Last year I published a review of Godzilla (2014), and while I truly enjoy the film it does have flaws. One of the most glaring being the lead protagonist of John Ford. As I have stated, he is a boring flat character, and feels pretty generic. He becomes 'bomb defuser dude with family' and it is a shame, I am not asking for some outlandish performance, but he never feels memorable or to much fun to watch. However, after seeing Avengers: Age of Ultron and rewatching Godzilla, I feel that the character is no fault of Aaron Taylor-Johnson but is most likely an artistic choice.

First and foremost, I have only seen Aaron in three films. Kick-Ass, Age of Ultron and Godzilla. In the former two I enjoyed his acting and believed he did a great job. Only in the latter was something off, and i wasn't sure until recently if it was the actor. Aaron is a fine actor, and I look forward to seeing future work of his. Going back and watching the film, while flat Aaron is still enjoyable to watch and interjects life into an already stifled role. This then leaves the directors and writers to blame for the flat lead we had, and I believe it was a combination of the two and this is where the audience comes into play.

How does one get the audience to feel like they are in the middle of the action, get them to experience what the characters do? Give them their exact point of view. The film is shot from the perspective of not god, an unseen watcher, or really the monsters. For the most part (there are exceptions) the film is shot with what the characters would see in mind. This allows a style to shoot, and a way to get the audience in the action. If done properly it would allow viewers to bond with the characters by just being there in the destruction with them. One of the best shots, the HALO drop, is a direct result of this shooting style. Ford is supposed to be a vehicle for the audience, he allows us to view the action through him and then form a connection with him because we can better relate.

This is an artistic choice I can get behind, however I still cannot get behind it in this film. Ford is still and uninteresting character and just leaves a sour taste in my mouth after Cranston's death. The cut away from the action is another downside. The film takes some liberties and veers off from the set style, but I feel it should have done more. I would rather have seen more of the action.

At the end of the day, what have I learned? That Aaron is not at fault, and that this is a good style that needs refined in the next film should they shoot it similarly. Give us the kaiju action, and give Ford his own personality. I am ready for it, and I am sure everyone else is.

Hey all! I am getting into Comic books, I am a huge Venom fan (as you can tell by my profile banner) and have decided to get into Guardians of the Galaxy since he joined the team. Got to read the Planet of the Symbiotes story, and excited for what happens next! Not to mention the rest of the cast is great! So I will probably be sticking with this series.

I am also trying to pick up a couple others. Bucky Barnes: The Winter Soldier is one I am probably going to drop, the story isn't very interesting and the art is something I don't find very enjoyable. I will try one more issue, but I don't think i will continue with it. It stinks because I really enjoy the Winter Soldier as a character. Another is All-New Captain America, the issue I read was solid and i will continue to read it, but i do hope it gets a bit better, the story was kind of meh.

I am also thinking of trying Spider-Gwen and Silk when they come out; those look interesting. I am also eyeing Spider-Man 2099 and The Amazing Spider Man. Though, at the end of it all I will narrow it down to a few favorites because I am too cheap to follow so many books at once. I do plan on getting the mega collections of Agent Venom when they come out this summer.

How about everyone else? Read comic books, want to get into them?

First and foremost, this will be posted to the Nintendo forums in about a week. This is so I don't flood the forums with my metroid reviews all at once; so if you're here enjoy the sneak peak at the review. This message will be removed when posted.

Super Metroid. This is a game with legendary status. When a best game of all time list comes up this game is guaranteed a spot near the top. The ideas and gameplay that the first two games only toyed with; this game kicks into overdrive and essentially establishes the Metroidvania genre of games.

To start off the game recaps Metroids 1 and 2's events in the opening cutscene. The game itself takes places right after Metroid 2; after leaving the space station where Samus left the baby metroid she receives a distress beacon from there and turns to see what has happened. There she finds the station's scientist all killed and finally run's into the baby Metroid....in the clutches of Ridley; after a short scuffle he flees with Samus following after. The station explodes as Samus chases Ridley back to planet Zebes and after that the story pumps the brakes. There is no more story given to the player till the end of the game. As it stands the story is simple, yet effective and lets the gameplay shine. I do find myself wishing there was more though, but not in a way that deviates from the game. This is something later addressed by Prime, and how it handles more story elements during the core gameplay. However, this never detracts from the game; and while nice is in way a requirement.

