Topic: Metroid: Dread

[zangetsu468]

DREAD MODE IS COMING WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT

[X]

It's nice to know you're having fun with this game. To be honest I stopped and still haven't picked it up. That was months ago. I just feel I can't be bothered to make the effort. While the game looks good, the tid-bits that I've previously mentioned just don't suit Metroid in my mind. I'll have to wait and see what retro studios has in store for Prime 4. Maybe that game will garner more of my interest. It'll be another long wait but I'm used to it.

[zangetsu468]

It's nice to know you're having fun with this game. To be honest I stopped and still haven't picked it up. That was months ago. I just feel I can't be bothered to make the effort. While the game looks good, the tid-bits that I've previously mentioned just don't suit Metroid in my mind. I'll have to wait and see what retro studios has in store for Prime 4. Maybe that game will garner more of my interest. It'll be another long wait but I'm used to it.

It gets much more enjoyable on second play through and is refreshing that Sequence Breaks are encouraged.

When Dread Mode releases, I’m going to try and beat it with no upgrades.(missiles, e-tanks, etc)

[knightmere]

It gets much more enjoyable on second play through and is refreshing that Sequence Breaks are encouraged.

When Dread Mode releases, I’m going to try and beat it with no upgrades.(missiles, e-tanks, etc)

You are absolutely right about the second play through being much more enjoyable. Speed running and sequencing breaking are so much fun in Dread. There are some truly epic boss battles in this game. Looking forward to the upcoming Boss Rush mode next month!
Ore

[zangetsu468]

You are absolutely right about the second play through being much more enjoyable. Speed running and sequencing breaking are so much fun in Dread. There are some truly epic boss battles in this game. Looking forward to the upcoming Boss Rush mode next month!
Ore

It gets even better with Dread mode.
Doing the upgrade-less run and killed the first boss, very satisfying indeed.

[PFG9000]

Completely disagree with the above. I’m not saying SR isn’t better than AM2R, but the graphics and level design not being there is complete bullshit. It’s nearly identical to the source material and graphically, it looks fine on a 3DS. It’s Mercury Steam’s best work outside of the og CV:LoS, depending on how you rate that.

Sorry it took me so long to reply...I don't come around here as often as I'd like to and forgot to check back in on this thread.

The level design of Samus Returns is nowhere near identical to Return of Samus.  The general world structure is, but the individual areas have mostly new layouts.  The problem I have with Samus Returns's level design is that it's too labyrinthine.  Without looking at outside material, can you picture in your mind the main route through the world?  It's just too full of cramped morphball tunnels and twisting corridors.  Usually in Metroid games, and certainly in Return of Samus, there is one main hallway running through the world, connecting the different regions.  It may loop back on itself to link you up with an earlier area.  And there are likely a shit-ton of side-routes you can take with all sorts of cramped mazes...but the main route is there for you to run through, at least after you've collected the necessary movement upgrades.

Samus Returns messes this up.  The twisting tunnels ARE the main route.  You can't travel from one end of the world to the other without navigating all sorts of morphball puzzles, grapple obstructions, etc.  It's annoying, and it makes it harder to mentally map your route through the world.

As far as the graphics go, Samus Returns is...alright.  I'll always take pixel art over bland 3D models, but maybe that's just a personal choice.  It's a common criticism of the game though.  And one thing that AM2R has easily over Samus Returns is the individuality of the various areas.  Much of Samus Returns looks the same.  AM2R had easily distinguishable areas...just like most other Metroid titles, and most good Metroidvanias.

[zangetsu468]

Sorry it took me so long to reply...I don't come around here as often as I'd like to and forgot to check back in on this thread.

(click to show/hide)

The level design of Samus Returns is nowhere near identical to Return of Samus.  The general world structure is, but the individual areas have mostly new layouts.  The problem I have with Samus Returns's level design is that it's too labyrinthine.  Without looking at outside material, can you picture in your mind the main route through the world?  It's just too full of cramped morphball tunnels and twisting corridors.  Usually in Metroid games, and certainly in Return of Samus, there is one main hallway running through the world, connecting the different regions.  It may loop back on itself to link you up with an earlier area.  And there are likely a shit-ton of side-routes you can take with all sorts of cramped mazes...but the main route is there for you to run through, at least after you've collected the necessary movement upgrades.

Samus Returns messes this up.  The twisting tunnels ARE the main route.  You can't travel from one end of the world to the other without navigating all sorts of morphball puzzles, grapple obstructions, etc.  It's annoying, and it makes it harder to mentally map your route through the world.

As far as the graphics go, Samus Returns is...alright.  I'll always take pixel art over bland 3D models, but maybe that's just a personal choice.  It's a common criticism of the game though.  And one thing that AM2R has easily over Samus Returns is the individuality of the various areas.  Much of Samus Returns looks the same.  AM2R had easily distinguishable areas...just like most other Metroid titles, and most good Metroidvanias.

Despite the proverbial input lag of this response, the lack of interconnectedness and useless of the teleportation system in SR (barring one or two of the locations) was a gripe I addressed in the detailed review I posted some time ago.

I’d also like to point out I personally don’t consider Metroid games as metroidvania’s, because they’re Metroid games. Even if influenced by contemporary games, Metroid held that mantle and all but defined and influenced other franchises to the point where it’s own names has been inserted into a genre-type, since SOTN days.

[X]

PFG9000@

Now that you brought it up I can see the argument. The beauty of pixel art leaves lots to the imagination, and through it we get a kaleidoscope of colorful areas very from one point to the next. This is lacking in both SR and Dread. The backgrounds seem fine, but the foreground seems to be virtually unchanged from one area to the next. I wonder what a Metroid game from WayForward would look like...