Twitch
29-03-2006, 03:27 AM
In this the first Metroid game since Super Metroid, for the first time go behind the visor and become Samus Aran (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samus_Aran) in what Nintendo has called an FPA or First Person Adventure due to the exploration that takes place in the game.
Prime takes place in between the original two Metroid games Metroid(NES) and Metriod 2: The Return of Samus(Gameboy). The story is this upon travelling through a system hunting the Space Pirates Samus picks up on a distress call from a craft orbiting the planet Tallon IV, and so Samus goes on to investigate. Upon arrival she finds that it is a Space Pirate craft and promptly boards it to find out what is occurring aboard the ship and in the hope of eradicating the Pirates and the Metroids, all she finds however is destruction throughout the craft as well as many creatures that have been horribly mutated through the use of a substance the Pirates call Phazon that they found upon Tallon IV. The Phazon was brought by a meteor which crashed into the planet eons ago and wiped out most of the planets inhabitants which were the Chozo.
Once you've worked you way through the craft you'll be warned it's going to crash and you have to get out however during your escape you'll get caught in an explosion and lose all of your extra abilities and go back to the stock power suit with a power beam, and it is now that the adventure begins.
G R A P H I C S
The graphics are quite impressive considering that this was Texas based Retro Studios' first game and that this is the very first Metroid game to be 3D. The landscapes are quite realistic and the features within them are impressive whether it be the rock structures, trees or water.
The enemies are where this game truly shines from a graphical perspective with each one being well thought out and crafted especially the bosses such as the Omega Pirate.
So it's not your stock Metroid game by any standard but the better graphics do in the case when combined with the first person view make the game an excellent experience.
S O U N D & M U S I C
Once again as with all of the Metroid games of late much of the soundtrack is just a rehash of the original tracks, a prime example is the opening theme when you step off you ship on the surface of Tallon IV the music being played is a rehash of the Brinstar theme from one of the older games.
The enemy attack cries are in some cases quite fearsome such as Ridley's cry when he is about to fire missiles at you but others are quite pathetic but it does make the game complete along with hearing Samus's breathing increase as you get weaker and her scream when you die.
C O N T R O L S / P L A Y A B I L I T Y
This game is huge not as big as it's sequel but it is still quite large with a lot that has to be done in order to regain the use of Samus's lost abilities, and achieve a full completion of the game.
The main part of this game that adds to the playability is the hard mode which can be chosen once you have finished the game once, this mode isn't just slightly hard it's incredibly hard I've only been able to get half way through it so far and most of that's just shear dumb luck.
On the control front, the game is excellent you use the analogue stick to control movement, DPAD to select visors, c-stick to choose the weapon, A to jump and B to fire and the rest of the controls are pretty easy to pick up on, so it's not a hard control system to use.
C O N C L U S I O N
Prime is one the best games on the cube and with it now being part of the players choice group it's fairly cheap so if you have a cube I'd suggest you buy it and play it because it is a joy to play.
So best of luck to anyone who buy's it and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
-Twitch
Prime takes place in between the original two Metroid games Metroid(NES) and Metriod 2: The Return of Samus(Gameboy). The story is this upon travelling through a system hunting the Space Pirates Samus picks up on a distress call from a craft orbiting the planet Tallon IV, and so Samus goes on to investigate. Upon arrival she finds that it is a Space Pirate craft and promptly boards it to find out what is occurring aboard the ship and in the hope of eradicating the Pirates and the Metroids, all she finds however is destruction throughout the craft as well as many creatures that have been horribly mutated through the use of a substance the Pirates call Phazon that they found upon Tallon IV. The Phazon was brought by a meteor which crashed into the planet eons ago and wiped out most of the planets inhabitants which were the Chozo.
Once you've worked you way through the craft you'll be warned it's going to crash and you have to get out however during your escape you'll get caught in an explosion and lose all of your extra abilities and go back to the stock power suit with a power beam, and it is now that the adventure begins.
G R A P H I C S
The graphics are quite impressive considering that this was Texas based Retro Studios' first game and that this is the very first Metroid game to be 3D. The landscapes are quite realistic and the features within them are impressive whether it be the rock structures, trees or water.
The enemies are where this game truly shines from a graphical perspective with each one being well thought out and crafted especially the bosses such as the Omega Pirate.
So it's not your stock Metroid game by any standard but the better graphics do in the case when combined with the first person view make the game an excellent experience.
S O U N D & M U S I C
Once again as with all of the Metroid games of late much of the soundtrack is just a rehash of the original tracks, a prime example is the opening theme when you step off you ship on the surface of Tallon IV the music being played is a rehash of the Brinstar theme from one of the older games.
The enemy attack cries are in some cases quite fearsome such as Ridley's cry when he is about to fire missiles at you but others are quite pathetic but it does make the game complete along with hearing Samus's breathing increase as you get weaker and her scream when you die.
C O N T R O L S / P L A Y A B I L I T Y
This game is huge not as big as it's sequel but it is still quite large with a lot that has to be done in order to regain the use of Samus's lost abilities, and achieve a full completion of the game.
The main part of this game that adds to the playability is the hard mode which can be chosen once you have finished the game once, this mode isn't just slightly hard it's incredibly hard I've only been able to get half way through it so far and most of that's just shear dumb luck.
On the control front, the game is excellent you use the analogue stick to control movement, DPAD to select visors, c-stick to choose the weapon, A to jump and B to fire and the rest of the controls are pretty easy to pick up on, so it's not a hard control system to use.
C O N C L U S I O N
Prime is one the best games on the cube and with it now being part of the players choice group it's fairly cheap so if you have a cube I'd suggest you buy it and play it because it is a joy to play.
So best of luck to anyone who buy's it and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
-Twitch