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vbanuelo's Super Metroid (SNES)
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| [January 15, 2008 12:21:28 AM]
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GAMEPLAY:
This game has done a really good job of keeping me addicted in the 2+ hours I've played it. I have really enjoyed the rewards that this game never ceases to reap. I have literally dedicated my time to fully exploring each sector searching for anything that looks out of the ordinary, this could be a differently colored block, a crack on the floor, or two areas on a screen blocked off by a center wall. There have been times that I didn't have the right suit upgrade to get through, so I took note and returned to find my upgrade later when I had the right upgrade for it. Most of these upgrades have been for the missile carrying capacity, and an occasional life capacity enhancer. I don't believe this is a necessary in any way shape or form to finish the game, but it has made battling bosses and room monsters much, much easier. Maybe too easy, since my first real boss battle only took one try to beat.
The one thing that I have disliked about this game is the story. There doesn't seem to be one aside from the first 10 minutes of gameplay. Since then I have not run across any references to the main story. Had I not sat through that introduction the first day, I could very easily think this is a treasure hunt. Where searching for upgrades is the reason Samus went to planet Zebes.
So far this game has been really fun to play. I have yet to become fully stuck in any area. There have been times that I entered an area, and a door closes behind me, and I realize I must just continue forward and search for an exit elsewhere. This has been especially satisfying because I literally stopped playing Kingdom Hearts because I got stuck in one area for two days straight and decided to stop playing it all together. So I am especially pleased with this game for that factor where getting lost is not really an issue, an exit is usually a bomb ball, missile, or jump away. The player just has to learn to look for areas where to bomb stuff.
DESIGN:
I especially enjoyed the design of the levels. There is always a way out of anywhere as long as you look for it. This could be a very deep expedition into an area, or just searching for something out of the ordinary to blast. I also like that enemies keep re-appearing after exiting and re-entering a room, so if the player is low on health, he or she could very easily enter and exit a room to kill enemies and collect health regenerators. It does add some difficulty if the current weapon that Samus has doesn't do much for a certain enemy. So avoiding rooms has also become my practice until I can find weapon upgrades, or if I really need to enter it.
As I have mentioned, I really love the rewards system. I love searching high and low for weapon upgrades, life upgrades, any upgrade. It makes feel a sense of satisfaction when my hard work spelunking through innards of Planet Zebes leads me to a higher missile carrying capacity or a new suit upgrade. In fact, this aspect of the game has replaced my initial desire to play it which was to see what a metroid was. This reward system also helps to deal with the harder enemies as the game has progressed which makes me feel not so overwhelmed in certain chambers.
There is something I don't care much for in this game. More specifically the story line as I have mentioned before. I would have preferred a story where the Metroid Larva has been discovered to be somehow crucial to the survival of the universe. So when it is stolen by the Evil-Purple dragon, Samus gives chase only to be shot down in Planet Zebes where she crash lands, and everything but her basic suit is scattered around Planet Zebes upon impact. She must at once locate all her missing suit pieces in order to recover the Metroid Larva and save the universe. This would also give way for an introductory level where Samus must use all her weapons to get through the Space Colony. Although this introductory level would remove all sense of surprise I have encountered at locating certain weapons. Although this would also eliminate the initial frustration I felt when playing this game, which was the controls.
This entry has been edited 5 times. It was last edited on Jan 15th, 2008 at 00:58:55.
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| [January 14, 2008 01:48:08 AM]
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SUMMARY:
In Super Metroid (a side scrolling platformer), the player controls Samus Aran, a bounty hunter that (from what I gathered from the intro) needs to recover a baby metroid (some type of alien life form) stolen by an evil-looking purple dragon. The game takes place on Planet Zebes, and the player must build Samus' suit up from upgrades scattered (by whom?) around the aforementioned planet. The main object of the game is to search Planet Zebes for the stolen metroid larva, but in order to do so the player must find the suit upgrades required to reach areas not accessible otherwise.
GAMEPLAY:
When you start a new game you're given some back story by Samus herself. This was very helpful for me since I have never played the precursors of Super Metroid, and made me feel like I wasn't going to miss out on something because of it. In a sense it helped throw me into the world of Metroid.
You begin the game on a space colony where a distress signal was sent by scientists studying a Metroid larva. This was sent shortly after what I can only assume was the end of Metroid 2. Eerie music plays in the background as you explore the ship, leading to a sense of caution. Going through the ship you discover an evil-looking purple dragon waiting to battle, and it escapes with the Metroid!!! It is now your job to recover the Metroid. And Planet Zebes is the first stop.
I got through playing Super Metroid for an hour, and it was a bit frustrating initially. There's no tutorial that shows you how to control Samus, or anything that provides insight on the controller layout (well aside from the options to change the layout), so I found myself having to experiment a bit at first. Maybe its just me, but I would have preferred if it had an introductory level introducing the control scheme similar to the one in Half-Life. The reason that there is no tutorial could be because this game has a simple control scheme -- shoot is X, run is B, and jump is A -- but I would have preferred to have known at the onset what button corresponded to whatever action. I don't know what Y does and I blame it on the lack of a crash-course. I did find myself pressing B when I wanted to jump, which led me to lose more health that I should have initially, I started to think that this wasn't a very intuitive button placement for jump, but then I remembered that holding B to dash makes long jumps easier (ala Super Mario Bros for NES) than holding A to dash then awkwardly pressing B, but seeing as how I didn't discover that I could dash until much later, it felt odd at first.
I did like having to look for the suit upgrades and learning where and how to use them. I always felt really good when I went out of my way to explore a room, and be rewarded with a map layout of the area. I also felt really rewarded when I discovered that different weapons unlock different areas according to the door color. In fact I felt that this game kept reaping rewards. If the player doesnt have 99 health, or the max number of missiles, then any enemy kill gives you any items that would replenish low stocks. So if you are player that likes to be rewarded, this game is definitely for you.
I found it pretty cool to know I was playing as a female. I didnt know this until I died, the suit broke apart, and out popped a girl in a black two-piece bikini. It was pretty funny when I saw this, and whoever thought of this was a genius. I can imagine the sense of shock, when this twist was presented in the Original Metroid. I can imagine this being somewhat similar to finding out Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker's father. Sadly though this game is a solitary confinement. Just you and the game, no room for outsiders. But then again this is also genius, since its just Samus and no one else that can recover the Metroid larva, and this feeling is felt by the player and his solitude.
This entry has been edited 3 times. It was last edited on Jan 15th, 2008 at 00:58:30.
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vbanuelo's Super Metroid (SNES)
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Current Status: Played occasionally
GameLog started on: Sunday 13 January, 2008
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