Just in time for the sequel, here's my horribly belated review of the Gamecube's absolute best offering.
Metroid Prime
Developer: Retro Studios
Platform: Gamecube
Genre: First-Person Adventure
Alow me to preface this entire review by saying that
Metroid Prime is bar-none the best software offering on Nintendo's current-generation console, and in my opinion, the best game that this entire generation has offered across
all gaming mediums. Period. If you simply want to know how good the game is, there's your answer. In my opinion, it's the best thing that the entirety of the last four years of gaming have offered, and that will most likely not change unless the sequel (due out November 15th) proves to be much better than the original. With that said, if you're looking for a detailed, inquisitive and thorough examination of
Metroid Prime, continue reading.
Until November of 2002, the Metroid franchise had seen a grand total of three entries. The original, released in August of 1986, introduced the world to Samus Aran, an interstellar bounty hunter in a badass suit of Chozo Power Armor and equipped with her trusty Arm Cannon, Morph Ball and Screw Attack. It pitted gamers against a hostile world, populated with violent beasts and offering no assistance from outside sources. Samus infiltrated the planet Zebes alone, destoyed the Mother Brain and her Metroid harvesting plans and set off for outer space. Since that first game, only two others had been made. The Gameboy sequel
Metroid II: The Return of Samus and the 1994 Super NES
masterpiece,
Super Metroid.
Eight years later, Samus finally made her return in
Metroid Prime, and brought with her an entirely new perspective, a massive paylod of gripping plot and heaps of new gameplay elements. Simply put, in 2002, Samus
owned the Gamecube. Here's how she did it.
Story
Immediately following the events chronicled in the original Metroid, Samus Aran streaks through space, leaving the world of Zebes, the dead husk of the Mother Brain and the ruined remnants of the Space Pirates' failed Metroid project behind her. While blasting through the galaxy aboard her ship, the bounty hunter recieves a distress call from a nearby research station in orbit around the uncolonized planet of Tallon IV. Responding to the call, she alters her course and docks at the station.
Upon entering, she comes to realize that something has gone horribly awry, and in more ways that one. First of all, the station itself is quickly and easily identified as being a Space Pirate vessel, conducting zero-gravity experiments on various creatures native to Tallon IV. But for what purpose? And what on Earth had happened here? The station is torn apart, dead Pirates lie scattered through it's rooms and hallways while containment chambers for various lifeforms are blown wide open. Investigating further, Samus learns that the Space Pirates have been busy, even during Samus' infiltration of Zebes. This in only
one of several orbital and terran research stations built on and around Tallon IV, for the purposes of mining, studying and utilizing the mutagenic and energizing powers of a mysterious ore called Phazon.
Further exploration of the orbital station gives her new insight as to what happened to the crew and scientists on-board. She encounters and does battle with a massive Parasite Queen that had burrowed itself into the station's reactor. However, even more terrifying, Samus has a brief encounter with the
true culprit behind the mass-slaughter and devastation of the ship's personnel. The newly resurrected and cybernetically enhanced former right-hand to the Mother Brain: Ridley. Now enhanced with mechanical weaponry and cybernetic body-armor, the newly reformed
Meta-Ridley regards Samus' presence briefly and tears through the hull of the station, making his way towards the surface of Tallon IV. Samus escapes the collapsing station and re-boards her ship, following Meta-Ridley's trail to the planet below...
Gameplay
Metroid Prime brings with it
numerous alterations to the overall presenation and gameplay of the franchise. The most obvious of these is the first-person perspective. Every game prior to MP in the series was presented in a 2D sidescrolling fashion, and when the first-person announcement was made a year before the game's release, people went bonkers over it, both in positive and negative ways.
The first thing that any player of the game will want to say to themselves is "well, Metroid Prime is a first-person shooter." This could not be further from the truth, and anybody that thinks it needs to remove that opinion from their consciousness
immediately. A first-person perspective and a gun-arm do not an FPS make. You want to know
why? Read on.
