‘Metroid Dread’ is the long-awaited continuation of the Metroid series of games. After 19 years since the series’ last entry, ‘Metroid Dread’ revives it with a new story, fluid gameplay and a mechanic that can fill the player with the titular dread.
‘Metroid Dread’ stars the space bounty hunter, Samus Aran, who receives a strange signal from the planet ZDR. She arrives on the planet only to be nearly killed by a bird-like creature, known as the Chozo, named Raven Beak.
After waking up, Samus starts to explore the all new environment before coming across robots called Emmis. These robots were put on ZDR to “capture field samples and extract their DNA” according to the game’s introduction.
They were reprogrammed to become killing machines and it is up to Samus to figure out what happened to the Emmis and escape the planet.
The most divisive issue for ‘Dread’ is the difficulty level. One of the main mechanics in the game is avoiding and later hunting down the Emmi robots.
For the most part, the Emmi sections of the game are made to cause anxiety in the player and make the robots feel almost invulnerable.
While that certainly happens, more often than not the Emmis can cause the robots to get in the way of moving forward in the sections and cause unnecessary deaths. This causes dread not in the way that is desired.
The bosses of the game require the player to learn attack patterns to beat them. First time players will have to deal with trial and error, but the bosses never felt impossible.
During an update for the game in February, an easy mode was added to ‘Metroid Dread’ as well as a one hit kill mode for those who found hard mode too easy. ‘Metroid Dread’ is available for the Nintendo Switch.
For over 30 years the ‘Final Fantasy’ franchise has been a staple of the role-playing game genre. The announcement for pixel remasters of the first six games in the series for PC and mobile has had a mixed to positive response.
‘Final Fantasy VI’ is the latest release of the remasters and is known as arguably the best in the franchise. The pixel remaster gives new life to this 1994 classic of the Super Nintendo.
The ‘Final Fantasy VI’ plot begins with three soldiers of an empire storming onto a town called Narshe in mech suits known as magiteck armor, which allows for them to use magic, to see a creature known as an Esper encased in ice.
Espers are magical creatures of this universe and are a major part of the game’s plot. The character later known as Terra has a connection with said Esper and ends up in the care of a rebel faction known as the Returners.
Here, the character Locke convinces her to go meet with other leaders of the group and be the spark they need to fight against the empire.
‘Final Fantasy VI’ is a turn-based RPG, meaning that the characters get into a battle and the player gets a turn to decide their actions either before or after an enemy attacks them. The pixel remaster has updated graphics and character sprites as well as an updated soundtrack.
The translation that is used is not the original one from the 1994 original version but the 2007 rerelease on the Gameboy Advanced. Fan favorite lines of the Super Nintendo translation are sadly left out.
by Annie Phelps
saphelps@vwu.edu
