Metroid Dread Review

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey guys, so figured I would get another review out before the month ends and this one will be on another video game, which will be on the 2D action game, Metroid Dread. So, this game is much acclaimed by critics and fans alike but what do I think? Well, let's find out.

So, I will say a bit about the plot below but not too much but the warning is coming...

PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD (BUT NOT MUCH!)

So, I will quote a bitesize bit of the plot below, which is quoted from Wikipedia

"The Galactic Federation receives evidence that the X, a dangerous species of parasite that can mimic any creature it infects, survives on the remote planet ZDR. They dispatch seven E.M.M.I.s (Extraplanetary Multiform Mobile Identifiers) robots to ZDR to investigate, but lose contact. The Federation sends Samus Aran to ZDR to investigate. Underground, Samus encounters a Chozo warrior who destroys the exit, defeats her in combat and strips her suit of most of its abilities. Her ship's computer, Adam, instructs her to find another path to the surface and return to her ship".

THOUGHTS

So, Metroid Dread sees a return to the 2D action style that the series was well known for in the past after the Metroid Prime series 3D based games and the game itself is a pretty intense fast paced shooter in which the action comes thick and fast. The game itself is also very challenging and features some chaotic boss fights as well as fast paced platforming as Samus powers her way through different areas and challenges. In fact, the game for me echoed the difficulty of the Souls games given how difficult it could be, I also found it to be very frustrating at times but I will get into that later. That aside, this is still a very enjoyable game with plenty of exploration and features that are well known in the Metroid series. 

GAMEPLAY

As for the gameplay, I will do the usual sections for the gameplay below.

MOVEMENT 

Starting with movement, Samus is shown in the classic 2D side scrolling manner and she can run pretty fast by default but she can also jump, crouch, roll and slide through environments. Samus can also cling onto ledges and other platforms and hang by the side to allow her to even use her weapon without climbing up. Samus can also with the aid of her abilities transform into a literal ball (morph ball) allowing her to roll through tight spaces as well as jump higher up with further abilities she get's later on.

WEAPONS

As for weapons, Samus's primary weapon is her canon, which by default uses a ray beam to attack but as she progresses she will be able to upgrade her weapon abilities. These different weapon abilities include the wide beam, where Samus can fire out three beams at once, the diffusion beam, which allows her to fire a beam through walls. The grapple beam allows Samus to cling onto walls and reach high up places she normally can't jump up to. 

Other weapons Samus can use are missiles and there are again different types of missile such as the super missile, which increases the damage of normal missiles. Then there are the storm missiles, which allow Samus to focus 5 targets at once, which can be used on individual enemies as well as barriers that block Samus's path. Then there are the ice missiles, which can be used to freeze enemies in place and with further shots can then destroy enemies, they can also be used to destroy unique plant enemies (the Enky) that block Samus's progress in certain areas. 

ENEMIES & BOSSES

As for the enemies, Samus will encounter a large number of enemies that range from small and not so bad up to very large and challenging ones. There are also a mix of enemies such as insectoids, bird like ones, underwater fish like enemies as well as robotic enemies that fire out explosives and ray beams, which can alot of damage. 

Moving onto the bosses, there are quite a few to be found in the game although some of them are repeatable such as the Chozo warriors, which are powerful armoured robot-esque creatures that deal alot of damage. Then there are more unique bosses such as monsters as Corpius, a large cloaked monster with a large tail. Kraid is another boss, which is another large monster that can fire projectiles from its mouth and body and is chained for most of the fight and last of all is Droygya, who is a large mollusk creature with plenty of tentacles. So, most of these fights can be quite challenging and take time to learn their movesets but again like all bosses its about pattern recognition. 

EMMIS 

And then we get to the EMMIS...oh dear! Yeah, the EMMI's can be a real pain to deal with in this game, as they are robotic enemies that chase Samus around certain parts of the game. The EMMI themselves are robotic creatures that act like security guards and move like spiders, as they crawl around but they also have sensors that can detect movement and if they do, they will hunt Samus down and if captured, will insta-kill her. There are several EMMIs in the game and they are definitely very frustrating to deal with and to try and evade being captured by. You do however have a small window to parry the EMMI, to stun them to allow you to escape but the window is pretty tight for it to be effective and difficult to pull off consistently.