The entire world of Tallon IV is presented in a completely open-ended manner. There are no levels, no stages, no individual chapters to complete. You progress through the world fluidly, and as such, you are given the task of exploring it, every last inch if you feel so inclined. Granted, you cannot go absolutely anywhere you wish to right from the start. That's the brilliance in the game's design. You start on the Tallon Overworld. Upon initial examination, you see a handful of doors you can progress through. One is easily reached, you can get there just by walking. Another is perched high atop a cliff, and no amount of jumping will get you up there currently. You know instincively that there is most likely some sort of jump-enhancing piece of equipment that you will recieve later in the game, and so you commit that door to memory, remembering to return there later when you have the necessary equipment to access the door.
The entire game constantly gives you glimpses of not-yet-reachable areas and confounding environmental elements. You enter a new passage in the lava-filled Magmoor Caverns. On your right is another door to walk through, but attached to the ceiling is a strange track of some sort that leads all the way across the impassable lava pool and over to a high platform on the other side. You don't know it yet, but that track is a Spider Ball track, and until you get the proper piece of equipment with which to attach yourself to it, you can't get over to that door. That is truly brilliant and compelling game design. You are given incentive to constantly retread your steps, always given the innate desire to return to previously visited areas for the chance of reaching that one door or that one alcove you couldn't quite get to before. The game pulls you in and grabs you with design elements such as these, and the entire title is rooted in them.
The reason for it is simple.
Metroid Prime is an
adventure game. It's not an FPS. The primary focus of the adventure genre is on exploration and puzzle-solving. The Zelda games are adventure games, and the Metroid games are adventure games. Yes, they both feature action elements, but those things are there for the purpose of infusing excitement into the game. The action is not the central focus of the game, and the same holds true for Metroid Prime. You are encouraged to explore every last inch of Tallon IV. You are prompted to put your critical-thinking skills to the test in order to complete the game's numerous puzzles and mental obstacles. You are
not being coerced into watching your ammunition (because all of Samus' weapons have unlimited ammo, except for her missiles and Power Bombs), you are
not being trained to make headshots and you are not being corralled into focusing on the action elements of the game. That's what an FPS does. That's
not what
Metroid Prime does.
Metroid prime is an adventure game. Period.
With that out of the way, I'll explain how the game is actually played. You control Samus' movement entirely with the joystick. There is no dual analog-stick aiming/movement because, as I've said numerous times already,
this is not an FPS. It's an adventure game. The A Button fires Samus' Arm Cannon with whichever Beam type she is currently using. The B Button makes Samus jump, the Y Button fires missiles and the X Button makes her transform in and out of Morph Ball mode. (For those of you who do not know the term, Samus' Morph Ball is an ability that allows her to compact her entire body into a rolling metal sphere for additional maneuverability and speed.) The L Trigger locks Samus onto the nearest available target, either for the purposes of shooting it or scanning (which I'll explain later). The R Trigger stops Samus in her tracks and allows her to enter free-look mode. Finally, the C-Stick changes Samus' active Beam type and the D-Pad changes her active Visor type.
Samus has several different abilities and weapons at her disposal, the most primary of which being her Beam weapons. She begins the game with her trusty Power Beam, a basic attack that fires yellow orbs of energy at a very high rate of fire. Easily the weakest of all Beam weapons, but one of the most reliable because of it's high rate of fire and the lack of enemies with any real defenses against it. Early on, Samus earns the Charge Beam powerup that allows her to fire a supercharged blast of any Beam type by holding down the A Button and then releasing. The second weapon she earns is the stunning Wave Beam, a purple, electrically-based Beam weapon that can temporarily paralyze foes and short circuit robotic targets. Samus also gains three other Beam weapons during the course of the game, all useful and extremely powerful in their own right. I'll leave their discovery up to you, however.
Samus' other important selection of abilities revolves around her visor. She starts the game with two visors immediately available for use: the Combat Visor and the Scan Visor. The Combat Visor is just her basic HUD. It displays her health, missile ammo, available Beam types and other available Visor types.
