Gamers became cynical when they learned that the Metroid series was now in the hands of a virtually unknown developer, Retro Studios. Despite being one of Nintendo’s second parties, Retro had nothing to show for themselves. As information and screenshots began to leak through to the press throughout 2002, there was a shocking development – Metroid Prime was to be played in first person, abandoning the third person perspective of old. This drew great criticism. “You’re turning Metroid into a first person shooter! You can’t do that!” people shouted. Tensions reached a fever pitch during the first half of 2002, when there were rumors that not all was well over at Retro Studios. It was said that Nintendo themselves were very unhappy with the direction in which the game was taking. Almost all hope for Metroid Prime turning out to be the mind blowing follow up to its predecessors was lost.
Metroid Prime launched in the United States in November 2002, and was quickly hailed as the best game on the GameCube – if not one of the best games of all time, much to the surprise of many gamers. However, a devastating delay saw the PAL conversion hit European shores in late April, and Australian shores in early May. During this time, the PAL conversion receives many added bonuses, which you can read about here that the NTSC version didn’t have. Are these minor upgrades enough to justify the delay? Questionable – but we’ll leave that for you to decide.
So, after a long and turbulent history, Metroid Prime is finally available throughout the world. Are it’s rave reviews justified? Should you race to the store right now and buy it? The answer is a definitive yes. Metroid Prime is the best game on the GameCube. Don’t believe me? Read on…
Metroid Prime follows a story similar to its predecessors. As usual, the Space Pirates are up to no good. After their crushing defeat on Zebes at the hands of Samus Aran, the Space Pirates set out into two camps. The first camp to rebuild Zebes, along with the Mother Brain and army mainstays Ridley and Kraid, whilst the other camp when to Tallon IV. This planet was once home to a colony of the Chozo, a bird like race with an emphasis on spirituality. However, long ago, a meteor had hit the planet. Upon impact, it launched large amounts of Phazon into the air and deep into the planet. Phazon is a form of cancer, which began to destroy life wherever it could be found. Failing that, it mutated life into hideous forms. The Chozo, unable to destroy the Phazon, did the best they could seal the planet to contain the poison and left Tallon IV, believing that one day a savior would one day came to their former home, harness their technology, and eradicate the poison.
Seeing the huge potential for energy and military supremacy in Phazon, the Space Pirates began to perform experiments with the mysterious element, fusing it with certain creatures to create even deadlier soldiers. As Samus Aran, it is your job to put a stop to the Space Pirates once and for all, and free Tallon IV of the deadly Phazon.
Metroid Prime does an excellent job in keeping in tune with its roots. The game successfully creates a huge world to explode, exactly like all the Metroid games before have done. All the little things that are done to make this game reek of Metroid are just astounding, from the Zoomer that crawls around platforms incessantly, to having to shoot doors before you can walk through them. Retro Studios should be commended for their efforts in this regard.
One thing that has always been part of Metroid’s core is the power ups that you can obtain throughout the game, and Prime is no different. I won’t spoil any of the big surprises, but all the old favourites are here, from the simple necessities such as the morph ball, where you roll up into a little ball, allowing you access those tiny little areas, missiles, which enable you to shoot though certain areas and dispose of enemies, and the charge beam, which allows you to hold down the shoot button, and then unleash a single shot with power similar to that of a missile, right through to some newer items, such as the spider ball which allows you to cling to tracks, regardless of gravity, enabling you to access you areas you couldn’t before, and the thermal visor, which seeks out objects and enemies based on their heat signature. The newer items are particularly innovative, bringing even more opportunities for exploration and discovery in the game – along with more firepower for Samus to unleash on the Space Pirates.
