Metroid Prime: Samus for a new generation (Gamecube)

[Olvelsper]

Made by Retro Studios and overseen by Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto, Metroid Prime is the reinvention of the little monkey sounding energy vampire in this generation of FPSers such as Halo and Doom and what have you. Now in the vein of these games, you get to step in Samus's Power Suit and ride around in her head as she goes on yet another adventure to stop the space pirate menace on newcomer planet Talon IV.

From a design standpoint, the Metroid series lends itself well to not only the FPS elements and the transition to 3-D, while still retaining all the classic platforming of the original. In fact, this game improves upon gameplay with the use of the morph ball to solve puzzles to move forward in the game. Whether it be using the power bombs of the ball to charge up electronic equipment, or to use it to squeeze past security, the morph ball really got its time to shine in this game.

Another change that I found was for the better was in the pacing of the game. In the older games, you were pressured to beat the game under certain times if you wanted the full experience (and by full experience, I'm really talking about getting a pic of Samus in her space bikini. :p) but now the tone is definately in exploring your surroundings and unraveling the mystery behind why the space pirates are on this seemingly useless planet.

To aid you, you're now given a special visor you can switch to during gameplay to scan your surroundings and/or enemies by holding down the L button for a few seconds. Once scanned, it gives you an informative blurb that might contain some bit of plot, some rather neat peak into the minds of the Space Pirates or Chozo that live(d) on Talon IV, or the secret you need to beat a certain enemy or boss. While you're certainly allowed to forego this in favor of blasting the snot out of things, you'll be missing out on the entire plot essentially, since it's all found out through these scans.

A bit of a bother having to scan everything, but it's all in exploring your surroundings, since you're rewarded in end game not for the shortness of your run through the game, but for finding the maximum amount of items you can. Missle Expansions, Energy Tanks, and Power Bomb Expansions abound in this game and it's your job to find them all. Are you a bad enough dude to get them?

The secrets design is fair, as even casual players can find the majority of them via deligent scanning of their surroundings. But a few of them fall outside this boundary and into FAQ land. On my second run with a FAQ, I found six missles, one energy tank, and two power bombs I had missed without one.

Controls are tight and responsive, although jumping response can be a bother sometimes in the heat of battle sometimes. One time I was trying to avoid a fight, but the darkness these particular enemies bring with them, and the random flashes of light, and their freezing attacks kept throwing me off.

All the battle controls are outlined for you on the HUD (Heads up Display) of Samus's helmet throughout the game, outlining which of the various directional buttons for the D-Pad and what I refer to as the little yellow analog thingie do. As combat plays a more important role now, this is a must. You'll be literally fighting in every other room in the game now, so giving you this information is important in not getting yourself killed. The game was obviously made for the Gamecube, and uses the basic controller you get when you buy a GC to its best.

Graphically the game is a hoot and a half, environments and character designs flowing very well together. The environment itself doesn't change much due to character or enemy actions, although in some areas it does. An enemy taking a pot shot at you and blowing up an exploding crate behind you and vice versa. Samus herself seems a bit strange in the ending when she takes off her helmet, though. Her head kinda feels like it was photoshopped onto her armored body or something. Otherwise, it's a visual treat which Retro put a lot of effort into as detailed in their anatomy  and design sketches they did.

I can't say much about the quality of the music in the game, but what little I can say is that they really should've added more variety in it. Mostly the same complaint I had against other Metroid games. It gets a touch annoying when you're in an area for an hour or so and keep hearing the same music over and over again. Then again, I only had this complaint for the second and up times I've played the game, so it also speaks of the longevity of it during your first run. Second run and up, bring your own music. An amusing note is that I think they remixed Ridley's classic tune from the first for when you fight him towards the end of the game.

Speaking of which, bosses in this game were a treat, each requiring you to fight them in completely different ways and with different gadgets as you progressed. What works for one doesn't work for another, but thanks to the Scan Visor you're given you just have to scan them to find out what  makes them go boom. They all even have a gracious little bit of animation where they loosen up to fight you, giving you enough time to get off a scan. There is no Kraid, though. That makes me sad. ;_;

Anyway, I come to my conclusion. This is a game for everyone. It's self contained, while still retaining the history and feel of the earlier games. The reinvention of the series here might take the veterans a while to get used to, but you'll be loving it by the time you recover the Boost Ball and Missle Launcher in the Chozo Ruins. This is about a half hour or so in.

Still needs more 3-D Kraid, though. >>

[Dracos]

http://www.gen-n.net/dyk/002.shtml : odd find =)

Yay for deadlines.  Anyhow, nice review, Olguin. =)

Dracos

[Olvelsper]

Thanks. Oh, as an aside, there are one type of enemy that respawn annoyingly. The Chozo Ghosts keep popping up in certain areas every single time you enter and leave the room, unlike other enemies that have the decency to stay dead until you leave and re-enter the area.

[Dracos]

All enemies are like that in Metroid Prime 2. :\

And I don't like how the basic beam never gets stronger to make mundane enemies just 'go away'.

Dracos