The gameplay is the star of the show. It is a 2d side view perspective with a good dose of platforming and shooting involved and the driving element is exploration. These all combine to create a very unique and fun blend of gameplay. The platforming is fluid, and the shooting/action is fun with some great boss fights; but the exploration is the key to it all. The game is about finding a way to get to the baby metroid from the Space Pirates and so you must explore search the depths of the planet. Finding a way around is much more fun in this title compared to the cryptic predecessors. When presented with a road block it is like a puzzle to explore and find a way through or around. It really is a lot of fun, going through and exploring all of the caverns possible and finding secrets passages with upgrades. All of the upgrades are pretty fun to use and help with Samus's adventure. Many are required to progress, but there are a couple that can be skipped or missed entirely. The action works very well, and is much improved from previous titles. Samus is finally able to aim diagonally and it helps with shooting immensely. As stated boss fights are great bursts of action and generally alot of fun. The atmosphere really sucks you in as well. I found the methodical pace of the game very relaxing, and helps to engross me into the game world. The different areas feel unique enough to all stand out and each presents different challenges. I did find Maridia to be the weak segment of the game though; I felt that some of it felt tedious, the sand/mud areas stick out as a annoyance. I don't feel like I am imparting how good the game plays; it is just so smooth and flawless it really is the ultimate metroid experience. It is a flawless blend of atmospheric exploration mixed with bursts of exciting action and the thrill of finding upgrades.

Technically the game is quite good! The art style is very moody, yet utilizes a colorful palette. The graphics really help this come through and is a treat to look at. The game sounds great as a whole; with the music being a standout. In short, the audio visual experience presented is excellent overall.

To wrap up this game really lives up to its own legend. The gameplay is engrossing and alot of fun. The visuals help to draw the player in and the music ensures they'll stay there. While the story is a focal point, it doesn't need to be; though I personally would appreciate some more lore. This is a game I can recommend to anyone.

Metroid Prime is well renowned game, after skipping an entire console generation Metroid came back with a very warm welcome and was able to work amazingly in a 3D space. I really enjoyed Prime, and is for sure one of my favorite metroid games so far. Note that all of my Metroid Prime reviews will be from the Metroid Prime Trilogy.

Before going any further lets talk about the story. The tale starts with Samus responding to a distress beacon coming from a space station in orbit around the planet Tallon IV. There it is revealed the station is occupied by Space Pirates and is badly damaged with few survivors, soon Ridley reveals himself; completing recovered and back in action and flees. In the process; the station enters begins to come apart in a series of explosions, one of which hits Samus causing her to lose most all of her upgrades. She chases Ridley to the planets surface. From there the story slows way down; and really how much the player get is entirely up to them. The new scan visor allows players to learn things from the environment and this can be used to learn more about everything in the game. Information about the planets previous Chozo inhabitants, the Space Pirates activities, the flora and fauna of the world, looking for clues and it nearly all optional. Outside of the odd lock or so; the player doesn't have to scan anything. The amount of story as they go is up to them. I feel this is a great design choice to accommodate different play styles. Since we are talking about the visor we should move on to the gameplay.

The game is played from a first person perspective; however shooting isn't the ultimate focus of the game like many feared before its release. The game is appropriately named a first person adventure and it works. I found this game to be very similar to Super Metroid just in a new perspective. It really allowed me to get engrossed in the world more so than the 2d metroids did, and that is one advantage of this viewpoint I can't stress enough. I felt like much more like Samus than the other games, and I was really exploring the alien world. The exploring is at a very deliberate pace but the environments look so good and it is fun to see what is around every corner. The action is well done; the wii mote allows for free aim, and there is lock-on to focus on the enemy and allows to strafe much easier. The power beam is the primary way to take out enemies, but you can also switch to missiles, or a few other beam types. There are some great boss fights in the game and they are very intense moments. However, even though the action is great exploration is the focus; you are left to your own devices (excluding a help system for those that need it) to find your way around; collecting upgrades to help in the adventure. Generally you'll be exploing the world, take out some enemies along the way, and find upgrades to help explore. The pacing is methodical and helps to accent the bursts of action, like the boss fights mentioned earlier. I never found the difficulty to be an issue either; puzzles and combat combined the game was never too hard, I found a bit too easy at times but usually it feel fine. However, there are multiple difficulties to select, so it is a moot point. Like most Metroid games, saving is done at set points, and I feel like there were enough. It really just plays like Super Metroid in the first person perspective.