STEALTH AND CLOAKING

Another feauture of the game, which is connected to the EMMI is stealth and Samus can do this by using a cloaking device she picks up to conceal herself from enemies. This however isn't always foolproof particularly with EMMI's as they can still capture her if they bump into her! The cloaking device also has an energy bar, which once is depleted will then drain Samus of her energy quite rapidly, so at this point its best to deactivate it before Samus burns out her energy entirely. The cloak is also useful for walking through security doors that can shut down on Samus if she is seen. 

MORPH BALL FEATURES

Another key aspect of the game is the morph ball, which allows Samus to curl up into an actual ball, so she can pass through tight confined spaces. However, the morph ball also has additional features such as morph ball bombs that Samus can use to destroy breakable blocks that obstruct her path. Then there is a more powerful version of the morph ball bombs that can destroy several blocks at once and there is an even more potent version, which can destroy all the blocks in sight. The morph ball also has features that enable Samus to jump higher, such as the spin boost, which enables Samus to perform a double jump to get higher up. And then there is my favourite, which is the screw attack where Samus turns into a sort of corkscrew, which can deal damage to enemies as well as propel her as high up as she can go and really opens up areas in the game you can reach.

SPEED BOOST & SHINESPARK

Then we have another ability that can be very useful in certain areas, which is the speed boost that allows Samus to run at super fast speeds and blast past enemies and break through destructable boxes to reach other areas. Also attached to this move is the shinespark, which can allow Samus to hold a charge of the boost and use it to redirect her in any direction, which can be very useful to destroy blocks to access items.  

SUIT FEATURES

Another aspect of the game is Samus's suit, which by default cannot allow her to travel everywhere in the game, so you need to upgrade it to do so. So there are several suit upgrades such as the Varia suit, which allows Samus to enter areas of extreme heat but will not protect her against lava damage. Then there is the Gravity suit, which will allow Samus to run through areas of extreme cold as well as run through lava. There is also a final suit upgrade but this pertains to the ending of the game, so I won't really mention it here. 

GRAPHICS

Moving onto the graphics, the game was originally released for the Nintendo Switch, so by modern standards, its not an amazing looking game but its visuals are still pretty good overall and 2D visual style works well here. So, the environments actually look quite solid and there are some nice background details as well as plenty of variety in the visuals for the different environments ranging the cool interiors of areas like Antaria to the outside jungle like areas of Ghavoran. The enemy design also looks pretty good mostly with the enemies given a somewhat cartoonish look (like alot of Nintendo exclusive games!). Character model wise, Samus is well presented in her suit and you can only really see her face through the suit during cutscenes. So, overall given the game's modest pixel count of 900p, its still a good looking game for the Switch.

SOUND DESIGN AND MUSIC

As for the sound design, the game's sounds are pretty good with plenty of atmospheric effects from the background, enemies, explosions, sliding doors and of course Samus's laser and missiles. Then there is of course the score by Kenji Yamamoto, which is quite suspenseful and atmospheric and has plenty of intense and chaotic moments as well some more mellow ones in addition to the classic tracks where Samus finds her new abilities. So, its a pretty good score overall with plenty of intensity and indeed a fair amount of dread thrown in! 

FLAWS

As for flaws...yes, Metroid Dread has some worth a mention.

For staters, the biggest complaint I have with the game are of course the EMMI's, as these guys are the most infuriating enemy I have ever seen a video game, PERIOD!! In fact I think I died more to the EMMI throughout this entire game than I have to any Dark Souls boss and that is saying something! And its hugely frustrating to try and evade capture from these guys, as they can continously capture and you always get the same cutscene where they pierce Samus in the neck with their spike. Also to make matters worse, the later EMMI can also fire a paralysis attack to hold you in place, so they can capture Samus more easily, which is even more infuriating! So, yeah I totally tore my hair out trying to evade this enemy (or EM-E-N-E-MI!) throughout the game and the deaths I had were easily into several hundred by the time I had finished the game! So, in short f*** these guys!

Another issue I had was to do with the complexity of the shinespark move, which is activated by pressing down the left stick and then after the boost is started, holding down the left stick again and pressing B and then direct which way you want to go. However this move can be ridiculously complicated to pull off if you want to reach certain items as its too easy to cancel it out by hitting a wall or some other object. So, if you want to say get every energy tank in the game, you need this move, which makes life very difficult if you want obtain all items.

I also found some of the bosses to be quite frustrating at times as well and especially the repeated inclusion of the Chozo soldiers as bosses, as to fight these guys over and over, get's pretty tedious after a while. I also found the finale boss to be quite difficult (won't say who!) as there were some cues for counters that weren't so clear to look out for, making the fight to be very frustrating at times and this in itself prolonged the fight rather than shortened it. 

