In a world flooded with pretty high quality FPSes (the Halo series, Left 4 Dead, Unreal Tournament 3, the Call of Duty series, etc.) how does an old Gamecube game stand? Well, I'd say exceptional. In fact, I'd go so far as to put it at the top of the heap. There are a few things that this game does exceptionally well. First, it channels the previous Metroid games amazingly. If you're like me, then you run through one of your favorite games whenever you're feeling down or bored and, as a result, Super Metroid has been played through about 20 times by yours truly. I am familiar with the tilesets, the enemies, the environments, the characters, the bosses, the equipment/weapons; let's just say that I would recognize the music whenever I hear it. That being said, I've heard remixes of the old tunes quite often in this game (Magmoor Caverns is a remix of the old Norfair music from Super Metroid.) Everything is carried through from the grappling hook to the ice beam, from the morph ball to missile doors. In the Magmoor Caverns, you fight the same flame dragons you find in Norfair. If you do what I did this time around and go into the options prior to playing and disable the hint system, this plays very much like an old Metroid game with lots of backtracking, exploring, cross-level excursions that last for hours. The beauty of this game is that it takes you right up to the limits of your abilities, and shows you the ways in which you must improve or the equipment you must acquire before proceeding. Contrary to most FPS games, the mapping function isn't totally worthless and allows you to have a good indication of where you are and areas you haven't explored yet. All in all, this game accomplishes every Metroid fanboy's dream - the porting of the series to a current generation system (well, current generation about 5 or 6 years ago.)
Secondly, this game provides extreme amounts of variety. To the non-Metroid FPS fan, the environments are a bit stock; of course there's the lush jungle environment, the fire pits, a snow covered plain area, lots of ancient ruins with hints at their disappearance. However, one thing that's nice is that this game isn't an easy game, and it's not only due to the enemies. This game flawlessly integrates a platformer into an FPS game in the most pure sense - you must often complete a series of challenging leaps to get to your destination. The morph ball function frequently causes you to complete another series of jumps, bounces, or half-pipes in an attempt to acquire equipment - either optional or essential. Bottom line, this game takes skill to play from a dexterity perspective. You need to plan out your paths and your progression through the worlds, or else you'll never survive.
The enemies, contrary to most modern FPS, all integrate a degree of strategy. Very rarely will you find an enemy battle, and I'm not talking about bosses, that can be dealt with as simple as shooting until they give up their respective power-ups. Instead, every enemy has an "identity," if you will, something to remember them by. As a result, they become increasingly difficult throughout the course of the game. In this way, MP stands out against games like Halo, where you've been introduced to most of the enemies when you reach 1/3 plot completion, and then their armaments or the situations you encounter them in change and make the game more difficult. No, the enemies are difficult in their own right, and, although the situations you encounter them in might change to make the battle more difficult, the gameplay rarely seems recycled - and that's even considering the amount of backtracking you do throughout the plot.
Perhaps the most ingenious development that was ever integrated into the Metroid series began with the very first game - the use of a certain weapon to access a certain door. In this way, the game developers added another layer of complexity beyond the "find a terminal, switch, or key" type of door situation that you're used to finding. Indeed, this really makes you feel like you're pushing up against the limits of your equipment and your abilities within the game. Also, there are enemies that require use of certain weapons, perhaps in a certain order. This couples with the "visor" system, allows Samus to see images via thermal imaging or X-Rays. Plenty of games since MP have used similar systems, one of the first being the original Splinter Cell, which integrated both to a degree. Again, the visors change enemy encounters and, additionally, make for some very interesting boss fights.
Despite not having much negative to say about this game, I will say that there are things which begin to grate on your nerves. The first thing that comes to mind is the half-pipe mechanic. Despite being equipped with the boost ball, bombs, and jump, it still is difficult to properly get a half-pipe on the first try. Usually this is made more difficult by the camera. However, the camera is the point that I can understand the most because the game developers had to make the camera "context aware." That being said, if you're in morph ball form (or, as I started calling it later in the game, Grapefruit,) and anywhere on a half-pipe, the camera assumes a semi-static position that should be appropriate for attempting to go up and down. Often times though, this gets in the way and makes finding the perfect combination of up-left versus down-right or the other way around sometimes seem impossible. Next, sometimes depth perception becomes a problem with regards to the platforming. This game is designed exceptionally well, but with the HUD and Samus' helmet, sometimes the platforming aspect becomes difficult and tedious. I don't know how many times I ended up filling my suit with gallons upon gallons of magma because I missed a jump in the Magmoor Caverns. However, one other way to look at this is an added difficulty mechanism in the game. This is one of those games that, now that I've started it on normal difficulty, I wish I would have begun on hard. It's not that I don't find the game challenging in its own right, but I find the enemies to be a bit on the "nerfed" side, at least so far.
I think that the proper way to experience this game is like an old Metroid game: turn off the hint system prior to playing (it doesn't affect any early-game tutorials such as weapon use or morph ball technique, it just makes the game far less linear - you actually have to remember where certain doors/items were that you didn't have access to before and/or explore/re-explore the limits of the world around you. If you take the time and don't get frustrated with the game dynamics, you'll be in for a very rewarding experience.
All in all, I would say this game still rises to the top of the FPS pile despite the quality FPS library that exists now. Even the graphics are fairly good considering how old the game actually is. The controls are perfect for the game and, although usually I hate games with "lock-on" systems, they are absolutely necessary here (much like Zelda: Ocarina of Time.) If I was to give this game a numerical review, it would probably stand at a 9, seeing as how it's almost perfect. Anyways, if you haven't tried this game and are an FPS fan (and have a Wii or a Gcube,) go and buy it, it's only $5 at Gamestop!
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