The Shrine

Maybe it's because I played AM2R, and I'd been waiting for it for 10 years...and it was a fantastically crafted game lol, but this game is disappointing.

First it's on the 3DS and instead of sprites they went with 3D models for everything, which isn't the 3DS's strong suit, so immediately the game just looks awful and I can never shake the feeling of how awful it actually looks. They decided to innovate the combat a bit by giving Samus a counter move that stuns enemies when they attack you with a telling flash attack, the problem with this is that they gave a telling flash attack to every single enemy in the fucking game, so you're constantly having to deal with it and it gets old fast. I don't know who designed the game's map but it has some really annoying design decisions that can end with you having to chose between going Left or Right, Up or Down, and if you choose poorly you'll end up spending 5 minutes backtracking for the other path because you might have missed something and the game feels this is a nice way of punishing you for taking a bad path. In most Metroid games when they send you down a path with no way to get back they usually provide you with a power up or something you need to proceed or to backtrack with, this is missing here and it shows, and it's fucking annoying. The game tries to make up for this by giving you an AE Pulse that shows the map and breakable rocks and such, but that has more to do with the fact that unlike other Metroid games in 2D where the breakable walls and/or environments can become obvious everything looks the fucking same in this game so you pretty much need to fire off a pulse every 2-3 screens to make sure you don't miss anything.

I fucking love the 2D Metroid games, so when I say this game is probably 3rd to last on my 2D Metroid you know I'm speaking truth. Nintendo can do better then this. I'm surprised at the reviews it was getting and fan reception. Maybe they just want to show love so it doesn't take Nintendo another 7 years to make another proper Metroid game?

With 3D effects in general, by far the best looking games are those that have 2D and use the parallax effect for depth. Sega gave 3D treatment a bunch of Genesis games, and they looked beautiful.

Metroid 2 is a fairly short game, I recall my childhood summers, in a hammock, and finishing that one in a single sitting (I had to resist saying a single laying). It was the first game I ever played where I made sure to see all of the endings. The game was quite enjoyable back then too.

When it comes to retro-remasters or remakes, I kind of hate how they kind of half-ass them. Moving them just far enough away to remove any sign of authenticity to the original work, and not far enough away for them to feel special *cough... DUCK TALES... cough* (There's those 90s cough words again, but without updated emoticons). A giant graphical update isn't always necessary, but putting in fitting graphics matters a great deal; an example of this is the recent Final Fantasy Adventure remake, and making a game like that which can be comfortably played and completed on a mobile device is an achievement (again, another game I used to play a lot on the hammock); but having irritating game design can sting.

Despite really liking Metroid 2 as a kid, I didn't feel the need to get this one. The one thing that got me about it was 3DS. Since Switch has come out, I have felt done with that system for months now. Although, I am getting one more game for it, the Radiant Historia sequel coming out next year... that one took me by surprise! The first one came out right in the final months of the DS, and I forget why I bought it considering the DS had such a gigantic library by that point, but it left a great impression on me - I think it's one of the best games on the system.

I'm going to be honest, I loved this game. I just finished it yesterday, and for me, the mechanics, being able to aim anywhere, the counter move, and everything else just came together really well for me. It wasn't long before I was running the corridors, blasting enemies and then smacking them with a well timed counter when they got too close, it was very satisfying. The fact that the enemies are as powerful as they are helped as well, because it made me really get good at the mechanics so I could stay alive. I'm really excited to really dive into the fusion mode, one hit from a regular enemy dealt 60 damage. It's going to be fun.

Just to note. I was mostly reacting off of Eric's post and my similar experience from other remakes. Don't take my post as a thumbs down on the game. I haven't played it.