METROID PRIME
New genre. New look. New direction. Does it work? HELL Yeah
INTRO:
Now, If your anything like me, the announcment that the new Metroid game would be a first person shooter made you cringe. This was even worse news if you were a Super Metroid veteran, like me. Retro Studios, the developer, was bombarded with flames for their influence in this descision. No one beleived in them. No one, that is, except for Nintendo. So we all waited for Metroid Prime, and doubted the final product every step of the way, until November 18. Now with Prime in my Cube, a controller in my hands, and pop on my shirt, I can say that Prime out-Metroided even SM.
STORY:
Prime takes place in between the origional Metroid for the NES, and Metroid 2 for GameBoy. As bounty hunter Samus Aran, you investigate a space station with a distress signal on. During your exploration, the self-destruct sequence begins, and you get the hell out. Samus sees Ridley flying through space, to a near by planet, Talon IV. Jumping on her spaceship, Samus follows Ridley. Once she arrives, she discovers the planet produces a radioactive-like chemical, call Phazon. The Space Pirates are using the Phazon to enhance Metroids, for their ultamite return in Super Metroid. Samus has to put a stop to the Pirates bio-testing, and explore Tallon IV.
GAMEPLAY:
What can I say? The gameplay is so solid, it would take a wrecking ball to break it. The best part, though, is that it stays true to Metroid. The morph ball, grapiling beam, bomb jump, their all there. New techniques enhance this game too, such as the four visor mode. Each visor serves a special purpose: The combat visor lets you see your missels, energy, radar, and gives you a clear veiw of your target. The scanning visor, however, is much more intresting. It lets you obtain information on anything that even has a bit of information on it. You can see clues, unravel the story, and find out enemies weaknesses, too. Speaking of enemies, it lets you download info on every creature on Tallon IV. Perhaps the coolest of all visors, though, is the thermal visor. As the name implies, it makes everything with a heat trace in it shine a bright red, while everything else is a purple color. It's incredibly usefull, and incredibly cool, because the smallest things could have a heat signiture. The last is the x-ray visor. I don't think I have to go into detail about what this does, huh? Another cool new feature is the Spider-Ball. When in morph ball form, you can magneticly attach yourself to rails around. It becomes espeacally useful later in the game when its worked into puzzels. Prime is a fully realized sequel to Super Metroid and a fully realized addition to the Metroid series, and if I might say so, rivals Super Metroid for the best in the series.
GRAPHICS:
BZZZZZZ.....BZZZZZZZ.....Thats the sound my keyboard is making because I'm drooling after seeing MP. Seriosly, this game looks better than the Playboy mansion. Not even the smallest thing went unnoticed. Every room has a texture so incredibly polished, it blinds you. I have never, ever, seen a game that has so much attention to detail (and I'm playing Resident Evil right now). Running at a steady 60 frames per second is the icing on the cake, as the game never stutters, or slows down. Back on track, though, you have never seen water this real, fire this intense, or enemy's this real. I think EGM said it best when they said "No game has ever approached the ammount of graphical detail found in Prime. On any system. Ever. Period."
SOUND:
In addition to the best graphics in a game, Metroid Prime has the best sound since, well, Super Metroid. Tell me you didnt get the tinglies when you heard the Norfair tune play in Magmor. New sound totally suits their respective enviroments, too. To sum it up, this is the Lord of the Rings of video-games.
REPLAY
This can either be good or great depending on your gear. If you have a) a GBA, GBA/GC connector cable, and one copy of a completed Metroid Fusion, you can download (awww, yeeah) the origional Metroid. If you dont have that then don't worry- theres still lot to do. As with any Metroid, there are different endings, except this time, it isn't based on time. Its based on the percentage of items you have collected. A refreshing change, if you ask me. There is also immage gallaries to unlock, depending on various things. The ammount of things you scan, if you finish hard mode, whatever. Point is, there's alot to do after you've beat the final boss.
FUN FACTOR:
Well, a game can look as nice as it wants, sound as good as it pleases, and be as innovative as can be, but it all boils down to one thing: Is it fun? Well, lets put it this way: Fighting Ridley had me gleeing for joy like a little girl. The bosses are the funnest part, in my humbeld opinion (except for that bastard, Omega Pirate. Sweet God, was that hard!). It boils down to this: You either love Metroid, or you hate it. Some might find all the back-tracking boring or meaningless. Others might call it adventure, or exploration, and say its a critical part of what makes Prime worthy of the Metroid name. I havn't seen anyone who hates it yet, so knock yourself out! This is one fun mother!
FINAL SCORE:
I don't usally don't give games a perfect score, but this (like Zelda: OoT) couldn't be denied
10/10
FTA