Also, it turned out that I wrote waaaaaaaay much more about the visuals and atmosphere of the game alone than I had anticipated. Holy shit, my bad. As before, I will update this post as time moves along. The second part of the review will come soon now that I have a foot in the door.
There's not much that people can do to deny it anymore, the Metroid series is in a bad place. Perhaps it's a little better now than it was two years ago, but even with the dawn of a new official game, the trouble is that Nintendo just does not seem to understand or be particularly interested in what the fans want. As such, even with Federation Force pretty much available in North America at the time of writing, most fans' hopes are still shattered as the identity and presence of this series continue to bleed. Despite the grim reality of the situation, though, the fanbase has persevered through the years of no announcements and through the intense frustration with the direction the series has taken in Federation Force, and many fan works ranging from ROM hacks to full-fledged fan games have taken form. And of all these works, one game truly stands out with incredible timing to soothe the pain that the fanbase is going through.
If you didn't know, that game, of course, is AM2R, a fan game with a development period that actually ranges as far back as right smack in the middle of the "Golden Era" of Metroid releases, with development starting between the release of Metroid Prime: Hunters and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, if my memory is correct. At the time, it was called Another Metroid II Remake simply due to the abundance of people starting up their own remakes of Metroid II at the time. Some games vanished into obscurity, and few were released although lacking a lot of polish or sense of completeness. Amazingly, though, AM2R lasted through as the craze to remake Metroid II faded, and has been through the peak, the fall, the drought, and now the uncertainty of the franchise's lifespan. Releasing right on the day of the series's Thirtieth Anniversary, AM2R came at last to fans desperate for something that held true to the things that made these games a Metroid game, Nintendo DMCA's be damned.
So how well does AM2R stand as a game in the series? As you may have come to know through my retrospective posts on previous releases in the series, I really look a lot at three major components that I feel are critical to each game in the series. These include progression, which is how the player interacts with the environment with the tools the game provides to complete it, and involves backtracking, exploration, item placement, movement mechanics, and degrees of linearity; there's combat, which is pretty self-explanatory but mostly defined through bosses and to a lesser extent platforming (platforming kind of falls under both combat and progression I think); and then there is atmosphere, the standard usually set to convey the same mood or tone as something like the first Alien movie did. I don't particularly mind atmosphere too much unless the game somehow wildly deviates from what is typical of the series, or if the game somehow does not convey any sense of atmosphere at all. A good Metroid game doesn't necessarily have to excel in all three components, but a good blend of all three is ideal.
AM2R gets that blend just right, all while remaining fairly true to the original game. It is just the thing that Metroid fans desperately needed at this time, and of course it's enjoyment can extend beyond just the fans themselves. If you had any relative enjoyment in other games like Axiom Verge or perhaps, although maybe to a lesser extent, Shantae, this game is so competently put together and polished that the quality really matches what you'd expect from those games.
Visuals/Sound/Atmosphere
One thing that is immediately clear with AM2R is that the technicalities and polish of the visual and audio quality are the best they have been of all the actual 2D games up to Zero Mission. I guess this may not come as too much of a surprise, as after all, the development has way outgrown the technical limitations of Zero Mission's time on a Game Boy Advance. However, when considering the small development team with no funding (that I know of) for this game, the fact that the technical quality and polish lives up to something you'd expect from a marketed game is commendable. Sprites are in even better detail than any of the previous games, and are pretty much up to standard with spritework in today's games. For example, the sprite for Samus has the armor ridges much more sharply defined, to the point where you can almost clearly see gaps between the plating that reveal the sort of black or gray underarmor beneath (until you get the Varia suit). Or when Samus is in morphball, there is a sprite and animation for her turning while in the morphball, allowing you to see the ridge down the middile of the ball as it appeared in the Prime games. Not even Zero Mission or Super Metroid had this much detail.
I think where the art actually truly excels is in the backgrounds. The backgrounds are by far the largest and most detailed I have ever seen in this series. Some are pretty basic, nothing more than the standard background of a cave. Others are absolutely gorgeous. The background of the first area in the game, outside the building, is a really cool multilayered background with the foremost layer being a rock wall with several holes. The holes look out to another layer of a cliffside, and as you go higher, you start seeing over that layer to the backmost layer of part of a landscape. At the end of the game, there is another huge background depicting a huge cavern, with a pool of glowing water and a series of Chozo temples and statues lining across the walls in the far distance. These backgrounds and more gave a big sense of scale in the environment of SR388, making it really feel like there is far more complexity and scope to the planet than just the tunnels you traverse.
