Metroid Dread (NS)

I've been wanting to write down my thoughts about Metroid Dread since completing it over the first week after its release. Every time I sat down to write it though, it felt inadequate. Then I read my thoughts on Metroid Samus Returns anew and presto, there was the problem: I had already written them down.

Yes, Dread's "problem" is that it is a better, more polished version of Samus Returns. But it's Samus Returns nonetheless. The aiming is a bit smoother, the counters just a bit less start and stop, the bosses just a tad more dynamic.

It's still a frustratingly linear approach to the Metroid formula. More so than Fusion which had a rigid structure but managed to break the implied expectations it had built up. Dread starts in a zone, locks you into a tiny fragment of another zone, then pulls you back for a boss and repeats this ad nauseam. It's a veritable expert at blocking the main route, making that obvious deviation the actual main route. Unless you are completely new to the series or simply not observant, you'll have this constant feeling of being boxed and reined in, while the game constantly pushes you forward.

It's great then that the game has a built-in Zero Mission-style expert route, but accessing it is so hardcore that it feels at odds with itself. Whereas Zero Mission was an easy game with a gentle nudge to challenge yourself, Dread's routes are more akin to Kirby and Sekiro in contrast. The only true praise here, is that in order to create this extra route, combined with all the edits to secure the main route, it's abundantly clear that Dread's level design is simply magnificent and required some expert skill to be made. That it manages to be frustrating in the process for a normal run is sorely disappointing.

So while in general Dread has been polished from its Samus Returns base, the new template still lacks balance and a certain understanding of the genre as a whole. Which is... fine... I guess? With Samus Returns, no even Fusion, it was already clear that Sakamoto did not care much for the labyrinthine super-dungeon approach. Here was a tendency to go into set pieces, dramatic action and a more deliberate story.

Moves that have tarnished the reputation of Samus to a certain extent, reaching its zenith with Other M. Dread tries to remedy this with overreaching like it did in level design: the cut scenes are all excellent and those that play to see Samus take down bosses in bad-ass poses and film like confidence are genuinely top notch. But... but... but... why on Earth aren't you doing that as a player? In Super it was you who fried Draygoon with a grapple beam. It was you who pushed Crocomire into the lava. It was you who pelted Mother Brain with a blast of her own medicine.

In Dread this never really happens. You defeat most bosses by studying Mega Man-like attack patterns, performing Souls-like parries, moving into button-mashing cutscenes, after which control is taken away completely. Your reward for playing the game is not playing the game. It's a baffling choice of disempowerment for a series that made you feel like a divine being upon unlocking the improved Power Suit in Zero Mission, restoring your true self in Fusion, and taking sweet, sweet revenge on Mother Brain in Super.

Dread does have its own way to top off the game, but it's as frustrating as the overburdening tutorial. Because it's the same thing and - oh irony - it locks you back into place as you take aim and wait. Yup, the one annoying feature of Samus Returns is the piece de resistance in Dread.

Oh, and then there are the E.M.M.I.s. Whatever. You run past them with every movement ability at your disposal and either you instantly die due to an unfortunate spawn, or keep moving for half a minute and never see them in your rear mirror. SA-X these bots are not and their presence in marketing (or the game for that matter) as a central pillar is laughable. The game seems to know it, as the last one is simply handed to you on a silver platter and swapped for the real big baddie that was present in scene one anyway. Even for a thrice reheated concept, this was pretty bad.

So yeah, Metroid Dread: it plays slick, it's meticulously designed, it's actually a very good game, but boy, is it a bad Metroid.