The first of the trilogy, Metroid Prime introduced fans and GameCube (and later Wii) players to the Metroid universe from behind Samus’ visor. It shifted the traditionally 2D platformer into an alluring fusion of first-person shooter, adventure and exploration while still remaining true to its roots. Players follow our heroine like never before as she faces off against both familiar and completely new threats and enemies, in the first of her adventures in this award-winning series.
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Retro Studios developed Metroid Prime alongside Nintendo after a visit from Shigeru Miyamoto, in which he recommended they work on Metroid. He considered them a good fit for the series after having been impressed at the first-person engine they’d created for one of three games in development at the time, which were cancelled or terminated over the course of that year to focus exclusively on Metroid Prime. In fact, Miyamoto was the strongest voice in favour of the first-person look, being a big fan of the perspective, even mentioning he would’ve loved to see The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time as a first-person title. The last nine months of development for the title were intense, with Retro employees working hundred-hour weeks just to meet the strict deadline Nintendo set for them.
The effort paid off and Metroid Prime released to critical acclaim, and since then it has became one of the must-play games of both the series and its generation. I own the title on both the GameCube and Wii but for the purpose of this review, I decided to go with the Metroid Prime Trilogy version; it allows me to play all three of the games so I can review them. I played and replayed Metroid Prime over and over again, on different difficulty settings, always aiming for (and getting) 100% completion rates and I’m still not tired of it.
The title, like many other Metroid games, opens with Samus responding to a distress signal; only this time from the Space Pirates, her archenemies. Their frigate Orpheus has been overrun by their escaped scientific experiments, which promptly decided to maim, kill and devour their jailors and torturers. This stage serves as the game’s tutorial, introducing you to many of the skills you’ll need later on for both combat and exploration. You’ll learn to shoot, charge, morph into a ball and bomb things and even fire missiles before a cutscene at the end of the stage, during your escape from the frigate as it falls into Tallon IV’s atmosphere. An explosion sends Samus flying against a wall, the impact shocking the Power Suit’s systems and disabling all her gear, effectively resetting the heavily-armed heroine to her most basic form and effectively taking everything away from you.
Boarding her ship, Samus makes her way down to the planet’s surface to continue her investigation into Space Pirate activity. Then the real game starts and takes you into different regions on the planet, such as magma-filled caverns, the lush surface, icy regions and even ruins left by the Chozo who previously inhabited the world. As you’d expect from Metroid, you’ll find upgrades littered around the place; you will need to backtrack a lot and explore every little burrow or fake column to find doors to new areas and Missile, Energy and Power Bomb expansions.
Guess who’s back, back again!
It’s strange to talk about Metroid Prime’s story considering the holes in it, or the non-explained elements, are part of a trilogy and the sequels expand and explore them. But on just a plot level the game has an excellent story, successfully doing what the first entry in a trilogy is supposed to do – set things up – and it does it wonderfully, presenting the major elements that we’ll continue to see in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. Storytelling though is very simplistic and while there are cutscenes in the title, none of them will give you plot; instead you have to go and find it in the many logs you’ll read through using the Scan Visor (more on that later). Those who have played Dark Souls will recognise this style of leaving it up to the player to find out more about the world if they want to. The result will depend on each player, some might like it (me) or some might not!
In terms of controls, the Wii version ones are similar to the GameCube in that they’re tight, very precise and possibly the best first-person experience on the two consoles, even considering the Wii version does not use Wii Motion Plus technology. In fact, the Wii controls feel much better than the original GameCube ones, more fluid.
Space Pirates aren’t Zebesians this time around, but they are badasses.
While most gameplay elements in Metroid Prime are classic, such as missiles and bombs and charge beams and ice beams and every other beam or upgrade, the simple fact of changing the perspective means you have to relearn how to use them and in doing so they become completely new and fresh. Nothing drives this point home more than missiles, normal and super; those in Super Metroid were for you to spam until you ran out, but on Prime there’s a small cooldown period between missiles and it’s something you need to account for when surrounded by enemies. This makes the timing of each very important, adding new depth to an otherwise simple mechanic. Super missiles are completely different from anything that had been done in Metroid before, now becoming the first beam-and-missile combo you find, there being one for each beam and both handling differently. They need a charged beam and five missiles to execute and the result is a devastating blast that will kill most normal enemies. In addition to how they work as weapons each type of explosive at your disposal, missiles or bombs, also has specific materials or alloys they can destroy, such as cordite for super missiles and sandstone for bombs.
Beams are now different to each other instead of combining together as they previously did, and each has different properties and uses and effects on creatures and the environment. This adds another level or layer to both combat and exploration, as even in a given situation where all beams work, one of them will be the right tool.
Scanning gives you all the information you need.
Aside from weapons, Prime sees the return of the Spider Ball, not seen since Metroid II and used to run on magnetic rails and climb along walls. In addition, the game introduces a new Morph Ball upgrade – the Boost Ball – which basically lets you dash while in Morph Ball.
Then of course you have the Visors, with the Scan Visor being the most important one since it drives how you experience the plot, the world, exploration, combat and puzzles (this is an action-adventure so yes, there are puzzles). Scanning an object, creature or even terminal and plant life will add its entry to your logbook, and through it you’ll get backstory, plot points, boss and enemy weaknesses as well as hints on how to use certain things.
Switching to third-person, because nobody wants motion sickness.
If there is one downside to the game is that you will never move at the pace you’ve come to expect from a Metroid title if you come to it from the 2D ones, as Samus doesn’t run as fast as she did in those titles. She instead remaining in a constant walking or jogging speed, which can put off certain players expecting her to dash through the environment. The Boost Ball helps on long stretches of land, though, and half-piping with it is priceless.
Metroid titles are usually brutal in terms of difficulty but rarely from common enemies, such as the indigenous life forms on a planet. Instead, the real danger and challenge comes from the bosses and in Metroid Prime this remains true, with them being the highlight of the combat side of this first-person adventure. Bosses are imposing, larger than life, highly aggressive and dangerous and if you’re not careful, they will kill you.
Bright flashes show you Samus’ face, yet another little detail.
Visually the game is beautiful with crisp animations, fantastic lighting and particles and of course, the little touches and details bringing the world to life and firmly set you behind the visor. Take a look at the raindrops on the visor, steam fogging it, or water streaming down it when you surface from a pool. Being a first party title, the title is perfectly optimized for its consoles and, in both versions, there is never even the slightest drop in frame rate.
The mark of good music in video games is having it stay with you even after you play the game, fading into the background but never forgotten, until you whistle the tune along with the game itself without consciously doing so. Metroid Prime’s soundtrack falls perfectly in this category; but it’s not just music. The sound design is perfect, and its perfection comes again from the little details, such as footsteps, unique animal shrieks and cries and even satisfying explosions.
Bosses are ginormous!
Metroid Prime deserves all its accolades and it’s a must-play game in the series for its fantastic execution of familiar Metroid elements in a new point of view. Not only that but the three difficulty levels (Wii version, two on GameCube), the log completion and finding all the upgrades will keep you coming back over and over, and each experience will be just as good as the previous one.
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