Last of all, I had an issue with the save game system, which is admittedly an improvement over the saves of Metroid Prime as there are more save stations and they work pretty quickly. However, there are certain sections of the game where you need to repeat sections or a boss, which requires backtracking to get to them at times and it would be much easier if the game checkpointed the saves for you on loading the game again if you left it. However, in this case, the game doesn't do this and reverts you back to the previous station, which could be MILES away from where you last progressed to. 

So, that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, Metroid Dread is for the most part an enjoyable albeit at times very frustrating Metroidvania game, which can be very difficult but also in its own quite rewarding. The game also has some neat features and abilities, which are often repeated throughout the Metroid series but they work well all the same. The game's exploration can also be fun when you reach a new area and there are many areas and room to check out. 

There are of course issues with the game, such as the save system, frustrating boss fights, some of which are repetitive and feature the same enemies. Not to mention of course, the EMMI, who are by far, the MOST frustrating enemy I have EVER encountered in a video game thanks to their insta-kill BS. However despite this, Metroid Dread is still well worth checking out, especially if you have played the other Metroid games and don't mind a challenge.

So, I will rate Metroid Dread...

8 out of 10

So, that's it for now and I will be back next month with another post.

Until then bye for now!  

 

Star Wars Outlaws Review

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, for this post, I thought I would do another video game review, which will be on a game I have just finished on the Switch 2, which is Star Wars Outlaws. So, this game was well received on its release by critics but also panned by some gamers for its bugs and repetitive missions. 

So, where do I think this game fits on the spectrum? Well, let's find out! 

The usual warning is coming...

PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

STORY

So, the story focuses around a young outlaw named Kay Vess (voiced by Humberley Gonzalez) who is looking to make a name for herself among the crime syndicates as she looks for any jobs to build her reputation. Kay in a desperate to escape her home planet along with her little sidekick pet Nix, joins up with a crew to rob the mansion of a wealthy crime lord named Sliro (voiced by Caolon Byrne). However, the job itself goes not to plan as Kay thought, as it turns out it was to rescue an rebel alliance member and not a robbery and as Kay demands payment, she is stunned and knocked out and left for Sliro. Sliro then blames Kay for the job but she manages to escape in a ship called the Trailblazer, which leds to Sliro placing a death mark on her.

Kay soon however is forced to make a landing on the planet Toshara and while there she meets a mechanic, Waka, who says he will help her to repair her ship but tells her to get local work with the crime syndicates to pay for the parts. So, from here, Kay begins her connections with the criminal underworld in order to establish her reputation. 

THOUGHTS

As far as Star Wars games go, Outlaws is definitely very enjoyable and has much going for it as it has an engaging story and good characters as the plot features plenty of twists and turns along the way. Kay herself is also a likeable, albeit feisty protagonist, who while a scoundrel, isn't all that bad either and does exhibit much loyalty to the people she works with. Kay also has a nice little relationship with Nix, her cute little alien pet, who is also quite resourceful. The game also features plenty of action, most of which is stealth based, so if you are not keen on stealth then this might not be for you but I personally found it to be enjoyable for the most part.   

GAMEPLAY 

Moving onto the gameplay, I will as usual split it into sub-sections to cover different aspects.

MOVEMENT AND TRAVERSAL

Starting with movement and traversel, Outlaws is in the third person perspective, so we get to see Kay as she works through her adventures. Movement wise, Kay has a fairly diverse moveset as she walk, run, crouch, jump as well as climb. Kay can also traverse many parts of the game via the use of climbing walls and structures to reach her objectives and these can occassionally be met by obstacles along the way such as large cooling fans that can blow Kay off a ledge as she navigates tunnels. Kay can make use of a grapple to to climb up or down areas that have a grapple point to attach to. Kay can also travel by speeder out in the open world, which allows her to cover more ground quickly and she can also upgrade her speeder to adapt it towards different terrain.

STEALTH AND COMBAT

As for the stealth, this is a key part of the game, as Kay will often have to sneak into places in order to complete her missions and gain access to information or other items. Kay can also sneak up behind enemies and knock them out as she moves through areas but can also use Nix to distract as well. Kay however does need to watch out for motion cameras that can track her movements during stealth missions. 

