A Real, Actual Review of METROID DREAD (a Real Game I Played)

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Finally

I’ve been waiting for Arlo’s review for so long

👍︎︎ 11 👤︎︎ u/Tuba_G 📅︎︎ Jul 12 2022 🗫︎ replies

I don’t always agree with Arlo, but I feel this review is pretty spot on. His only critique is basically the music, something I share.

👍︎︎ 31 👤︎︎ u/Ontos_007 📅︎︎ Jul 11 2022 🗫︎ replies

My biggest complaint was that the areas don't ever connect organically so instead of different areas of a large world it felt like separate stages with ways to get to a loading zone in-between each one.

👍︎︎ 5 👤︎︎ u/swagadone 📅︎︎ Jul 12 2022 🗫︎ replies

Surprised it's not just 20 mins of Arlo pleasure noises. Or screaming.

👍︎︎ 4 👤︎︎ u/Mykeprime 📅︎︎ Jul 12 2022 🗫︎ replies

Took him long enough. God. I completed this game several times in the first month of its release.

👍︎︎ 2 👤︎︎ u/TheZeroNeonix 📅︎︎ Jul 12 2022 🗫︎ replies
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Don't crowd me, Joe. Hello, my six-foot three-inch-tall friends! Arlo here, and today we're reviewing--Metroid Dread. I...can't believe I just said those words. Many long years, Metroid fans have waited for this game. Many, MANY long years. Considering the poor reception received by the last few Metroid games and the absurdly long period of mainline dormancy, no one knew if or when another brand new 2D Metroid would come about. And I had long conceded that if we ever did get another 2D Metroid, it wouldn't be Dread. No, that project was dead and buried...right? Well, sometimes, dreams do come true. And they come true in the exact way you hoped. Thanks to MercurySteam's excellent work on Samus Returns, Nintendo gave them a shot to make an actual, honest-to-goodness Metroid 5. The thing is, after so many years, was it ever even possible for a new 2D Metroid to live up to its legacy? That is what we're here to find out. Does Metroid Dread stand out as a prime example of the genre at its finest, or is this mission a great big zero? Let’s find out. Our story picks up where the previous story left off all those years ago. Following her encounter with the X Parasite, Samus receives intel that the species may still be alive on a planet inhabited by the Chozo. She arrives on the planet, and as usual something goes wrong and she's stranded. There's a weird, scary Chozo guy being all intimidating, and something is going wacky with her Metroid-DNA-infused Power Suit/body, so she's got some stuff to get to the bottom of. Not every Metroid game has been very heavy on story, with most of the plot details either scant or laid out in manuals and manga. But over the years Metroid has built up a nice little narrative, and I'm very happy to see that Dread was given the opportunity to continue the story and develop some deeper lore in a VERY satisfying way. The central mystery is very intriguing, the overall plot develops in interesting ways throughout the experience, and the ending is one of the most intense I’ve ever experienced in ANY game. Dread really raises the bar for storytelling in the series, and I think that could help Metroid get more attention moving forward. And I have to say, the cutscenes in Dread are FANTASTIC. I mean right out of the gate you’re smacked in the face with its slick cinematics. This is Samus' first HD adventure, and the art and animation team rose to the occasion. There are no cut corners here; this is the kind of presentation I would expect from any big AAA game. The cutscenes are total eye candy, and best of all, MY GOSH, THEY MAKE SAMUS SO COOL. I mean holy heck, seeing her pull off all these amazing action movie stunts in her usual "git-er-dun" kinda way, it's just a joy, especially after waiting so many years for a truly modern Metroid experience. It's not just the cutscenes that look terrific though. The overall presentation is phenomenal. The environment is highly stylized, yet still pulls off the serious sci-fi look. Everything is slick and polished. The backgrounds are rich with detail, perfectly composed so it frequently feels like you’re looking at a painting. The world is inhabited by so many fun creatures that mill about in the background, so it all feels very alive. Then there's all the alien architecture, which can be breathtaking at times. Previous games have featured mixes of natural environments and structures, but it feels like Dread really utilizes the modern hardware to give us structures that far, far outclass those of its predecessors. The use of lighting and color especially help elevate the whole presentation. I particularly love dark and high contrast areas. The blacks are just so black, especially on the Switch OLED or an OLED TV. Then there are other details, like rain and particle effects and whatnot, that lift things up even further. It’s just so wonderful seeing Metroid get this kind of treatment. As far as raw graphical accomplishments go, it's true that it's not the single most