Metroid Prime

You receive a distress call for help on the Space Pirate Frigate.  There you find the crew dead, all leading to the Parasite Queen, a mutated test subject.  Upon it’s defeat, the Frigate is set to self destruct.  In the struggle to return to your ship, your Power Suit malfunctions, losing all of your advanced weapons and gadgets.  Barely escaping from the exploding space station, Samus Aran witnesses Meta-Ridely escaping to the nearby planet of Tallon IV.  Once you land in the Tallon Overworld, you set forth to discover the history of the planet, and what secret activity lies beneath the surface.

Metroid Prime is a one of a kind game.  At the beginning of the game, you are given nothing but a simple Power Beam and jump command.  No story is given, no direction is given.  You need to explore a vast alien world alone, scanning for clues and knowledge of what you need to do.  This sets up for one of the most immersive and atmospheric games created.  Adding to it, is the excellent soundtrack, pumping your blood in the most intense battle sequences, to the calming and eerie music for desolate exploration areas.  Overall, Metroid Prime gives you the sense of being all alone, and facing unknown enemies around the next corner.

The game will also having you search for lost suit upgrades to help you on your adventure.  These range from new Beam upgrades, to a Missile Launcher, and a Grapple Beam.  One thing to be mentioned about Metroid Prime is it’s control scheme.  In order to look up or down, you need to hold the ‘R’ button.  This is explained by the fact that Samus’ suit has a limited arm cannon.  The game’s lock-on feature works flawlessly though, allowing you to switch between various enemies at a time, and to strafe around the targeted enemy, even when out of view.

This game is all about discovery, and this review just paints a small view of what Metroid Prime has to offer.  At this point in time, you can now pick up a copy of this game for under $10, and if you have a GameCube or Wii, it is worth; especially since it was worth it at full retail.  Not only is Metroid Prime different than other games of it’s kind (in a good sense), it explains everything in detail, making for a worthwhile experience, not just a game where “Here is gameplay mechanic, and that is just the way it is”. 

The game will provide a good 10-20 hours of gameplay for a first play though, although searching for additional collectables will tack on plenty of time.  The completion of the game unlocks a ‘Hard Mode’ for those who want to play again, and trust me, you will.  A staple of the series is to complete the game with the fastest time, or least amount of items.  Also, you can link this game to Metroid Fusion to unlock the original NES Metroid to play.

Metroid Prime is the first in a series.  The game is followed by Metroid Prime 2: Echoes on GameCube and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption for the Wii.  Metroid Prime Hunters was released on the Nintendo DS, along with Metroid Prime Pinball, a spin-off title retelling the story of the original Metroid Prime in pinball format.

Metroid Prime reinvented the series in a 3D perspective, and it made for on of the greatest games of all-time, in one of the greatest franchises of all-time.

--This game rates 5/5 Stars--