Video Gamers Podcast - Gaming Quick Takes - Metroid Dread

Episode Date: January 21, 2023

From gaming hosts Paul, Michael and Josh, we're bringing you even more gaming content each week. Gaming Quick Takes are a short series of game recommendations, funny moments, off-topic chat and more. A small dose of gaming to brighten your Saturdays! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Visit BetterHelp.com today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P.com. Hey guys, welcome to this Quick Take episode. We're so excited to have you here with us. In the past, these Quick Take episodes actually were only available to those who financially supported the show through Apple subscriptions and Patreon. But due to popular demand, we have decided to shake up the perks for our supporters and will be releasing these Quick Takes on Saturdays to everyone, giving you all some extra free content that was previously unavailable to the public. And these Quick Takes are a little more laid back, and they're hosted by just one of us. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy this Quick Take episode. Shazam! Boom!

You know what time it is? It's time for another bonus episode. Our way of saying thank you for supporting this show. You are the few, the proud, the elite that get these amazing bonus episodes, and I am bringing you another one today. All right, I hope you're sitting down because I am going to gush a little bit over the latest Nintendo Switch game. I know what you're saying. Josh, you don't play Nintendo Switch. You're not into that console. Well, yes, I am. If you guys

remember, I actually did a Mario Golf Quick Takes not that long ago, but I picked up Metroid Dread the other day. And let me tell you, I have been having a blast with that game. It looked really good in the previews, and my experience with it so far lives up to every bit of the hype that I felt when I watched the previews for Metroid Dread. And so that's what I'm going to talk to you about today. Now, I have not beaten Metroid Dread, but I'm excited enough about it that I want to get this bonus episode out there. I want to get this quick take out there because if anybody's been on the fence about spending the $60 price tag for Metroid Dread, I'm here to say that I think it's worth it. I mentioned to somebody the other day, one of the things I actually do like about Nintendo Switch games is that if you buy the

physical copy for $60, you're going to be able to turn around and sell it a few weeks or even a month or so later when you beat the game for probably about $40 or $45. Every Nintendo Switch game that we have ever bought that we've had the little cartridge thing for, we have been able to turn around and sell later on. And like I said, we usually get about $40, $45 for it. So that means overall, yes, you have to shell out the $60, but it's really only costing you about $15 to $20 to play these games. And I've never had an issue reselling any of them. So just something to think about. I know it's an investment. Nintendo games never go on sale, but in this case, I think it's worth

it. Okay. Enough about all the financial stuff there. Metroid Dread. This feels like an old school Metroid game with just new graphics, new controls, new UI. I mean, it's pretty impressive. I'm not going to lie. Everything in this game feels very tight, very polished. It's got an interesting little backstory. Now, I'm not going to sit here and pretend like I've kept up with every Metroid release in the last 20 years. I did play a few of them, the original one, Metroid Prime, and I think one or two other ones, but I have not played them all. But the cool thing with Metroid Dread, and if you've watched any of the trailers for this game, the kind of angle that

they're taking are there are these robots called Emmys, E-M-M-I's, that will hunt you down. And if you are in a zone where there is an Emmy, they will find you and they will chase you. And that leads to some amazing white knuckle, just tense moments where you are running from this thing as fast as you possibly can. You are sliding under walls. You are jumping to ledges. You are doing everything you can to try to get away. Now, the nice thing is you can technically outrun one, but if you make a mistake and you miss a jump and you don't grab that ledge and instantly climb up, or if you run into a wall and you forget to slide under it, that Emmy's going to catch you. So it's just this awesome sequence of just,

you're in fear for your life. You are running as fast as you possibly can. You're trying to get far enough away that you get out of its range where it can sense you. And then it kind of starts to go back into this sentry mode where it's still looking around. And if you can dodge that for long enough, then it'll kind of give up and then it'll just start going back to patrolling. There are different ways to deal with these Emmys and you do get some abilities. I don't want to get into spoilers at all, but you do get some abilities that allow you different ways of surviving and kind of dealing with them. But I think that's where they came up with the name Dread because when you're going in these levels and it does notify you that you're in an area, the kind of background and the ambiance of the level will change a little bit. And then you

know you're in a zone where there's an E.M.M.E. And so it really just heightens that sense of danger and really just does a great job of making you feel on edge. Now, as far as the rest of the game goes, there are some pretty incredible boss fights. I've only fought two of the bosses so far, and both of them were super cool. Very neat mechanics, really good graphics. I hate to be a graphics snob, and the Switch is not known for having amazing graphics, but it's just the sense of scale and what they have done in this game that is truly impressive there. One of the boss fights, I felt like I was 10 again. I was mashing the button as fast as I could possibly fire. I died probably a solid eight to 10 times fighting this boss, which to me is the perfect difficulty level. There's that sense that I'm getting better, but then there'd be a

