Metroid Dread
Metroid Dread was... a huge disappointment. I've played the original and the SNES versions multiple times, and also some of the Gameboy & GameCube ones. All of them try new things and are a little different, but this just felt like such a huge step back. Yes it's a 2.5D Metroid, but it really felt like a lot of the design choices were there "just because they can", rather than because they make any sense.
Cons
- The map is very unclear. This is one of the most important UI elements in the game and it really needed more work.
- EMMIs are a boring mechanic. Areas of the map are guaraded by invincible mechs. Sometimes you discover a new upgrade which allows your gun to overcharge temporarily and allows you to kill one of them. Then your gun goes back to normal. Aside from that, you have to evade them every time you enter the area, which becomes an annoyance after... one time.
- Worse than Super Metroid
- Annoying controls for aiming weapons
- Very long loading times
- Unnecessary amount of cut scenes. There are cut scenes for everything; entering an area, discovering an EMMI, killing an EMMI, walking through a door, shooting a big bad guy... just felt like half the time I was waiting to skip a cut scene
- Difficulty level. Metroid games previously have felt challenging but I've never really had a problem with them. This felt like a slog from the very beginning, and I got fed up quickly after getting chased and killed by an EMMI over and over again for about an hour. The game isn't really that long, it just takes ages because of getting killed and having to watch cutscenes over and over again