As for the combat, Kay can use hand to hand combat one enemies up close but she also has access to certain weapons in the game, such as imperial blasters, rifles, or even grenade launchers. Kay's main weapon however is her blaster, which can be modified and upgraded by finding materials throughout the game. So, Kay can use her blaster for regular fire on enemies, ion setting for destroying shields and robots as well as an explosive setting to do extra damage, so her blaster is actually a pretty good and diverse weapon.

ENEMIES AND CAPTURE

Outlaws also has its share of enemies and quite a few you will have seen already from the films such as the imperial stormtroopers, Darth Vader, Jabba the Hutt and even the Rancor (from Return of the Jedi). Kay however will also face plenty of other enemies of other kinds we meet have seen in the Star Wars films series such as Jabba's palace guards, the pig-faced Gamorrean, who are quite brutal here and hit really hard(!) as well as the Rodians, who are the race Greedo belongs in Episode IV and Waka and Gedeek, who also help Kay. Kay can also be captured by enemies such as stormtroopers if she is wanted for trespassing or other crimes, which will result in the loss of credits.

CRIME SYNDICATES AND REPUTATION

Another feature of the game are the crime syndicates that Kay will work for and she has opportunities to build up her reputation with them with the main ones being Pyke Syndicate, Crimson Dawn, the Hutt cartel and the Ashiga clan. However, Kay will also on certain missions be forced to work for one and betray the other, which will results in her reputation changing for the worse or better, which can range from terrible to excellent. However, Kay's reputation can if knocked down, be rebuilt by doing other jobs for that syndicate to get back in their favour but this can also affect the others. 

SPACE TRAVEL AND AERIAL DOGFIGHTS

Then we have the space travel aspect of the game, as Kay can also travel to other parts of the galaxy using her stolen Trailblazer ship (after its been repaired that is!). So, the Trailblazer can actually doing a light speed jump to other planets but it needs a clear path to do so and certain areas in space will have alot of debris or even pockets of dense fog and cloud (or more likely, nebulous gases). Kay will often also get drawn into space dogfights with hostile fighters that could be imperial tie fighters or even crime syndicate rivals who are after her and she can shoot them down with the ship's canon and missiles. 

NIX 

And then we have Nix, Kay's cute little alien pet and companion, who is also very useful as Kay can use him to open doors to get inside areas she can't, or pull down shutters to access power cores to turn off energy shield barriers. Nix can also be useful for distracting enemies, so Kay can take them down from behind and he can even attack them as well an additionally, Nix can also distract security cameras by lying down infront of them, so Kay can sneak past them undetected. 

BETTING

Kay during the game can also engaging in some betting activities such as a card game known as Sabacc, which is similar to Poker where she has to sit down and win a hand against rival players. Kay can also place bets on Fathier races, which involve large aliens racing against each other. Some missions also require playing Sabaac but these are optional. 

OUTFITS

As the game progresses, Kay will also get awarded with new outfits, some of which she can also buy from merchants found duirng the game and these can provide different levels of defense and in some cases, boost her stealth abilities. Kay can also purchase other items that can be used to craft new clothing items but this is found after a specific mission.  

WEAPON UPGRADES

As for weapon upgrades, Kay can upgrade her blaster at the workbench on the Trailblazer but this will involve specific materials that she will find throughout the game. The blaster has three main settings for Plasma, Ion and Power all of which you can unlock as you do the missions. Kay can also customise her blaster's appearance as well as boost its efficiency for reducing cooldown time being firing and recoil resistance.

VOICE ACTING (WARNING: SOME SPOILERS MIGHT BE MENTIONED HERE!)

Moving finally onto the voice acting, the cast all do an excellent job here.

Starting with Humberly Gonzalez, who is excellent in her role as Kay Vess, the young scoundrel, who wishes make a name for herself in the underworld. Gonzalez does a great job here at showing Kay's sassy and feisty qualities but also her loyalty towards the crew she works with and also the bond she develops with her robotic counterpart ND-5, who she does a big heist job with.

Eric Johnson also does very well as Jaylen Vrax, the suave leader of the crew, who recruits Kay into his plan to do a heist on the powerful crimelord, Sliro. Johnson does a fine job also at conveying that Jaylen might not be all what he appears to be at first as he appears somewhat idealistic in his notions to steal from the wealthy and corrupt (even though he is himself!). 

Jay Rincon is also excellent as ND-5, a former commando droid, who has been reprogrammed and is now self aware but also remains under Jaylen's control. Rincon excels here at playing ND-5 as a robot but also essentially a sentient being, who can make his own choices and develops a bond with Kay over time as they do missions together. 