I can't give a thorough, detailed analysis of the specific elements that bring the various environments in AM2R to life, but I will say AM2R significantly does the environments justice in bringing them to life from the aged original on the Game Boy. Without even having to read the logbook, each area is clearly conveyed to grow progressively sinister through the themes and patterns in each environment. It is in this where the developing team really came through with creatively expanding on each area's environment, from adding several different Chozo statues and decor to designate the first area as a temple or holy place, to taking the slightest hint from the original of the fourth area being a weapons complex, and fully expanding on that with a detailed technological theme and a sort of militaristic Chozo statue atop the tower, portraying two Chozo exerting their strength in carrying a large sphere. This isn't just limited to the ruins locales either, as the several breeding grounds beneath the ruins in each area grow more feral and harder to navigate as well.
In my notes for this post, I originally mistook this game as the first 2D Metroid game to make use of lighting effects, when in fact it was Super Metroid that did so through the firefleas. AM2R, however, takes the lighting and amps it up to a hundred in its use of it. Perhaps the most notable area to play with lighting would be the breeding grounds underneath the third area of the game. As I mentioned, the breeding grounds grow progressively more feral; the breeding grounds underneath the third area are a sort of complex of thick roots, vines, and plants attracting small fireflies to them (I'll use this moment to mention a cool move of how one room juxtaposes the interlocking roots next to the metallic base of the ruins you can explore further above). As you go deeper into this area, the lighting gets darker, to the point where you even encounter a Gamma Metroid in an almost pitch-black room! Your beam and missiles also have light-sources, so they can create a flash of light across a room to help you see, or you can hold your charge beam to attract the fireflies to light the area around you.
Most of the bosses in this game are designed neatly. One cool thing is that over half the bosses (along with many enemies of this game) are aggressive robots designed by the Chozo, further expanding on the militaristic implications of their SR388 civilization. One of my favorite bosses is actually the first boss at the end of the first area, where as the fight draws close to the end, so too do the spiked walls draw closer to you. It's placement right after the seemingly peaceful temple serves as a grave warning to both trespassers of this environment and to the player of just how dangerous the Chozo's creations could truly be, should they dare progress further into their ruins.
While the new bosses are a certain welcome addition, we can't forget that the Metroids are the true stars of this game. The original game succeded in making each form more terrifying than the last. This remake kind of follows that line as well, as I find it pretty hard to really say the Omega Metroids aren't terrifying at all. Before I get into that, I want to mention the new design of the Zeta Metroids. Making them a bipedal form that chases you on foot may be a departure from the original, but it was the right choice for a modernized take on the game. Not only does this shift the expectations of a veteran player, the Zeta still comes off as more terrifying because it is still nimble despite it's heavier weight, its attacks appear much deadlier (it even regurgitates acid all over you if you're cornered), and simply due to being another step further away from the familiar larval stage of the Metroid in both form (bipedal semi-Eldritch monster) and function (it now chases Samus on foot). The creative liberty taken with the Zeta Metroids in the end succeeds in keeping the terror of another dangerous evolution despite deviating a little from how they originally appeared in Metroid II.
I wish I could say that I was just as struck with awe at the Omega Metroids. I truly did like the Omega Metroids in this game, and the way they were introduced by having a Zeta evolve into an Omega and literally slaughter the Federation Force from the new Metroid Prime game was brilliant. Past that, they are towering, hulking beasts with loud roars, that breathe fire, and have such immense strength that just touching them sends Samus flying across the room. At the point where you have to fight the entire nest of them, you do so in dark rooms that are dimly lit with lava.
There is definitely at least some good atmosphere in these encounters, but unfortunately it doesn't extend too much beyond what you'd expect. Chipping further away at this form are also the pretty generic viscious monster roar, their tiny arms relative to Fusion, and, to me at least, their faces kinda look like gerbils. I definitely understand you can't just simply take the Fusion sprite of the Omega Metroid and call it a day, especially since the design does not match at all with the Zeta Metroids here, but the Omega Metroid in Fusion has 1) acid dripping from its mouth, 2) the most unnervingly lanky arms I've ever seen on an otherwise hulking beast, and 3) the most bizarre scream I have ever heard from a monster in a video game. Even Zeta Metroids still kind of held true to the sound effects and the acid and whatnot. The Omega Metroids were still terrifying in their design, don't get me wrong, but they were still left wanting. Maybe if they at least still had the unnatural screams, I'd have no issue with their design aesthetically.
