Metroid: NES Classics Series
Samus going old school.
Tags: Metroid: NES Classics Series Categories: GBA Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Travis on Mar 12th, 2005
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Metroid: NES Classics Series (title page) | 1 | ||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Platformer | No | ||
If you are reading this and have not played the original Metroid (or even worse – never heard of it), what are you doing reading a videogame review? The classic Metroid stands as one of the hallmarks of the industry, a standard barer for action platforming, videogame depth and of the sci-fi genre for years. It has spawned countless remakes and been on 5 platforms. Now, the original comes back to us.
Is that even a good thing? The entire original game could be unlocked in Metroid: Zero Mission as well as in Metroid Prime after using a link cable. So now, Nintendo rewards us with 8-bit original Nintendo graphics at a cost when they already gave it away for free? Well, at least the game is still good, even if the graphics are antiquated.
Everything from the original has been faithfully imported. The same planet, the same Mother Brain, the same metroids and the same Samus. It is what it is – a great platformer from the late 1980’s. The current year, of course, is 2005…
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As far as the gameplay goes, for the 2 people in the world who would be interested but have not played Metroid, or Super Metroid, or Metroid Prime, or… Just like the later Metroid games, this oldie is an action-adventure. At the start you’re armed with nothing more than a small gun and you need to explore a dangerous world, collect new weaponry (such as the maru-mari that gives you the ability to roll up, powerful rockets or an ice beam) and, of course, bash a large number of enemies and some fun bosses. Beware, as your moves are relatively limited: you can shoot straight ahead or up, there’s no ducking allowed and your health goes down faster than a speeding bullet. Once your health is returned to zero, the game is over and you can start again. This will happen quite often because of, amongst other things, the difficult assignments and the tons of platform puzzles. If you think Mario is difficult, you’ll have a hard nut to crack here.
Besides the possible frustration due to the difficulty level, a lot of gamers will not look forward to the retreading of explored areas and the endless searches for the next passage. There’s no mini-map, no clues, no nothing to tell you what you’re supposed to do or where you currently are. Also, when you’re given the ability to jump higher after obtaining an upgrade you will often have to return to a previous part of the area to see whether you can now reach a part that you couldn’t before.
An equal amount of patience will be necessary to shoot at everything at least once in order to check whether some hidden entrance is present. By now you’ll know that a large amount of time consists of exploration and navigation of the world, something we already knew from Metroid Prime.
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The review of this game is really more of a commentary on Nintendo trying to get every last dollar out of the GBA and the old titles. Yes, I love the fact that I can play Metroid again, and there is some value in that, but making it part of a massive pack of old titles (like the Midway packs) as opposed to releasing it seprately would have been far more pleasing to gamers and their wallets.
In the end, while Samus is still the coolest space pirate fighting babe in history, the game is dated and, more importantly, has been available as a free bonus in so many superior Metroid games that it really isn’t worth the price.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
|
+ Samus, Mother Brain and Ridley + Jumping puzzles |
5.2 |
| What Doesn't | |
|
- Nintendo's shameless money grubbing - Dated graphics and gameplay |
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| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
|
Great game, great decade. I love the 80's.... Oh wait, it's 2005. |
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Tags: Metroid: NES Classics Series
Posted by Travis on Mar 12th, 2005 and is filed under GBA Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
