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Metroid Prime

by Billy Berghammer - November 18, 2002, 12:24 pm EST

You know, not everyone has played a Metroid game before. So will newbies enjoy it just as much?

My first real experience with Metroid would have to be with my ex-girlfriend. I had just started Planet (circa 1999), and she got her old NES from her parents house, hooked it up, and just began playing. I thought it was cool so I nabbed Metroid II for my Game Boy. I liked it, but after playing N64 quality games (I think this was not long after Zelda OoT came out…you make the call here) I barely played it. About a year later I picked up Super Metroid for her, and we played it a bit, but personally, sad to admit, I have a hard time going back to 2D after 3D. Call me a snob, but after seeing the potential of the graphical qualities of the N64, and now the GameCube, I just want bigger and better.

So enter Spaceworld 2000. Nintendo shows footage of Metroid. The whole world basically crapped their pants. Personally, I wanted more Mario, but I was happy the masses had something to goo over. Yes, I’m admitting it. I haven’t had this spiritual connection to Samus, and yes, I have barely played Metroid games. After hearing the praises of the press about the final version of Prime, I was really curious. I usually have doubts about any FPS for any console, and I haven’t liked many outside of Goldeneye 007, Halo, and Timesplitters 2. I’m a hardcore PC FPS player, so Metroid Prime intrigued me, but at the same time made me very nervous.

So last week I plunked the game in and sat back and waited to see if I would get sucked into the whole Metroid craze. The first area is the demo area that was playable at E3, Cube Clubs, and the retail in-store demos, but with a few new surprises. It was nice to play it again at home, but since I had already played through said level about 20 times prior, I was like, ok, let’s get to the meat of this. At that moment, it was like somebody dropped me into a world that I wasn’t expecting. I thought I would like Metroid Prime, but to be honest, I can’t believe how absolutely blown away I am by it.

First off, Metroid Prime is barely a FPS. In fact, if you play Metroid Prime like a FPS, you will get killed extremely quickly – and in turn, you will probably dislike this game. When you take a look at the control scheme, you’ll quickly realize that you need to extract the console FPS mentality from your brain, and start over before playing Metroid Prime. The basic controls are as follows: A shoots the selected weapon, B jumps and dashes, Y shoots missiles, X changes Samus into a morph ball, L targets ,scans, and strafes, R allows you to free-look, the C-stick switches weapons, the D-pad switches visors, and Z brings up the 3D map. Granted, there are even more button moves, but I haven’t gotten far enough into the game where I’ve gotten to use them yet.

Now looking at all the above, for Metroid newcomers, there’s a lot to adjust to. In fact, my only gripe about Metroid Prime is the control. FPS fans are going to whine because they can’t use the C-stick as you would in a normal FPS. I can honestly say it took me over an hour to really get comfortable with this control scheme. After playing about 15-20 hours into Prime, I can understand why Retro chose this layout, and it works beautifully.

You can boil down what type of game this is to an adventure/shooter/platformer. As Samus, it’s your job to explore and rid Tallon IV of its evil inhabitants and find out what exactly happened. Exploration is key here, because you are not given mission briefings, but rather hints on where you’re supposed to look in the form of little question marks in the map (which you can turn off if you want to be hardcore). To find out more about the environments and enemies, you scan things with your scan visor. It’s a different way to explain the story and what you’re supposed to do, but it makes the Metroid Prime experience that more enveloping. Scan everything, because you’ll be able to look at it all later when you unlock the image galleries.

The enemies start off tame, but they quickly get vicious. Metroid Prime’s AI is some of the best I’ve ever encountered in a shooter. In my short time of playing I’ve met many enemies, mini-bosses, and regular bosses, and they are all challenging. Figuring out how to dispose of new enemies can be assisted by scanning the enemies, but actually killing the enemy is still difficult due to the varied terrains you’ll be situated in.

The worlds you’ll encounter in Metroid prime are extremely vast and varied, but many are multi-tiered areas which force you to jump around a lot. After playing countless hours of Turok and swearing like a drunken sailor for how frustrating platform elements are in a first-person title, I had no clue how Metroid would actually be able to pull it off. Once you get all the controls down, you’ll be bouncing around in these arenas like you would in a Mario title, and it’s not only necessary but also a lot of fun. Some of the leaps you’ll have to make will be frustrating, but when you nail them, (especially to get to secret areas) you’ll feel exhilarated. Thankfully Retro has the incredible FPS level designing skills of David “Zoid” Kirsch at their disposal for this aspect of the game. I personally have been a long time fan of his work at id Software with Quake, especially Threewave CTF (Capture The Flag). I think this is some of the best level design that has ever been incorporated in a first person title.

