A Sci-Fi Adventure Classic
Forward: I wanted to review this game as fair as I possibly could, seeing as It's 2009, and this game came out in the 80's. The best way I thought to approach it was as if I actually lived in the 80's and was playing this game for the first time, with the intent of expressing my thoughts and opinions of the game to an audience of gamers in the 80's. Also, this is a bit of a mini-review, more of a basic summary of my opinion.
Graphics: 4/5 - Nicely detailed and original environments, but suffers from frequent drops in framerate, usually when there are more than 5 things moving on the screen at one time.
Music: 5/5 - Metroid perfectly mixes an excellent sci-fi adventure soundtrack, with ambient, atmospheric, and brooding tones of isolation, exploration, and heroism.
Gameplay: 4/5 - A massive and engaging world, combined with original and rewarding gameplay that rewards exploration and curiosity, coupled with a challenging but fair difficulty. Unfortunately, the lack of an in-game map and a lot of backtracking hinder the overall enjoyment of the game, along with an absent save mechanism, instead relying on passwords.
Story: 5/5 - Not something I usually am impressed with or care about with NES games, Metroid's story is refreshingly original science fiction, with a surprising twist.
Summary: Pro's - Detailed, original environments, fantastic soundtrack, rewarding gameplay, and a surprisingly good story. The game really sucks you into it's own universe.
Con's - No in-game map, tedious backtracking, reliance on password's, very high level of difficulty, and frequent drops in framerate.
Final Verdict: 4.5/5