The production values are high, but Prime 2 focuses too much on tedious backtracking to become as great as Prime 1.
The Bad: The world discourages exploration with very tedious, difficult backtracking; very little guidance; the controls are still a bit weird.
Metroid Prime remains one of the best games on the Gamecube. The revitalized franchise came back with one of the biggest smashes it ever had, and totally revamped itself for the 3-D world of gaming.
Prime 2, the long awaited sequel, arrived two years later. Expectedly, Retro Studios has improved the graphics (getting rid of the rough edges), and, unexpectedly, made an almost completely new soundtrack. The soundtrack for Prime 1 wasn't even completely original, so it's good to see variety. The music is even just as good as before.
High production values can be as nice as you like, but they only get you so far. The gameplay isn't much different than Prime, and is certainly functionable and fun, but switching between moving you and moving your arm is still a little annoying.
It starts out well enough, with a great new story and a new pair of races at war: The Ing and the Luminoth. The Galactic Federation and the Space Pirates, plus the mysterious Dark Samus make apperances as well, connecting this one to the franchise.
And at first it feels like there's nothing wrong. This is the Metroid Prime sequel we wanted... Right?
Yes, but with a few drawbacks. It's not a bad game, but it shoots itself in the foot sometimes in terms of gameplay.
Prime 1 did very well guiding you through the game, letting you know where the next item you needed was, and despite the size of the game, the backtracking wasn't overdone.
Prime 2 doesn't do the same. The world is larger, which isn't a bad thing, but there's far more tedious backtracking, a far more bothersome collection quest, and generally a lack of direction.
The game ofen expects you to go toward the next required item without any guidance at all, and because of the size of the game, it's very annoying when you go completely the wrong way. You could waste an hour of gameplay trying to find just one item.
That's not to say the game isn't fun; quite the opposite. There's plenty of fun to be had. But the amount of backtracking is far greater, and the collection quest is more troublesome, both of which are things I dislike in games.
The game doesn't try to just completely copy Prime 1 though, which isn't definitely a positive. There are tons of new items, like three new beams and two new visors, and cool new suits. Plus, for longtime fans of the series, the screw attack has been made to work in a 3-D Metroid at last, with great results.
The Dark World is deadly and much harder to traverse, but you'll fortunately be staying in the Light World most of the time until your suits get better at handling Dark Aether's deadly atmosphere. This was executed very well by the designers, as was the hiding of numerous energy tanks and missile and beam ammo expansions.
There's plenty of meat to the game, over twenty hours worth, plus another difficulty. But again, it's a major detractor that there's lots of backtracking, much of which is pretty difficult, and an even bigger collection quest.
The multiplayer isn't particularly amazing. It's fun, and you and your friends will definitely be very competitive with it, but there's not much meat. You can only play as Samus in four levels, so this isn't the new Smash Bros.
But obviously the single player is the big focus. It's plenty of fun being behind the visor, but the game grows rather frustrating at times.
If you plan on getting the full Metroid Prime experience, this one is definitely worth it. It is still my least favorite Prime game, but it's important to remember that exploring will just make Samus better off for the stunning conclusion, and this one certainly connects the two. It's certainly worth a look, especially combined with the other two, as Retro Studios masterpiece trilogy is some of the best work on Gamecube and Wii.