Metroid Fusion (Game Boy Advance, 2002)

How does one define perfection as far as games go? Maybe one should look at a game like this. You'd be hard-pressed to find a valid argument against it, if it isn't perfection, it has to be pretty darn close.

First off, to this day I'm still playing this game to this day and enjoying it as much as if not nearly as much as I did when I first played it. Any fan of the Metroid series can not afford this amazing game. Then again there might be people that may have been somewhat familiar with the series, but this would be a great game to get hooked into the series as it did for me. Sure, Nintendo has released since then two games for Gamecube as well as for the DS. But this game goes back to what this series' roots are in the amazing game play of a side scrolling adventure. I'd go so far as to say this was and still is the best Metroid game released in the series but of course that's an arguable point but consider the time it came out.

It had been a long time since we'd seen a Metroid game when Fusion came out. The last game was Super Metroid for Super NES, which was released close to a decade prior. It was the third in the series after the original NES version in 1986 and its sequel, Return of Samus, which appeared on Game Boy in 1991.

Enter the long awaited fourth entry of the series appearing on GBA and the results were stellar. Coming onto this new platform meant new technology given to make this great game that much better, and making it the best looking game of the series, even more so than the Super NES game. The great gameplay you'd come to expect is here along with new additions that only added to the greatness. Add to that the amazing sound and music contained with this game and you get a great sensory experience that does nothing but add to the experience and truly get involved in this game, with a mix of tracks you may remember from previous Metroids, with of course some great original tunes that always seemed appropriate for the moment of the game.

That said, that may have been enough to make the game a solid entry to the series, but that was only the beginning. Taking advantage of the hardware and advancement of technology present, there are some incredible new aspects to this game never really seen in prior games. First off, from the get go is a involving storyline that keeps you on edge and drives you forward anticipating the next plot twists (of which there are some nice ones) and give the game a feel of humanity to it, a purpose you could say of getting to the games ultimate goal. When saving the universe isn't enough. And one of the most intriguing villains a game of the caliber will unveil, that makes itself present from the beginning and can strike fear and spell doom for anyone who, though it can be faced early, is foolish enough to engage it head-on.

Also added to the mix of new elements are the rooms and hatches concept. Instead of hatches being passable depending on the type of weaponry you have, there are different security levels that unlock (and in one case re-lock) as the game's plot unfolds, which for really the first time is a major element of the experience with a Metroid game. You will have the usual saving and recharging rooms as you may come to expect in this generation of battery backed data, but a big new element is the navigation rooms which will actually guide you towards your next goal, which though may make things linear in the beginning, it becomes very less so later on.