Metroid comes back in a big way this year with the simultaneous release of Metroid Prime on the GameCube and Metroid Fusion on the Gameboy Advance. My review of Prime was a glowing one, with tons of praise for this groundbreaking first person shooter. Fusion has much more of a classic Super Metroid feel to it, since it is a side-scroller like the older games.
Metroid Fusion is 100% new, though, with just enough of the classic gameplay combined with a real plot, a cinematic style, new tactics, huge bosses, and several new abilities to use. While Fusion is a bit of a short game, fans who want to get every single secret will spent quite a while doing it.
The classic Metroid controls return, although there are a few changes to enable easy play on the GBA four-button layout. You now hold the right trigger whenever you want to fire a missile, which is pretty intuitive once you have all the missile upgrades. Most of the abilities from Super Metroid are back here, and they work perfectly. The Grappling Hook and X-Ray beam are missing, but in the context of Fusion, that's just fine.
Playing Fusion on the GBA's little D-pad worked alright, although anyone who has problems with it in other games is going to have problems here. Most of my (albeit minor) complaints about Fusion's controls are rooted in my problems with the controls on the GBA itself. Despite that, Fusion plays just fine; any classic Metroid player will feel right at home after a minute or two.
Metroid Fusion is one of the best-looking games on the GBA. The Mario and Street Fighter ports, as well as the Castlevania games, are all great looking; I'm happy to say that Fusion looks as good as any of them. The whole game is filled with colorful backgrounds and enemies, all of which come out well on the little GBA screen. The bosses are massive and very detailed as well - it shows that Nintendo didn't have to sacrifice much to bring Metroid to the GBA.
Samus herself looks a little different this time around, as her suit has been changed by a virus called X. The weapons all look very nice, and are satisfying to fire. The environments are pretty diverse, even though you spend the whole time on a big research space station. The different sections of the station have all your favorite environments from the old games, like jungles, sub-zero containment, hot pits of lava, water areas, and more.
Enemies are pretty unique here, with quite a few new types combined with several ones that will be familiar from previous Metroid games. Fusion also is plenty bright enough to see on the GBA screen, which is sometimes an issue with the less kid-oriented games.
The biggest change in Metroid Fusion is that the game pushes you along in a more story- oriented style. You'll be directed around the space station to solve the problems that the X virus are causing, and there will be a few surprise visits from huge bosses and other stuff you'd expect out of a Metroid game.
Fusion is definitely more linear than its predecessors, as the computer will send you around the space station to perform tasks. You will be allowed to deviate somewhat, but the whole ship is never all open at once. This can mean that some of the secret items out there are only available for you to find at a certain point in the game; if you miss it that time, there's no going back.
Those who loved the non-linear gameplay of previous Metroid games might have a big problem with this style of play, but I find that it solves more problems than it creates. The game is now much easier to find your way around in, and save points are everywhere; this means that Nintendo had the opportunity to make some areas very tough to get through, and a few of the boss encounters are going to take 5 or more tries to get right.
Even after all of this, the average time for beating this game the first time will be about 8 hours or so. Fusion is not quite as long of a game as Super Metroid was, although some players will assert that it's because they spent less wasted time aimlessly wandering around here than they did in the SNES predecessor.
For the players that love to find secrets, Fusion is going to be a lot of fun. This time around, the items are in some of the toughest-to-find places; you will find yourself constantly on the watch for clues to find even more energy tanks or missile upgrades.
In the end, Metroid Fusion is a wonderful addition to your GBA library. I'd consider Super Metroid on the SNES to be an overall better game, but not everything from the SNES days can be squeezed into the little GBA package. Plus, Metroid Fusion can be had for as low as $25 brand new, which is a great deal on a great game.
This area is where Metroid Fusion falters a bit. The GBA hardware doesn't allow for much to be done with the sound, which means that Fusion's music is pretty basic and only a couple of simple tunes stand out as sounding really good. Most of the sound effects are worse than those of Super Metroid from the SNES, although there are a few bits of voices here & there that sound very clear.
The biggest problem I have is that the music is rather boring most of the time. Despite the GBA's lack of any decent music capabilities, I expected a little more out of a flagship title for the portable platform. As it is, the sound and music are merely decent, rather than great.
Despite my complaints about the sound and music, and my half-hearted desire for a less linear style of play, Metroid Fusion is a great game that should be checked out by anyone who owns a GBA. It's much easier to get into for players who have never played Metroid before, and the action is furious and challenging. On top of that, the ton of secret items to find will keep you coming back to try again.