few times where it just wrecked me over and over and I'd get a little frustrated. But it was kind of funny because my hand was starting to get tired. And that's just, for me, that's reminiscent of the old school Nintendo Sega games where you really had to work hard to beat these things. And I really enjoyed that. I did beat those bosses, but it was that really good sense of accomplishment that comes into play as well. There's a ton of progression in this game. This is kind of the fun of Metroid games like this is as you progress, you get new abilities, you get new weapons, you get higher ammo capacities, you get suits that will let you survive hot areas and cold areas and things like that. And that's a lot of the fun of Metroid

is that you get to go back to levels that you were in before because now you have an ability to open a door that you came across that you couldn't open before. So now as you backtrack and you go through that door, maybe you get an ability or a perk or something like that that makes you better. So it's worth going back for. The days of the, the days of just backtracking a lot to, to get, you know, 50 rupees or a star or just, you know, something kind of mundane like that. Metroid avoids that. And that's one thing that I really like. If you're going to ask me to go back through a level, to go to the secret area that I actually remember to go through this door, I want something out of that. I don't want like 50 gold coins and that's

it. And that's what Metroid Dread does really well is that when you do backtrack and you do get something, it's a fairly significant upgrade and it changes the feeling of the game. I'm about 10 hours in so far. I've been having an absolute blast. The difficulty level is high, but I really enjoy that. My wife was picking on me because she was watching me play for the first hour, and I probably died 20 times. And she was like, wow, you really suck at this game. And I was just kind of sitting there grinning because that's the kind of game that I like. This isn't Dark Souls level difficulty. This is not going to make you want to grind your teeth and pull out your hair, but it's just a challenge. The game is fun, and you're not meant to just blow

through it and succeed at every single turn. And I really do enjoy that. For me, it heightens the appreciation of the levels and the boss fights and the difficulty and things like that as well. So I don't want to just keep going on gushing about this game. I also am not fully finished with this game, but I find every time that I jump in that I really am looking forward to playing. When I am playing, I realize I'm having a lot of fun. What don't I like? And what do I like? I always like to talk about those things. I'll say this one thing. The only frustration that I have with Metroid Dread is the map system. And if I take a break for a day and I go back, a lot of times I forget where I was going

and what I was doing. And that leads to a lot of needless backtracking because I will go right instead of left. And then I wind up backtracking through two or three levels that I've already been through, just hunting around, kind of going, hey, where am I supposed to go? Oh, if I had gone left and up one level, that's all the new area that I should have been in. And so the map's a little wonky to read. And so that can lead to some needless wandering around. But that really is my only complaint so far. Everything else I love. Like I said, the controls are super tight. The movement is tight. The combat is great. The shooting is great. The difficulty level is perfect. It just has a ton of stuff going for it. So you all know I don't rave about Switch games.

I don't play the Switch very often. I'm primarily a PC player. I will be a console player when there's games out for either the Xbox or the PS5 that warrant me picking one of those up. But for now, primarily PC. But hey, this Switch game is worth every bit of the 6060 in my opinion.

I really highly recommend it to everyone. That's why I'm doing this bonus episode on it, because I know it's not a game that Paul and I would ever do a deep dive on, but I really want to get this out there in front of you. If you've been on the fence about it, trust me, this one is worth the money. I know it's $60, but you can probably turn around and sell it. So you're really only paying $15 to kind of rent the experience of Metroid Dread. So check it out. If you wind up picking it up and you like it, hit me up. Let me know if you hate it. Oops. You know, I guess I can't be 100% on everything, but I really don't think you'll hate it. If this is anything like your type of game, it's got a lot going on for it. Okay, that's it for this episode. Thank you from Paul and myself. We are eternally grateful for the

incredible support that you all provide. We couldn't do this podcast without you. It really means the world to us. We hope you enjoy these bonus episodes. It's kind of our way of saying thank you. If you'd like to see something different, if you'd like some specific games or something like that, hit me up. I don't mind. We're always open to recommendations as well. We're here for you and we want to make this the best podcast out there for you. So if you've got ideas, don't be afraid to share them. Otherwise, I'm out for this episode. I will see you all on the next one. Thanks a lot. See you later. Bye-bye.