Now that I've spoken quite a bit about the visuals for the game, I'll talk briefly about the music, mainly because most of these songs are remixes. First off, I think it is important to note even just the choice of music from the previous games. Assuming Doc made the executive decisions on the song choices here, he didn't just simply pick some of the most popular songs in the series (the fact that the third Area uses the overworld theme for Aether is already implicative of this, as that song isn't as well rated or spoken about), the "Green Brinstar" and the Temple Grounds theme both have somewhat ominous undertones to them. Then of course is the theme for Lower Norfair, which again is not just a fan-favorite, but also holds a significant sense of hostility in the music. Sadly I really suck at explaining it any further than that so I have to leave it at that. There is one new song, for the new area specifically, that is also kind of nice and fits the robotic theme for that area pretty well. It's just not quite as memorable as the other tracks in the game. Overall the remixes are of excellent quality. Each song kind of goes for the motiffs used in the Prime soundtracks, of sort of eerie electronic music mixed with ominous orchestrated and choral music. Every underground section has a slower, darker version of the corresponding area music as well.
With all these pieces in play, how well do they come together to create that Metroid atmosphere? I could spend hours echoing the things I basically said about the original game and how watching the Metroids evolve is kinda gross and awesome, or going on and on about how each zone gets progressively darker and more sinister. Instead, I am going to delve straight into spoiler territory (which should be okay with you, as you decided to continue past my spoiler warning) and talk about the one part of the game that almost perfectly culminates all the audio-visual aspects and then some to create some of the most amazing atmosphere I have ever experienced in this game. That place would be the Genetics Laboratory, the final area of the game where the Queen awaits.
First off, the buildup to the Queen exists even prior to the final area, with her distant cries echoing as you progress further past the Omega Metroids. Then you have the waterfall tunnels completely devoid of enemies, offering a brief sort of calm before the storm. The music is kind of hard to talk about since they are pretty much spot-on recreations of the original tracks, and that's all they really needed to be as the original tracks up to the Queen are spooky and alarming. One of the best things about this zone is that Doc included the Chozo statue with its head ripped off (even this time with what looks like a rib cage sticking out of the statue), something that is easily overlooked in the original game. So right away, the area remains true to the original, but even here things are greatly expanded upon.
The tiles with Metroids marked on them just before you actually head into the area forebodingly indicate the danger you are about to face. The odd jars in the walls in the original game are expanded on to be stasis tanks with greenish-yellow liquid, which are a pretty standard and effective way to bring out that disgusting alien feel. The best part of this sequence is probably, not surprisingly, the background. Not only is the veiny, purple organic mass in the background unsettling, the background even has this neat effect of a flickering light that A) indicates how disheveled and torn apart the lab is, and B) gives the amazing effect of keeping the background hidden at first then surprising you with it after a few seconds. Even better, since the Metroids hide in the background as in Zero Mission, they are veiled behind the darkness until the screen lights up and you can see their shadows in the distance. This was one of the coolest effects I have ever seen in a 2D game.
Then there's the Queen, oh how amazingly well do the pieces come together. The ambient track on the way to the Queen remains, working as a hostile sounding alarm, in coordination with the spikes, as the final warning for you to turn away. The Queen fight, aesthetically, is probably perfect minus one small clipping error where Samus's morphball clips through the Queen's mouth at the end. The Queen is amazingly detailed with a shrill scream, scaly body (along with a sort of transclucent red underbelly), its face getting progressively bloodier as the fight progresses, and the spit globules still looking really ambiguous even in a full-fledged remake (are they really spit? Organisms? Seriously what the fuck are those things?).
The best part of the Queen, though, is how she's expanded in AM2R: instead of being easily killed with bombs straight away and sitting in one spot, she blasts down walls and chases you down through the halls of the laboratory. One review complained that the Queen should be backed into the corner cowering over its egg as Samus is truly the aggressor in the situation, but seriously? The entire point of each evolution in this game is to be more terrifying than the last. All the creatures onj SR388 are feral and even described in the logbook as undergoing, "An evolutionary arms race." Survival of the fittest is truly a driving theme in the design of these monsters. Plus, Samus can't simply get away with not having to overcome a towering monster just cause she's a badass exterminator, that is not climactic at all. Instead, it works much better that the Queen chases Samus down into a tight corner, something of a common theme with all of the Metroid evolutions here, and Samus just manages to come out triumphant by the skin of her teeth. Samus literally stays alive (well, that's if you don't manage to kill the Queen before this happens) by holding open the Queen's jaw with her hands and feet when the Queen tries to land the final blow.
