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I'm a little surprised that there's so little discussion on this game, considering how good it is. I'm just about at the end of the game, doing some item pickup cleanup, but I've had a lot of fun thus far.

The combat is tough, but rewards skill in a way that feels unusual for a Metroid game. Certainly, the combat is not what I come to a Metroid game for, but this game manages to make it dynamic in a way that feels good.

One thing I wasn't prepared for, but makes sense in retrospect, was how long the game is. This world is huge, bigger than any previous 2D Metroid. Which makes sense, considering that it's basically a 46+ member boss ensemble. I'll be really curious to see what speed runs of this game look like.

Now, to the elephant in the room: How does it stack up against AM2R? Well, that's tough to say. I'd say that it stands on it's own. Each game emphasizes different aspects of the source material. AM2R sticks to very traditional gameplay and world design, while Samus Returns makes a lot of interesting decisions that mix things up. For example, AM2R gives you the Speed Booster, while Samus Returns gives you a power to slow down time. Both are valid approaches, but Samus Returns is definitely trying to advance the formula, while AM2R is trying to refine it.

If I had to criticize one thing about Samus Returns, it's that it seems to lean too heavily on other entries in the series for nostalgia's sake. For example, there are super-heated rooms you need the Varia Suit for, and they all play the Lower Norfair/Magmoor Caverns music in them, no matter where they are. Or, late in the game, the Red Brinstar music is used from some areas for no real reason. And, probably the most egregious example is the last boss, which I'm going to dedicate a whole paragraph to discussing:

But, over all, this is a small blemish. I highly recommend this game if you are a fan of the Metroid series!

Exactly, we should call our regional Sony representative and let our voices be hear- oh, wait, that's not how corporations work, they usually only bow to pressure from stuff being made publicly known.

1. Zelda: Breath of the Wild
2. Hollow Knight
3. Final Fantasy XIV (unfinished) (I just started playing this game at all, but I expect to get to the expansion by the end of the year)
4. Persona 5 (unfinished)
5. Yooka-Laylee (unfinished) (only on here because I think I only played 4 other 2017 games this year)

If we could include older games that got re-releases, I played through Lego City: Undercover on Switch as well.

Imagine a world where men and women are all allowed to have the best jobs, and women don't make less than you just because they're women.

Imagine a world where the police are accountable for their actions, and don't beat innocent people up.

Imagine a world where women still get pregnant, but aren't actively shamed for it.

That's what feminism means. It means belief in women, not "lol what if we swap men and women".

You're welcome to voice your opinion, but that doesn't mean people need to like or accept that opinion. After all, that is their opinion, and without the freedom to voice opinions, etc etc.

Edit: I don't know why that quote turned into a link. /shrug

as a dark urban hellscape controlled by a spiky-haired authoritarian.

Wouldn't that be a bit on the nose these days? I don't need our Mario games to get all political on us.

Here's a controversial statement: M:OM's story was actually alright. Not for Metroid, sure. But, if you pretended it wasn't Samus, then it was decent.

I hope there are bitchin' wiimote controls!

Wait, in order to use cloud services provided by Microsoft and Mojang (part of Microsoft, but distinct for this purpose), I have to pay money to Microsoft and Mojang???/1

I mean, yeah? duh?

Honestly, I'm much much more curious whether any of the cross-platform stuff applies to the Java version. My guess is "nah bro", which is a shame. Actually, I guess it doesn't really matter, since I play modded mostly, and none of the non-Java versions will ever support that. So, I guess I don't really care.

Assuming this was strictly true (it's not), it would still be missing the point which is that it's about the journey, not the destination. Each game might share a similar structure, but that structure is filled with unique dungeons, places to explore and quests to do.

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If I was going to pick the 5 most crucial games to play for someone fresh to the series in 2017, they would be:

1. Ocarina of Time (preferably 3DS remake, but whatevs) - It is the platonic ideal of the 8 dungeon structure in a 3D game, one of the best games of all time, etc etc.
2. Link Between Worlds (3DS) - A lot of people would call me crazy and say that Link to the Past is better, but LBW is in many ways the same game, so why not go for the new one?
3. Minish Cap (GBA, might be on 3DS virtual console?? Ambasador's program is weird) - This is probably the best 2D Zelda in the traditional mold.
4. Wind Waker (Wii U remake) - Finally, a console Zelda! This game mixes up the structure of the game a little bit and has a vast world to explore. Not as many dungeons as OoT, but makes up for it with a fresh take on the traditional Zelda story line.
5. Breath of the Wild (Wii U or Switch) - I probably don't need to write anything here, but it's pretty great and completely different from all the above games.

I'm about 12 hours in, and it is definitely becoming one of my favourite this year. It really does feel like Dark Souls, but 2D (I am not calling it the Dark Souls of platformers, I mean it is as if Dark Souls was a platformer). I also heartily recommend it.

Bonus tip: If you're using the XBox 1 controller on PC, go into Big Picture mode in steam, go into the settings, and make sure your controller is set to XBox 1, not to "Generic Gamepad". This fixed a pretty bad lag issue I was having, and now it plays and feels like butter!

The PSN store is all kinds of weird. I had to search for Persona 5 by name in order to purchase it a few weeks ago.