The Scan Visor proves to be one of the most important additions throughout the entire game. While in Scan Mode, Samus can lock-onto and download information on basically anything she sees. Every enemy in the game, including bosses, is scanable, and it's highly recommended that you make good use of this mode. Scanning enemies permanently logs their biological information in your suit's database, and doing so provides you with background information on each creature including their weak-points. The Scan Visor is also your way of operating many types of machinery and other devices located throughout the game. In order to activate an elevator, you need to scan the control panel, in order to turn on a crane you need to scan the operation controls and in order to turn off security turrets, you have to scan their maintenance panels. Also, scanning various computer terminals and ancient hieroglyphs is how you obtain the majority of the plot in the game. Throughout the course of the game, you will encounter basically two different sources of plot information: Chozo Hieroglyphs and Space Pirate Terminals. The former gives you background information on Tallon IV and the Chozo's history on the planet, while the latter gives you insight as to the Space Pirates' desires, intentions and plans on Tallon IV. As I said before, the Scan Visor is an
extremely important facet of the game.
In addition, Samus gains the use of two other Visors: the Thermal Visor and the X-Ray Visor. The first allows you to see heat signatures, and when I say "heat signatures" I
mean it. I don't mean "everything on-screen turns red, a-la Metal Gear Solid." No, everything goes
Predator on you. You see the fluxuating and multicolored heat patterns of
everything in the game, and trust me, every last living creature in the game has it's own distinct heat patterns to display. It is a truly incredible and extremely detailed gameplay aspect, and it comes into use
frequently. The X-Ray Visor is probably the least useful of the bunch. It allows you to see through breakable walls as well as allowing you to visualize invisible enemies, platforms and doors. Aside from that, there isn't much to do with it.
Beyond her Beams and Visors, Samus has a plethora of other abilities at her disposal. She has her awesome Grappling Beam, which allows her to attach to and swing from certain hooks. She has the Space Jump, which allows her to execute a double-jump in midair. While in Morphball form, she can lay an endless supply of small energy bombs, she can attach herself to Spider Ball tracks and use her Boost Ball to gain a blast of speed. She also has several other abilities as well as several Suit upgrades that I won't go into any more detail about.
The enemies in the game are all wonderfully designed, many of which take some creative strategy to eliminate. Undoubtedly, the most threatening of all enemy lifeforms are the Space Pirates and the Metroids themselves. The Space Pirates are large, bipedal, insectile creatures armed with powerful Beam technology and other devastating weapons. The nastiest types are Phazon-enhanced super soldiers with uber-destructive weaponry fused directly into their bodies.
And then there are the bosses. All of them are
monstrous, all of them are incredibly threatening and all require a good amount of creativity and intellect to defeat. The Parasite Queen, the first boss in the game, is a massive beetle-like creature that spews weapons-grade energy streams from her mouth, and is surrounded by a swirling pattern of protective energy fields. Defeating her takes expert timing and quick reflexes. The bosses that follow her only get tougher and tougher, and each one is a blast to fight.
In terms of gameplay,
Metroid Prime ranks a perfect 10. There is not a single chink in the game's functional design. The areas are massive and are a joy to explore, Samus' abilities and weapons are intuitive, elemental to your success and fun to use, and the enemies and bosses are all designed with the most expert of care and thought.
Graphics
Metroid Prime excels in just about every possible area when it comes to graphics. There are so many subtle details and tiny nuances to the graphical presenation that it would literally be impossible to address them all.
Samus herself is gorgeous. Granted, you only see her in the cutscenes and for a brief moment when she transforms into and out of Morphball mode, but nonetheless, she looks incredible. Her suit shines and gleams perfectly, and tons of nice little touches like the glowing lights between her armor panels or her barely-visible eyes behind her visor set off the entire image.
The environments are huge, immensely detailed and teeming with life. The amount of detail and care put into designing the locations in the game is simply mind-blowing. In the Chozo Ruins, there are massive stone structures built
around huge trees, using their branches for support and supporting the plants in return. In Phendrana Drifts (my favorite area of the bunch), mounds of freshly fallen snow cover the ground while a thick sheet of flakes drift downward from the sky. In Magmoor Caverns, the searing heat from the cooled magma floors distorts objects in the distance. Each of these areas, and the three or four I chose not to list are brilliantly designed, and each exhibits it's own personal charm and atmosphere to the world of Tallon IV.
As I said before, the enemies and bosses are spectacular from a gameplay standpoint, and they excel in terms of the graphical presentation as well. Metroids have a wet, glistening sheen over their bulbous, jellyfish-like domes. Sheegoths, creatures native to the Phendrana region, have a large, smooth protective plate on their backs made entirely of ice. You can see their red internal organs beneath the thick coating of protective ice. The bosses are, likewise, amazing. The giant plant-monster, Flaaghra, literally oozes with toxic fluids and visibly noxious fumes.
