Metroid Prime

SUMMARY:
Metroid prime is the biggest jump the metroid series has ever made, from 2D to 3D enviroments, we haven’t seen a metroid game for one whole generation of gaming and now Nintendo have seen the perfect time to unsleash their wild card.

You take on the role of Samus aran, an intergalactic bounty hunter, a woman who lost her parents at the age f three and now works for the federation. You have received a distress call and have to investigate the origin of it. The distress signal came from a space frigate above the planet Taloon VI, where you land to investigate. The first things you notice are the graphics, arguably the best of their generation with gorgeous textures and lovely lighting effects. For the first ten minutes the game holds your hand telling you the controls and helping you get used to them, they are fairly simple and very user friendly.

The game looks like it would be a first person shooter, but the aim style is very different to an average FPS, as the player doesn’t manually aim but ‘locks on’ to targets with the L button, when locked on you can move around the target (strafe style) and fire your equipped beam with a simple tap of A (different beams are acquired as you progress, the c-stick switches between them). You can also charge your shots by holding A or fire a more damaging missile with Y, although these are limited to your storage capacity so use them sparingly. The cannon is the only weapon (apart from the morph ball) that you will use, but that’s fine because of the massive variety of weapons it can fire. The player can also change into a ball, or as the game refers to it ‘morph ball’ it looks rather like a giant football. When in morph ball mode you can roll through small gaps and lay bombs, this becomes an invaluable ability for collecting special items as you progress. The comabat is a mix of frantic action and strategy, as you will be placed with crucial choices such as which beam to use to defeat a certain enemy or if you should use your missiles or save them. Later on you will land on the planet Talloon VI, you soon find out space pirates have inhabited the planet, nasty greedy creatures that cause the galactic federation much trouble. Your mission is to find out what the pirates are doing here. The plot is fairly simple, and since Samus never talks its mainly put together by pieces of information you pick up with your scan visor on the way through the game.
The scan visor is another useful piece of equipment, pretty much everything of any significance can be scanned, from plants to great monsters that you will encounter, when scanned you can read a small piece of information about the object which can help you solve the numerous puzzles in the game or defeat a boss. Other visors can be acquired later on.

There is a lot of backtracking to be done over certain areas to get to new places, and a lot of people complain about this but it is useful as special items that couldn’t be acquired last time you came across them will now be available to you by using a new ability, such as double jumping to reach a high ledge.

The main goal in the game is to find new items so you can progress, such as a new suit of armor so you can withstand the heat of the Magmoor caverns or a new weapon mode for your cannon so you can access new areas and defeat certain enemies easier. There’s a massive array of bad guys to fight in the game, and they vary between areas, for instance, in the beautiful snowy expanses of the Phendrana drifts you will encounter strange ice like lion creatures that can only be defeated by hitting their weak spot on their back, but the question is, how do you make them turn around?
The areas vary massively and keep the game fresh, you will travel across snowy plains, lava filled caverns and rainforests, all filled with equally well designed enemies.

As for difficulty, its not very hard but not exactly easy, some enemies can prove hard and if you die you will go back to your previous save point, which are few and far between. And if you do complete the game then you unlock hard difficulty, enemies do twice the damage and are twice as tough!

The soundtrack is brilliant as well, in fact I have never encountered such a memorable selection of music in any game ive ever played, it always suits the environment and situation perfectly.

The game has a nice free feel to it as well, as your not ever on one set path but your left to wander about all the areas you’ve discovered, it adds to the feel of the game very much as well, that your alone on the panet and have to figure out things for yourself. The bosses are spectacular, they are always massive and usually very hard, each one with its own weaknesses. It becomes extremely addictive after the first three hours of play, because you just wasn’t to get that next item and find out what it does, or progress to the next area, or beat that big boss, and its all fairly long with lots of replay value for the massive array of hidden items to find such as missile capacity expansions or health expansions, these aren’t essential but definitely help out a lot. In my personal opinion, this is gaming perfection and everyone should buy it if they like any sort of genre.