impressive game in the world. Every once in a while you’ll see some background elements that are pretty obviously just 2D paintings. And there are some times when there just isn't as much texturing on environmental objects as there could be, and this has a tendency to give the game a slightly toylike look--as though this is a small environment with a little Samus running around. Fortunately this is rarely an issue, and the overall art design far makes up for any technical shortcomings. Also, it's probably for the best that some elements are a little more modest, because it means that we've got a Metroid game that runs at a buttery smooth 60fps the vast majority of the time, only slowing down very briefly here and there. And with such a fast, action-heavy game, I'm very happy they chose to prioritize the frame rate. And speaking of all that, can we talk about how the game controls? I feel like if I let myself, I would dedicate a massive section of this review to just going on and on about how Metroid Dread controls. I could write a THESIS on its controls. Back when these games were only made of pixels, the devs couldn't do nearly as much with Samus' movement. Samus Returns offered the slickest controls to date, but Dread fine-tunes Samus' movement to an absurd degree. Out of every Metroidvania I've played, there's no doubt in my mind that this one feels the absolute best to control. It's probably one of the best to control out of ALL the 2D games I've played! From the first time I turned the game on, all the way to now, I literally never pick up that controller without having a little moment where I start moving Samus around and just marvel at how good it feels. You know when you go bowling or roller skating or something where you have to wear uncomfortable shoes, and when you're done you slip back into your own shoes? That comfy, "all is right" kinda feeling? Yeah. It's like that. (Hey, I wear shoes! …Sometimes.) And I think a lot of this really comes down to polish. They clearly did a tremendous amount of work to make Samus feel good to control. There are a lot of button combinations to remember, especially once you've gained a lot of abilities, but it's all laid out very intuitively and empowers you to pull off some incredible moves. Animations all string together so fluidly. And most importantly I think, Samus moves through the environment not like a video game character, but like some kind of parkour pro. The way she automatically adjusts when running over uneven terrain and little steps, or how she pulls herself up into small gaps, it's all so smooth, it's like she's made of water. And that alone is enough to make this a new standard of quality for Metroid. Even if future titles offer uneven overall experiences, controls like these will make up for a lot of it by making the moment-to-moment action just that fun. It’s easier to overlook a game’s flaws when it feels that good to play. Much of the reason the game feels so good to play though is all the fun abilities at Samus' disposal. The best sequels know how to give you brand new tools that are integrated so well into the pre-established gameplay that you wonder how you ever got along without them, and that's exactly how I feel when playing Dread. Every new thing just instantly feels right. For instance, take the slide. It's just a slide. Samus has never really done it before, but it instantly feels AWESOME. It’s another movement option to add to your repertoire, it can be used for evasion, it transitions smoothly into morph ball mode, it allows you to move through certain small spaces before you even HAVE the morph ball. It's something to freshen up the gameplay a smidge and add to that "slipping on your old shoes" feeling. And playing with ANY new ability in a Metroid game is already a joy, but sometimes putting a new spin on an old ability can open up just as many new possibilities. In particular, I'd say climbing magnetic surfaces is a really fantastic addition, because it plays perfectly with the grapple beam and gives more dimension to these 2D levels; you can climb up and around all sorts of places, and unlike the classic Spider Ball, here you can still aim and shoot as you go. Aeon abilities from Samus Returns are back again, but they've been changed and refined. Now instead of having to refill your aeon meter using special pickups, the meter simply refills on its own, which is a much more elegant approach. Now aeon acts less like a resource, and more like a stamina system. And on that note, perhaps my very favorite new thing in the entire game is the ability to use aeon to do this awesome dash move. In recent years, more and more action games are realizing that the ability to quickly dodge away from an attack is EXTREMELY important. It gives the player so much more power over any given situation, and it makes combat that much more fun and satisfying. And that is absolutely true here. This dash move is so fun and empowering, that I