Visually, Metroid Prime is among the best out there. The environments range from tiny rooms, to vast, sweeping landscapes, but all of them are wonderfully detailed and completely believable. For example, the Chozo Ruins do really look like broken down ruins, and Phendrana Drifts looks like it could be found in Antarctica. Samus in her suit looks absolutely perfect to the detail. The enemies are also a standout, with even the greatest amount of detail going into the nose (assuming you get close enough to see). This goes to show the amount of work that Retro have poured into making the character models look as perfect as possible. Some of the bosses have to seen to be believed, as they reach up to hundreds of meters in the air, leaving you to scrape up your jaw off the floor. All the enemies are exceptionally animated, as the dodge and dart around your fire, trying to get a piece of your suit to call their own.
The different visors, such as the thermal and x-ray, are also brilliant. The thermal is particularly amazing as you try desperately to keep track of the bad guys in the darkness via their heat signatures. But the stunning lighting effects are the highlight of the visuals. Shots from Samus’ blaster light up small rooms and corridors and look simply magnificent doing it. The wave beam in particular is stunning as the triplet of beams spin around each other, illuminating the corridor with a pink glow. It’s jaw dropping stuff.
The music in Prime is another positive for the game. For the most part, the tunes aren’t in any way obtrusive, and help to establish the mood effectively throughout the game. However, they can occasionally become tiresome, particularly the Magmoor Caverns theme. Its furious beating of the drums really gets on your nerves after an extended period in the level. Thankfully, no other tunes match its level of irritation. The music also fades from an aggressive score when confronted with a horde of enemies, back down to quiet tunes once they’re all defeated. Although this has been done in games for a long time now, Prime does it extremely well, helping to immerse you into the onscreen action. The background sound effects add to the mood of the game, with the eerie groaning and chirping of the unseen Space Pirates keeping you on your toes. The main effects are also top quality, with Samus’ blaster being particularly satisfying.
The most radical change that Retro have implemented is the removal of the 2D side scrolling, choosing to replace it with a first person perspective, not the third person perspective that many anticipated. Many assumed that this would be a move away from the traditional exploration aspect of Metroid towards a more shooting intensive game, ala Halo. This is definitely not the case, as Metroid is still heavily slanted towards exploration. To accent this, there is the inclusion of a lock-on whenever you hit the L button, which automatically locks onto the nearest target, making disposing of most enemies fairly easy.
Controlling Samus Aran seems like a daunting task at first, but after only a few minutes you can control her with the greatest of ease. The lock on system works fairly well, only becoming difficult to manage when under siege from multiple enemies. In lock on mode, you face the target and can strafe around them by pushing the analogue stick to the sides. However, without being locked on, there is no way to strafe. This is a controller limitation rather than a flaw on the game’s behalf, but I often find myself wanting to strafe and I simply can’t – I have to stop and turn, which can be quite a hassle. The only other problem I have with the controls is in regards to the scan visor. The scan visor allows you to read walls, computers, and get general hints about the area you’re in, and what enemies you’re facing. You have to press the L button all the way before it begins to scan, which can get annoying fast when you’re in a room with a whole lot of scanning to do.
But this problem is so minor that it hardly detracts from the excellent job Retro have done with Metroid Prime. The game is just so much fun to play, and it’s so easy to become immersed in the gaming world for hours. Throughout your stay on Tallon IV, there are always new challenges and puzzles being thrown your way that you’ll just want to play for that little bit longer, or to just get that next piece of weaponry. The game is just that good. The game is no cakewalk, either. Whilst the majority of the game isn’t insanely difficult, you’re still looking at a good 20-30 hours of play time in here, depending on your skill level. Whether you will want to come back and play again is questionable, but the incentive to get 100% is still there.
The wait for Metroid Prime has been long - but now that it’s here, you simply must get a hold of it. This is the best game on the GameCube, period – it could also be the best game on the current generation of consoles. The game looks brilliant, the game sounds brilliant, and the game plays brilliant. The game IS brilliant. Further more, if you have Metroid Fusion, a Game Boy Advance and a link cable, you can hook them up for some bonuses, including the original NES Metroid game. Not a bad little bonus.
If you have a GameCube, you need this game. If you don’t have a GameCube, this could be your incentive to get one. Check it out.
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