As a DS game, Hunters excels in many areas. As a Metroid game, it feels quite compromised in the gameplay department.
The most notable cuts came in the gameplay department. Only the most basic items are available in this game. You have your Morph Ball with Boost Ball functionality, and bombs to go with it. Other than that, however, there is little left. Your basic power beam weapon and missiles are accompanied by six sub-weapons. Each one has its own unique function. The Imperialist, for example, is a sniper rifle with one level of zoom. Although having a variety in weapons is nice, I would have preferred seeing more of the classic Metroid items in Hunters as well -- particularly the Space Jump, Screw Attack, and Grapple Beam. Metroid Prime Hunters is also missing a couple of visors seen in the past Prime games, but you do at least have access to your Scan Visor.
The enemies in the game are plentiful. There aren't as many as in the Gamecube counterparts, but that's to be expected of slimmed-down portable version. There is still excessive variety, though -- in both design and methods of taking them down. Some have protective shells whereas others are only affected by specific weapons. My only gripe with the enemies is the bosses. There are only three actual bosses in the entire game: the final boss and two others which have varying levels of difficulty despite being the same creature. I did enjoy the final boss encounter. The other hunters in the game (hence the subtitle) are more like minibosses than anything else, as they are typically very easy to take out and you only encounter them occasionally. Each of the hunters represents one of the weapons you can acquire at some point, and they also each have their own unique ball mode.
It's the ability to play as these other hunters in the multiplayer mode, in fact, is what really makes Hunters' multiplayer so much fun. Adding to the variety are the numerous stages to select from, the plentiful modes of play available to a multi-gamecard session, and the customization options. It feels very much like Metroid Prime Hunters was build around the multiplayer mode. It also features Nintendo's Wi-Fi Connection service, which keeps the game running smoothly consistently. Overall, the gameplay is just a great experience.
The graphics are pretty good for a DS game, but I wouldn't go so far as to say they're amazing. Textures look great from a distance, but when you get up close you'll notice some of them become noticeably pixelated. It would have been even better to see them be smoother like the textures in Super Mario 64. I really didn't hold this against the game much, though. It's the level design that kept the score from getting any higher. Metroid Prime and Echoes were very atmospheric thanks to all of the subtle details, but a lot of those details are gone in Hunters. What's left is great, but like I said -- not amazing.
Metroid Prime Hunters has some great audio. The music could have been better -- in fact, that's why I didn't give Sound a 9/10 -- but the sound effects are consistently dead-on and, in most cases, exactly what you'd expect to hear.
Overall, Metroid Prime Hunters is definitely worth purchasing. It's one of the better games available for the DS. But I'd recommend picking it up soon if you're planning to eventually. Come this fall/winter, there will be many more top-notch games available for the DS that could push Hunters out of the spotlight.