Metroid Dread sees a return for the 2D action-platformer style of yesteryear. Here’s what we think of it.
Why you can trust Pocket-lint (Pocket-lint) – It’s been a staggering 19 years since we last had a 2D Metroid game – Metroid Fusion for the Game Boy Advance – and while we’ve had plenty of offshoots and the superb Metroid Prime titles since, it’s good to see the series return to its roots at last. Metroid Dread is, in fact, a direct sequel to that 2002 GBA outing, but don’t worry if you’ve never had a chance to play it. While it’s also the end to a five-part story arc that started with the 1986 original, newcomers will find it easy to jump onboard, even at this late stage. Well, they will if they’re not expecting this game to be a walk in the park… Dawn of the Dread Indeed, the plot is largely hokum and you get a fairly lengthy explanation at the start anyway. Our hero Samus travels to planet ZDR after reports point to the villains of Fusion – the X parasite – are reemerging there. However, things take a turn for the worse, and she ends up trapped inside a labyrinthian base with most of her power-ups and weapons stripped back to basics. The game essentially tasks you with escaping the base, while finding out why you were summoned in the first place. And you have to replenish your arsenal along the way – standard action-platformer fare, you’d think. Except it’s far from standard – this is Metroid, one-half of the Metroidvania tag given to many that lie in the series’ shadow. It has rock-hard bosses, cunning puzzles, and more than one big, new surprise along the way. The Walking Dread One of those comes in the form of the E.M.M.I. – robots sent to ZDR ahead of you to also discover what’s going on. Unfortunately, they seem to have become corrupted after arriving and have turned into deadly guardians ready to turn you into a Samus kebab. Nintendo You can’t kill them with standard weaponry – only one-shot power-ups that you have to discover – so must avoid them where possible, and run from them when not. You can deflect a direct attack with a superbly timed button press, but it’s so split second that it’s extremely difficult. Best Switch games: The top games every Nintendo gamer should own This adds a sense of stealth to the game that reminds us of Alien: Isolation somewhat.
