Metroid Prime 2 is the best Metoid game I've ever played next to AM2R
Metroid Prime 2 Echoes is my favorite of the Prime Trilogy, I've been playing this game for 13 years, I still love playing it, and I'm not afraid of showing it either. Metroid Prime 2 is the first Prime game I ever played, and is probably the most difficult of the series, and with good reason too. The inclusion of a Beam Ammo system was designed and based off of the existing Luminoth weapon systems, which meant the integration gimmick would be an Ammo-based Beam Cannon upgrade to make players learn to conserve their ammo and use it more wisely in a dangerous situation, and the Dark World to help players learn through trial, error, and consistency to explore and traverse the ever looming and corrosive atmosphere of Dark Aether, both inclusions added a much more gloomy, sinister experience, how all of Samus's situations are... Near suicidal missions on abandoned installations or planets. Speaking of which, the once thriving homelands of the Luminoth now left desolate and twisted is the most expansive look at how Aether has nearly been destroyed by its Dark brethren. Each area is supposed to be depressing and bland, like the vast Agon Plains scorched by the Leviathon turning it into nothing more than a desert, the industrialized Torvus Forest reverted into a damp wetland bog, and a Holy Fortress once revered by the Luminoth for its technilogical advancements turned into a technological nightmare. You really start to feel for the beings of the Aether and how their war with the Ing turned into a one sided massacre. A common misconception of the game is that the game was made using assets from Metroid Prime, which in my eyes was actually a breath of fresh air, whether you come into this game as a new player, or a veteran of the first Metroid Prime, the controls are simple and easily adaptable. I found the world building, lack of hand holding, and backtracking similar to the first Prime game, and is perfectly integrated to the series nature, not telling me where to go every two seconds like Red Faction: Armageddon and LoZ: Skyward Sword. If you need a FAQ to play Metroid Prime 2, then I'd advise you to play Super Metroid and the Original Metroid for a better understanding of annoying backtracking, and lack of handholding, and then return to this title.
