Superb Metroid (Super Metroid (PC))

Member Name: dididave

Product:	Super Metroid (PC)
Date:	06/04/09 (256 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Brilliant gameplay, interesting plot, great music, responsive controls.

Disadvantages: Irritating wall jump.

When bounty hunter Samus Aran becomes the unwitting surrogate mother to a Metroid larva she becomes attached and delivers it to a space station for research rather than destroying it. As she leaves she receives a distress signal from the station and arrives just as Space Pirate Ridley kidnaps the Metroid larva. Enraged, Samus travels to the Pirates planet and attempts to track down the larva.

Super Metroid is easily the best Super Nintendo game of ever released. Forget Mario Kart and even Streetfighter 2, this is the definitive game for the console and often tops gamers polls for best game of all time. A two-dimensional action game it plays like a mixture of role playing game and good old fashioned arcade shooter.

What makes Super Metroid such a great game is that it is so damn rewarding to play. It all starts off in exciting and frenetic fashion and those slows down to a weird and eerie crawl as you arrive on apparently uninhabited planet. Of course, all is not what it seems and this is one of few games that put you on edge from the outset with eerie music and telling scanning devices that hint that someone is watching. Then it all kicks off as you are hit by waves of aliens.

The planet Zebes is bloody huge and a joy to explore. The World is well designed and is logically constructed so you feel like you are making progress. However, there is fiendish level of frustration to play as you struggle to find the way through to the next level then bang your head on the wall as you realise it was quite simple after all.

Everything about this game screams play me constantly. Samus Aran is a wonderfully fluid character to control and responds brilliantly to my commands. I can jump, duck and roll with precision and firing a weapon has never been so satisfying. Aran's weapon is an extension of her arm making aiming in any direction very easy. There are a massive array of weapons and abilities to unlock here and this is a game in which it pays to explore. In many games the exploration aspect becomes repetitive but you actually find yourself enjoying the backtracking to find that elusive ability or weapon that allows you to progress that little bit further. This is a game with an almost limitless longevity as even when you do complete it (and you will after several months and a divorce) there is things you know you have missed and will want to visit again.

A game full of clever touches, Super Metroid just keeps on giving. Graphically it is simplistic with bold visuals but is also entirely convincing. Everything in this game is huge and colourful yet somehow atmospheric and menacing. Each area of the planet is characterised by a monotone vivid set of colours be red for fire, blue for ice and green for water and these areas also effect how you have to play as you need particular items and skills to progress. Sounds are sparse but the music is epic and rarely in a game do I take in game music in and not want to switch it off.

Full of enemies to destroy perhaps most fun is the huge boss battles reminiscent of another great SNES game "R-Type". All the bosses and indeed enemies have a weakness and a pattern but that does not necessarily make them easy and they often dominate the whole screen. Boss battles are brilliant and entertaining and the difficulty level of the whole thing is just right. This is a game that rewards the frequent player and destroys the casual gamer. You only have one life and despite save pods you better make it count as this is a game that can be unforgiving.

Despite my ravings there are perhaps one or two things that could have made it absolutely perfect. Enemies respawn when you leave an area making it a little annoying when you retrace your steps and Samus's jump can sometime give you trouble as she occasionally decides to jump normally rather than the "roll jump" you usually expect. The game is also very nearly ruined by the only non-fluid ability in the game, the "wall jump". This ability is essential in just one area of the game but it requires such precise controls that it can be virtually impossible to traverse the massive wall you are given. It took me an hour to master if it was any other game I would have given hope.

However, Super Metroid still remains the best single-player game I have ever played and absolutely craps on anything released before or since despite being fourteen years old. Forget the dodgy remakes on the DS, this is the absolute best. Of course, playing it is a different matter and without tracking down a Super Nintendo and the game on eBay or debating the dubious legalities of ROMS you will struggle. However, I do think it is worth the effort. The most interesting single-player game ever.

Summary: Best single player game of all time.