Metroid Fusion

The sound is phenomenal.

Easily THE Game of 2002 in my book.

Fusion is so good that if it weren't for the small, unlit screen, you wouldn't even be able to tell that it is a "portable" game.

A little too short, but the secrets are bountiful, and the addition of power-ups that potentially fight back is sublimely ingenious.

While the gameplay is faster, and more responsive than ever before, MF manages to feel even more claustophobic than in the past. That's a good thing. [Feb 2003, p.75]

A throwback to "Super Metroid," offering most of that game's best qualities in an all-new adventure. It's disappointing that Fusion ends so soon, since it's such a great game while it lasts.

It may be nearly devoid of the exploration aspects that older fans appreciate, but it is still a game that all GBA owners can cherish.

This might be a more linear title than previous entries, but the game uses this entirely to its advantage. What it lacks in pure unhindered exploration it makes up for with great story telling and a sense of.. dread. An excellent line up of bosses to fight, a tense narrative that feels like a horror movie at times, and what I consider to be the coolest setting of any Metroid game culminate in a truly incredible entry in the series that no fan can afford to miss.

Has the same grade as Metroid zero mission, but this one is more various. Also the exploration and finding secret passages are harder in this game compared to zero mission, idk maybe I'm just too dumb for this game.

Problematic game, my vote is more like 6.5 I know it was a different time, but wtf were they thinking making some roadblocks were you can only progress from one boss/encounter, the boss is not only very hard, band they made the save point very far from it, making it very frustrating. Also the game is terrible to 100% since the map is big and gives 0% info of where in the areas you have found everything and were not, so you would need to search everywhere constantly. That being said the game has good level design and while the exploration is artificialy limited, it's still satisfying to find power ups.

An incredible, creepy, and excellent game destroyed by an absolutely brutal final boss fight sequence.

I don't play Metroid games to be told what to do. If you like the exploration and independence of the other games, avoid Fusion. It is absolutely linear, plodding, and just plain wearying to play. Then there's the art. A lot has been said about how good the game looks, and I won't lie: it's pretty good. However, they try to throw so much on screen at times, it's hard to even tell what's foreground or background, what you need to be paying attention to and what you should ignore. It just ends up looking messy. Oh, and this is the game that introduced the Adam Malkovich albatross that culminated in the fiasco that is Other M. This isn't the worst game in the series, but it DEFINITELY doesn't deserve the 100/100s that you see over on the critic side or the 10/10s on the user side. If you want a "return to form" GBA Metroid, play Zero Mission. The Prime games are also good examples of how to do Metroid gameplay (Hint: it's about the exploration).