Metroid Prime greatly succeeds in bringing the series in 3D by making one of the most atmospheric games ever created.
The game puts you in the shoes of an inter-galactic bounty hunter called Samus Aran as she chases the space pirates from a world called Zebes. Her chase leads to a trashed space station above a world called Tallon IV where some really odd experiments have been made by the space pirates on the native life forms of Tallon IV. When you begin the game it is unsure what the story really is since the game starts in the space station and once that is done with you land above the surface of Tallon IV and are left to explore the world by yourself. Once you progress further into the game you'll find more about the story in the form of murals that you'll scan using your scan visor and this is actually an interesting concept since it forces you to read a little if you want to get the full story on what exactly is going on in Tallon IV, and without spoiling anything lets just say that there is more than just the twisted experiments the space pirates are conducting on the native life forms of Tallon IV.
The graphics in Metroid Prime are some of the best graphics in any game for the Gamecube. There is a high level of detail and texture to everything in this game and a wide variety of landscapes that you can go to and explore. These landscapes range from lava caverns that are located underground, to icy tundra’s on the surface and other locations such as rain forests and even ruin like structures that were left by a previous civilization that inhabited Tallon IV. The graphics are what make these landscapes feel like real living breathing places rather than just imaginary virtual landscapes and there is never any loading times between these landscapes, which means you will never waste time traveling from one landscape to the other. The designers at Retro Studios also put a lot of thought in giving the world of Tallon IV its own identity by not only creating beautiful landscapes, but also creating a vast variety of wild life that make Tallon IV feel like a real world. Besides the space pirates, your other enemies will be most of the native creatures that inhabit the world of Tallon IV. About 10% of the creatures that you'll encounter will not threaten you in any way and some can actually be helpful to Samus as she can use them to get from one place to another. The other 90% of the creatures (including some boss battles) are either hostile or have to be eliminated on order for Samus to proceed. Each one of these creatures has its own unique ability and can be eliminated more effectively with the different kinds of beams Samus gets for her weapon.
In Metroid Prime Samus gets four Different kinds of beams for her weapon. The Power beam is her default weapon which shoots continuous rounds of super heated energy and is the beam you start out with when you begin your game. The Wave beam has a slower rate of fire than the Power beam, but it shoots three waves of high electrical energy with every shoot and is used to take down certain enemies that can only be defeated with the wave beam. The Ice beam has the slowest rate of fire out of the four beams, but it can freeze your enemies solid and while their frozen you can use a missile to break your enemies into little pieces of ice. The Plasma beam is the most powerful beam in Samus's arsenal; it shoots a stream of molten energy and is most effective against the ice-based creatures you'll find in the tundra like landscapes. All four of the beams can also be charged up to greatly increase the damage they inflict on your enemy once you find the Charge beam upgrade.
Metroid Prime looks and feels like a FPS but it doesn’t really play like one since the controls are a bit different from that of a regular FPS. One thing that doesn’t make Metroid prime a full FPS if that you can't look up and down with just pressing up and down on the analog stick, instead you have to steady yourself and put Samus's left hand over her beam weapon in order her to slowly look up and down. However, this is barely a flaw since Samus can actually achieve a look on her enemy and she will keep that lock until she takes out her enemy.
Samus also gets four different visors that help her out on her adventure. The Combat visor is her default visor that is used for battles and provides a full view of where you are. The Scan visor is used to scan the various objects that you'll find in your environments, the different kinds of creatures you'll find in Tallon IV, and even computer terminals that belong to the space pirates that invaded Tallon IV. The Thermal visor is used to track enemies using their heat signatures when you’re fighting them in dark areas, and to find hidden upgrades. The X-ray visor is used to track down invisible enemies and it is also used to see invisible objects.
With all these things and other hidden secrets that Metroid Prime has to offer it doesn’t comes as a surprise that the series first full 3D game is one of the greatest games that the Gamecube has to offer. If you’re a fan of the series you absolutely must get this get, if you are an action-adventure fan in general you'll find a lot to like in this game.