Technically the game is extremely impressive. The sound design is top notch, with the creatures, weapons, and atmospheric sounds being very unique is fitting. The music is so good; the title music always comes to mind and the rest of the soundtrack is just as good. It is able to do its own thing with a lot of the tracks, while paying homage to the old music with others, A great mix of the old and new; and a good chunk of it is just very atmospheric and chill; perfect for exploring. The art design is amazing as well; everything just looks great and the graphics that bring it to life impress me still.The game looks amazing! The environments are so diverse and appealing; they look so good, I cannot stress it enough!

The only big negative that comes to mind is a big collectathon to access the final section of the game; it isn't hard but just very tedious and a time waster.

I feel like this was an overly gushy review; if you feel like there are issues I may have missed be sure to comment! However, this is an amazing game and looking back on brings up just good experiences. The game is as immersive as the player will allow and the core gameplay is amazing. Technically the game knocked it out of the park! This is a game I can easily recommend to anyone!

For those wondering and following the reviews, the next will be Super Metroid, we are getting to the end and these last five games (Prime included) are for the highlights of the franchise.

So, full disclaimer I loved the new Godzilla movie. I was hyped months in advance, and for the most part it met my hype. This movie has been the gateway drug to the Godzilla franchise. Before this my only experience with Godzilla is the Gamecube game Godzilla Destroys All Monsters Melee. Since seeing the film I have watched the original Gojira and Godzilla Raids Again. I also have received a double feature of a blu-ray of Godzilla Final wars (Terrible film) and Godzilla Tokyo S.O.S which was actually pretty good. However, we're here to discuss my thoughts on the new film. This is just going to be a rundown of some issues I had with the film, and how it could have been done to a greater success. I realize this film has some glaring issues; but I feel if they handled some things just a bit better it would have been a screaming achievement! So I won't be doing a full review per-se but a look at the faults.

FINAL WARNING ___FULL__SPOILERS____AHEAD______

1. Lets talk a moment about how frequent Godzilla is in the film. Looking at it, he doesn't make his appearance till halfway through the film, which the fight he partakes in is also cut away from. Then he really isn't seen till the end, and even then its edited in a way that focuses a too much on the boring marine story. Before I get ahead of myself, lets look to the original Gojira; he actually is sparse in that movie as well. He only wrecks shop twice, and the other times he seen is rather brief. I believe the newer film tried to emulate this; but the execution was poor. First off, no cut away should have happened at the Hawaii fight when we first see Godzilla. I get wanting to save him for the big finish; but at that point I had cinematic blue balls. If he(The director) wanted to save the meat and potatoes for the end, fine. However, at least give the audience some cool warm-up of what is to come! Just five minutes would have been suffice. Lastly, the editing in the end sequence was terrible. It had a huge focus on the marine story. This could shot and planned a bit differently to get the same message across, but with more of the kaiju action we want. Speaking of boring humans.....
2. The Cranston Conundrum. This is a topic that needs to be talked about. First off, I think it was ballsy as hell to kill of (basically) the protagonist we can connect to. I thought it was a cool idea and could've been well done...but a combination of many things led to that being shot down. First off, I think Cranston's star power overshadowed his role at this point. Don't get me wrong he was fantastic, and did wonderful don't misunderstand me here, but they killed off an actor I felt alot of people really wanted to see for most of the film and the lead up material presented it as such. This isn't anyones fault (maybe marketing) and had the character been portrayed by a less hyped actor (assuming said actor is good), I think the issue wouldn't sting as much, but still be prevalent due to an issue I'll get to later. Another missed opportunity is no interaction between Cranston and Watanabe. Seeing those two play off each other would have been such a delight! They even play characters that would have been fun to watch interact. This is such a missed opportunity I'm surprised this wasn't caught in the writing phase. At least the shocking Cranston death had a great payoff of being a twist no one saw and benefitted from having a great character to fall back on ....amirite?
3. No I am wrong. The character of Ford is an extremely dull one, and I'm not sure whether to blame the director, writer, or actor (Aaron Taylor Johnson)! The twist of Cranston's death would have been very shocking and cool had we actually had a good character to fall back on as a protagonist. I am extremely baffled by the performance here. I want to give Johnson credit and say maybe Ford was lazily written and there wasn't much he could do; or maybe he was given poor direction. He seems to have some acting chops in Kick-Ass, so I don't know. Really though, a large chunk of the film fails due to this poor character. Not only does this mean the Cranston twist fails, but the new hero is ( at best) generic military family dude. A man willing to save his family and country at any cost. Had the writing been better (and maybe direction and/or acting?) he could have been just as compelling and sympathetic as his father.
4. Pointless humans in general. Wrapping up here, the whole family aspect is weak and I never really feel for Ford's wife or child. This is just (again) lazy writing. We get a single scene of the family together to establish a family; we never see much more than that. I never connected with the emotions they tried to convey; of being separated and scared. This could have been written in way (or acted/directed) to really resonate with the audience. As is, it just feels tacked on and generic to try and get some kind of response, as well to help Ford feel a bit more relatable. Also, that random sub plot of Ford helping the Asian kid get back to his family....felt pointless. Maybe its there to show Ford is a nice guy...or hero when he saves him later but if just felt pointless and tacked on.

