Metroid: Zero Mission

The Good
Metroid: Zero Mission is the second Metroid game I've beaten; I beat Metroid Fusion a while back and started Metroid Prime but got nowhere (need to pick that up and play it again sometime).

M:ZM is essentially a remake of the very first Metroid game released for the Nintendo Entertainment System. However, it is more like a Director's Cut than a straight remake; a good example of another Director's Cut game would be the Gamecube version of the original Resident Evil. While the core game is intact, new locations, enemies, and bosses have been added to the game to extend the experience and provide more of a back story to your adventure.

Originally released in 2004, the graphics for M:ZM definitely stand up to the test of time. The majority of the time I played this game on my NES Edition Gameboy Advance SP; however, the graphics show up even better if you play it on the GameBoy Player that you can attach to your Gamecube. Colors are brighter, graphics are enhanced, and the music and effects sound clearer.

The gameplay is your typical Metroid style. You are thrown into an environment and have to go around recovering/acquiring various abilities in order to advance further through the area. Sometimes you will come across a locked door that you cannot even open without an ability you won't acquire until maybe a few more hours into the game. While this adds a certain level of longitivity to the game, it occassionally gives off a sense of artificially prolonging the game. However, completionists will delight in trying to achieve a perfect 100% collection score with a minimal time.

If you can complete the main mission, you will unlock a perfectly emulated version of the original Metroid for the NES, as well as a Hard mode that will definitely give you a challenge.

The Bad
While the Metroid series has never been known for its immersive story, it seemed that there was even less of a story than in Metroid Fusion. In M:F, cutscenes would occur more frequently, and you would constantly be getting updates from that computer personality.

The essential story of M:ZM seems to be 1- Destroy Mother Brain, and then 2-Destroy the Space Pirate ship. Not really much of a story, although I guess it's comparable to the "story" in the original Halo. However, it does get the job done; although it leaves us with a lot of questions, such as "Why was Samus raised on this planet by these creatures in the first place?"

One thing I appreciated about Metroid: Fusion was the directions your computer "friend" gave you, as well as good story reasons why you should go there. In Metroid: Zero MIssion, you are still prodded at times, but there is no reason as to why. Whenever you stumble across a Chozon statue, you will typically gain a new ability, and then be treated to a quick little shot of where you need to go next, without any reason as to why you should go there (other than you really can't go anywhere else).

I know a lot of fans of the series hated the prodding in the other game. They are disciples of the Super Metroid game where you have to find and discover everything for yourself. I am afraid I must disagree with them on this. Some motivation as well as direction is always a helpful thing in games, and is an evidence of good game design. Ever play a game where you have no clue where to go or do next? Not fun.

I beat the game just shy of 5 hours with a 76% completion rate. Obviously the game is a little on the short side. However, I'm thankful for the fact that I had already beaten another 2D Metroid game, because if I hadn't, and I hadn't used any guides or FAQs, it would probably have taken me much longer with a smaller completion rate.

The Bottom Line
A short action adventure title that can whittle away an afternoon or car ride, Metroid: Zero Mission is an excellent introduction to the series and is also a fun and enjoyable game for long term fans of the genre. I highly recommend it.

The Good
It's a Metroid, what's not to like? A polished, more playable, more accessible version of a great, if too hard, NES classic. Take a core game from that old one, add great SNES-style graphics, make it just perfectly playable, add great remixes of the classic music tracks, and you've got a complete and utter masterpiece that you gladly play over and over and over until you are too tired to play anything.

The Bad
I've heard people calling this far too short and simple. You can't do much about the shortness - even slowest players should beat this thing in 6 hours on Normal level on their first try - but I say this is good for replayability in portable games, especially when the thing wants me to play it faster and faster. If I know I have three hour trip ahead, I can usually count on completing this thing in that time.As for simplicity, well, I think this thing is generally pretty straightforward, which is not to say it is challenging at places.

And you have to kill Ridley in this game. Ridley is cute. =(

The Bottom Line
What do you get when you get a chance to take a NES game and turn it into a SNES-like game? A good chance to rework on playability and enjoyability, that's what.

This is a remake of a NES game, and a quite successful one at that. I kind of liked NES Metroid, but that thing is just way too hard by most modern scales. When most developers convert games from NES to GBA, they get things more balanced in this respect. Not a wonder. And it worked just fine in this game's case.

I used to hate all platformers unconditionally and little bit of 2D Metroids too (well, I only played the NES game and Super Metroid a little bit), but nowadays, I'm completely sold, and most of the thanks for that go to this little game. (Well, I still hate platformers, excluding Metroids!) For those who have never played the games, this game should be a good introduction to the series. Then follow that up with Prime and Fusion and Super and... well, just skip Metroid II, but you get my point.

Oh, and if you beat it, it also lets you play the original game. I'm still trying to figure that game out. It's hard.

The Good
This game is basically another remake of an old NES classic: Metroid. Though this is a remake it has got so many new things that you won't really mind even if you played the original. The story is therefore not as great as in recent Metroid titles but it does the job: Space pirates want to use the life sucking abilities of a newly discovered life-form called Metroids to create a very powerful weapon to control the galaxy. Interstellar bounty hunter Samus Aran must now destroy the Metroids and the Pirate leading Mother Brain. The gameplay, as in all Metroid games is smooth and easy. It's just plain brilliant. Lots of power-ups to Samus's power suit force you to look everywhere for new ones to proceed to new area's or reach new rooms in area's visited before. This makes Metroid such a good series. The graphics are also brilliant. Though the backgrounds of the caves in which this game is set do not allow as much detail as 2002's Metroid Fusion's space station, but they are beautiful in a different way and make use of a great comic-book style. All other sprites including Samus and her enemies are of the same style and quality as Fusion. The music is simply one off the best on the GBA if not the best. It's very atmospheric and beautiful and really gives you the feel that fits with being alone on a planet full of suspense and monsters.

The Bad
The game is much too short and easy. The difference in difficulty between easy and normal is difficult to notice. However if you complete the normal mode you will unlock a hard mode which is significantly harder. Also unlockable is the original NES game and the usual gallery of pictures. Each picture can be unlocked if you play through the game with certain criteria such as reaching the end with a certain amount of items. You can also link with Fusion to obtain the gallery of that game. These unlockables make up pretty good for the short length of the game, which is nice after all, but it's still not as good as Fusion. The longevity is the main reason for that. You wish there was just more to the game because it's such a great game.

The Bottom Line
Brilliant but because it's a remake and not a sequel you will be better of with Fusion which is longer and harder and gives you more for the same price. But this is definitely not a bad game, don't get me wrong but try Fusion first. If you like this game you'll simply love Fusion.