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If anything distinguished the GameCube’s launch in May 2002 from those of its next generation competitors, it was how thoroughly unremarkable the event was. In fact it was so unremarkable, I completely failed to notice how unremarkable it was until a later time, by which point the whole thing was almost completely forgotten. Which is quite remarkable, if you think about it.
Traditionally games consoles are released with a ‘must-buy’ flagship title – one which shows off the power of the console and gets the format established in hearts, minds and beneath televisions around the country. The Xbox had just such a title in Halo, and while the PlayStation 2 didn’t have one, Sony’s pockets were still full of the public’s love for the machine’s predecessor. And Metal Gear Solid 2 was just around the corner… The GameCube didn’t have a ‘killer app’ at launch. It had some good, solid games (Super Monkey Ball and arguably Luigi’s Mansion for example), but nothing with a quick AAA selling point that would appeal to the mass market and established gamers alike. Now after a healthy overdose of hype and what seemed like years of waiting, Metroid Prime is with us. But was it worth the wait? Probably. Metroid Prime is a high quality product. It is the fifth title in the Metroid series, which is perhaps Nintendo’s most ‘adult’ first-party franchise. In the games you play as Samus, the female bounty hunter with the big heart. And for ‘heart’ read ‘selection of guns’. Samus has access to a range of weapons and powerups that would make Bruce Wayne green with envy. Admittedly this would barely be noticeable because of Bruce’s famous green complexion, tainted so by his favourite pastime (rolling in a large pile of dollar bills). However Bruce is not alone in his colour-changing antics, as throughout the game Samus upgrades her suit, each time altering its colour scheme to something even more pleasing to the eye than the last. The suit’s pretty colours aside, Metroid Prime’s presentation is fantastic. From the title screen/menu interface reminiscent of Fight Club’s opening titles, to the first-person perspective from within Samus’ helmet, the general attention to detail makes exploring the world of Tallon IV (where the game is set) a very satisfying experience. What first struck me about Metroid Prime’s graphics was that there were few straight walls or square corridors: until recently it had not been technically possible to create 3D worlds with intricately rendered in-game scenery at the same time as keeping the rest of the game running smoothly. However that has begun to change – one of Quake 3: Arena’s main promotional points during development was that it could render realistic curves and other more naturalistic architecture within the game’s environment, while still allowing purile ‘hardcore’ gamers using ISDN connections to bounce infuriatingly up and down and shoot you in the face with the Railgun, long before your ancient computer had even had time to finish loading the level into its puny 32MB graphics card. Halo too achieved stunning outdoor scenery – but still, like many other first-person shooters, it often relied on simple shapes covered with rock-coloured textures (even if those textures are highly detailed) to keep the framerate up. And as for games like Mario Sunshine… well, the Mario series has never really been about creating realistic environmental architecture. Metroid’s world is a very different sort of place: it is full of ancient ruins, be they of a derelict space station or poking out of an icy tundra. It takes the player deep underground, first through lava-filled caves hollowed out in the rock, and later into the enemy’s home base, where they mine for the highly radioactive substance ‘Phazon’. Throughout, the scenery is fantastic – collapsed buildings have long been abandoned in the Chozo Ruins, where the planet’s highly diverse (in that they can kill you in many different ways) wildlife have reclaimed the land as theirs, while the snow of the Phendrana drifts beautifully reflect the various coloured lights given off by Samsus’ suit in ‘morph ball’ form. The gameworld is pleasingly consistent, and very well thought out (mind you, they had long enough to do it). For example, each new area is accessed via a lift, most of which connect to the main Tallon Overworld, where Samus first lands her ship. As you make your way toward the underground Magmoor caverns, vegetation reduces and rock predominates. Once you are directly above them, sulphur-covered vents in the floor let out plooms of gas, while an enclosed area is ventilated by large fans built into the rock (many of which can later be found in the Magmoor Caverns themselves). I think I’ve made my point. Exploring the expertly constructed gameworld was the most fun aspect for me – which is a good thing, because it’s a big world, and the player may well spend a lot of time backtracking through it, even if they haven’t deactivated the automatic hint system. While I mentioned first-person shooters earlier, and Metroid Prime certainly involves plenty of shooting from a first-person perspective, it would be a mistake to label it as such. There’s a lot more variety to it from your ‘standard’ FPS, although I would be foolish not to acknowledge how much the genre has progressed in terms of interesting dynamics since the ‘find the red key’ days of the Doom clones. But Metroid Prime isn’t REALLY about solving puzzles either, at least not in the Resident Evil sense. You certainly have to keep your wits about you if you want to find all of the hidden Missile, Bomb and Power Cell (life) expansions in the game, not to mention certain other powerups, but it isn’t Myst. Thankfully. As far as the game’s structure is concerned, it faithfully keeps to the format of previous Metroid titles, which is definitely a good thing (see my review of Metroid Fusion on the Game Boy Advance for more details). However, the most noticeable difference in this is the way in which secrets are hidden and discovered. I understand that the change is probably the most sensible choice to make when transforming the format into 3D, but it’s still a shame: in the 2D Metroid games, whole sections of the map would be hidden from view and accessible only by destroying the scenery. While plenty of wall-bombing and secret-finding occurs throughout Prime, it is never to the same extent as in previous titles. Metroid Prime is less linear than previous titles in the series, potentially possible to finish without collecting every item or visiting every secret area, but not exploring its every humming wall (a low humming denotes the presence of a powerup in the vicinity) would be a mistake if you want to get your money’s worth. It took me over 20 hours to reach and defeat the final boss, and a few more to find all of the items. The length of the title has been very well judged, in my opinion. The hidden powerups have not been overdone (no searching for hundreds of packages, dogtags or blue coins here), each one presenting a puzzle or new area to explore, and the backtracking required does not continue to the point of frustration. I’ve a lot more reasons to recommend Metroid Prime – the joy of the third-person, 2D-esque ‘Morph Ball’ sections, the surprisingly subtle way in which the visor responds to the environment (I was expecting to be constantly bombarded by literally in-my-face graphical effects, but instead it happened only enough to make me think “neato!” at appropriate points), and the soundtrack, to name but a few. Ah yes, the soundtrack. I will close by describing two negative aspects of Metroid Prime. One is the ending sequence– even when you have found 100% of the items, it’s pretty under whelming. The second is the soundtrack to certain parts of the Magmoor Caverns area. While throughout the rest of the game the music is subtle, atmospheric and very well balanced, the music in these parts can only be described as ‘incessant’. It was fine until someone observing me play pointed out that the music reminded them of the tune to “When, will I, will I be famous?”. From that moment on, I had to lower the music volume. It was a very short but prominent musical phrase, which does not lend itself well to scoring a game where it can potentially be heard repeating on a loop for a long, long time. Nevertheless, Metroid Prime is not a title to be missed. At last, the GameCube has a blockbuster title to be proud of which will also appeal to a wider audience (shooting things is a concept even FHM readers can understand), and its US-based developer Retro Studios, a second-party studio, have established themselves in the hearts of Nintendo zealots worldwide. Collective Metroid Fusion Review: A927029 Metroid Prime UK website: http://metroidprime.nintendo-europe.com...
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