So , my thoughts on the new Godzilla. I still love the film, and I can go on and on about all the great things it had going for it! Probably longer than the issues I have. What do you all think? Did you enjoy it?

So this is a game I really enjoyed when i first got it years ago on the DS. Going back and playing it, I must say that it has lost much of its appeal.

Technically speaking, the game is really good. The prime art style really comes through, and the graphics are well done. Designs on the hunters (and final boss) are really cool. I enjoyed the rival bounty hunter aspect alot! It was a cool chance to add some new characters to the universe. The music is pretty solid, as well as the sound in general. The weapons all have cool sounds that are unique, and I love the sounds of the menu when interacting with the ship interface! Enemies sound cool as well, specifically the final boss always had a awesome battle cry. Overall the presentation is great, and the fault only comes with the gameplay and some choices that contradict Metroid, as well as handheld formats.

First lets get the story out of the way; it is rather basic but serves the purpose. A telepathic message is sent out from a remote location of space called the Alimbic Cluster say that the key to ultimate power resides there. The Galactic Federation send Samus to investigate the source and find the apparent weapon. Her goal is to every claim it for the federation, or failing that destroy it. However, rival Hunters also intercepted the message and want the power for their own motivations. Samus must gain access to this weapon by finding 8 Ocoliths spread across four planets within the cluster while fending off these other hunters to unlock the gate to the weapons location. That is the general plot in a nut shell, the universe is further fleshed out by the scan visor for those looking to explore the history of the long gone inhabitants of these planets. A missed opportunity is the hunters though. They are never characterized and it could have been really neat to see Samus interact with Rivals, or even forge bonds with fellow warriors. However, the motives are never really given; all of them attack Samus on sight and really steals the wind from their sails. It adds a twist to the gameplay though. If you are defeated by a hunter they will take one of Samus's Ocoliths, and she must track them down and get it back. I thought it was a neat idea and added some tension to the hunter battles.

The gameplay is interesting to say the least. The game controls fine at first glance, but the problem is the way it is played it hand cramp inducing. After a while it becomes uncomfortable to play; Kid Icarus: Uprising faced a similar issue. It hurts Hunters more because the design of the game isn't something to pick up and play for 20 or so minutes. Its a slower methodical game to explore every nook and cranny for every secret. Uprising is designed in a way that caters to its platform, it allows the player to enjoy the game and get out in a short amount of time. So if people were starting to cramp they can finish and take a break, or try and play through.While Fusion and Zero Mission make it work; I am focusing on the controls. Uprising knew it could get crampy after a while, and the way the game is designed is to help alleviate that. Fusion and Zero Mission don't have that issue at all, and aren't constrained by that issue; allowing them to design games that follow the traditional metroid experience. As I said, Hunters is designed like a Prime title; so it isn't based on getting in and out, or designed around the cramping issues and it suffers. The constant use of precise aiming doesn't really help matters either.

