maxfisher

I agree that its controls being somewhat unique take a little getting used to, but the complexity of what you describe isn’t all that different than in a lot of games. Shooting your primary gun in an fps generally requires one or two sticks and two buttons and pretty regularly requires an extra button or two if you’re zooming down a scope or using a secondary firing mode.

I’m close to finishing this up and the only controls that I feel are egregiously bad are for the shine spark. I’ve read multiple explanations online and watched several videos and I just can’t do it in a lot of spaces. It’s easy if you have a wide open stretch of floor, but otherwise seems extremely finicky and there are things that I’ve seen people do in videos that I simply cannot replicate no matter how much I try. Despite that, the rest of the controls have really grown on me and allow for pretty precise action.

Michael Corvin

I dropped it. I wanted to like it but I just got sick of retreading the entire map trying to figure out where to go next. Such a huge waste of time. And yes, I've played Metroids and the Castlevanias and Shadow Complex, this one just felt needlessly overdone? Not sure if that's the correct word. In all the aforementioned games you acquire a new item and it's like "oh, now I can open that one area, or get that missile tank/weapon." In this one you get a new ability and it's like "oh, cool. Now where do I go to use this? Guess I'll just recover the entire map until I find something." It got to where I was simply retreading the entire map jumping around like a loon just to color in those spots on the map. Great game design there.

The game is gorgeous and the gameplay is solid so I get the praise for those, but to me the game is too flawed to make a GOTY list.

Dan

This is the game's biggest flaw, in my opinion. Much more so than the weird spikes in difficulty (super tight QTEs). I've watched videos where people praise the map design, saying it's intuitive and brilliant. I don't see that at all, even though I do generally like how everything flows... retreading your steps is worse here than many of the games that Metroid inspired.

​​​​​​That said, I think Adam should stick with it.
But there's one part where I was genuinely stuck and had to revert to the last save I made. It's an

i haven't personally seen anyone else mention this, but I know it wasn't user error so it's something to watch for.

maxfisher

I get the complaints about backtracking, but I will say that I was usually able to scan the map and figure fairly quickly where to go next. Not always, but usually.

Also, I feel like between weapon power ups, EMMI’s being cleared and warp/travel points, it’s almost always really easy to blast through areas that have already been ‘beat’ as part of the story progression. I’m pretty sure I’m on the second to last boss and I can get just about anywhere on the map in a minute or two.

tanman

That's interesting because I've heard complaints online of the exact opposite. That Dread is a bit too linear of a metroid game and that there isn't enough exploration involved.

There are times that I was stuck too but the map is really well designed in this game and it was always pretty easy to find areas that were open to me now by some ability that I recently got. Really just look at any doors or blocks you haven't opened yet. If it's still a ??? then you don't have the ability. Otherwise it will name what type of door it is.

Adam Tyner

I've stuck with Dread and have generally been doing alright. It's very forgiving outside of boss battles and some minibosses, and even those encounters are well-designed enough that even when I get curbstomped the first time through, I can see the patterns, get a handle on what sequence of buttons to press, and eventually make it through at least the first phase without taking any damage. (The one thing I keep messing up is that when I try to shoot rockets, half the time I'll hold Y and tap R to fire rather than the other way around. And sometimes I'll tap Y as expected but wind up holding ZR, which doesn't do a whole lot of damage. ) So, I'm hanging in there! I might even have it finished at some point in the next few days. (I'm about to fight Escue.)

Adam Tyner

I did it! Unexpectedly, I didn't think the final boss was all that bad. Maybe my fourth or fifth try? I will never attempt hard mode. I'm not sure I'm onboard for a sequel. But I'm glad I finished this, and there was a real sense of satisfaction in overcoming some of these hurdles.

nickdawgy

I just picked this up used at GameStop for $38 and I’m taking it back tomorrow. The whole E.M.M.I. thing is garbage and I don’t have time to waste on it. I haven’t liked a Metroid game since Super Metroid so I guess it’s not surprising. Oh well.

tanman

It's okay. You can admit you totally suck at Metroid games

Decker

nickdawgy

I probably do

redbill

I also quit playing, not because of enemy difficulty, although I fully admit that point was probably coming. I was just completely lost and with the shitty map I couldn't figure out what I supposed to do next and where to go. I had opened up 3-4 "worlds", killed 3ish EMMI's, but for the heck of it couldn't find out where to go next. After like 3 wasted play sessions, it wasn't worth my time anymore to wander around going blind trying to find a tiny gap in a map to go to.

Noonan

The EMMI parts are so short though. I wouldn’t let that stop you from playing if you enjoy Metroid games in general. They can be annoying but it’s like 10% of the game’s experience.

bluetoast

I didn’t finish the game for the same reason that red hill mentioned, as well as traveling which killed the momentum. But the EMMI parts were awesome. Almost like survival horror.

big e

Didn't Nintendo release a patch or something, that made the EMMIs not as difficult?

Noonan

They patched in a Rookie difficulty which effects the full game. Not sure about EMMI specifically in the normal difficulty.

stingermck

I never finished either. I was close to the end though but it would have required back tracking to get more upgrades. But I had a ton of fun with it, so in my head I finished it

alfredog1976

Loved this game. I'll admit, needed some help, especially after not playing the game after awhile because I don't remember what the hell I'm supposed to do, but I did end up finishing it.

Xander

I never could beat the final boss after a couple dozen tries, so I gave up. Maybe I'll try the rookie mode sometime....

tanman

No! Keep trying...you'll get it. Watch some YouTube videos if you have to. In this game I don't necessarily consider that cheating since you still have to do the work yourself.

bluetoast

Restarted this game with a new save the other day and just beat it. The boss was challenging but once you get the patterns down, it was fun. I liked all the boss battles.