Metroid Prime 2: Echoes delivers strong gameplay, graphics and sound, making it a must-have for any Gamecube owner.
As in it's predecessor, the storyline doesn't involve Samus Aran at the beginning, instead introduces her as the saviour who must triumph over the evil enslaving the planet. It begins on the planet Aether where the peaceful race of Luminoth lives in harmony with the species originally inhabiting the planet. What is spiritual about planet Aether is what is known as the Light of Aether, which, in some sense is what gives power to all life forms. Of course this is short-lived as a meteor collides with this once beautiful land and spreads an evil presence known as the Ing.
The impact of the Aether opened up a dimension between this planet and a dark planet which is given the name, Dark Aether. It is the exact replica of planet Aether except it is filled with the darkness that Aether does not have. The battle for the planet begins, both the Ing and Luminoth raged war for supremacy, the light against darkness. The victor soon would be in the Ing's hands as their darkness overcame the light and the Luminoth drew to extinction.
In the far edges of space, a Federation ship chasing down space pirates continue their pursuit on planet Aether unaware of the danger of the Ing. Shortly after landing, the Ing began an assault on the troops and quickly disposed of them leaving the Federation in fear. Their only hope was to call upon the valiant hero Samus to find out what has happened.
As Samus, you must travel the land of both dimensions of Aether to find the culprits of the troop’s demise. As you begin your journey, it will become Samus's mission to save the Light of Aether rather than finding out what happened to the troops, though in a way, it's still apart of her mission as you find out information during the course of her journey.
The general gameplay of Echoes is the same as Prime which will benefit the players of Prime as there is no need to learn the functions of the controls. As for newbie’s to the game, it is quite simple to learn as it begins with a tutorial and the manual also provides the control scheme. What will be most different about this game are the available upgrades that can be obtained.
These upgrades play the same role as it did in Prime, which is to enhance Samus's capabilities and arsenal firepower. Samus is able to upgrade her weaponry, visor, missile capacity, energy tanks and suit enhancements. Even her morph ball upgrades are the same or similar to that of Prime, which makes Echoes, seem as if it hasn't evolved when compared. However, it's the slight changes that allow the differences to be seen and appreciated. Being that the world is split into two; Samus must adapt her suit the Dark Aether to survive the harsh environment.
Upgrades such as the Dark Suit allow Samus to adapt to the Dark Aether, which allows her to survive in the atmosphere. Upgrades for her arsenal also adapt to the worlds. The Dark beam deals more damage in the Aether world but in the Dark Aether world, it does little damage and that's where the Light beam steps in. As intended, it conquers the dark enemies and has little effect on those in the light. Then there is the Annihilator beam, which you would guess is a combined force of the Dark and Light beam. It is able to home in on enemies without targeting. These prove efficient and powerful weapons; however there is a major downside. Just like Samus's missile attacks, there is a limit to her upgraded weaponry. There are expansions, but you'll always feel as if you're running short. It's even worse when you use the Annihilator beam as it uses both dark and light ammo and if one has depleted then it becomes useless.
And just like Metroid, you can combine your primary weapon with your missiles to create an even stronger attack. These moves look spectacular but are costly. They take up either 30 dark or light (or both) ammo and 5 missiles which if you aren't in high stock of these, then they are barely used which is a shame because they can do incredible damage.
The visor upgrades play similar roles as they did in their predecessor who allows Samus to see things and give her an advantage over some enemies which the visor is needed to see them. There is the scan, dark and echo visor which do as they suggest. Her scan visor is her standard combat visor, used to scan particular areas, the dark visor, used mainly in the Dark Aether world to see dark objects and enemies and the echo visor uses sound waves to see invisible objects and switches that can only become activated using sound waves.
The morph ball upgrades are the same which means that the only new edition to the Prime series is the Screw Attack. It works exceptionally well and is also useful when traveling large gaps and destroying airborne enemies but it comes late in the game providing limited use for it.
Enemies are not as tough as they were but only because of the specific weapons suited to enemies which eliminates them more easily. They still look spectacular and only some prove to be a handful. Bosses also aren't what you think as just like minor enemies, they are disposed of due to specific weapon selection.
One difference that many gamers won't notice is that Echoes is a multiplayer game. It won't interest that many gamers and probably should be left alone as it's the single player mode you'll be interested in. But hey, if you want to prove you're the Samus master against you're friends then this would be it (provided that you don't have Super Smash Bros. Melee which is unlikely).
The game wouldn't receive as much praise however if it didn't look as good as it does. It's definitely a stand out point from its predecessor and further shows the strength of Gamecube technology. And it's obvious to everyone that the Gamecube technology does not stand strong against its competitors, it definitely takes what it has to make this game look even better than Prime.
As for the sound effects, it all fits in well with the game. Boss fights and dramatic scenes change to suit them at the most appropriate times and all weaponry effects also work well. Although at times, there no background music to fill in the silence and all you can hear is Samus's footsteps which shows how precise the sounds are but it would be better if there was some type of music to cover that.
Overall, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes is a definite must-have for any fan or Gamecube owner for its strong graphics, gameplay and sounds. However, the game just looks too similar when compared to Metroid Prime which, in a way is understandable, as it's one of the greatest games on the Gamecube of any console and as the saying goes "Why fix it when it's not broken?”