The level design is great, but since the overall world of this game is so huge, you will get lost. Many of the areas you won’t be able to access off the bat, and you will be doing a lot of back-tracking. Fortunately Metroid Prime has one of the best 3D map systems in any game. Navigating in the map may take a few moments to understand, but you’ll quickly learn that it’ll be crucial to getting around to where you need to go.

Retro’s attention to detail is second to none, but I will say that you can really see Nintendo had some serious influence on what makes this game so great. I’ve gotten to areas where I’ve literally gasped and drooled at how unbelievably gorgeous everything is. It’s almost beyond explanation how great everything looks. Retro’s art department has completely raised the bar in first person titles. From the menus, to the lighting, to the enemies, environments, visor effects….wow. Sure, you can gripe that the textures on a very few objects aren’t absolutely perfect when viewed up-close. Yet, everything else is stunning, and with all the gameplay that you have available, who the hell is going to go sit and walk up to a wall and stare at it just so they can complain about something? Seriously. Add the fact that the framerate is a solid 60 frames per second, and you basically have a game that not only is truly the best looking GameCube game, but it's the best looking title on any console to date.

Even though I may be somewhat new to the series, I have listened to the music for some time, and I’m thrilled with some of the tracks in this game. Sure, my neighbors may be frustrated with me cranking these tunes at the wee hours of the morning, but it’s their fault for not playing the game as well. With a surround sound setup turned up loud, you’ll be able to sonically feel where the enemies are. It’s really breathtaking. There is little voice to no voice, but Samus’s gasps, grunts, and her blood curdling final death scream are nice touches. If you don’t have surround sound capabilities, I highly urge you to play with some high-quality stereo headphones. The audio is that good.

Metroid Prime has really made me a huge fan of the series. Not only that, but it makes me kick myself for not getting into the older titles even more. Metroid Prime is a huge game. I’ve played all weekend, and I’m still only about 15% complete. It’s really that big. There’s so much to explore, and so many excellent additions like the log book and the galleries, I know I’ll be playing this game for a long time. Since I can go back to the original NES Metroid after I complete Metroid Fusion, and I could very well be playing “the Metroids” until early next year, and I think I really will. Maybe I’m not playing everything in its proper order, but so be it.

I’ve talked with a lot of people about Metroid Prime, and their first question is, “Is it better than Halo?” And yes, Metroid Prime in my opinion completely blows Halo out of the water. They are two different games completely. Metroid Prime isn’t a FPS, which I believe people have to play to understand. Taken as a whole, and considering how fresh a spin that Metroid Prime is on the whole first person genre, I just think it’s more fun. The second question always is, “Does it have multiplayer”, and of course, Metroid Prime doesn’t. I’m not exactly sure how they would make it work since Samus always works alone. Even if you wanted deathmatch, I think split screen would be horrible with all the third player ball elements, and in the end it wouldn’t be worth it. Online or networked co-op could work, but in the whole plot’s scheme of things, would Samus have sisters, brothers, or protégés? With all that Metroid Prime has to offer, I think you might as well tell your friends you won’t be seeing them for a while come Tuesday.

Metroid Prime completely lives up to all the hype. Doubters and non-believers, from newbies to all the old school Metroid fans out there – Metroid Prime is the game to have this year. Many thought I would vote Super Mario Sunshine as the game of the year, but I’ve got to admit, my mind is quickly changing. It’s nice to think that since Retro has the engine done for this type of Metroid, it wouldn’t be that hard to make a sequel. Let’s just hope Nintendo just lets Retro Studios make more of these, because even though I’ve barely scraped the surface, I know I’ll want more.

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Genre Action
Developer Retro Studios
Players1

Worldwide Releases

na: Metroid Prime
Release Nov 17, 2002
PublisherNintendo
RatingTeen
jpn: Metroid Prime
Release Feb 28, 2003
PublisherNintendo

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