As for the other roles Shadi Janho does a good job in his role as well as Gedeek, a Ridonian who worked for the Empire but is soon recruited by Kay for the heist and he appears to regret his past and make some amends for the rebels. Caolon Byrne is very good also in his role as Sliro, the arrogant crimelord, who Kay is looking to steal from and Byrne exhibits Sliro's arrogant nature very well. And lastly, Nicole Correia-Damude is very good also in her role as Riko, Kay's mum, who leaves her in the lurch as a child but later on appears in the game and she is somewhat sassy and feisty herself, as well as a bit on the cocky side!

GRAPHICS

As for the graphics, Outlaws is a very handsome looking game with its stunning open world design, this game is not short on pleasing visuals. As for its environments, they are varied and have plenty of rich detail from open desert terrain of Tattooine to the frozen lands of Kijimi and Toshara for its open landscapes and home to various syndicates. Then there are the outer space sequences where Kay travels in the Trailblazer and engages in dogfights sometimes, which looks impressive. The character models are also quite good albeit they do look a little bit unsophisticated compared to other modern games but overall they are good enough. 

So, overall, the game is a visual treat for the most part and the Switch 2 version is surprisingly excellent and runs very well even with ray tracing capabilities built-in, which can be demanding, this is quite a feat on such a small handheld console. 

MUSIC

Moving onto the music, the score is very good and is composed by Wilbert Roget II and it has an appropriate Star Wars-y feel to it and its main theme is also quite catchy and sticks with you every time the game loads up. It also has some other good themes throughout and one that springs to mind is theme where Kay comes into land on a planet. So, overall, a very good score here. 

FLAWS

As for flaws, yes OK Outlaws isn't quite perfect.

For starters, I think the game suffers at times from an excessive use of stealth during missions, which can make a lot of missions feels very repetitive and samey. While the stealth didn't bother that much as whole and thought it was well done for the most part, it does have to be said that on alot of missions, Kay has to sneak around e.g. an imperial base or vessel only to finish her objectives and THEN the alarm goes off and she has to fight her way out! So, for me this kind of really negated the whole stealth nature of the game in these moments and makes you think what the hell was the point of it all in the first place! 

Another issue to do with again what is commonly an issue in open world games, is the map system can send you on a bit of a wild goose chase at times. To give an example there is a mission where Kay needs to meet a potential crew member out in a canyon on Tatooine but reaching them is a pain as its that obvious whether its higher up or lower down according to the map indicator, reading the map and following the trail bit by bit, does help more in these cases but its annoying all the same.

Then there are the space dogfights, which frankly for me were really boring and the weakest part of the game overall, as they were simply uninteresting as you fly around in space, zapping away until you hit your target from a great distance. So, there is no immediacy to the space combat, it just feels like it was pretty half-baked in its design and easily one of the weak areas of the game.

Another issue is to do with the limited amount of weapons in the game as there isn't too much variety to be found and the weapons you do find, often have limited ammo, which can't be refilled and you are forced to drop it for another weapon, which is pretty crappy imho. So, the weapons really should have been improved. 

The mission choices in the game where Kay has to make a choice to back one syndicate or betray the other also kind of lacks a dramatic impact, especially given you can make up your reputation with the other syndicate as you progress. This also brings me onto another annoying issue where Kay often will get chased by pirates, who are out to hunt her for the death mark Sliro has placed on her and they can be pretty annoying to fend off as you travel in your speeder.

Lastly another issue I had was to do with the leave quest option in the game, which is a bit misleading as you cannot quit a mission if you want to WITHOUT actually deleting your entire progress of the game! So, if you want to avoid doing a mission you don't want, which you may have already started, you need to revert back to an earlier save, which is quite annoying and time consuming.

So, that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, Star Wars Outlaws can be a lot of fun and as an open world SW game, it works pretty well with plenty of missions and other side content to check out. It also has some fun, engaging characters and a good story that has plenty of twists and turns in it and the visuals of the game are also impressive and the music score is also pretty good and worth of the Star Wars name. 

There are some issues of course with its gameplay, as the stealth missions can get quite repetitive and as such the game does feel a bit too long in its run time as you get nearer the end and there are some other quirks and issues. However, all that aside, this is still a very enjoyable game and well worth a look if you are a fan of the Star Wars game universe, this could be for you.

So, I will rate Outlaws:

8 out of 10

Right, that's all for now and I will try and get another post done before the month is out.

Until then, its bye for now!