Metroid Dread

[Mokong]

So trying the new Dread mode difficulty.

Was try a tactic to keep distance and not even risk counters if I could help it

...how long did it take me to do something stupid?

 

...this long

 

[Dcubed]

Yeah, Dread Mode is just dumb; I don't even know why they bothered adding it (granted it was something they probably just knocked together in 5 mins).

At least Rookie Mode was added.  This game doesn't need to be made any harder!

[Jonnas]

A challenge is all well and good, but I have no idea how one is supposed to beat Escue in that mode. Dude's attacks feel unavoidable.

But that's a problem for future me to figure out!

[BowserBasher]

1 hour ago, Jonnas said:

A challenge is all well and good, but I have no idea how one is supposed to beat Escue in that mode. Dude's attacks feel unavoidable.

 

This is true and I doubt I'll even touch that mode, but have you seen speed runners of games? They pretty much play without a hit so I think if anyone it'll be those that play it.

[Mokong]

I'll certainly give Dread mode another go. I was surprised they allowed save points. I thought it was gonna be a perma death mode altogether.

So you can at least save and potentially not lose too much progress

[darksnowman]

Quote

Ver. 2.1.0 (Released 8 April 2022)

New Modes Added

Three different Boss Rush modes have been added to the game. Press the R Button on the “Samus Files” screen to move to the Boss Rush selection screen.

Boss Rush

• A mode where players fight 12 successive boss battles and aim for the best time.
• Any damage received is carried over into the next fight. Weapon ammo is fully restored between battles.
• If Samus is defeated, players may select “Retry” to continue playing from the start of the battle they lost. There is, however, a time penalty for being defeated.
• Bosses fought in Boss Rush can be fought one-on-one at any time by selecting “Practice”.
• *Unlocked by clearing the main game a single time. (In the event that a player completed the game before the update was released, they will be able to play Boss Rush immediately after updating.)

Survival Rush

• A mode where players see how many bosses they can defeat inside of the five minute time limit.
• Any damage received or weapons spent are carried over into the next battle. Even if time remains on the clock, defeat will result in a Game Over.
• Defeating a boss will add a fixed amount of time to the countdown clock. Defeat a boss without taking any damage to receive an even bigger time bonus.
• *Survival Rush is unlocked by completing either Boss Rush or Dread Rush.

Dread Rush

• The basic rules are the same as in Boss Rush, but if Samus is hit by a boss, her energy drops to zero and she is defeated.
• Bosses fought in Dread Rush can be fought one-on-one at any time by selecting “Practice”.
• *Unlocked by clearing the main game in Dread Mode. (In the event that a player completed Dread Mode before the update was released, they will be able to play Dread Rush immediately after updating.)

General Fixes

• Fixed an error where the Game Over screen would not display properly when Samus takes damage and is defeated immediately after destroying a central unit.

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Support/Nintendo-Switch/Game-Updates/How-to-Update-Metroid-Dread-2064021.html

These new additions tempting anyone back into Dread?

[Hero-of-Time]

After seeing the sales numbers for Metroid Dread, I decided to have another crack at playing the game. I bought it on release day but never got that far into it. I think I put about 3-4 hours into it before I dropped it. The game just wasn't doing anything for me, nothing was clicking and I came off it very disappointed. I fired the game back up on Tuesday, deleted my old save ( no way I would remember were I was or what I was doing ) and started a new save file.

It is done.

I'll talk about the negatives first. 

This is a none issue but I think it's worth a mention. As much as I love amiibo integration in Nintendo games, I feel what goes on in this game with the Dread amiibo is a bit of a scam, especially when scanning Samus. As you can see from my picture above, I have all of the health upgrades and the display looks as it should. If you don't scan the amiibo there is a very noticeable missing energy tank piece missing. I feel that if Nintendo wanted to do this then the other Metroid amiibo should have also given you the extra energy tank. As it stands, if you want a full health bar then you needed to buy the new amiibo.

I'm never a big fan of when 2D games don't allow you to use the d-pad and it was the same here. I managed just fine but I always prefer to use the d-pad or a control stick when it comes to platforming in games. I'm sure a control scheme could have been sorted out to accommodate d-pad movement.

Other than these minor issues I really enjoyed the game. Clearly I wasn't in the right frame of mind when I first played the game and it's once again another example of not giving up on a game if things don't click straight away.

