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About Me
Freelance Videogame 'journalist' for the Luxembourgish dayly newspaper 'Letzebuerger Journal' (www.journal.lu) where I do weekly reviews and the like. Also trying to do more freelance stuff in English, so if you have a site and need somebody to write for it, you can always ask me.

Twitter: @SvenWohl

I also wrote for several weeks for www.Gamersyndrome.com
At this moment, I'm a regular news and feature writer at www.sega-addicts.com!

Xbox-Live Gamertag: Neo Subenu

PSN: NeoSubenu

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Some of the Blog posts I'm proud of:
Groundhog Day: No More Heroes
Homo Ludens
No More Heroes and the deconstruction of the phallus




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Failing at Metroid. And somehow loving it!
Sven Wohl | 11:05 AM on 09.07.2008 9 comments




My first experience with the Metroid series was indeed a very late one. The first time I even heard about Metroid was in fact when I bought the first Metroid Prime for 10€ (which is a great deal, I know!). I liked the game from the very beginning and played it a lot, until I, after repeatedly dying, found out that I clearly sucked at it.

Even after several attempts over maybe five years, I still can’t get to the end of this game and I think I totally gave up about a year ago. In fact, the only Metroid game I ever finished was Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, which was a pretty easy game overall (thanks to the casual policy of Nintendo). Recently, I downloaded the very first Metroid on VC, mainly to see what it was like but also to see if I maybe got a chance there. Well, after Kraid raped poor Samus in a very horrible way which destroyed a pretty big part of my ego, I knew the truth. The very harsh and brutal truth: I suck at Metroid games. And I’m having fun.

Is this some kind of masochism?

I mean, even though I have all these very frustrating deaths (I think it’s kind of brutal how Samus explodes in the first Metroid. Brutal and awesome!) I’m having a lot of fun and these are some of the most memorable games I’ve ever played. Is this wrong in any way?

Well I don’t think so. Difficulty is a very delicate matter in videogames and I think the concept behind Metroid, the concept of constant development of your character by getting new powers and thus unlocking new areas to explore, allows such a level of difficulty. Mainly because it keeps motivation high for the always reward-hungry player. Also because it’s such a deep experience you sometimes don’t even notice how much you suck at the game. Maybe this is why we accept exploding all the time.
Or because we are masochists.



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9 comments | showing # 1 to 9
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Phantom Spaceman's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/07/2008 11:31
Phantom Spaceman
I recently tried to go back and play Metroid on my NES. I died within the first 2 minutes.

Also, unrelated: the Metroid Prime series was a big dissapointment to me. None of them had the same atmosphere or feel as the original three.
monkeyspoon5's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/07/2008 11:52
monkeyspoon5
Go play Super Metroid.

Also Phantom Spaceman, what was wrong with Zero Mission? I can understand you having qualms with Fusion, most do, but why dodn't you mention ZM?
Phantom Spaceman's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/07/2008 12:14
Phantom Spaceman
I was referring to the 3d metroids on the gamecube and wii. Never played zero mission or fusion.
Sven Wohl's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/07/2008 12:28
Sven Wohl
Thanks Mokeyspoon5, I'll have a look at it soon.
PhazonYoshi's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/07/2008 12:40
PhazonYoshi
I accept exploding because explosions are awesome.

Also, <3 metroid.
HairyMike87's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/07/2008 12:54
HairyMike87
I'm not good at Metroid games either. I try and give them a chance and I can't seem to finish one because I either can't figure out what to do or I just die.
Holyetheline's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/07/2008 13:43
Holyetheline
super metroid is the best one, get that.
randombullseye's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/07/2008 23:42
randombullseye
Super Metroid is the way to go.

If you think the first game is too hard or too unforgiving, try the gameboy advance remake Metroid Zero Mission.
RJG's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/07/2008 23:54
RJG
I honestly prefer Zero Mission to Super Metroid. The controls are a lot more fluid and the game generally feels smoother. That said, the level design in Super Metroid is superior.
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