I wasn’t expecting to beat this game so quickly, but I guess three hours is about how long Super Metroid was.

This is a platformer with cover-based shooting mechanics. You have your usual winding, interconnected map and progression-based weapons that are staples of all metroidvanias traditional metroidvanias. The main gimmick with this game is that enemies will come at you not just from the 2D plane of which you’re allowed movement, but also from the background, at which point you need to rotate around the Z-axis to attack them. The problem here is that both the left stick and the right stick only adjust your aim on the X- and Y-axes; the only way to attack enemies in the background or foreground is to rely on a finicky auto-aim mechanic. You can also perform an instant-takedown on lesser enemies by running up to them and pushing B, provided they’re close enough to the 2D plane you move on (enemies can still hurt you during your take-down animation, though).

Gonna start with the positives: I thought the map design was pretty solid; there isn’t a whole lot of retreading-the-same-ground if you just want to go from start to finish without getting too many secrets. Of course, if you do want to get the secrets, the game’s map puts a “?” on spaces that have an item you haven’t gotten yet and a dot on spaces that used to have an item, but you got it already. The only problem with this is, near the end, there’s a self-destruct segment that permanently blocks one area from you, and if you didn’t get all the items there, too bad, the game autosaves.

Another thing I like is that you start off with the flashlight (this game’s version of the X-ray scope), which means you can clearly distinguish any destructible object from the rest of the environment by shining the flashlight on it, which makes the object in question change color (with the specific color referring to which item you need to use to destroy it). Honestly, I’d be in favor of actual Metroid games starting off this way (though I guess the Metroid Prime games did that with the Scan Visor). The only issue here is that the flashlight has a battery life, but it quickly recharges when it runs out, so I’m not really sure why they made it run out in the first place.

My main problem with the game is how it handles enemies; i.e. that whole “cover-based shooting mechanic” the game has. It has been a while since I played Super Metroid (or even Metroid Fusion and Metroid: Zero Mission), but one thing I can say with confidence is that the enemies complemented the level design; you weren’t just jumping over platforms, you were dodging projectiles and enemies (which deal contact damage, don’t forget). The exact same enemy as before could make you rethink your approach slightly just by having it placed in differently-designed terrain. In this game, all enemies just shoot at you, and their bullets move too fast to be dodged (with the one exception being guided projectiles that you have to shoot down), so you either need to wait behind cover until they stop shooting, or the more likely option of just taking the damage either to kill them or run past them (especially when you realize reinforcements will just keep coming from the background, so you have to run away). To drive that point home, there are a few turret segments where you’re stuck on one location and just move the reticle around to shoot at the incoming waves of enemies; I’m guessing you’d have to dismount the turret to dodge any incoming attacks, but it takes a second to mount/dismount, so I feel like you’d just end up taking damage anyway. There may be a few times where you’ll need a bit more strategy (maybe throw a grenade to take out a couple before they notice you), but the vast majority of enemy encounters are nearly identical. It gets kinda dull. I know I played on Normal difficulty, but I imagine that the higher difficulties do nothing besides increase enemy attack power and HP, which would just increase the time you have to wait behind cover, and I’m not a fan of games that make me wait (I also wouldn’t want to be punished for the game’s own finicky Z-axis aiming).

Oh, and let’s not forget that the alternative to enemy encounters is empty rooms, which make up around half the game. At least the boss fights are okay.

Overall, this game is hard to recommend. It isn’t a bad game, per se (certainly better than the game in my previous post), but it completely misses what makes platformers fun by turning every non-boss encounter into a cover-based shootout. If you’re looking for a more traditional Metroidvania, I say look elsewhere, but if you’re still interested in this game, at least wait for a good sale.

P.S. The guns in this game have limited clip sizes, so after firing enough, your character will stop firing to reload. At least you have infinite ammo, but it’s still a pet peeve of mine to be punished for shooting too much.