Having never played the original Metroid, Metroid 2, or even the SNES
version, I might feel a bit alien to the experience I've had with
Metroid Prime. Fortunately, I hear there was not much of a story in the
previous versions. Perhaps they should have gone with that idea here.
The background story is not so much experienced in this game as it is
read, through various Chozo translations and data terminals, and it did
not long hold my interest. Nevertheless, the game does provide some
exciting gameplay, and deserves a place among the classics.
The game is a shining example of a new twist on an old game. It's the
type of gameplay that, were the technology available in the late 80's,
would have been made. It is a platformer at heart, but retains key
characteristics that set it apart from the rest. Like the previous
Metroids (so I've read), you will find yourself able to move freely
about the world, only encountering "blockades" at certain locations.
These blockades are only opened or bypassed using special abilities
Samus obtains throughout the game. This enables the player to feel like
he is free to do what he wants, yet does keep the game in a rather
linear progression.
Of course these special abilities are one of the trademarks of the
Metroid franchise. They include the Power Beam, Ice Beam, Wave Beam,
Plasma Beam, Super Missles, Morph Ball, Spider Ball, Phazon suit, and
several other items/powerups. The sense of accomplishment when
retrieving one of these new powerups is nothing less than satisfying,
and I often found myself saying during a late night game, "just one
more before bed..." It is the type of game that may be difficult to put
down, however frequent save points will allow you to do so.
The world itself is incredibly huge. It's broken up into several
smaller locations, each connected to one or two others by means of an
elevator. There is a single load time for every location, but you may
never notice it. Instead of a loading screen, the developers
ingeniously feature cinematic views of Samus riding the
elevator--something I neglected to even notice the first few times I
changed locations. The elevators are the ONLY means of travel between
locations, however, and it could sometimes become very frustrating to
travel to another location by means of elevator--walk--morph
ball--walk--elevator--swim--morph ball--elevator, etc. The amount of
travel in this game really does become quite tedious, especially
considering the enemies all respawn once you exit an area. You'll find
yourself fighting the same enemies in the same areas many, MANY times
before finishing the game. This is my only major qualm with the game,
and it is overshadowed by other better features.
Sound, however, is not one of those better features. The soundtrack
consists of roughly six different songs (one for each location), and
they very well could have been music straight from the SNES. The loop
is short, the music sounds like MIDI, and it's altogether not too
exciting. Combine this with the fact that the only sounds you'll hear
for the rest of the game are your weapons firing and enemies
screaming--not a SINGLE word of dialogue spoken the entire game--and
you might want to play a CD in the background.
But here's one of the better features: the boss fights. If you miss the
old days when video game bosses were BOSSES--cool, tough, exciting
people and creatures--then this may be your game. Like the recent Zelda
series, these bosses are extremely noteworthy and require a specific
strategy to beat them.
The game helps you along the way in two key ways. One is your HUD
(heads-up display). You're able to scan basically anything you can
interact with--creatures, doors, switches, data displays. Scanning
creatures will most often tell you the weakness, and in effect, which
weapon to use against it. The information can sometimes be cryptic on
bosses, however, it is still an aide.
If you're used to Halo-style controls--basically the standard FPS
control scheme today--, you may have a bit of trouble, like me,
beginning the game. The controls are more akin to Goldeneye 007, where
the control stick maneuvers the feet, and while holding R, the control
stick moves the head. The reason for this configuration is obvious.
You'll obtain so many powerups and weapons along the way that the rest
of the buttons are needed for other moves. However, not being able to
actively strafe was somewhat of a dissapointment. The movement was the
only part of the controls that I found difficult, though, since the
rest of them you will learn as you gain new abilities, make the
learning curve extremely gentle.
The game itself will give you around 15 hours of gameplay. This can be
shortened or extended depending on your style of play and whether or
not you will attempt all the extra "goodies" like Missle Expansions and
Energy Capsules. As for myself, I simply got these things as I came to
them and never actively searched. They're not terribly difficult to
come by, and some are extremely easy to retreive.
Chances are that if you've got a friend who owns this game, he/she has
told you to play it. It is surely a Nintendo classic, and the franchise
seems strong. At its current price of $20, how can you not afford to
buy it? Or pick up a used copy like I did for a mere $9.
