unable to. Luckily there is barely any dialogues in the game, as story is paper thin.

It reminds me of Samus returns. I've dropped because it was kinda bore to play. Also fine crafted, but I had to listen to audiobooks to keep my brain busy, while I explore for secrets and treasures. And I have the same problem here. It feels like another Game Boy game remake, not something modern made in 2021 and ignoring advancements the series had previously. Even mediocre metrodovanies, like Batman on 3DS tried to keep invested with characters and related events as you explore the blackgate prison, but nothing of that sort here. Or Monster boy with the most clichéd plot ever, but some colorful chars to make up for it.

Yes, a game doesn't need a narrative to be good, but when you introduce something only to take it back next time it just feels off.

 

[Rahkeesh]

We got the most Metroid narrative ever with Other M and it was horribly received. Specifically, the narrative part. No one wants to give Sakamoto Carte Blanche here again.

The way the Fusion narrative constricted player exploration was also widely hated. I do think its possible to still tell a story with freedom but it is tricky. There aren't too many successful examples especially in this genre.

I do think this game needs some kind of warning about how unapologetically old-school it is. Nintendo burned most of the cutscenes trying to market this as another cinematic game and it just isn't. But this game is giving 2D Metroid fans exactly what they want.

 

[EmanueleBGN]

I liked both Other M and Dread, for their gameplay and their stories.
A story can be 'simple' and yet be interesting. Also, the end of Dread surprised me: I was rapt by the story.
But the main point of these games is the exploration, the fun is to explore a labyrinth; the story is just a pretext

 

[Kameryn]

I agree somewhat, I definitely found Samus Returns tedious and lacking despite it's advancements, especially when compared to it's unofficial AM2R counterpart, which is way more fun to play. Story wise AM2R incorporated the log feature found in the Prime games which really helps to fill things out and added a more active element for the players interested in the story.

This would fit perfectly in Dread considering the intricate set pieces and environments that I personally would love to know more about, but maybe Adam takes care of that for you? I also agree that it would be cool to see Samus's internal dialogue again like in Fusion.

However at the same time Dread does it's thing so well it's hard to fault it. It is damn cool, gorgeous and exhilarating, I haven't felt so affected by a game in a long time, for me it is super engaging.

 

[eyeliner]

Maybe the game came back to it's roots. I mean, Metroid, Metroid II and Super Metroid had a silent protagonist (except the text cutscenes on Super Metroid).
Fusion was a great game, but way too verbose, and Other M, where Samus was humanized, was panned because the girl had emotions, spoke and at the game's time she was burnt out after all she went through before. Goddamn, character development is something people want, but when they get, they hate it.

Same thing on Prime, she was silent, except for the gasps when hit.

So, they played it safe. Sometimes, that's the way to go.

PS: I bought the game today. \o/

 

[Osha]

The game has a narrative tho, what are you talking about ? Just because it's not explicitly written over 30 minutes of cutscenes doesn't mean it's not there. Environmental storytelling has always been a huge part of the Metroid franchise.

 

[tomberyx]

if someone asked me how I would design Metroid.

1. No clues about opponents, no clues about the planet only you and your mind.
Metroid 2 (game Boy) and M3 (SNES) are perfect examples.

2. I would also play with the colors and not make everything so colorful so that everything looks gloomy and dangerous.

3. To change the levels or camera position so that you do not see the whole area at the same time.

4. I know I'm probably alone with my opinion. Metroid is losing its roots and turning into Mega Man.

 

[hippy dave]

I'm just happy bomb jumping is back