Metroid Prime: Hunters is a great FPS shooter for the DS, but falls short of being outstanding
The campaign mode is fun to play, but you can't help but feel that you have only one path through the whole experience. Many levels feel small and too straightforward. You rarely ever have to figure out which way to go, but the levels are very straight, and i often find myself walking through linear paths and rooms. There is the occasional open, battlefield style area where you will often have fights with bounty hunters or other monsters, but these entertaining fights don't appear enough for my taste. The bosses are challenging, but repeat through the game, meaning you have tons of encounters with the same boss. Overall the campaign is fun to play through, and although it lacks many factors that could make it a great campaign, it only lands as a good campaign in my book.
On the other side of the table, you will find the multiplayer mode. Surprisingly, this mode is great, and arguably the best FPS shooter multiplayer to ever hit the DS! When playing with friends, either online or offline, you have a wide variety of game modes to play, varying from the standard battle, to survival, king of the hill, and a capture the flag type modes. Also you can pick from any of the hunters you have defeated in the campaign mode, each with their own look, HUV style, alt. form, and special abilities. Each character has certain advantages in certain courses, so experimenting with characters is always fun. A bonus feature is adding bots, so if you can't get 3 other people together to play with, then your not limited to a match with less players. Bots have 3 skill levels, and have a good range of difficulty between them. I would have loved more skill levels, so if i could beat a level 2, but got smoked by the level 3 i could find myself a worthy match. The leader of the game can also choose from a good variety of maps and options. Sadly, if your playing the DS download mode to play with a friend without the game, you are limited to the standard battle mode, and everyone without the game card must use Samus instead of another hunter, and bots are disabled meaning you need 3 other people to get a full game here. Online battles are here too! Playing with friends allows you to use all the features from just playing in the same room, but adds voice chat and a message feature which can only be used between battles, but when playing with unknown players you are limited to the standard death match mode. In my short usage time of this feature, i had no lag problems with my average internet connection. Rival mode lets you put your DS in sleep and pick up other Metroid players in the rival mode and adds them to your friend list. This feature was rarely used, because the chances of walking past a guy using the same feature in the same game around town is extremely low, and the chances of playing the stranger online is low also.
Quick tip: Don't have anybody around to play multiplayer with? Just go into multi-card play and add 3 bots to play with.
Overall, Metroid Prime: Hunters is a great buy. Its price is average, and packs in a good amount of content. Although its campaign is far from perfect, it still packs in plenty of entertaining fights and moments to make it fun to play. And the multiplayer is just outstanding for the DS. Although I wish features were not excluded when playing strangers online and when playing single card, it still stands out above the rest. Overall Metroid Prime: Hunters is a must-have for FPS fans with a DS.