And beyond that, it's the tiny litte touches that push the game
past excellent in terms of it's visuals. Walking through a jet of steam in Magmoor Caverns causes Samus' faceplate to fog up, diving into a pool of water and then surfacing will cause a cascade of water to run down the front of her visor, and large flashes of light close to her helmet will actually illuminate her
face and reflect it on the inside of her visor. While in X-Ray mode, you can see the individual bones of Samus' hand as she steadies her Arm Cannon. The tiny environmental touches are incredible as well. You will never see the same textures used more than once, the dynamic lighting is incredible, creating realistic souces of light radiating from Samus' Morphball and Beam attacks, and to top it all off, the game accomplishes all of this while running at a
constant 60 frames per second.
No slowdown whatsoever. That is a feat of flabbergasting proportions.
If I had to pick out a single flaw in the graphics department, it's that the game doesn't really feature any bump-mapping of any kind. The textures look great and the lighting only enhances that even more, but expert use of bump-mapping techniques would have made the graphical presentation even better. It's easy enough to assume that the game has a lack of bump-mapping in order to keep everything running at a solid 60 fps, which is a
more than acceptable tradeoff in my opinion.
Sound
For anyone who was and is a fan of
Super Metroid, this game's soundtrack will be immediately and overwhelmingly appealing to you. The entire game features a large assortment of tracks, including lighter orchestral pieces and driving industrial segments. The sheer variety of music in the game is overwhelming, as each distinct area carries with it it's own unique conrucopia of musical selections. Magmoor Caverns pumps along with a dark, clanking industrial selection, while Phendrana Drifts provides a more serene and lonesome aura. All of the music was composed by Kenji Yamamoto, the composer for
Super Metroid, so it's no wonder the tracks would appeal to fans of the series.
The sound effects are all extremely well-implemented as well. Each creature comes with it's own unique and distinct set of squeals, squawks, grumbles, roars and barks. Pipes overhead spew steam jets, machinery in the distance clanks and chugs, dessicated walls crumble audibly and sediment sifts quietly down from them. In additon, Samus' suit comes tailored with a large assortment of sounds, like the activation of a different Beam type, the Space Jump jets giving her an extra boost of height and her HUD menu giving out the appropriate tones and notes while perusing her bestiary or Pirate data libraries.
As for voice acting, there is extremely little to be found. Samus herself only speaks through grunts and other non-commital noises when she's jumping or taking damage. Personally, I prefer it this way. The fact is, the player is supposed to feel as though they
are Samus, and having her blabbing away every time you hit a new cutscene would rip you out of that feeling pretty quickly.
The whole soundtrack was mixed and runs in Dolby Pro Loigc II, so all in all, it's just an aural wet dream.
Flaws
Honestly, my only complaints are the lack of bump-mapping (which, truthfully, I won't dock points for because the textures, lighting and steady, fluid framarate more than make up for it) and
one other complaint. This
single aspect of the game is enough, in my opinion, to cost the overall score of this game a whole tenth of a point. It's not a story-spoiler, but it
is a spoiler in regards to the number of bosses in the game.
| Magmoor Caverns is the only major area in the game that has no boss of any kind. |
Honestly, when I realized that, it left a slightly bitter taste in my mouth. It's the only complaint I have with the game that I honestly think is detrimental to the overall experience.
Overall
I really don't know how much more I can say about this game. To own a Gamecube and
not own this game is lunacy. To own this game and not
love it is sacrelige. Anyone with half a brain in their skull would be quick to fall to their knees and perform fellatio on this game, if it was physically possible. It is the absolute best software offering of this entire generation. It is the most immersive, most detailed and most brilliantly designed game of the last four years, and to deny yourself the experience is certifiable insanity. You've got three days to pick this up and finish it before
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes is released, and I would highly recommend that if you
haven't already finished this game, that you make it your number one priority before the sequel comes out on November 15th.
Samus Aran owns your soul. You just may not know it yet.
Score: 9.9
Linear Mode
