My metroid Prime review

Pros
A wonderful tribute to the memory of Gumpei Yokoi.

Cons
First Person perspective could turn some people away.

The Bottom Line
A must have for Metroid fans, this game will undoubtedly become an instant classic.



Full Review


Today, I will be reviewing the Nintendo Game Cube game, Metroid Prime.

In 1986, the world was introduced to the universe of Samus Aran, and the metroids.

Metroids, creatures of unimaginable power. They destroyed an entire civilization on the planet known simply as SR-388. They were later captured and taken to the planet Zebes, where the beings known as Space Pirates planned to use them for galactic domination. But before they could enact their plan, the bounty hunter Samus Aran destroyed their army, eradicated the metroids they had created, and finished off their leader, the Mother Brain, or so she thought.

With the threat of the Space Pirates removed, the Council of the Galactic Federation once again asked Samus Aran to do the impossible, and go to the metroids’ home planet of SR-388 and destroy them once and for all. When she arrived, she discovered that the metroids had begun evolving into hideous and even more lethal creatures. In a long and arduous campaign, she succeeded in destroying all the metroids, save one. The metroid hatchling she found had imprinted on her. She decided to take it with her, so that scientists could discover the secrets to its existence.

Shortly after Samus had left the Ceres Science Station, she received a distress signal coming from the station. Upon her return, she found all the scientists slaughtered, and was both shocked and dismayed to discover that Ridley, one of the Space Pirates’ Generals, was still alive. After a short battle with Ridley, and the explosion of the Ceres Science Station, Samus Aran chased Ridley back to the planet Zebes. Upon her arrival, she discovered that the Space Pirates and their armies had once again begun planning for galactic domination. After destroying Kraid, Ridley, and the rest of their army, Samus once again found herself face-to-face with the Mother Brain. She attempted to destroy it like she did the previous time, only to discover that the Mother Brain had been ready for her. With a horrific new body and devastating weaponry, she decimated Samus Aran.

Right before the final blow was struck, the metroid hatchling returned to aid Samus, but was felled in battle. Passing onto Samus a new power that the Mother Brain had used on her as it’s final act, Samus used the energy-draining beam and once and for all destroyed the Mother Brain.

Eight years after the last Metroid game, and five years after the untimely passing of it’s creator, Gumpei Yokoi, in a fatal car accident, the next in game in the successful Metroid saga has arrived: Metroid Prime.

Graphics:
The graphics on this game are nothing short of stunning. Full 360 degree 3D immersion. You view the majority of the game through Samus Aran’s visor, and the rest of the game in 3rd person when Samus is in morph ball mode.

The enemies are highly detailed, fully rendered, and move in realistic, fluid patterns. Part of what makes the game so fun is the feeling that you’re fighting a real living, breathing creature, and not some pre-programmed coding.

The backgrounds are simply stunning, and are fully detailed, right down to the grass under your feet. There are rock formations, crumbling ruins, technologically advanced areas, and even a jaunt through the near-center of the planet. They are so pleasing to look at; sometimes you simply stand in place and turn around, drinking in all the marvelous details.

It’s a pity we only see Samus’ suit occasionally. It was so well done, too.

Sound:
On a world as alien as Tallon IV, the flora and fauna are as strange as you could or couldn’t imagine, at least according to Carl Sagan. That being said, you get all the ambient background noise you’d expect from some weird environment. There are a few that will seem familiar, though. Water flowing, wind blowing, rain falling, and all other similar terran phenomena are here.

What may both surprise you and scare your socks off are the sounds that some of the creatures that call Tallon IV make. They buzz, growl, moan, and even screech. However, the most detailed voice acting in the game is definitely Samus. She grunts, groans, screams, yells, and everything else a real person does. She even does it in a very female voice as well. So, for all of you who’ve been wondering if Samus is simply some hippy, you doubts are now finally put to rest.

Now, on to the most enjoyable sound effects: the weapons. There are multiple beam weapons and missile combos in this game. They all have their distinctive sounds, from the electric sounding wave beam, to the chilly sounding ice beam, to the molten plasma beam. The only thing more fun than the beams is hearing them hitting enemies and other objects, such as doors and background objects.

Game play:
Now, onto the main course. Unlike all the previous Metroid games, including the upcoming Metroid Fusion, which were two-dimensional side-scrolling games, Metroid Prime is fully 3D. When you’re in normal mode, you see out of Samus’ visor, which is similar to GoldenEye007 and other FPS games. You’re Heads Up Display, or HUD for short, has all the information you need while trekking through the wilds of Tallon IV. Here, you can see how much energy you have, how many full and empty energy tanks you have, how many missiles are currently in your magazine, which visor mode you are currently using, and which beam weapon configuration you have selected.

There’s also the Danger Meter. This is located near the left side of your visor view, and looks similar to this: [!], except that the brackets are on the top and bottom of the exclamation point. Whenever you approach conditions that could damage you, this meter will start rising. First, it will simply light up; but then it will begin to climb. When it reaches the top, it will also flash with the word Warning. When you make contact with the dangerous substance or liquid, the meter will switch to Damage, and will flash bright red.

