05-23-2009, 07:12 PM
The essence of a Metroid game are of the following:
1) Isolation. To put it another way, Samus alone on a hostile world or area depending on the mission she's taken.
2) Freedom of exploration/non-linear gameplay.
3) Finding items to help Samus complete her missions. (Many items could be skipped to increase the challenge depending on the game.)
Metroid Prime 1 was awesome at accurately recreating the feel of the 2D games. You were free to explore anywhere you could reach with your Power Suit's current abilities gained from item collecting. Though I wish the Beam weapons could have stacked...
Metroid Prime 2 was decent, but it had a severe lack of exploration and too many corridors. Combine those facts with the Beam Ammo system and an increased focus on action, Prime 2 was more FPS than a FP adventure. I hated in some boss battles that I'd run out of ammo and be screwed. I also loathed having to backtrack because all the areas of Dark Aether are separated unlike Light Aether.
To get anywhere in Dark Aether you had find a portal back to Light Aether, trek long distances across Light Aether to find the right portal to use, and then go back to Dark Aether. Sure the took the sting kinda out of traveling somewhat, but this backtracking was still annoying. I grant Prime 2 one thing though. It's got challenge especially when you unlock Hard Mode, but that's the only good thing. Finally, I didn't mention anything about multiplayer since I'd be beating the dead horse about the multiplayer blowing.
Metroid Prime 3 tried to match the feeling of Prime 1, but there was a big dose of hand holding. Even if you turn off the Hint System, the game still told you what to do. Also you couldn't do much exploring during the game (though before tackling the last area in the game, you could go explore and look for items you want to grab -- that's the only time where you can freely explore without interruptions/limits). In the end, Prime 3 didn't match Prime 1 in greatness, but this was still a good game.
I wish you could have gotten to do more with your gunship in Prime 3...Like have an actual space battle...
1) Isolation. To put it another way, Samus alone on a hostile world or area depending on the mission she's taken.
2) Freedom of exploration/non-linear gameplay.
3) Finding items to help Samus complete her missions. (Many items could be skipped to increase the challenge depending on the game.)
Metroid Prime 1 was awesome at accurately recreating the feel of the 2D games. You were free to explore anywhere you could reach with your Power Suit's current abilities gained from item collecting. Though I wish the Beam weapons could have stacked...
Metroid Prime 2 was decent, but it had a severe lack of exploration and too many corridors. Combine those facts with the Beam Ammo system and an increased focus on action, Prime 2 was more FPS than a FP adventure. I hated in some boss battles that I'd run out of ammo and be screwed. I also loathed having to backtrack because all the areas of Dark Aether are separated unlike Light Aether.
![[+]](images/collapse_collapsed.png "[+]")
SpoilerTo get anywhere in Dark Aether you had find a portal back to Light Aether, trek long distances across Light Aether to find the right portal to use, and then go back to Dark Aether. Sure the took the sting kinda out of traveling somewhat, but this backtracking was still annoying. I grant Prime 2 one thing though. It's got challenge especially when you unlock Hard Mode, but that's the only good thing. Finally, I didn't mention anything about multiplayer since I'd be beating the dead horse about the multiplayer blowing.
Metroid Prime 3 tried to match the feeling of Prime 1, but there was a big dose of hand holding. Even if you turn off the Hint System, the game still told you what to do. Also you couldn't do much exploring during the game (though before tackling the last area in the game, you could go explore and look for items you want to grab -- that's the only time where you can freely explore without interruptions/limits). In the end, Prime 3 didn't match Prime 1 in greatness, but this was still a good game.
I wish you could have gotten to do more with your gunship in Prime 3...Like have an actual space battle...