One of the best things about the game was the boss fights. I loved the challenge they offered and most of them took a few runs to get their movements and patterns down. It was a very old school approach and one that I really appreciated. There was a great sense of satisfaction when you go from struggling with attack patterns and getting killed constantly, to dodging like a pro and taking very little damage. The last boss was definitely the hardest but certainly the most satisfying to defeat.

I ended up with around 40% of the items collected when I reached the final boss and was worried about having to go back and collect everything. I figured it would be a massive pain in the backside to do so but this wasn't the case at all. Having all the elevators connected, as well as having all gear and weapons at my disposal, meant that it was quite a speedy affair. I was able to zip around areas in no time at all and everything was mopped up in a couple of hours.

I'm still not sure how I feel about the the shinespark puzzles. I liked the puzzle element of them. Trying to figure out the best way to pick up speed and unleash a super jump was pretty cool but pulling them off was another matter entirely. This is where the controls caused issues for me, especially in handheld mode. When doing these puzzles I pretty much had to switch to TV mode so that I could use the Pro Controller because I found using the joy-cons very fiddly when trying to pull off all of the actions.

I quite enjoyed the story in the game. I was kept pretty minimal but also gave enough for the players intrigued as to what was going on. Coming off the chatter fest that is Tales of Arise I found it very refreshing.  

Spoiler

I found it hilarious that one of the main plot points was to extract the Metroid DNA from Samus as it was the only trace of them left in the galaxy. It was just like Alien Resurrection where they cloned Ripley and then extracted the Alien DNA from her as it was the only sample they had left. The Metroid series has come circle in being inspired by the Alien movies.   

 I took a few shots of the gorgeous artwork from the start and end of the game, as well as a few nice pics at various points in the game.

Spoiler

So, yeah, really fun experience and i'm glad everything clicked with me this time. I'm still not sure where I would place it in terms of my favourite Metroid games. I think I still rate Other M, Zero Mission and Fusion as more enjoyable games but it's certainly better than any of the Prime games. 

[Glen-i]

I'm wondering @Hero-of-Time, what did you think of the EMMI's? You never mentioned them, and seeing as they're a significant part of the game, (subsequently ruining my enjoyment of Dread), I'd like to hear your opinion, seeing as you and I madly agree on Other M being fun.

[drahkon]

1 minute ago, Glen-i said:

what did you think of the EMMI's?

I was just about to ask the same.  

TELL US!

[Hero-of-Time]

1 minute ago, Glen-i said:

I'm wondering @Hero-of-Time, what did you think of the EMMI's? You never mentioned them, and seeing as they're a significant part of the game, (subsequently ruining my enjoyment of Dread), I'd like to hear your opinion, seeing as you and I madly agree on Other M being fun.

Can't believe I forgot about them! 

They weren't that bad but weren't great either. For me, it wasn't really about sneaking by them and more about just pegging it and outrunning them. There was only one of them that caused me  a lot of issues (think it was the light blue one) because I couldn't find where I needed to be so that I could get enough shots in and break its armour. I will say though that I think they needed to alter how the counter attack worked when you were caught. It's fine trying to do a button press at the right time of the attack but when the timings of said attack are random then it just comes down to pure luck whether or not you can escape. Most of the time I just let the thing kill me and be done with it.

[Hero-of-Time]

How are you getting on with it, @lostmario?

[lostmario]

23 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

How are you getting on with it, @lostmario?

Enjoying it, just got the grapple hook. I hate the EMMI's though, seen way too many game over screens for my liking.

I loved Samus Returns on the 3DS and MercurySteam have done another fantastic job with this.

[Hero-of-Time]

£20 at Argos for those who've yet to pick it up.

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/5647372

[Hero-of-Time]

With you being back on your PS4, @lostmario, I assume you've now finished this?

Final thoughts on the game?

[lostmario]

4 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

With you being back on your PS4, @lostmario, I assume you've now finished this?

Final thoughts on the game?

Yeah, I kept meaning to post about it.

I enjoyed it but I did not enjoy fighting the EMMI's at all. I think the game would have been better without them.

Some really good challenging boss fights with simple but stunning graphics. Music was top notch as with all Metroid games.

I think I rate Samus Returns higher, I don't know if it was having access to the map on the bottom screen that made it a less stop / start game, I dunno. I just enjoyed it more.

Interesting to see what they do next, Super Metroid remake?