Story mode may be a bore, but multi-player is awesome.
Metroid Prime: Hunters tries to bring the Metroid experience to the portable DS system, but in that attempt are some major faults. However, the one thing they got right was the multi-player. That was really fun to play.
MPH has an average story mode that is lacking many things from the two outstanding Metroid games to come before it on the GameCube. Samus (the main character), is sent to a galaxy, to find and protect the sacred Octoliths. The main goal of the game is to collect these. During your quest, 6 other hunters will attempt to take them as well. You'll have to deal with them in order to continue.
Controlling Samus is handled quite well. You move and shoot with the D-Pad and shoulder button. And you can drag on the touch screen to aim and look around. Jumping, however, requires a double-tap to activate, and in some sections, you'd rather press a button, since jumping seems a bit delayed. Also, switching to Samus' Morph Ball is easy: just tap on the button on the screen. Same deal for changing weapons too.
There are 2 planets and 2 space stations for you to find the Octoliths in. In Metroid Prime, you'd have to go back and forth of sections to use your new weapons and suit expansions on different places. Here, you can collect everything you have to straight away. You feel like you're on a linear path, since rooms don't really branch off into other rooms. In fact, the only power-ups you will earn are extra beams. These beams have a universal ammo use, which is nice. There's not really a moment when you're searching for ammo.
Eventually, you'll have to fight a boss to collect the Octolith. Unfortunately, you'll have to fight one of two bosses. The difference between them are that they get harder. Once you beat it, the classic self-destruct sequence starts, and you must return to your ship in a set amount of time. Every time you collect an Octolith. A bit excessive, but fun rushing through nonetheless. Sometimes, a hunter will block your way, other times, the ship's really close, and it's really easy.
When you return to a planet to get another Octolith, there is a teleport that leads straight to the new section. There's also this part that I didn't really like. In Metroid Prime, there were absolutely no parts where you can fall off a cliff. In Prime 2, there were the occasional cliff, but they were easy to avoid, and you only take 10 damage if you fall off them. In this game, there is a destroyed space station, and you have to jump back and forth on space parts. Falling results in instant death. How annoying. There also aren't any save stations. The ship is all that you have. Mess up? Back to the ship.
Story mode takes about 8 hours to beat on your first try, but the big thing in this game is the multi-player. You can play against the CPU, or against other people. While it's only 4-player, the stages aren't that big, so you won't have to look around for other people that much. Playing against those who don't own the game forces them to play as Samus and must play death-matches. If you do play with someone that owns the game, you can play with all the hunters, and several more game modes.
Also, you can play on-line against other people. While you can pick your character, you can only do death-matches unless you play with friends. There's also a rivals system, where you can add someone as your rival and play against them later in a friends match. Too bad that none of those rivals try to go into a friends match. The stages that you play on are rooms from the story mode. Recycling the stages, however, is fun when it's 4-player.
Metroid Prime: Hunters is a mixed bag. While the story mode is a bit okay, the multi-player is excellent, and overall, you should really only get this game for the multi-player, since the story mode doesn't require much challenge. You can beat it easily, and it feels like it was rushed. However, playing on-line is a blast. It's pretty good just to blast other people, and that's really the main spectacle of this game.
