Metroid Dread, more like Metroid Hate

Metroid Dread, more like Metroid Hate

The E.M.M.I. are a hateful, game breaking gimmick.

Metroid Dread should be called Metroid Frustration, because that’s all it is. I don’t even mind the difficult bosses. They are a bit old school, and require failure, then rote pattern memorization, but that’s fine?—?there’s a way to beat them, and once you figure it out, it’s not that hard.

The world, and the winding path through that world (even if it is a bit too linear for a Metroid game?—?Fusion had a similar problem) are beautiful?—?and I mean gorgeous. I didn’t like it at first, and if you are feeling the same near the beginning, try to stick through (if you can stomach the E.M.M.I.s), it gets glorious.

That’s not the same with the E.M.M.I. They are frustrating, and hateful, and because their final killing blow is randomly timed, there is no way to reliably escape, which amps the anger and frustration, and the feeling that the game designers hate the player. I don’t play games to feel pissed off. That’s all I feel from this particular aspect of the game, anger, hate, and frustration.

But I don’t want to just complain, so here are some simple ways to fix it.

1. Just get rid of them. I mean it. Not having them would be FAR more atmospheric than having them. The mood could be set by having creepy music, and that spooky lighting scheme going on in there. You could even leave the red dot on the map, just for atmospherics. Remove them, at least until you have to defeat them with the powered up lazer thingy. That’d be fine too. Make it an option, please. I’d love to replay this game one day?—?but I’ll NEVER replay this, as long as they are there. I’m not even sure I’m going to get through this game once… It’s so unpleasant.

2. At least make the escape timing challenge something that can be defeated reliably. It sucks every time to get caught, but all that little mini-non-game does is frustrate further. It adds nothing, except extended frustration, because there’s no way to reliably beat the non-game. This mechanic is maddening. I can’t underscore how much these E.M.M.I.s ruin the game?—?ruin. They are game breaking. Just being there is a problem, but if they have to be there, at least make it possible to escape.

3. You could simply remove the escape mechanic. If the E.M.M.I. have to hunt and catch you, make it a real instakill. That’s what it really is anyway. The E.M.M.I. don’t have to be there, they are subtractive, they remove from the game, rather than adding anything. But if you think they do need to be there, just get rid of the frustrating, agonizing, hateful non-game with the impossible to time escape mechanic. GET RID OF IT. It’s game breaking, frustrating, and it makes me feel like you hate me. It makes me hate you. You don’t want me to hate, do you? Do you hate me? Is hate the feeling you were going for? Metroid Hate?

The rest of the game is good! It’s a shame this one thing completely (I mean it?—?COMPLETELY) ruins the experience.

Nintendo. Fix it. Please. Release a patch, or a Game Genie code, or something, to just remove the E.M.M.I. from the game. At least an option. That would be great. Thanks.