Metroid Fusion is a great hand-held game.
Metroid Fusion is a side-scrolling Platform/Adventure/Shooter game developed by Nintendo for the GameBoy Advance, and it's the fourth game in the Metroid series (but in chronological order Metroid Fusion is set after all the other games in the series). Metroid Fusion won hand-held game of the year in 2002 and was a big game with fans and critics alike.
Like all the other games in the series, it's centred around Samus Aran. She gets sent by the Galactic Federation to the Biologic Space Laboratories space station to investigate an explosion. When she gets there she learns that the station is swarming with the mutant X-Virus, virions that can infect and clone their hosts and take their memories, then kills them after doing so Samus gets attacked but survives because of the cure the Galactic Federation give her. The Galactic Federation then send her back to the space station. They plan to capture the X-Virus for further study, but Samus knows that their power is far beyond what the Galactic Federation beleive it to be. So Samus must destroy the space station to stop the destructive X-Virus one and for all.
The gameplay of Metroid Fusion combines elements of platforming, adventure and shooting games. Like in other Metroid games the world in Fusion is open-ended with elevators to connect all the different areas. And like other Metroid games, Fusion also has doors that Samus must shoot to open. The blue ones can be opened using any weapon, but the other different coloured doors require a specific weapon to open them. So if you see a red door early in the game, then you know when you have the specific weapon needed you can go back and open that door.
The game mainly revolves around solving puzzles to uncover secrets, and searching for ammo and health upgrades to make Samus stronger. Most upgrades are aquired by downloading them in Data Rooms, or by killing certain bosses. But when Metroid Fusion was released it did introduce some new mechanics to the series, as it was the first Metroid game in which Samus could climb ladders and grab onto ledges.
Sound-wise and visually Metroid Fusion sounds and looks pretty much the same as Super Metroid, the previous Metroid game to Fusion for the Super NES, so the game did look, at the time, visually impressive and it did sound a treat. And soemthing that was added to Metroid Fusion was the ability to link it to Metroid Prime on the GameCube. This allowed Samus to use the Fusion suit in Metroid Prime. Also, when you complete Metroid Fusion, it unlocks an emulated version of Metroid that you can play through. You can also link Fusion to Metroid Zero Mission to unlock a Fusion picture gallery in Zero Mission.
Metroid Fusion is a great game. It successfully brought the Metroid series to the GameBoy Advance and it was regarded upon release as one of the best hand-held games ever made. The only problem I have with the game is that it is short, but that shouldn't really matter because it is a great game. If you own a GameBoy Advance you must play this game.
Review by: James Widdowson
