Fusion mostly overcomes its short length with some of the best gameplay on the GBA.
The Bad: The game ends in about five hours; we've been waiting far too long for this sequel; the difficulty spikes randomly every once in a while; you can't make the game last as long as you'd like, even with all the upgrades.
Metroid, one of Nintendo's finest franchises (if the most commonly screwed over of the list) has been absent since 1994. Now, at last, it's back.
This Metroid, the fourth in the original franchise, is certainly fun. The gameplay is amazing, and will remind you of Super Metroid, even if it's not nearly as difficult as the other games. But there are major issues that get in the way of an otherwise fantastic game.
It's not the graphics, which are possibly better than its prequel on SNES. It's not the music, as moody as ever. It's not that Samus tells a little of her history, because she's still one of the most mysterious video game characters ever.
But we've waited eight years for this sequel. And it's five hours long. That's not cool. This is countered by Metroid Prime, which arrived at just about the same time on Gamecube and is plenty long. But for those Metroid purists who just needed a game that actually occurs after Super Metroid, this is probably a bit of a downer.
On the other hand, the title is incredibly fun. It will certainly remind you of why you love Metroid, or make you love Metroid, and is still worth the money today. Plus it has a pretty solid level of replayability because of how much fun it is just to blast through the enemies.
The story is dark, when Samus is infected with a virus that makes her have to wear her new Fusion Suit, and is then sent on a mission to rid a ship of the X Parasite, the same virus that affected her. She faces incredible danger though when a clone of her- the SA-X, created because the X Parasites got her DNA- comes to hunt her down and kill her to stop her from destroying the Parasite.
Fast-paced, unique among Metroids and fun, excellent controls, not to mention high production values graphically and musically, Fusion is certainly one of a kind and worth your money, if it is short. Replayability, however, allows for this one to become an absolute gem on GBA.