3.5/5 ★ – james_i_think's review of Metroid Fusion.

A gene-spliced Metroid sequel that's just a little off, despite the uncanny resemblance. Couldn't help making that X Parasite gag, but that statement was certainly an overexaggeration. Fusion is a highly streamlined take on the franchise that cuts down on some of the unnecessary bulk that the series had accumilated. Using X Parasites themselves as the pickups both contextualises it better in the story and makes ammo gathering more interesting. Now you have the chance to miss it and let it respawn as an enemy again. Turning the Super Missiles and Ice Beam into an upgrade to the regular missiles makes perfect sense. It gets rid of the slightly clunky inventory management, only having to worry about one button press for extra weapons. One aspect however, and this is a big one, is a bit TOO streamlined - the exploration. Metroid is so well-known for its explorative elements that it has become a genre in itself, which has become commonly mislabeled as "Metroidvania". I don't necessarily mind the different areas being segmented into separate levels; they're pretty much designed like every other Metroid game with only the branching paths between them being left out. My biggest issue is the structure around the "Navigation" rooms. For some reason Samus is given orders with an objective point for each area, which you're forced to sit and read through every time. It'd make a bit more sense if this was a large interconnected map like Zero Mission, but the levels are already separate and each section is locked off until you're allowed to access it. I would've much preferred to explore the areas myself, with navigation being optional. To be fair the game does do this towards the end, but I think it needed it from the start. I think the reason for this more linear approach is the bigger focus on story this time around. And to give it credit, Fusion's story is more interesting than the previous entries, particularly with the way it expands on the X Parasite. Hell, even Samus re-gaining her suit upgrades is contextualised, which the last two sequels never bothered with. I do like the vague world-building that the series has always had, but I think an ongoing plot gives your mission some more exciting urgency. The problem is it overextends to the point where it starts to railroad the gameplay, turning this Metroid entry into just a plain old action platformer rather than an explorative one. The moment-to-moment gameplay itself is just as good as any other game in the series, it just slightly lacks that cohesive Metroid goo to hold it all together. Still, I think this streamlined story approach can be married with the traditional explorable map to make something greater than the sum of its parts. No pressure, Dread.