METROID: SAMUS RETURNS

Play it again, Samus?

released OUT NOW! Reviewed on 3ds

Publisher Nintendo

It’s been a lengthy absence for interplanetary bounty hunter Samus Aran, but a couple of hours into her comeback, you wonder if she should have postponed it a little longer. A remake of Game Boy sequel Metroid II, generally considered one of the series’ weaker entries, Samus Returns does rather too good a job of making planet SR388 an unpleasant place to be.

Hostile environments are part and parcel of any Metroid game, but with only one energy tank, mistakes are too aggressively punished early on. Enemies are irritating rather than challenging, swooping down to attack the second you enter a room, and occasionally waiting for you at the bottom of a blind drop.

With so many foes, Samus Returns loses some of that sense of splendid isolation that has been so key to Metroid’s appeal. And with annoying bug swarms, collapsible blocks depositing you in deadly acid pools and questionable collision detection that can see you die before a fatal blow actually connects, you might be convinced to give up. But Samus Returns is a game that eventually rewards perseverance. Progressing into the bowels of SR388 requires you to find and kill a given number of Metroids before you can descend further, and these battles are consistently exhilarating.

Then, once you’ve got yourself a fourth energy tank and a three-way laser, you’re laughing. Smaller enemies are no longer a threat, but an opportunity to top up your Aeion gauge – another new addition – with counters, giving you access to a shield, a powerful burst-fire option, and a time-slowing phase drift. The big battles escalate pleasingly in scale and excitement, while exploration becomes more flexible and fun.

A strong endgame isn’t quite enough to put it among the upper echelons of Metroid games, but despite those faltering early steps, it’s (eventually) good to have Samus back. Chris Schilling

Face/Off director John Woo and Angel cocreator David Greenwalt both worked on aborted Metroid movie adaptations.

To his horror, he realised too late the gun was just a giant laser pen.