THE BAD:
-Not much of a story
-Not any text or dialogue
-Have to stop to manually aim
-Not much given to you for replay value

SUMMARY:
-Graphics
The graphics in this game are outstanding. They really help classify the Gamecube because there's not many games with decent graphics out there on the GCN. The environments are very detailed and the enemies look aren't all aggressive instead more like animals are here on earth.
-Sound
The sound for Metroid has always been excellent because it gives off that sc-fi feeling. Plus its just really great and fun to listen too. The sound effects in this game are pretty good as well. Though this isn't too bad there's no voice acting, or anything to read either because there's no one for Samus to talk too. What Nintendo should have done was added in flash backs of Samus's life with the Chozo.
-Controls
The controls are good and well mapped out, but to manually aim you have too stop moving. Besides that the controls are good and easy to learn.
-Gameplay
Metroid is a first-person shooter but a fun and ling lasting one at that. The game isn't too long but it isn't short either and there's more than just shooting involved like exploring and backtracking. There's not much for scenes either but that's not too bad. You also have different beams and suite power-ups to collect that helps make things easier and more exciting.
Replay Value
There's three different endings but that's about all. There is for the replay value. The games fun though so that's just enough to play through a couple times.
Conclusion
Metroid is a fun, highly detailed first-person experience. There's allot here too do while playing and there is some story too it plus now its like five dollars so if you don't already have it you should get it.

THE BAD:
-There is a slowdown when there is a lot of action and you are changing your arm cannon
-At some point it gets repetetive
-Too much backtracking, you want to explore different envionments but it seems you are going to the same one over and over again

SUMMARY:
It has been a while since we got to play as the bounty hunter, Samus Aran. But, with the help of Retro Studios, and Nintendo, they have brought the hunter back to its former glory. Metroid Prime, at the beginning, you get sent to a distrest signal from a spaceship that seems to be destroyed by some unknown thing. If you know space pirates then you know the enemy. The pirates are using phazon to do horrible experiments, hence the first (not really) boss. Ok it is more like a mini one, but whatever. Once you play the game, you will find out that the graphics are amazing. Lighting effects are perfect and spot on. The animations are incredible. The creatures move quite nice and beautifully, and like they are in real life. The environments are very organic and offers tons of plants and other life flourishes through Tallon |V.

The areas are huge and different in some way. Metroid Prime looks like a regular FPS at first, but it is different. The game is more like an adventure game, and with adventure games, there is a point where it does get repetitive. Controls are different. Metroid Prime doesn't use the regular two analog sticks. Instead, you use the control stick all. Other buttons, and, sticks, do other things. But, after you get used to them, they are pretty good and easy. The artwork and level design is impressive. each holding their own in the game. The upgrades look amazing and you get a lot of them. You get the regular missiles and you get the morph ball back with the bombs, but you also get different arm cannons like the Plasma Beam and the Wave Beam. There is a slowdown with changing the weapons when there is a lot of action. One last thing that is wrong is that you backtrack a lot in this game. We all want to explore different environments, but it seems, in this game, that we are going through the same areas over and over again. Metroid Prime is an incredible game, and if you like FPS, and you adventure games then you will fell right at home.

THE BAD:
Hmmm, well, there's the matter of some bosses being too easy.
There isn't much talking.
Otherwise, nothing really.

SUMMARY:
Lastability: 9/10.
Good amount of sidequests to keep you going. Plus, check out how long the game is.
Graphics: 9/10.
Man, you don't want this on PS2 otherwise it'll kill the graphics. On XBox and you'll kill the graphics even worse. More 3-D than 3-D.
Sound: 7/10.
There really should be talking in the game. Otherwise, it's like life. Jumping, bullets and little buzzing noises the War Wasps make.
Gameplay: 10/10.
Man, buy this game, screw the others and erase all the crappy data from your memory card and let this game play.
Overall: 4.7.
I really hope Metroid Prime 2 gets even 0.1 over that score, which I doubt.

