Metroid Dread Review
A mysterious transmission has arrived hinting at a potential Metroid outbreak on planet ZDR and as the heroine that has successfully battled and defeated countless Metroid species it falls on to your shoulders to once again take care of business. Immediately upon your arrival you find that there is something bigger going on with planet ZDR and it’s going to take everything you have to survive. In Metroid Dread you will be making a return to the side scrolling platformer of the past, but with many new bells and whistles to make for a very challenging game.
I’m going to be completely honest with you, it's been YEARS since I really tried to get into a Metroid game, and I will admit that even though my mistakes were many, I couldn’t put the game down. The obvious reason was that this was a very solid and well-crafted game. There are 8 different areas that you’ll have to navigate through, and if you’ve ever played a Metroid game you know that you’re going to be returning to these areas over and over again. When you play through the game you’re going to unlock additional skills and with those skills you’re going to be able to get to areas that you previously couldn’t access. Thankfully there are a couple of different ways to get from one area to another so you’re not going to have to take the long way around, often.
When it comes to skills or the upgraded version of the skills there’s a very good chance that there’s going to be a boss or a mini-boss in your way. Almost every single one of these encounters will come at you in two phases, and I have to say that after first I dreaded having to deal with two different versions of battle, but after failing many times on almost every boss I have to say that reaching or attempting to reach the second phase was a good measuring stick as to how I was fairing in the battle as well as allowed me to see what strategies worked the best against my opponent. In all battles, strategy reigns supreme. Each enemy has a pattern to their attacks and if you can figure them out and find the counters to their attacks you’ll be able to advance far in the game. I’m not saying that mastering the patterns will guarantee victory, but it will lessen the chance of UTTER DEFEAT, something I experienced plenty of times when I became impatient and tried (and failed) to go with the guns blazing (fire as fast as you can and hope for the best) route.
In my opinion, the bane/nightmare of any player’s existence is going to be having to deal with the E.M.M.I.s in the game. These are robots that patrol certain sections in different areas that will make it their mission in life to hunt you down through multiple screens and stab you in the neck with a sharp needle. No other enemy will strike terror in your heart like they can, and believe me when I say that 85% of my deaths came at the hands of one of the E.M.M.I.s. It probably didn’t help matters that when you get further into the game they gain additional abilities which will make them even more difficult to escape from. The flip-side of your encounters with them is that when you do finally get a chance to defeat them they will give you some of the biggest impactful upgrades that you can get in the game. Oh and just in case you were wondering, YES you will have to take care of EACH one of them in the game in order to reach the end of the game.
After putting in nearly 10 hours from start to finish I think it’s safe to say that this was a successful hit for me. I enjoyed the majority of the game. I did get frustrated at times when I got lost in areas and didn’t know where to go next, but overall I was beyond satisfied with what I got for the money I spent. If you are looking for a game that shows you how a “Metroidvania” (see it’s in the genre title) is supposed to be, this is the game for you. I will say that since this is a Nintendo title, it does mean that it is strictly on the Nintendo Switch, but there’s probably enough games out there already that most of your readers already have a Switch at your disposal.