don't want to play a new Metroid game without it ever again. I dearly hope that it's a permanent addition to Samus' toolbelt, because it's seriously a game-changer. Even more things have been refined since Samus Returns. Many people disliked the new melee system because it had a tendency to slow down combat. But now you can use your melee more aggressively, and you do extra damage if you melee while moving. As with everything else, this aids in Samus' wonderful flow of movement. And it's also just so nice to see the developers doing right by the players. The melee system in Samus Returns was probably the number one problem people had with it, but instead of simply scrapping the whole system or just doing it again and saying "if you don't like it, play the old games," they improved upon it to strike a much better balance. And the game is so much better for it. I do think they still have a little more tweaking to do moving forward. I would like it if some enemies weren’t automatically counterable, because it’s disappointing to see a weird new creature and find out that you kill it just like you kill everything else, with a counter. I’d like to have to work a little harder to kill these things sometimes. But overall though, I’m really happy with where this melee system is going. When you add all these tweaks and additions and refinements together, you get a Metroid experience unlike any other. You get a Samus that feels more powerful and capable and COOL than ever. This makes exploring the world feel as satisfying as I could possibly hope. And that's good, because there's a lot of world to explore. Samus Returns featured some really exceptional level design. They took a very old game with a pretty simple map and managed to pack a ton of content into it. They considered every ability at Samus' disposal and made sure to provide ample opportunities to use each one. The design was so good that I drooled at the thought of MercurySteam having the chance to craft an ENTIRELY new world. And as far as that goes, Dread is a winner. The way these environments are built, the way you move through them, the way you slowly open things up as you gain abilities; it’s amazing that mere humans are capable of designing something so complex. As with Samus Returns, it's just so DENSE. There are plenty of larger areas to move through, but everywhere you look you'll find little puzzles and smaller platforming challenges, which of course are doubly rewarding when they lead to powerups, which are DELICIOUSLY plentiful. The game has you moving constantly, sometimes doing a whole lot of running and jumping and climbing and shooting just to move a short distance. This can feel a little intimidating at first, but as you master the controls and earn new tools you'll find yourself zipping around like a total pro. In proper Metroid fashion, the further you get in the game the more you feel like you're conquering the world around you. Areas that were once challenging to traverse are soon cakewalks you blast through in mere moments. One very fun thing about the world is that it's pretty dynamic. There are some sections you go through once, then can't return to until much later. There are heart-pumping scripted sequences you've got to dash through. Events in the game's story will drastically change areas so that they're more difficult to traverse and require new abilities to explore. These kinds of unexpected elements lend to the feeling that the world is really alive and reacting to your presence, and obviously they help keep the experience fresh and fun. I love having to stay on my toes and expect the unexpected. The designers clearly knew that newcomers can be intimidated by the idea of exploring such big places and finding important items, but also that veterans often enjoy facing challenges in this regard. Once more they've decided to try and strike a balance and refine what they established in Samus Returns. Many people didn't like that the scan pulse revealed everything within a radius because it made it a little too easy to find everything and kind of encouraged the player to methodically pulse everywhere they went to kind of fill out their map. Now the scan pulse only reveals breakable blocks in the immediate area, which is perfect because it saves you the trouble of shooting a missile at every single block whenever you're searching a room. And separately from the scan pulse, the map now highlights general areas where powerups are. This way you might not know something's exact location, but you at least have a good enough idea that you don't have to spend hours searching the entire area to snag that one last powerup you still need. Honestly I feel like they were pretty successful striking a balance here, I think this system is just right. One tweak I'm a little torn on is how you travel great distances across the map. In Samus Returns, any warp point can take you to any other warp point. I liked this, but many people felt