THE BAD:
Some parts of the game can get a bit on the hard side, whereas some of the bosses were a bit too easy.

SUMMARY:
Metroid Prime is an excellent game. Personally, I wouldnt ever say something like that about a FPS game, but this one is different. First of all, the story is pretty interesting as you land on a planet and well, you go through it and I wont really spoil anything else. The gameplay is fun and the controls are quite easy to use. That is very important for a shooting game because if you have really senseless controls, then it will be impossible to play the game unless you have a good bit of patience. But you wont have to worry about that when it comes to MP. The way that they present the different areas that you have to go is also a pretty interesting way of making the game, as it just makes it more adventurous. May I also add, that the areas that you have to explore are huge, and even though its seems pretty easy to get lost, its not. Once you start exploring, then you'll notice exactly where you have to go, and that really makes the game a lot easier to play because it wont be that confusing as to where your next destination is.

Moving on, the enjoyability is what got me hooked to it. Its really fun to play because of the bosses, although some of them can vary when it comes to difficulty. Its obvious that the first few boss fights will be a little easy, but as the game progresses, then you'll find that there are a lot of frustrating boss fights, in which you'll have to think in order to defeat them. But the few boss fights at the beginning are easy only so that you'll get a feel for the game, and also to prepare you for some tougher moments.

I would recommend it only to those people who like FPS type games. If you aren't, then you most likely wont like it since its 100% shooter, though its classified as an adventure game. But if you do get it, then you wont really be sorry since its a great game nonetheless.

THE BAD:
Can get a bit frustrating at times.
No multi-player.

SUMMARY:
Metroid Prime is the first Metroid game taht they have made in a while but i have to say it made a really good impression to new players who want to start the series. The graphics on this game are awesome and probably the best i have seen so far for the Gamecube. The plot to the storyline is a really neat idea and playing through the storyline itself is even better. The game is really long and has a lot of secrets and suprises in, including a full length game of the original metroid if you happen to have Metroid Fusion on Gameboy Advance. There are a few down-sides to the game, there is no multi-player mode so you cannot blast eachother to bits in a different mode and the puzzles can get a little too hard sometimes which can frustrate you alot.

Overall this is the best Metroid game that they have released so far and takes hours on end to complete.

THE BAD:
Too easy bosses, no point about a plot this game brought, and a short game

SUMMARY:
First time I grab a controller to play Metroid Prime that I never play any previous Metroid games before \ Gamecube, first thing what impressed me is graphically, but its kind of confusing at first because of advance technology Metriod Prime has where u playing.. U will get used to it afterward and the control is not bad but above than average trust me u will be fine once u play for an hour or so. Its take a while to understand what to be like Samus and her point of a view to be in this game because of lack of a story plot and u r sort of figure it out by yourself what this all about that most common misunderstanding is scanning that gamers did not know its require to complete 100 perecent to scan almost everything from artifacts, bosses, enemies, to objects to complete the game to advance the difficulty and bonus items u will recieve after you beat the game.. it suck that I didnt know but after my second try, I scan it everything in a order to do this what the game offer you. Anyways, now I know Metroid Prime 2 Echoes is out now and Im expecting to be more much better than part one game. If you arent a fan of Metroid but like science fiction and FPS, i recommended to get this game, you will love it once u get used to understand this game... For all of you Metriod Fans that did not possess this, GET THIS! good luck

THE BAD:
The worst bit of the game had to be the backtracking. This made the game not as perfect as it could have been. Also not having the screw attack and speed booster. when you complite the game and you think youve done well only to be blown away with less than 100% rate at log book and collecting items.

SUMMARY:
one of the ...wait no THE best game i've ever played
the bosses were about medium difficulty. i dont know what every one was moaning about omega pirate and meta-ridley being hard. they were good matches but i beat them 1st try. but metroid prime is the hardest game boss i've ever seen.