Metroid Prime Welcome to the third dimension...
Metroid Prime begins with Femme Fatale bounty hunter Samus Aran investigating a distress signal sent out by a frigate in orbit over the uninhabited planet Tallon IV. Of course, after exploring the craft, it is revealed that it belongs to Samus' arch enemies, the Space pirates. The craft is in shambles--a mess of death and destruction patrolled by macabre creatures mutated by Space Pirate experimentation. After fighting one of these huge monstrocities, Samus flees the self-destructing ship through the ventilation shafts. Just as she is about to escape, a blast short-circuits her metal power suit and she loses many of her special abilities. She eventually gets out and pursues Ridley, the Space Pirate commander, planetside. Metroid Prime chronicles her adventures on Tallon IV.
The plot may seem simple--samus once again fights the space pirates--but it is much deeper than that. The entitre story is told through "scans". Samus' multifunctional visor has a scan function wherein she analyzes machinery--creatures--and objects to find out weaknesses and information. The story is told through Samus adding these scans--which explain what is going on--to her logbook. It is simple--but effective, and let me tell you, you don't want to miss the story here.
The game looks like cake. Steam condenses on Samus' faceplate, enemy "blood" is splattered onto the ground...I remember just stopping my gameplay to just watch the rain fall in the tropical Tallon Overworld. It looks that good. There are points in the game where you feel the power of the gamecube wanning. Doors tend to "stick" when opened because the environment of the next room needs time to load. However, this is a hardware issue, so the game will not be docked points.
The game really keeps Metroid's traditional nonlinear, adventurous, platform-jumping gameplay intact. Of course there are combat portions in the game--it wouldn't be Metroid without--but players really do get the feeling that they are there to explore, not to conquer. Despite this, players always feel it that the final outcome of this game must be a duel with Metroid Prime itself.
The controls are okay. Really the only weak point in the game are the controls. There is no true strafe in the game. Since the D-pad selects Samus' visor and the c-stick selects which weapon samus chooses, there is no way to strafe efficiently. Players must hold "R" to aim and then use the directional stick to move. This is awekward, but the game makes up for it by having a lock-on button. In battle, players use "L" to lock-on to enemies and may circle strafe-around them with the control stick. In the end, it is a minor problem that seems to fix.
HeadshotJackal's Rating:
I gave this game 9/10. I rarely give out scores like this, but this really is Metroid at it's "Prime."