So there I sat, in my Super Mario pajama pants and my Lrn2play T-shirt, having beaten the final boss in Metroid: Zero Mission and hurdled the last two space pirates to jump into a small ship and narrowly escape the self destructing Mothership... thereby beating the game. I allowed the credits to roll, only to discover I had found only 56% of the items in the game, and it took 4 and a half hours for me to beat (it's a hard game... dont judge me!) and the excitement there is an even harder difficulty AND original NES Metroid lurking yet still in the cartridge! My thoughts: Hell yes.

But... How was it?

Samus is an old flame, a lover we continually return to time and again because we remember each subsequent encounter to be so damn satisfying. And Zero Mission is no exception. Lets start off first by saying this is NOT the SNES Super Metroid game. While both games take place on the planet Zebes, and many of the game areas and bosses are the same, Zero Mission boasts a longer storyline and new aspects to the game. And is, in my opinion, redone a bit to fit today's trigger finger audience, providing harder challenges and slightly upgraded monster difficulty (on hard mode).

Devs also improved the game over Fusion, which released before Zero Mission. They did away with the straightforward, linear level design and it's annoying habit of telling you exactly where to go and what to do next . While Zero Mission does drop hints (a plus in my book, given the complete lack of direction and hints provided in Super Metroid for the SNES) it does not try to hold your hand. After all, you're Samus... you're a big girl with bigger guns and you can handle a few space pirates and other lifeforms while figuring out what it is you need to accomplish.

Yeah, We remember you Kraid. You bastard you.

So, was it as good as we remember? Definitely. Zero Mission, like all Metroid games, does a wonderful job at keeping us pulled into the world of the bounty huntress. The game is challenging (on hard mode), but not so much so you flip the power off in disgust. The game's plot is revealed and a story told, but not in a cut-scene-every-five-minutes manner like the Final Fantasy games (Sorry FF lovers, but its just not A.D.D. friendly!) . Its consistent with all previous and next gen Metroid games. These things are what the best games are made of. And quite frankly, it offers up that certain je ne sais que that new games full of all style and no substance can't give us (and this is coming from a player who thoroughly enjoys teh eye candy!).

I only have two major points to bring up as far as the cons go: Game length and boss fights. The game only took 4:30 hours to beat, which is nothing compared to more modern games whose storylines and epic levels will have you still playing at 50+ hours. And as for the boss fights, they are a joke. The bosses themselves still have that "epic" feel to them, a nice nostalgic throwback to being five years old and playing Super Metroid on the SNES, but no challenge. As with most older games, there is literally no AI to the bosses at all... only a pattern they are set to follow and, after the first run through of said pattern, almost anyone can time their attacks enough to take these bad boys down on the first try (although the bosses on hard mode prove to be a bit tougher).

Amazon.com offers this game, gently used, for about 17 bucks. For any Metroid fan looking for that lost, unconquered game.. this is it. You won't be let down. Out of all the games I have personally ever played, this one is by far one of the best. Samus is waiting, dont let her down.

-review by nicky/navie.