that it was a little TOO easy to get around. It's true that the more you manually traverse an area, the more you come to know it. Warping around a bunch can make a game feel a lot less grounded. I think that's why this time they took away the free warps and instead made a series of warps and elevators and such all in pairs, with each one only leading to one other. The red warp only takes you to the other red warp somewhere else in the world. This elevator takes you to one place, etc. I do like this system because you can randomly find a warp where you didn't expect to, and it can take you deep into territory you've never explored. At first you don't know where that other red warp is, after all. And I can absolutely respect that they were trying to connect the world together and give it some sort of logic instead of just letting the player fast travel wherever they want. But honestly, traversal can be a bit of a pain. That's really one of my only problems with the game; I wish the different areas connected in more places, or at least that more shortcuts could be opened up. All too often I'll need to get way across the map and have very little idea of how to do that in good time. And that's largely because this game very unfortunately falls into the same trap that MANY Metroidvanias do. Areas that look connected often aren't. You'll travel a long distance just to see that the way is blocked for no good reason, and you've got to go all the way around some different way. Making a plan then finding that it doesn't work happens a little too often. And running around all over the place, having no idea how to get to a specific area you’ve already been, is just no fun. The dynamic map makes things even more difficult, because that's another element that can change whether or not you've got easy access to an area, and accidentally hitting the same dead end over and over is particularly embarrassing. The game is impeccably designed so that you’re constantly being lead naturally in the direction you need to go as long as you stick to the main path, but that means that deviating from the path to explore can lead to that thing where there’s exactly one single place on the entire map you need to be and you’ve completely lost track of where it is and you have to either run around aimlessly for a while or look it up. Overall I just wish it was easier to move around without consulting the map. As it is, everything is just warps and elevators and these big train things, which are all essentially the same thing when you think about it. The areas do connect in a TON of different places, but I'd like more of the areas to ACTUALLY FEEL connected in more natural ways. Confuddling traversal is a disappointing aspect of the game, to be sure, but the frustration is eased dramatically by the new and improved map. It provides so, SO much more information than the maps of old, including actual terrain layout and environmental data. This makes it a lot easier to plan what you're doing and to tell what you're actually looking at when perusing the map. You can put your own markers down, which is something that every game ever should have started doing FOREVER AGO. But best of all--and I mean it, BEST OF ALL--the map now tracks what kinds of obstacles are where. I LOVE me some Metroidvanias, but I absolutely hate getting a new ability that lets me overcome an obstacle and being like, "Yeah, I passed LOADS of those things before! This is gonna be great!!!" ...Then feeling like I can't find most of them, because there are TONS of obstacles in the game and I'm not about to remember or write down every single one. I definitely understand the idea of making the player try to remember where things are and chart things out in their own heads. There can be value in that. But in a Metroidvania, I feel like if I see an obstacle, I shouldn't have to fumble around looking for it later when I finally have the tool I need. Especially here, with Metroid! It's character knowledge, right? It only makes sense that Samus' suit is tracking all this stuff. If I see that I need the morph ball bomb to get through a certain obstacle, yes, please mark that spot on my map intead of making me either mark it down on my own crudely-drawn map or just try to remember. Some might find this a little too hand-holdy, but I feel like it's perfect. I know vaguely where an item is. If I find its exact location but don't have the item I need to get it, I'll always remember where I need to return later. And even if I do have the right item, so many powerups are locked behind little challenges where you've still got to work to earn them, so it’s not like the extra map info does all the work for you or anything. Alright, that's enough SEARCH, let's get to the ACTION! It probably doesn't come as a surprise when I say that Metroid Dread easily, hands down, by a country mile and a half, has the best combat in the series. Everything I've been talking about: the fluid controls, the