Welcome to my latest attempt at keeping this blog afloat until I have plenty to write about. Actually I have been pretty busy in the world of games, so I should have written a week or so a go, but better late than never. Today: Metroid Prime Trilogy, Shadow Complex, Batman: Arkham Asylum, My Anticpated Games of 2009 and Closing Out. It's gonna be another one of those 3,000 word epics so sit back, grab your fave beverage and read on!

Metroid Prime: Trilogy
When I first heard about Metroid Prime Trilogy I was pretty stoked, I loved the first game, really enjoyed the second game and even though I owned the 3rd game never really got very far into it. But the idea of all three Prime games on one disc was enough to put it on my radar even though I own all three individually. It then fell off said radar until it was basically released... I then was reminded that they revamped the first two games with the supposedly amazing Wii Pointer controls from the 3rd game. My enthusiasm dropped quite a bit, but I hadn't played the first two games in nearly 5 years and discovered it came in one of those great SteelBook cases, so I bit. Suprisingly, things worked out great...

Metroid Prime is still the best in the trilogy no doubt, that's because it is one of the best games ever designed. Retro captured what it was like to be behind the visor of Samus Aran; steam fogs it up, water rolls down the front when you get out of deep water, rain drops land on it, high electrical fields disrupt it causing static and eventually for the HUD it self to crap out for a moment, bug spit and splat on it, you feel like you are in the world and the 10+ hours it'll take to finish it will fly by. Improvements/changes in the trilogy version are mostly from the Japanese and Europe versions, but these changes are for better and worse depending on what you want out of Prime 1. A lot of the changes in JP and EU versions were to prevent speed running and sequence breaking, so if like that this version is not for you. As for the Wii Controls I'll talk about those a bit later.

Prime 2: Echoes (aka Dark Echoes in Japan) is a decent sequel and it tried something different. The light world / dark world thing had been done before but not really in 3-D, there are a lot of cases in Prime 2 where you must jump back and forth from light to dark just get past obstacles. Prime 2 only really has 2 major problems setting it back... the first is the dark world: when you first arrive it drains your health at 5HP/sec and you only recover 1HP/sec when in the light bubbles, the pacing is messed up because of this you gotta get out of that dark world as fast as you can, no time to explore. Later you get the Dark Suit which lowers dark world damage to 1HP/Sec, but until you get the light suit in the last few hours of the game you'll be constantly under pressure, especially when fighting bosses as if your health was a ticking time-bomb. Secondly, it seems the further in to the series the games got the more Retro really wanted to prevent people from sequence breaking their game, so instead of embracing it they removed it by making gates that could only be unlocked if you progressed the correct amount. Prime 3 took this a step further, which is where I think Retro missed the point of Metroid, if I have the skills and will I should be able to do almost anything.

Prime 3 is a weird game, instead of one big planet there are many different ones, but with smaller areas to explore. Your mission is to clear each one in order making them almost like levels. There is also *shudder* voice acting *shudder* in this game, that should be enough said... but I have yet to finish this game so I'll have to save my final thoughts for later.

As for those Wii Controls they work great, I hated them when I played Prime 3 the first time, but I wasn't using them the right way. You've gotta set the sensitivity to Advanced and hold the Wii Remote against your lap that keeps it balanced so that you have great control and don't get tired. I thought because Prime 1 and Prime 2 relied on the lock on for hitting specific spots the free aim controls would not work but they make the game smoother to control. One of the best additions to Prime 1 and 2 is the spring ball jump by shaking the remote when in morph-ball mode. You can use this as long as you have bombs and it allows you to jump in morph-ball form without planting and waiting for a bomb, it makes the game much quicker and the battle with spiderball guardian in Prime 2 way easier.

Metroid Prime: Trilogy is worth every cent, for the price of one Wii game you get three games each lasting 10 or more hours, the first two games are even presented in wide-screen which is great, it is a compilation you should not miss if you have Wii.

Shadow Complex
It's been a few weeks since Shadow Complex arrived on the 360 and I really meant to talk about nearer its release date, but I fail at timing. It is a game that is clearly inspired by Metroid and the newer Castlevania games, but takes place in a story created by Orson Scott Card, I don't know much about the book Empire, but it is really inconsequential to the game. That is probably SC's biggest flaw, it really doesn't do much with its story which seems compelling, but since the gameplay goes into old school mode it just kind of forgets it. As for the gameplay, I found it too annoying on Normal, one mistake can leave you screwed for the next room, I just wanted to explore and find all 100% of the items, not deal with Metal Gear Solid type stealth. Casual is WAY too easy though, you'll never die, there are some instant kills, but normally you will not even come close. Really there isn't too much to say about the game, it's basically like any Metroid or Castlevania that you have played... except here you are climbing through caves and lots of 4 foot air ducts instead of alien planets or a possessed castle. It's well made and a great game, but don't let anyone fool you in to thinking that it trumps something like Super Metroid or Castlevaina: SotN with their hyperbole. It is one of the best games you can get for $15 though, so I do recommend it.

Batman: Arkham Asylum
I picked this game up last week, but I have only gotten in one single session thanks to Prime Trilogy, but my quick thoughts are as follows: it's a fun game, seems to capture the feel of Batman and plays a lot like Metroid. I'll play this more soon and I will have a lot more to say.

My Anticipated Games of 2009
With the big wave of new release hitting starting in September I figured I'd share the games that I am look most forward to in the next few months.

September 2009
The Beatles: Rock Band (09.09.2009) - I love Rock Band and while I can't claim to be some kind of Beatles super-fan, I enjoy their songs a lot. Plus, I think my Dad and myself can have some playing this one, at least he will know the songs.

NHL 10 / NHL 2K10 (09.15.2009) - The NHL games are my Madden, no matter how they turn out I always get both. Honestly, I don't want to get both, but ever since I played NHL 2K3 I have been more of a 2K fan, but EA has really stepped it up since 07, while 2K hockey has just become a mess of game. I'm hoping 2K10 will impress me more than 2K9 and I like the changes that EA has made to NHL 10, which I will probably play Be-A-Pro for another year.

October 2009
Alpha Protocol (10.06.2009) - I enjoyed Mass Effect in 2007, it was a great game but it has so many problems that I don't think it really holds up. Alpha Protocol I think will be a nice stop-gap while waiting for 2010's Mass Effect 2, even the skill point board looks EXACTLY like the one from Mass Effect 1. It's really is just Mass Effect with spies.

Borderlands (10.20.2009) - I love First Person Shooters, I love collecting loot (I even continued playing Too Human and Sacred 2 because of it), I love RPGs, put them all together and holy ****, you have a game that I am damn excited to play. Besides the prospect of millions of random guns just blows my mind. This is probably my most anticipated game right now, yes, even more so than Modern Warfare 2.

Forza Motorsport 3 (10.27.2009) - Back in 2007, I played the crap out of Forza 2, pretty much the entire month of June 2007 was devoted to playing Forza 2. Forza 3 is bigger and better and that is all I really need to enjoy it. I look forward to designing new liveries for my favorite cars and trying all the new tracks in the game.

November 2009
(Call of Duty) Modern Warfare 2 (11.10.2009) - It's Modern Warfare 2... that's all I need to say.

Closing Out
Wow, finally almost done, before I go, I should mention the announcement of Okami for the DS... all I can say is Capcom had better release this here. I think that about covers everything I wanted to say, I'm going to go play Batman or something, so I will talk to you soon, probably about The Beatles Rock Band or something. Later. Loading Complete!