Qualms about Fusion's lack of story are laid to rest within the game's surprisingly extensive prologue. After the events chronicled in Super Metroid, the Galactic Federation enlists bounty hunter and series heroine Samus Aran to accompany the BSL bioengineering firm on a visit to SR388, the homeworld of the Metroid aliens (and the setting of the Game Boy's Metroid II). On the planet, Samus is attacked by a parasitic organism known as X, which multiplies within her bloodstream and infects even her signature armor. She's saved by an anti-X serum made from Metroid DNA, but the cure alters her body, destroying her old abilities and infusing her genetic structure with that of the energy-sucking Metroids.

Samus gets little time to ponder her new chemistry, as it's soon reported that the BSL labs are being overrun by an unknown entity. Under the direction of a curt tactical computer (to which she gives the not-so-nickname of “Adam Malkovich”), Samus heads to the orbital laboratory. She soon discovers that the X have infected all of the lab's specimens, including some rather large and hostile creatures. And, in a truly surprising turn, Samus' old combat armor is overrun by the X, effectively spawning a hostile, mindless clone of her.

However, Samus' new Metroid cells give her an unexpected advantage over her foes. As the Metroid were the natural predators of the X, Samus is now able to absorb the free-floating parasites to regain her energy and, in some cases, her lost powers. With the HAL-like Adam Malkovich directing her around the space station, Samus rediscovers her ability to morph into a ball, fire missiles, flip endlessly through the air, and do almost everything that she could do in older installments of Metroid. Controlling her is as smooth as usual, and the game loses little in working with just four action buttons.

Those who experienced Super Metroid will find the detailed look of Fusion quite familiar, while players new to the Metroid mythos will soon discover the game to be simple in control and complex in structure. Samus is given a variety of tasks to carry out as the X infest the station, but finding the proper path often provides more challenge than the enemies. Every section of the laboratory has a wealth of hidden passages, which conceal energy tanks, missile stockpiles, and occasionally, the way to the level's objective. It's often irritating to be stuck at an apparent dead end, but there's always a solution, and it's all but impossible to stop playing until it's found. Fusion is a marvelously compelling experience, driving you on with an almost subconscious fervor to see what's beyond that door you've just uncovered or the wall you've just bombed. And though everything lasts no more than five hours, the game's allure doesn't fade along with the credits, as you'll likely start anew just to improve your completion time or the number of items you find.

Fusion is far more straightforward than earlier Metroids, yet it's also far more driving of an experience. The series has previously emphasized searching one's surroundings over moving forward in the game, but with Fusion, the focus is shifted to simply getting ahead. The result is a game that still rewards exploration, but without losing its tight pace. And for the first time in a Metroid, that exploration is backed by actual dramatic tension. Director and scenario writer Yoshio Sakamoto makes drastic alterations to the Metroid canon, and reaps surprising rewards. Unlike many Nintendo icons (who often aren't even the same characters from game to game), Samus is allowed a personality as well as a history, and both intersect nicely with what's going on around her.

Relatively simple in tone, Fusion occasionally comes across as some mélange of Metal Gear Solid, 2001 and, as usual, the Alien movies, with even a touch of fan fiction (seriously, Adam Malkovich?). Yet even at its most derivative, it spurs everything onward. Like Super Metroid, Fusion is adept at working its story elements into play, striking particularly intense chords during Samus' encounters with her X-generated alter ego. The game's narrative, design, and accomplished visuals have an uncommon cohesion, rarely lapsing into tedium or undue frustration. And lest you think that Fusion strays too far from Metroid's roots, rest assured that the game's quite sincere to its lineage. Longtime fans are in for some great surprises, even if neophytes may not appreciate such touches as, say, a baby Dachora.

If there's a glaring problem in Fusion, it lies with the soundtrack. Though the music enhances the stark, confined atmosphere of the laboratories, it's so minimalist that it hardly functions as anything but background. Metroid enthusiasts will also note that Samus doesn't have access to all of the gadgets seen in Super Metroid or Metroid Prime, but there's little time to mourn the loss of the Grappling Beam or Spider Ball when you're experimenting with the new techniques at Samus' disposal. Some might also charge that there's little reason to tackle Fusion more than once, since it offers only the traditional time-sensitive artwork of Samus at its end. Yet I don't agree. Excellent game design is its own replay incentive, and Fusion drew me in again and again, with no need for gimmicks or varying conclusions.

The absence of Metroid's creator, the late Gunpei Yokoi, raised questions about just how well Fusion might fare. Don't worry. Metroid Prime, itself an excellent achievement, may claim most of the attention this holiday season, but Fusion is certainly its equal, and perhaps even its better. Clever, engrossing, and rewardingly experimental, this is proof that Metroid still matters.

ARMSTRONG HOUSTON
A space-faring bounty hunter like Samus, Houston uses armor and a space cruiser similar to those of our heroine, but his are blue and therefore completely different. Throughout much of the comic, he tags along with Samus and seems to nurture a crush on her. She, of course, can't stand him, and it's not hard to understand why: Houston looks like an unkempt lumberjack in a space suit, has a bland nice-guy attitude, and always seems to be sweating. It's been suggested that Houston was based on a blue-armored body that Samus sees just before confronting Kraid in Super Metroid, so it's fitting that this bearded tagalong comes across as some supportive, unappealing lunk who's only there to get killed and thus motivate the protagonist. And sadly, Houston is the most likable character created by this comic.

CHAIRMAN KEATON
The green-skinned, vaguely Yoda-esque chairman leads the Galactic Federation's council. Like most non-evil politicians in comics, he serves as a dull government figure, and reacts with due concern upon being warned about a resurgence of the space pirates from the first Metroid. He also wears a bow tie that pretty much erodes any possible sense of authority, making it seem as though our chairman is around to provide comic relief and nothing more. For some reason, however, Itoh insists on giving Keaton a fairly large part in the story, a strange choice when one considers that the scaly, smarmy chairman's sole contribution is to repeatedly insult the next (and worst) character on our little list.

CHIEF HARDY
Head of the Galactic Federation Police for some reason, Chief Hardy is fat, inept, and, as the stereotype goes, never without some type of food in his meaty grip. He mostly snivels and blubbers, especially when he's captured by Mother Brain, for you see, like Chairman Keaton, Hardy has a surprisingly prominent role in the events of the Super Metroid comic. Why wasn't he in the game? Wouldn't Samus' adventure have been better with the addition of a bloated, unfunny police chief who's constantly stuffing his face and blurting out “I'm scared!” and other endearing one-liners? Why, of course it would!

To be fair, the comic isn't so off-putting in its depiction of Samus, envisioned here as a take-no-crap action heroine with purple hair (why?), a big chin, and an altruistic view of her bounty-hunting tasks. Yet the plot allows her little development, and like much of the dialogue, her lines may well induce cringes. In fact, the sole moments of interest in this Super Metroid story are the panels of a young Samus being orphaned after a pirate raid and subsequently raised by the birdlike Chozo race, and that's only of note because it was supplied as backstory in the Metroid Prime manual.

As dull and unattractive as Itoh's comic is, ardent Metroid fans might want to check out the old issues, helpfully supplied by the Metroid Database. Some may recall that this wasn't the first comic book appearance for Samus, as she showed up in Valiant's Captain N: The Game Master series in the early 90s. That, however, is a story for another day, and perhaps for an appendix to a Metroid Prime review that I'll never write.