new moveset, the improved melee system, EVERYTHING--it all makes for some EXQUISITE combat. Runnin' and shootin' stuff has always been fun in Metroid games, but Samus Returns totally reinvented Metroid combat and Dread takes it to dizzying new heights. This is most clear during boss encounters. Maybe I'm throwing these kinds of claims around a little haphazardly, but I stand by them so I ain't stopping. Metroid Dread has the best bosses of any 2D Metroid game, second only to Samus Returns. And really, I think a lot of it comes down to modern hardware. The more complex moveset allows for more complex bosses. Even more than that though, I think the folks at MercurySteam are just that good at designing bosses. Attacks are now so much more focused and purposeful, and that's because you're now expected to dodge most of them. It felt like there was a lot more margin of error in the old games. I tanked a ton of hits and fumbled my way through many of the old bosses. But these ones demand A LOT from you. You've got to fight them multiple times, learn all their moves and how to dodge them, figure out exactly when and how you should be dealing damage. And I can't even tell you how refreshing and exhilarating this new level of challenge is. I frequently get on Nintendo's case for making games too easy, but this is exactly the level of challenge I'm looking for. It forces me to--for lack of a better term--GIT GUD. I absolutely HAVE to be doing my very best with some of these bosses or I will not survive. Some of them are exceptionally tricky, but always feel completely fair. And when I earn a win, I EARNED that win. Emerging victorious after many deaths gives me that crazy rush of dopamine that I find myself seeking more and more these days. It makes me feel ALIVE. And I've never really experienced that to quite the same degree when playing the old games. I absolutely love it, and I feel like it better fits the desires of modern gamers who are still looking for a solid challenge. Now, let's talk about something that's kind of like a boss, but not quite. EMMIs, the nigh-invulnerable robots that give Metroid Dread its name. Certain areas of the map are ruled by their respective EMMIs. You've got to sneak around them, and if they see or hear you they make chase. If they catch you, they kill you. You've got a chance to counter and stun them briefly, but this is very difficult. And if they're actively chasing you, all the doors in and out of their areas shut so you've got to get them off your tail before you can actually escape. Putting multiple mandatory stealth sections in the game was a risky move, and indeed it seems to have kind of messed up the experience for a good number of people. I totally understand, and I've had my fair share of annoying encounters with them. Like I said, that counter move is INCREDIBLY hard to do, so I have seen many game over screens thanks to them. Sometimes it feels like even if I’m doing everything right they still manage to catch me. And there have been a few times when I just couldn't figure out how to best them, and felt like I was beating my head against the wall. However, I still LOVE what the EMMIs do for the game. The encounters just get harder and harder each time, so seeing an EMMI door and realizing you HAVE to go through it, UGH... Well, that's that feeling of dread Sakamoto was looking for. And I love it. The encounters are stressful, but coming out alive on the other side feels incredible. Whenever I feel like I'm stuck, I really just need to change up my strategy, and when a new strategy works I feel like an awesome…stealth…GENIUS! Sakamoto mentioned that they spent a really long time tuning these encounters so that they're not too hard and not too easy, and it shows. Survival is always within my reach, but golly goodness I've got to work for it. It's just like a hard boss encounter; it makes me feel ALIVE. And being stuck in a particularly tricky situation, narrowly avoiding death again and again, then successfully countering an EMMI and actually getting through because of it? THEN tracking down a big zappy thing and finally taking it out? The feeling is...unreal. I mean what a rush! Dread's EMMIs might be divisive, but I love them because they create stories. The close calls and mighty triumphs are memories I'll carry with me. We're nearly at the end, and I've had mostly very positive things to say about Metroid Dread. But I do have one major problem with the game that stands above the rest. I feel like the major areas don't really have strong identities or do as much as I would like to differentiate themselves. I mean, they do have different themes, different visuals, different hazards, all that. But for some reason they all kind of run together in my mind. Like, Super Metroid. I can distinctly remember the different areas of that game. The lava place, the water place, the weirdo fungus spoor place, the haunted ship... Dread has themes like that, but for