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Saturday 26 January, 2008
GAMEPLAY
My first gameplay session was pretty awesome: lots of memories, not much frustration. When I sat down to play a second time, though, I found myself pretty much stuck. I backtracked, trying to get into these spaces that I saw were on the map, but I don't think I figured out a single one. The actual play was still fun, shooting things, running around, working on my mad skillz, but it's very frustrating to be unable to progress.
I saw Samus die for the first time (since I was a kid) during this session. Pretty cool stuff. It's great to have a strong female lead who isn't really stereotypical, because it isn't about her being female, it's about a main character who kicks a lot of alien butt!
GAME DESIGN
Super Metroid combines a solid story with both platform and action & adventure elements. At the time, the graphics were state-of-the-art, and though they're not much by today's standard, they are perfectly acceptable. The platform element is interesting, because although it is certainly a platform game (there are 'levels' that you access through doors/elevators where you have to jump onto/over ledges, etc.), it is to some extent an open-ended world. You can go to any level (as long as you have the power-up you need to open the door) and you can backtrack to any previous level. A classic element of Metroid games is to include hidden levels, which gives great replay value.
I love the music of this game. Like all good music should, it creates a very specific atmosphere. Combined with the dark colors and often dank looking areas, Super Metroid can be a very creepy game!
Like I said, though, I got stuck. I'm not sure if I missed something, don't remember a necessary move, or what. Without knowing what's gone wrong, I can't say whether or not it's the game's fault. A tutorial of some sort might be useful, even if it's as simple as "Hold down B to dash. Press down once to crouch, twice to morph into a ball."
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