Even without any context, that moment makes it immensely more satisfying to actually fuck up in the game than to kill the Queen before she can even attack. Plus the death animation if you drop a Power Bomb is so satisfying due to the literally flashy animation and grotesque gore that follows. Not really supporting points for that paragraph above, but it's still awesome nonetheless as it took the Queen's most unique feature and amped it to a thousand. The entire fight with the Queen in AM2R tries to top the original and probably even Other M's fight as much as possible, and it succeeds in at least almost every possible way thanks to the imaginative vision Doc and the AM2R crew had for this moment. Through accurate representations of the original music, new tilesets and backgrounds befitting the final area, and amazing presentation of the final encounter with the Queen, the final area fantastically creates the sinister, alien, and hostile atmosphere that has been a triumph of previous games like Fusion and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.
This is, of course, just one area, but it was the perfect example. Several other areas bring out the atmosphere pretty well also, from the bizarre tunnels with what appear to be piles of corpses(?) leading to the first Zeta Metroids to the new area, the GFS Thoth, utilizing dark lighting and dead space marines that recreates the feel of at least the first couple of Alien movies. While they don't come quite near as amazing as it was presented in the Genetics Laboratory, each area takes its their own spin on the atmosphere and even advances the circumstances with it, creating one of the most dynamic atmospheric experiences in the entire series.
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| Seriously, WTF is all that? |
While my praise for the game's atmosphere seems like it knows no bounds, there were some points in the game, like with the Omega Metroid, that just didn't hold up as well as the rest of the game. Honestly these are much more simpler for me to discuss, so there won't be as much elaboration as there was in discussing the Genetics Laboratory. First off, while a lot of the backgrounds in the game are pretty good, there were a couple that kinda threw me off a bit. The background on the way to the first Omega Metroid kind of looked an awful lot like the background of Sector 6 in Metroid Fusion, just recolored to fit the lava theme. It still looked nice and maybe it's not actually that same background but I don't really know how to explain it other than it felt odd and it was something I could not really divert my attention from in those tunnels. The other background that gets under my skin is the background behind the Power Bomb, though. It honestly looks very basic, like it doesn't necessarily look horrible but it seems like it still lacks a lot of polish, as if it was made as a rough draft for the demo and then just sort of left that way.
I said earlier that most of the bosses in this game were neat. While the only other boss that comes to mind is Genesis, whose sprite seems to lack a lot of detail compared to others, the worst offender by far is the Chozo "Tank" boss during the game's escape sequence.
It's just way too over-the-top, it ends up looking pretty goofy and almost like something out of Federation Force to be honest. The design of the boss also reminded me of Mimiron's boss battle in WoW, which is a game with a silly, cartoony, comic-booky aesthetic to it. Not to mention the boss felt a little out of place, maybe if it wasn't a huge tank that conveniently blocked the wall but maybe a smaller drone of sort that just locked the door? To be honest, I can't really think of something else to fight, but at the very least, the boss could probably be more streamlined, sleeker, and less colorful, and then it could work. As it is, it looks a little too much like a windup toy to me.
Really that's all I can think of as far as criticism for the game's graphics and such are concerned. I know it really sounds like I am fanboying really hard, but I've let this game sit with me for about three weeks now. I've never had this much to say about a Metroid game's visuals and such so far, so much in fact that I am going to have to dedicate a separate post just to avoid winding up with one long post that lasts for ages. Plus, the fanboy in me actually really tried to like Zero Mission better than this game, but ultimately was forced to concede. Zero Mission had good atmosphere, just not the kind that was close to other games like Echoes, Super, and Fusion. I've always felt that the potential for atmosphere in the original Metroid II was really strong, and this remake just about takes full advantage of that potential. I really have to hand it off to Doc and everyone else involved with this department of the game, they really took what the original game had to offer and ran marathons with it, with technical quality that surpasses today's standards for 2D games.
I hopefully won't have another ridiculous amount of things to say in the latter part of this review. If you've followed my Metroid Retrospective so far, you can fully expect (if I don't make this a three-part review) the next part to cover story (not that much to say), gameplay (quite a bit to say), and the depiction of Samus (that's right, that's coming in this review as well). Please stay tuned.
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