some reason I frequently forget where I am. It might have something to do with how often you warp all over the place, and how the areas aren't really arranged in any meaningful way? Or maybe it's just the modern visuals flooding my brain with details that kind of muddy up my memory? I'm not entirely sure, but I do know one reason I feel this way. It's the music. It's...just not very good. I mean it's FINE most of the time. It's not bad. But...why isn't it better? I couldn't hum you even one theme from Metroid Dread off the top of my head. Every time I entered a new area I waited for that awesome music to kick in, and it just kind of never did. And honestly, I think this hurts the game quite a lot. One of the absolute most important things about Metroid is the atmosphere, and the music is a massive, MASSIVE part of that. Again, Super Metroid is the golden standard. You go down an elevator and that theme kicks in, and you know you're in for something good. I mean gosh, the music is like 75% of what makes a place like Meridia so INTENSELY atmospheric! Or how about Magmoor Caverns? You know you're in Magmoor Caverns the SECOND you step foot off that elevator. With such incredible visuals, Dread was poised to take home the trophy for atmosphere. But...nah. And that hurts. The atmosphere, the vibe, the mood, whatever you want to call it, that's what sticks in my mind the absolute MOST when I play games. It's the icing on the cake. It's what turns a great game into an UNFORGETTABLE game. Don't get me wrong, Metroid Dread doesn't get ZERO points here. The atmosphere is still very good, especially thanks to those visuals. A newcomer probably won't have a problem at all. But the series has got a pedigree when it comes to music, and Dread just does not live up to it. It's not enough to ruin the game, but it's a weird element to flub when basically all Metroid games before it have had amazing soundtracks. Apart from that one big issue, Metroid Dread is a marvelous game. In many ways it feels like an impossible dream come true. It came to us after so many years of hopeless waiting, and with the Dread name we thought was lost to time. Since the last game, Metroidvanias have become extremely common, with many highly popular titles to choose from; and yet, Dread managed to do everything it needed to do to set itself apart. Creating a modern Metroid that lived up not only to its own name but to the wonderful titles inspired by the series must have been quite the challenge, but Mr. Sakamoto and MercurySteam made it look easy. It's not an exceptionally long game, but the world is incredibly dense and well-designed. The controls and presentation are head and shoulders above most other games in the genre. They made Metroid 5. And it was Metroid Dread. AND it turned out amazing. What kind of Twilight Zone paradise am I living in? Am I going to wake up and realize it was all a dream? And then Rod Serling does a little outro monologue about how dumb and sad I am? Very possibly, but right now I can say that Dread is probably the best Metroid game. If it weren't for the music and area theming issues, I'd say it was DEFINITELY the best. Even if it's not definitively the absolute most objectively best Metroid ever though, there's no doubt that it sets the foundation for a whole new era of Metroid games very nicely. I don't know if they plan on making more after this, but if they do, the series has got a bright future. One final thing I'll say to try and communicate how good I think this game is? I used to believe that Super Metroid should never get a complete modern 2.5D remake. No, the game is already beautiful. Remastered pixel graphics? Absolutely. Revamped controls? I’d love that. Maybe like a complete 3D reimagining in the style of Prime or something? I'd be into that. But getting rid of that beautiful pixel art and redoing the whole thing, it was just...why? Why would they do that? It's just not necessary, I thought. Then I played Dread. Now there is no doubt in my mind; a Super Metroid remake in this style, by this team, would be INCREDIBLE. I'd gladly take remakes of EVERY Metroid game now. They ALL deserve to look this good and play this smoothly and have these awesome cutscenes. That's how good Dread is. That's how much confidence I have in the team. This is modern Metroid. And it's incredible. So there you go. That was my review of Metroid Dread. That was my review of METROID DREAD! What do YOU think about Metroid Dread, that game that is real and we've all played? Let me know down in the comments. And if you'll excuse me, I'll be playing Star Fox Grand Prix.
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Channel: Arlo
Views: 200,236
Rating: undefined out of 5
Keywords: puppet, blue, monster, metroid, metroid dread, nintendo, switch, review, metroidvania
Id: VdsYt4_pYwU
Channel Id: undefined
Length: 27min 51sec (1671 seconds)
Published: Mon Jul 11 2022
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