The actual game plays more like an actiony Prime-lite. It is very much based on Prime, but the levels are never as long, the puzzles complicated, or exploration very deep. The game is much more action based and it feels rather shallow. The newest additions are all the new beam weapons Samus can use. Really they are used to open color coded doors, or hit special targets. Its not till the end boss are they actually used meaningfully. However, when not cramping, the actiony bits are fun and the Hunters are a blast to fight. The end boss is wonderful, and the secret version is easy, but still fun. However, the other bosses are extremely lame. The same two bosses get repeated for every single level, meaning you'll the same two bosses four times each; and the designs are really boring. Its shame when seeing what a great boss battle looks like at the end. They could have done much more.

Finally the Multiplayer...well it is offline, but we can still play with bots! Actually its pretty fun to play. The default setting have it so matches don't last long, which helps to alleviate cramping. It is apparent most of the design was based around this mode, with so many contradictory design choices in the SP. The bots can have the difficulty changed as well. Another cool thing is each hunter has a beam weapon that is 'theirs'. This weapon will do something extra for that hunter. For example, Samus's signature weapon isn't any of the new beams but the missiles. So her missiles are the only ones that have a homing property. Overll the MP is a good time.

Wrapping up, I have mixed feeling coming back to Hunters. The single player was shallow, my hand hurt, and aside from the MP and a couple cool nuggets in the SP I was let down by the homecoming of the game. Its just alright. Nothing awful, but nothing great.

What do you all think?

So this is a review I have been thinking about for a while. This is probably the most controversial game in the franchise; and it is really easy to see why. However, it isn't all bad so lets dive right in.

First off the graphics are something I found rather average. It doesn't look bad, but it doesn't come close to Prime 1 at all. I don't know what it is bit the game just looks rather bland and a lot of background textures are pretty muddy. Hell, at a point I was supposed to bomb a specific portion of a grey wall but I couldn't tell where at all because it was not apparent at all. Another issue with the look are the 'pixel hunts' in the game. Its section that forces Samus to stop and look at something of importance. Sometimes it is obvious; other times the 'important thing' is lost in bland look. Its not bad; and it does look good at times; but too often it settles for average. The sound is generally good. I found the music enjoyable on the most part; and sound effects were nice as well. Voice acting...is pretty average to awful but I will get into that deeper in a bit.

The gameplay is something I found quite interesting; though incredibly flawed. The gameplay mixes the 2d and 3d styles really well and its an approach I wouldn't see fleshed out further. It is the next logical step for moving a 2D metroid further. It is like putting Super Metroid in a 3d environment with a 3rd person POV. I think this idea can really go places. However, the way it is handled really kills the momentum the idea has. See, Other M only uses the Wii Mote; really limiting what the devs can do. This limits what Samus normally is able to do. Aiming is automatic now, Samus will lock on to the nearest target. To use missiles the player must point the Wiimote at the screen to activate the manual aiming. However Samus is no longer able to move, and this is really clunky to use in a combat situation. This is the only way to use missiles and aim precisely. Had the devs been allowed to develop the game around the nunchuk or classic pro controller; I feel that the game would have been improved ten fold! The controls is what really kills the gameplay; and stifles what can be done.

Another sin is the linearity of the game, this is basically an action game now and all but abandons the core essence of previous metroid titles. No power ups are found outside of health, missiles, and charge boosters. However, if just taken as a action title the gameplay is decent. The combat is mostly enjoyable; I found the boss fights to be a highlight of the game.An addition taht plays to the action of the game is the ability to perform a killing blow on stunned opponents. Another big change is enemies no longer drop health and ammo. The only way to refill is at save stations, or use a 'concentrate' ability when low on health or have no missiles. I found this to be a rather odd change and prefered the old way. Overall, the gameplay is just barely over average; and had the controls been better (being able to use more than just the wiimote) I feel it would not only have been much better, but designed in a much more fun way to take advantage of having more button inputs. However, the lack of how exploration really kills it; and just shows how lackluster the game is.

