Metroid Prime
Review by Trent Dickerson
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Eight years it has been since any of us have experienced a new Metroid game. When Shigeru Miyamoto announced the game a couple summers ago at E3 2001, gamers rejoiced. However, some were uncomfortable with Shiggy's announcement that the game would be a first-person shooter. While this fact did not bother some, another fact that bothered others was that Nintendo would NOT be developing the game, but rather publishing it. The developer would in fact prove to be the new 2nd-party company from Texas, Retro Studios. Metroid Prime was in fact Retro's first game, and with them handling such a major franchise such as Metroid right off the bat would prove right away just how good of a developer they were.
The game starts out with most of Samus Aran's abilities aboard a Space Pirate Cargo Freighter. This level is similar to the beginning level of Super Metroid, which is used to let you get used to your abilities. After Samus blows up the Freighter, not only does she lose all of her abilities, but she encounters a silver-colored creature with a striking resemblance to Ridley, one of the bosses from Super Metroid. Ridley flies off into space towards the nearby planet, Tallon IV, with Samus close behind. Shortly after landing on the planet, Samus learns that it was once the homeworld of the ancient Chozo, a technologically advanced people who suddenly disappeared one day.
Throughout the game, you will unravel the mysteries of the Chozo and discover horrifying experiments the Space Pirates conducted through the use of an acidic substance known as Phazon. Phazon surprisingly is a large role in the game, more specifically where it comes from. But besides discovering data about the creatures of Tallon IV, the main quest of the game is discovering new weapons that can blow them up. Metroid Prime re-introduced classic weapons such as the Wave Beam, Ice Beam, and Plasma Beam. But Retro introduced a slew of new weapons, such as the Flamethrower and the Phazon Beam, a weapon that can only be used during the final boss battle. Retro also brought back the nostalgic Morph Ball and Grappling Beam, but at the same time introduced new upgrades such as the Boost Ball and Spider Ball.
But wait, that's not the end of the weapons list. Retro programmed the game in such as way that the Super Missile is not a separate item, but is rather 5 regular Missiles that must be fired with the Power Beam, and not any other beam. Retro made up for this by introducing a Super Missile-like attack for each weapon, such as the Wavebuster for the Wave Beam and the Ice Spreader for the Ice Beam. Also, because Metroid Prime is an FPS game, the entire game is viewed through Samus' HUD(Heads Up Display). However, Retro took this downside and made it an upside by adding three extra visor types: the Scan Visor(with which you can scan and identify ALL things in the game), the Thermal Visor(with which you can see the heat signatures of creatures or objects), and the X-Ray Visor(with which you can see through walls and find hidden passages).
So let's talk about the gameplay, shall we? To tell you the truth, I found pretty much no technical flaws in the gameplay. Moving Samus around was smooth and the environments she traveled through were always very fluid. I never saw any slow downs, not in the middle of a game or in one of the FMVs. And that's another thing I liked, there weren't a lot of FMVs. This is just my personal opinion, but I just don't think there should be as many FMVs in a game as there are today, especially in an FPS. Another thing I liked was the use of the buttons. At first it was confusing, but then I got used to it(like the controls in Resident Evil). You use the Crosspad to switch between visors, the C-Stick to change weapons, A is to fire, B is to jump, etc., etc. My biggest and basically only complaint is that it is sometimes disorienting(often times unacceptable) playing the game through Samus' eyes. The fact that you cannot see what is right next to you or right behind you is very nerve racking during a boss fight. But that is just my personal opinion. Technically speaking though, the only thing about gameplay that got on my nerves and annoyed me was that sometimes when I would shoot a door to open, sometimes the door would not open right away and would instead take a few seconds, as if the game is still processing it.
Any gamer who has played Metroid Prime knows that the gameplay is not the best feature of the game though, but rather the graphics. Many people have commented that the graphics of Metroid Prime are the best yet in any FPS game to date. I would definitely agree. Better than Halo for Xbox? Better enough to make people go out and but a GameCube just to play Metroid Prime, that's for sure. Retro must have spent a lot of time on designing the environments of Tallon IV because the real-time lighting and architecture are just downright jaw-dropping. The lush Tallon Overworld, the deserted Chozo Ruins, the fiery Magmoor Caverns, the bone-chilling Phendrana Drifts, and even the dark Phazon Mines. All of them are beautiful. And let's not forget the weapons. The particle effects of weapons fire such as the Wave Beam and Ice Beam(especially when charged up) are just stunning. Another thing about the weapons I might mention is what they look like when they are not fired. For instance, if you equip the Ice Beam, and you just sit there, you can actually see evaporating ice coming out of the gun. Very cool. There is also the matter of the creatures of the game. Most of the enemies are textured and show no seams, then again, other creatures(usually bosses) are kind of blocky. The fact that when a seemingly textured creature gets really close to you and gets blocky proves that there is no bump mapping. The game is however equipped to handle Progressive Scan(if your television has that ability) and will fix that problem right up.
So how does it sound? Well, like games such as Eternal Darkness and Resident Evil, the music really sets the mood. Actually, the music even tells you if there is an enemy near. For example, you will be in the Phazon Mines and the theme for that environment is playing then all of a sudden the music changes to a fast-paced tempo. This fast-paced music means there is an enemy nearby. The music will then change back to normal when you have eliminated the enemy. This feature is most helpful in dark areas where you are supposed to kill several enemies and when you think you have killed them all, the music is still playing, thus, you know you have NOT in fact finished the job. Sound effects are spectacular. Each sound effect for each weapons are appropriate, such as the sound of ice hitting a wall with the Ice Beam and the lava-like sound the Plasma Beam creates. The sound effects of the creatures of Metroid Prime are actually kind of "blah". Most of them just make a screeching or clicking sound.
In conclusion, I'm sure many of you are wondering just how well does Metroid Prime do in the replay department? Well, like I said previously, the graphics are amazing and in my opinion are reason enough to play it again. The quasi-storyline in the game also adds some intrigue and appeal to the game, but not much. The fact that you can link Metroid Prime with its Gameboy Advance counterpart, Metroid Fusion, adds even more replay value. For instance, if you beat MP and connect it to MF, you can unlock the original Metroid for NES on MF to play. Also, if you beat MF and connect it to MP, you can wear the Fusion suit from MF while playing MP. Though the game has a few quirks that I disagree with, in the end I highly recommend this game to anyone who is sick of all the other first-person shooters such as Halo, TimeSplitters 2, and Red Faction II. It's hard to say whether or not Retro Studios will make a sequel someday, but I seriously doubt this will be the first and last Metroid game any of us will see on GameCube.
My Score: 9.3 out of 10
Advantages: It's a new Metroid game, stunning graphics, great sound, GBA compatibility
Disadvantages: We had to wait 8 years for a new Metroid game, no multiplayer, no bump mapping, first-person view sometimes disorienting, some programming errors
