Metroid Prime

An outstanding game period. The presentation is stellar, the level design and game mechanics are fun and fast paced, and the atmostphere is forboding and creepy. If I had some criticism of this game it would be the backtracking that was NECESSARY near the end of the game to find all the artifacts (Maguffins that didn’t really add any powers or abilities, but were necessary to get to the end of the game)- I felt these should have been accessible more when you were in each stage than forcing you to go back and get them through VERY ambiguous text for their locations. Added unnecessary time to the game that bogged it down at the end. Other than that, probably one of the coolest Metroid experiences ever- so much fun!

Score Breakdown

“The Tale”
Story- 7
Pacing- 8
Characters- 7
Originality- 8
Linearity- 10
Length- 9
Epicness- 9

“The Presentation”
Visuals- 10
Display- 9
Music- 9
Sound FX- 9

“The Mechanics”
Ease of Use- 6
Innovation- 8
Replayability- 7

Metroid Prime tells the story of Samus Aran, a bounty hunter who crash lands on the planet Talon IV, and must now traverse and explore this deserted wasteland in order to restore her lost abilities and uncover what the mystery of the space pirates experimentation with Phazon, a type of radiation. On her travels Samus also discovers the history of the Chozo, the inhabitants of Talon IV before being wiped out in a monumental disaster. The best thing about Metroid Primes story is that it can be whatever you want it to be. You can go as in depth as you want. This is because the majority of the story is told through environmental cues all over Talon IV which Samus can scan with her visor for information on her surroundings, enemies, and story elements. Those who put the effort in to scan everything will experience an epic story of an ancient race being wiped out and the mysterious poison that destroyed them. However, those who choose not to scan everything will still experience the games excellent atmospheric and environmental story telling. The scanning can often be tedious and can interrupt the flow of game play at times. It can also be frustrating because some things can only be scanned once and if you miss it you won’t get the chance again. However, I don’t see this as too much of an issue since scanning is completely optional and the overall experience isn’t hindered. I would highly recommend scanning as much as possible on your first play through, but I cant imagine myself going to the effort on subsequent plays.

The game takes place in a first person perspective, except for when using the morph ball in which case the game shifts to third person. The game does involve shooting, however it is not the central purpose. In order to emphasise the focus on exploration rather than shooting, Samus has the ability to lock onto enemies which makes combat fast and intuitive. This in no way makes it easy, and there will still be plenty of foes which get the better of you. Most of the time when this happens and you die its not too punishing and takes you back to the most recent save station which minimises the amount of redoing the same thing as much as possible. However, there are some occasions, particularly in the Phazon Mines where the game forces you to go through 30-40 minute sequences without coming across a save station. Having to fight a boss at the end of these sequences and dying is incredibly frustrating, and made me lose the motivation to play on multiple occasions. As much as I love this game and on the first time around every moment is exciting, the exciting pace is completely lost every time you are forced to redo an entire half hour of game play.

The moment to moment gameplay in Metroid Prime is an absolute joy. I immediately turned off the hint system and I’m so glad I did because I got such a kick out of exploring the seemingly endless caves, corridors, forests and icy mountains of Talon IV. Opening door after door and traversing such a diverse landscape was satisfying throughout and never got old. The game felt like one great big massive Zelda dungeon with keys, bosses, mini bosses, enemies, puzzles and stunning sights and I loved it. The best area, Phendrana Drifts consists of many branching paths and had many diverse landscapes within it. On the other hand, Magmoor Caverns was the most linear of the areas and therefore was the least exciting but still enjoyable. Almost every enemy encounter was exciting. I say almost because I could have done without the Chozo Ghosts. The music that plays whenever they appear is so harrowing, and they are slow and painful to kill. Top that with the frequency in which enemies re spawn and you could have to fight these guys multiple times in the space of a couple minutes.

The one area where Metroid Prime gets the most criticism is the final fetch quest before the games ending, which is notorious for slowing the game down to a crawl right before the grand finale. Luckily, I was aware of this in advance and was able to alot of the collecting throughout the game which made it much less of an issue. Without spoiling too much, the finale was absolutely brilliant and consisted of two epic boss fights, and thankfully saving before both is an option so the game-play is never disrupted