25th September 2017, 10:33 AM
(This post was last modified: 25th September 2017, 12:50 PM by Dark Jaguar.)
I picked the new remake up. I haven't beaten it yet, but so far it's a pretty solid game. The entire Aeion system consists of "easy mode" switches like convenient scanners, extra shields, and so on, but one can safely ignore all of those abilities. The melee system isn't very complicated just yet (you knock the enemy back then shoot them) but I'm expecting a few more moves before the game is over. The linear nature of Metroid II is, to me, exactly why that game NEEDED a remake. Expanding on the world design to make it less linear with more branching paths is one thing AM2R did exactly right. I don't yet know if Nintendo's version has accomplished this, but I'll find out soon enough.
I do kinda wish it was on the 3DS, but it's not that big a deal. Most people interested in this have one at this point. I'm pretty sure this game had been in development long enough that releasing it for the "sure thing" made more sense than for a console that hadn't yet established itself. The Switch is getting good support, so it's not like it needed this specific game to be successful anyway. Yes, it would have been nice, but no I don't really care since I can play the game just fine.
Oh, about the 2D art. Samus Returns has some amazing art at the very start. It's the sort of thing you would see on an Atari game label, or like a sci-fi book cover. It's not "anime style", it's Metroid. It's amazing, and frankly it blows away the artwork at the start of AM2R. Now, the pixel art in AM2R is amazing stuff for the most part, but that opening and those bits of work, well, if nothing else they could have used some touching up. The art in Samus Returns? That one with Samus riding a missile while fending off a Metroid and simultaneously shooting at the Mother Brain needs to be a poster. If they turned each and every one of those into posters, people would buy them. All of them. (I would add that the artwork for AM2R's Metroid Queen also looks a bit rough. Her colors don't entirely match, and the rotational effects on her head when she tilts it don't do her sprites any favors.)
I will add one complaint about Samus Returns. The controls are mostly solid, but I prefer to play my 2D platformers with a d-pad. In this game, the d-pad is mapped to the cheatin' aeion abilities. That is, switching them. I would have mapped them to the right analog nub on the new 3DS, then allowed the player to use the d-pad for movement. The game allows full 360 directional aiming, but only when you hold down a button that holds Samus in place while you aim. Otherwise, it's standard 8 direction aiming. This is fine. I would just prefer to use the d-pad for normal movement quickly switching to the analog stick when I want to use 360 aiming.
I do kinda wish it was on the 3DS, but it's not that big a deal. Most people interested in this have one at this point. I'm pretty sure this game had been in development long enough that releasing it for the "sure thing" made more sense than for a console that hadn't yet established itself. The Switch is getting good support, so it's not like it needed this specific game to be successful anyway. Yes, it would have been nice, but no I don't really care since I can play the game just fine.
Oh, about the 2D art. Samus Returns has some amazing art at the very start. It's the sort of thing you would see on an Atari game label, or like a sci-fi book cover. It's not "anime style", it's Metroid. It's amazing, and frankly it blows away the artwork at the start of AM2R. Now, the pixel art in AM2R is amazing stuff for the most part, but that opening and those bits of work, well, if nothing else they could have used some touching up. The art in Samus Returns? That one with Samus riding a missile while fending off a Metroid and simultaneously shooting at the Mother Brain needs to be a poster. If they turned each and every one of those into posters, people would buy them. All of them. (I would add that the artwork for AM2R's Metroid Queen also looks a bit rough. Her colors don't entirely match, and the rotational effects on her head when she tilts it don't do her sprites any favors.)
I will add one complaint about Samus Returns. The controls are mostly solid, but I prefer to play my 2D platformers with a d-pad. In this game, the d-pad is mapped to the cheatin' aeion abilities. That is, switching them. I would have mapped them to the right analog nub on the new 3DS, then allowed the player to use the d-pad for movement. The game allows full 360 directional aiming, but only when you hold down a button that holds Samus in place while you aim. Otherwise, it's standard 8 direction aiming. This is fine. I would just prefer to use the d-pad for normal movement quickly switching to the analog stick when I want to use 360 aiming.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)