There are four visor modes you can acquire throughout the game: combat mode, scan mode, infrared mode, and X-ray mode. You begin the game with the combat and scan modes. I don’t think I need to explain combat mode, so I’ll move right along to scan mode. This is the visor mode you use to scan life forms, relief carvings, computer consoles, or just about anything. There are two types of indicators that will appear while using the scan visor: orange and red scan squares. The orange ones are just basically put there for fun. They’re not important to the continuation of the game; but some of them can be amusing or insightful.

The important ones are the red ones. They have to be scanned for vital information, life form logs, data logs, activating computer and consoles, or what have you. If you find yourself stuck in a room, pull up the scan visor, and look around the room. When a scan square comes up, hold down the L trigger to scan it and read it’s contents.

Next is the infrared visor. You use this one when fighting opponents who are using cloaking devices, or to detect energy conduits when activating doors and consoles with the wave beam that have no power. This is also my preferred method of moving around in a room when the lights are out.

The last one is the X-ray visor. You use this one to look through walls, see enemies that are using cloaking technology with thermal suppressors, and to detect Chozo ghosts. You’ll use this one the least, but it will definitely be the most important later on in the game.

Now, the last part, but definitely not least, is the beam weapons. You start off with just the power beam. It has the highest rate of fire, but it also packs the least punch. Later, you’ll be able to use the charge adaptor to increase its power.

The next beam you acquire is the wave beam, which is three electric energy balls. It’s the second slowest beam, and also has a slight homing ability. When charged, it can outright kill smaller enemies, and can stun larger enemies. You use this beam when you have to turn on a door or a computer console.

Next, and the one that most people find the most fun, is the ice beam. This one has the slowest rate of fire, but when you use it, you’ll see the charged blast more than makes up for it. Like the wave beam, the charged ice beam can kill small enemies in one hit, and as for larger enemies, it immobilizes them in a block of ice. If you have the chance, I recommend freezing some of the larger enemies, and then slowly rotating around them with the L target ability. This way, you get to see the amount of detail they put into them. Really nice touch. Also, you can use the ice beam to freeze those annoying fire vents in Magmoor Caverns.

The last one you get, and definitely the strongest, is the plasma beam. Imagine having a flamethrower grafted onto your arm, and you’ll get the gist of the plasma beam. It has the second fastest rate of fire, and is the most powerful beam weapon in the game, next to the phazon beam. When you fire this weapon at enemies, they will literally explode or catch on fire. When fully charged it can actually vaporize most enemies. Yes, I said “vaporize.” You also use it to melt ice, and this weapon is extremely effective against all those annoying critters in Phendrana Drifts.

The phazon beam is technically a beam weapon, but you can only use it in certain situations. If you’ve beaten Super Metroid, then you know what I’m talking about. The phazon beam is similar to the hyper beam.

When you’re in morph ball mode, you have access to two different weapons: the normal bombs, and the power bombs. You don’t get the power bombs until fairly late in the game, so don’t worry about not finding them.

You can also do the most annoying trick in almost all of video games in this game: the bomb jump. For those of you who don’t know what this is, you can use the regular bombs to help propel you higher when in morph ball mode.

The controls for the game are pretty simple. You use all the buttons, but there aren’t any difficult, hand contorting combinations like in Super Mario Sunshine or Capcom vs. SNK 2. You use the A button to fire your beam weapon, and to drop regular bombs in morph ball mode. The B button is used for jump, and the Y button is used for missiles in visor mode, and activates the power bombs in morph ball mode. You use the X button to enter the afore-mentioned morph ball mode.

You use the L trigger for target acquisition or side to side strafing in combat, infrared and X-ray modes, and to scan objects and life forms in scan mode. You use the R trigger for manual targeting, just like in GoldenEye007.

The last button, and easily the most important, is the Z button. This is the button for the map function. If you aren’t used to using a map function, then you better learn, fast! With six massive areas and hundreds of rooms; some of them easily larger than the Sistine Chapel, if you can’t find your way using a map, you’ll be lost for hours.

Overall, this is an extremely well put together game. After the mediocre Luigi’s Mansion, and the pitiful Super Mario Sunshine, Nintendo may have finally gotten a 1st party game for the Game Cube it can be proud of. However, if FPS isn’t your thing, and you want to get your hands on some new Metroid action, then check out Metroid Fusion on the Game Boy Advance.

Score:
Metroid Prime is an awesome game, and one that anybody could appreciate.

Graphics- 100 out of 100
I feel like I’m watching a movie. Pass the popcorn!

Sound- 97 out of 100
If you’ve got surround sound, use it!

Game play-95 out of 100
Not seeing where you’re jumping gets extremely annoying REAL fast. Other than that, perfection!

Destined to be a Player’s Choice for the Game Cube, Metroid Prime is a shining example of what great gaming can be.

Recommended
Yes

If you want to see more of my reviews, look me up on Epinions.com, under the name Magician_Bink

[Heroine of the Dragon]

Very cool!