Finally the god forsaken story. Before I start, if playing this game; ignoring the story and using cutscenes to get food or check facebook will help improve the game. To sum it up; it is the same melodrama as Twilight. I don't know if that was big in Japan, but Samus is an extremely melodramatic lady with intense Dad (and Mom) issues. She will drone on and on in a monotone voice about everything. The first game Samus is given a voice to show off her personality, and it completely destroys her character. The Samus Aran I know is not in Other M. Imagine Bella from Twilight...BOOM that is Samus. Instead of an obsession with a vampire boyfriend, Samus has a father issue with her former CO Adam Malkovich. Also, Adam is never shown to care at all, or be likeable in the tiniest bit. He is a stubborn dick and I never really got any indication he particularly cared for Samus. There is very little interaction between the two even though they have comms to communicate over. This is a real missed opportunity.

The story is after Super Metroid Samus gets a distress beacon from the 'bottleship' and responds. There she finds a marine team already responding, lead by Adam. There they discover the ship in shambles and investigate what happened. Spoiler, its taken right from Metroid Fusion; Federation cloned Monsters Samus killed but they got loose. This isn't even mentioning that this is waht the space pirates of the franchise are usually doing; to say it is lazy is too nice. I could go into detail over all the plot holes, inaccuracies, and outright bullshit the games spews but I really don't want to make this into a huge list and they are so numerous it is redundant. The game treads all over existing lore without a single **** given. There is a subplot about a traitor killing the space marines that never gets resolved as well. There are a couple more twists but in the grand scheme they are weak and don't really matter. I find that the constant mom issue that Samus has with the baby metroid from Metroid 2 and Super metroid is weird and never really goes anywhere. I would say it is a comment about the mothers depression post abortion but that is giving the game WAAAAAY to much credit to think it would go deep or have insightful commentary. Samus's daddy issue is also out of character and extremely annoying. The voice acting really drives home the mediocre story and script. As stated overall the voice acting is average, bot special, not bad. However Samus's voice is terribly done. It is extremely monotone and boring, i don't know if we can blame the actress as it may be the direction she would be given. .

To sum it up; this is an awful Metroid game. The focus on story is really bad considering the story and characters are written like shit. It screws up the metroid lore and tarnishes Samus's character. The gameplay is focused on action, which is decent; but the clunky controls and the fact it barely resembles how a metroid game is played is the final nail. There are times I did enjoy the game; but I had to ignore the story and focus on the actiony aspects of it to really eek it out. The best I can say about the game is I like the 2d/3d blend, had some good boss fights, and some of the music was pretty good. This is a average game at best; and I have a hard time recommending it. Go in expecting a decent action game with shit for story and you'll be fine. Go in expecting a metroid title that respects the franchise, story, characters, and gameplay...well you read the review.

Note: On re read the review began to sound rant ish and I want to really stress that while a really bad Metroid title and the story being awful; I did enjoy the game at times. The base action gameplay was very enjoyable and I think it is a shame that so much went wrong with the project that the good got lost in the shuffle. I feel this is a very cool blend of 2D and 3D elements; and if taken further could be a perfect marriage of the styles. These days the game can be found for cheap, I got mine at gamestop for five bucks brand new and don't regret it. For a budget price, it is a decent action game; just don't expect a metroid game.

So this has been a long time coming; and I also have reviews for Prime, Hunters, and Other M that I will probably space out a week apart.

So the story is Samus is sent out to the Metroid's home planet to eradicate them from the galaxy. That is the plot in a nutshell, not much more to say. I do like how it parallels Alien and Aliens a bit; with the second one of both franchises focused on hunting the aliens (metroids) more so than the first.

