Metroid Prime Review

Metroid Prime is well renowned game, after skipping an entire console generation Metroid came back with a very warm welcome and was able to work amazingly in a 3D space. I really enjoyed Prime, and is for sure one of my favorite metroid games so far. Note that all of my Metroid Prime reviews will be from the Metroid Prime Trilogy.

Before going any further lets talk about the story. The tale starts with Samus responding to a distress beacon coming from a space station in orbit around the planet Tallon IV. There it is revealed the station is occupied by Space Pirates and is badly damaged with few survivors, soon Ridley reveals himself; completing recovered and back in action and flees. In the process; the station enters begins to come apart in a series of explosions, one of which hits Samus causing her to lose most all of her upgrades. She chases Ridley to the planets surface. From there the story slows way down; and really how much the player get is entirely up to them. The new scan visor allows players to learn things from the environment and this can be used to learn more about everything in the game. Information about the planets previous Chozo inhabitants, the Space Pirates activities, the flora and fauna of the world, looking for clues and it nearly all optional. Outside of the odd lock or so; the player doesn't have to scan anything. The amount of story as they go is up to them. I feel this is a great design choice to accommodate different play styles. Since we are talking about the visor we should move on to the gameplay.

The game is played from a first person perspective; however shooting isn't the ultimate focus of the game like many feared before its release. The game is appropriately named a first person adventure and it works. I found this game to be very similar to Super Metroid just in a new perspective. It really allowed me to get engrossed in the world more so than the 2d metroids did, and that is one advantage of this viewpoint I can't stress enough. I felt like much more like Samus than the other games, and I was really exploring the alien world. The exploring is at a very deliberate pace but the environments look so good and it is fun to see what is around every corner. The action is well done; the wii mote allows for free aim, and there is lock-on to focus on the enemy and allows to strafe much easier. The power beam is the primary way to take out enemies, but you can also switch to missiles, or a few other beam types. There are some great boss fights in the game and they are very intense moments. However, even though the action is great exploration is the focus; you are left to your own devices (excluding a help system for those that need it) to find your way around; collecting upgrades to help in the adventure. Generally you'll be exploing the world, take out some enemies along the way, and find upgrades to help explore. The pacing is methodical and helps to accent the bursts of action, like the boss fights mentioned earlier. I never found the difficulty to be an issue either; puzzles and combat combined the game was never too hard, I found a bit too easy at times but usually it feel fine. However, there are multiple difficulties to select, so it is a moot point. Like most Metroid games, saving is done at set points, and I feel like there were enough. It really just plays like Super Metroid in the first person perspective.

Technically the game is extremely impressive. The sound design is top notch, with the creatures, weapons, and atmospheric sounds being very unique is fitting. The music is so good; the title music always comes to mind and the rest of the soundtrack is just as good. It is able to do its own thing with a lot of the tracks, while paying homage to the old music with others, A great mix of the old and new; and a good chunk of it is just very atmospheric and chill; perfect for exploring. The art design is amazing as well; everything just looks great and the graphics that bring it to life impress me still.The game looks amazing! The environments are so diverse and appealing; they look so good, I cannot stress it enough!

The only big negative that comes to mind is a big collectathon to access the final section of the game; it isn't hard but just very tedious and a time waster.

I feel like this was an overly gushy review; if you feel like there are issues I may have missed be sure to comment! However, this is an amazing game and looking back on brings up just good experiences. The game is as immersive as the player will allow and the core gameplay is amazing. Technically the game knocked it out of the park! This is a game I can easily recommend to anyone!

For those wondering and following the reviews, the next will be Super Metroid, we are getting to the end and these last five games (Prime included) are for the highlights of the franchise.

This reads more like a synopsis than a review, but there's not much you said that I don't agree with. I've never felt a game quite so atmospheric and ... well, unsettling. This is far from being a horror game, but the Resident Evil series could learn a thing or two from the Prime games and their sense of being alone in unfamiliar territory. Beyond that, the storytelling is the other standout, and is arguably what makes the Prime games so unique. It's a little off-putting at first, but I found myself wanting to scan everything by the time I got into the groove of things. I suppose it's also worth mentioning that, as a big Zelda fan, I really appreciated that the puzzles were just as compelling and thought-provoking as any big-budget Zelda title. (And they never felt unnaturally placed into the environment.)

@REVOLUTIONfreak: I agree very much! I found that scanning ends up killing momentum a bit; yet it was usually worth the stop to learn more about the lore. Another big thing I love about the Prime games is we glean much more about the Metroid Universe than the 2D titles. And maybe because I'm still earning my wings in terms of reviewing; but I just couldn't really find much wrong and ended up gushing more than I thought I would:P To add, I would say the one weakness of the Prime games is it loses alot of Samus's finesse and speed in the translation to the First Person perspective.

This is quite funny. I completely agree with you, but it's hilarious how you walk past all of these half pipes. Then you return with the boost ability in your morph ball, suddenly realising that the place is just a big skate park :P (the fact you don't notice it just shows how nicely blended it is into the environment).