This is basically normal pinball themed with Metroid Prime's outstanding atmosphere.

User Rating: 7 | Metroid Prime Pinball (w/Rumble Pak) DS
For those of you who don't know, Metroid Prime was released for the Nintendo GameCube sometime in the end of 2002, many doubted Retro Studios could do it but they did it, Metroid Prime is now one of the best games in the history of video-games. The name quickly became recognizable by anyone who had played this masterpiece, it was synonym with quality, and soon enough sequels were released to form a trilogy, including another game for the DS with the same basic scheme. This game, however, is a whole different approach.

Metroid Prime Pinball is a pinball game, I take it that most of the people have already at least glanced at a pinball machine and know how it works, even if by guessing. It's one of those fancy machines that you trigger the ball inside throwing to the action-ground and keep trying to make it stay in the table by waving two devices placed in the bottom of it and slamming the ball repeatedly upwards for it to take several bonuses all around the table, each table has its own set of bonus and paths for the ball to take, as well as its own theme; this is a somewhat technical way to explain it. So you know what's a pinball, and you must know what's Metroid Prime, what do you get if you tangle them together?

Well, it's a known fact that one of the most attractive features of a pinball machine is the theme that it represents; in Arcades there are machines of themes like films, bands, games, brands, and many others; normally you're gonna play the one you sympathize the most with the theme given, and of course with the design of the machine, the more complex the better. So what could be wrong with mixing one of the most atmospheric games of all times with our well-known pinball? Nothing really, after all it has been done for many years in the actual machines. The fact is still there, we can not deny that if the name "Metroid Prime" wasn't in the title this game would lose too much of its current appeal, we know that, and so does Nintendo.

So what happened here was that Metroid joined Mario in the dance; Mario had its side-games playing tennis, golf, having parties, now it's time for Metroid to have it too. They got a simple and accessible game like pinball, and put some make up on it, the make up couldn't be better if you think about it, the levels are completely based on the first Metroid Prime. You find here many of the game's locations, like Talon Overworld, Pendrana Drifts, Phazon Mines; they're all pinball styled now. Even some bosses can be found and fought in the game, like Thardus, who dwells in Pendrana, the way to fight him is much easier than it was in Metroid Prime, you just need to shoot the morphball against him and he'll lose a little of his health, repeat the procedure until he's defeated.

Just because it's made by Nintendo and is a pinball game with Metroid Prime in the title doesn't mean that a revolution on how people play pinball will be found here, this is pretty average pinball most of the time, of course some nice touches to make the game a little more dynamic will be present too, like little bonus stages where you have to do somethings out of the usual for a pinball, like climb a cliff doing wall-kicks with Samus. Samus may pretty much be the best character to become a pinball protagonist, and when I say pinball protagonist I mean the ball; because she can become a ball after all. And here you, indeed, play as Samus' morphball form.

To create the superb atmosphere shown in the first Metroid Prime amazing musics were composed, many of them are featured in the game, they have been somewhat remixed, and still sound good, for some they can be very nostalgic and will surely add a lot more to the experience. The sound effects are also good and the design was great, if you use headphones you can even notice that actions taken place in the right side of the table will be heard through the right phone, and so will happen with actions taken place in the left, this time being heard through the left phone. The recreation of the original game's environments are faithful, with many complex paths, which are practically required in any good pinball game, and with all the unforgettably amazing and also complex atmosphere of Metroid Prime.

The controls are nothing to worry about, you'll mainly use only the left and right shoulder buttons to do everything, each shoulder button controls one side of the machine. You can also use the d-pad, but feels more real if you use the shoulder buttons, plus you can use both at once, just to be sure. There's multiplayer which can be fun, and only one cartridge is needed to hold action up to eight players. To make it even more realistic, the game was packed with a rumble pack, which you plug into the Game Boy Advance slot to have rumble feature, it's absolutely optional. The game still revolves around scoring as much points as possible, several bonuses can give you more points, and even more balls. The highscores are tracked and recorded with you initials.

After all it is a pinball game, of course themed, and pretty well, with Metroid Prime's scenery, atmosphere and musics. If you go for it expecting a simple pinball action you're gonna have some fun, the Metroid Prime part is more of a plus, it's an undeniable fact that most people will buy it because of the "Metroid" in the title, and they shouldn't be blamed, it's natural to check out a game using such a famous name that will always imply quality no matter what, even if pinball isn't exactly your thing. But if pinball is your thing you might have loads of fun with it.