So the graphics aren't too shabby either, Samus is really detailed compared to the first game and establishes her iconic look. I found all of the designs for the metroids and their evolutions to be very cool and the most detailed part of the game. The back grounds and landscape were average looking. Nothing special in my eyes, and the regular enemies (outside a few exceptions) were equally bland. Also, the game seems very 'zoomed in' for lack of a better term. The view is really focused on Samus, and it is hard to get a feel on the areas being explored. It feels very enclosed compared to the more 'open' wide view of the first game. This is probably due to the fact that its a gameboy, and being such a wide shot of the action would possibly make it difficult to see and move Samus.

The music is pretty bad, if it can be called music. Outside of a couple tunes, the rest of the 'soundtrack' is just series of beeps and clicks. Rather boring stuff. I ended up only turning on the sound for the game to listen and see If I was damaging metroids when fighting them.

The gameplay is , at it's core, the same as metroid. Samus is still exploring unknown region in maze like locales, shooting hostile creatures, and locating upgrades. However, lava generally prevents you from continuing forward until you kill all metroids in an area. This limits the amount exploration that can be done; but also keeps the player from missing a metroid till the end of the game and no way to get back. Also, when falling you can shoot down, helping prevent damage from enemies below you if you're quick. The main enemy in the game (as stated) are the metroids which happen to be evolving as they age. So not only will original metroids be fought, but so will older tougher variants. However, up until the last two forms they aren't too much of a threat. Save points and refill stations are other new additions; though extremely sporadic. Finding refill stations for health or missiles is a god send; and save points are very rare and I am glad I have a save state available on 3DS else the difficulty would be through the roof with lack of saving. I feel as though they should added some of both, more so the save points though. Again we are without a map, and with bland environments and zoomed in perspective it becomes easier than Metroid to get turned around.

Overall, I feel like this game took a few steps forward and a few steps back with the franchise. Unless one is looking to experience the entire metroid franchise I wouldn't really recommend the game; it is easily one of the weaker games of the series. I would say it about on par (perhaps a bit lower than) with Metroid.

I am slowly making my way through Metroid Other m and Metroid II Return of Samus still, I will get those reviews out as soon as possible. In MOM I am currently heading back into Sector 2 (The lava Region) just after getting the Wave Beam, I believe I am nearing the ever talked about Ridley fight. In the Metroid II I have about 24 Metroids left. I am proud to say I have not used a map so far and progress is starting to pick up.

I have just started my second year of college, so that will eat up my time which is never fun; but most of my classes seem interesting at the very least so far.

I also have recently purchased Counter Strike: GO, and boy is it addicting. I have never had so much trouble learning how to control the spread of fire in a shooter before! I am slowly getting better at it and Hard bots don't really stack up, I am going to move on to expert bots in a little while before going full blown all online. I have dabbled in it; and I did great in some rounds but I was overwhelmed with the competition. I never played a shooter this competitve before.

So that is all for now.

Also, I type up movie reviews for my local paper, and if you all would want to see them I could just post them on here as well.

So i just finished the original Metroid yesterday, and I have to say it was pretty fun. A bit antiquated; but still a good game....for the most part. First off, the graphics were pretty solid; it look nice for a NES title and never saw anything that was an eye sore. My one complaint though is there are textures that look exactly like lava, and yet can be traversed without reprieve. The music was solid for the most part, my only complaint is with the tune that played when entering a room with an upgrade was a bit longer. The ten second loop of high pitched beeps was cool at first, but really grated on my ears as it went on.

The story is pretty thin, at least presented in the game. Go to Zebes and stop Mother Brain. Not much but it works.

The gameplay is pretty good. l enjoyed roaming around and moving through the planet. My big gripe is that the game is overly cryptic. I often got stuck with no indication on where to go; I tried my best to advance on my own but I broke down and saved a map to my phone. I honestly don't feel bad. There is no indication of what walls to break, or floors to break. I would have never progressed very far with knowing what can be bombed. This had to be a design choice; because early on they had an area with clearly designed floors that can be bombed. This is never used again. I feel like it is used to elongate the game artificially.

The final fight with Mother Brain was rather annoying as well. She doesn't defend herself at all, but nearby turrets and constantly respawning orange rings keep you on your toes; the knockback seems to be especially bad here.

Overall I enjoyed the game, and I would recommend a map to help you along. Now it is on to Metroid II Return of Samus!

What do you guys think of Metroid?