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Author Topic: Metroid Prime Trilogy in Retrospect  (Read 2749 times)

Turtlekid1

  • Tortuga
« on: January 28, 2010, 01:39:54 PM »
Pun fully intended. 

As I'm sure everyone who frequents #tmk or the ANGST thread is aware, I've been playing through Metroid Prime Trilogy lately.  Now, I figured I'd post a long-winded review based on my experiences with the three Prime games, because I like to annoy people using text-tumors and no chemotherapy in the form of tl;drs - that's just how I roll.

The format for each of the titles will follow a structure of --> overview --> stuff I didn't like --> stuff I liked.  Doubtless, I've posted a lot of this stuff before in the aforementioned locations, so it may or may not be new, depending on whether anyone reading this payed attention then/remembers now.

Regarding the series as a whole:
I wasn't playing Metroid Prime for ten minutes before I was completely engrossed.  The transition to 3D was very smooth; the graphics were gorgeous, the physics and movement mechanics (with some slight exceptions; I'll get to those later) were flawless, and the feeling of immersion was pretty much unrivaled at the time, and perhaps still is.  Those same impressions stayed with me from the Frigate Orpheon all the way to the depths of Phaaze.  The gameplay is a mixture of old concepts and new execution, and borrows mechanics and elements from all the 2D Metroid titles (I particularly liked the Spider Ball's inclusion; it just hasn't seen enough action outside the Prime games).

Stuff I didn't like about the series:
-All three games had the annoying mentality of "Scan anything that moves; scan everything that doesn't move; and scan it right now, because you may only get one chance!"  By far, the most frustrating element in all three titles was the prospect of missing a one-time (or "limited-edition") scan constantly looming over me.  Thankfully, I got pretty lucky, and only missed a total of three scans out of the entire trilogy (and they were all in Prime 3).  Now, the scan mechanic in and of itself was a pretty good idea, but the tendency to include limited-opportunity scans was not.  The least they could have done was have a Paper Mario 2-esque system giving the player the ability to recover boss/one time-only scans if he missed them.  And I know there's a New Game Plus mechanic, but I'd rather not have to play through the whole game again just to pick up a few enemy bios. 
-Moving on: the map system got pretty confusing when you were in an area with multiple levels (Phazon Mines in Prime 1 and Sanctuary in Prime 2 are the worst offenders).  That's really more of a technical shortcoming than a deliberate design choice, but it did sort of bug me.  Thankfully, you can move the map around and avoid the worst of the confusion, so it wasn't a huge deal.
-The amount of backtracking one had to do for expansions.  Prime 1 mostly avoided this problem by including alternate paths for every visit to an area, but the latter two got a little lazier with it.

Stuff I liked about the series:
-The worlds were well-designed and graphically impressive.  The puzzles were clever, and the expansions well-hidden (sometimes frustratingly well-hidden).
-Samus and her arsenal of futuristic weapons were in rare form.  I found myself firing off Beams, Missiles, and Power Bombs periodically to admire the effects.  Speaking of the Beams, they went back to the original Metroid's and Metroid 2's system of only allowing one beam to be equipped at a time.  At first, this seems like a bad idea (stacking the different beams certainly makes for better gameplay in the 2D Metroid games), but it allows for a lot of added depth to the combat system (unfortunately, Prime 3 dropped this mechanic).  All the power ups, though, got their respective times to shine, and all are a blast to use (sometimes in a literal sense).
-The controls are good and easy to learn, allowing the player to get into the action right away.  This goes double for the Wii version; the free aiming system was quite effective and felt very natural.
-Going back to the combat system, every fire-fight had creative enemies and strategies.  From the classic "Freeze the Metroid then shatter it with missiles" approach to the Grapple Lasso in Prime 3, the combat was well-implemented, but never confusing, and often gave the player more than one way to emerge the victor.
-The areas were just... fun to explore.  The sense of exploration is in its Prime here (again, pun intended).
-Each of the games had great music, with at least one from each title standing out (there were also throwbacks to previous Metroid tunes; because everybody loves the classics).

Regarding Prime 1:
Ah, the first 3D Metroid title.  This one is far and away the best of the bunch, folks.  It took concepts first used in the side-scrolling games and ran with them.  It seemed like a gamble at the time, and it certainly paid off.  You knew you were in for a heck of a gaming experience the very minute Samus made that jump onto the hull of the Pirate Frigate.  The experience goes on to include all (well most of) the classic Metroid power ups, along with new and awesome boss fights and areas.

Stuff I didn't like about Metroid Prime:
-The Fission Metroids. 

Yup, that's it, the Fission Metroids were the only negative element I can think of that I haven't already mentioned above.  They just take an inordinate amount of time and effort to kill compared to any other enemy.  Naturally, it follows that they spawn infinitely in the final area of the game, and the Final Boss can and will summon them.  If it weren't for Power Bombs...

Stuff I liked about Metroid Prime:
-The presence of the story.  It was subtle, but it was there, and you knew exactly what to expect if you payed attention to the Chozo lore and Pirate data (slightly less so in the Trilogy edition, which erased the Pirate data file concerning the titular creature).
-The transition to 3D.  More so than the two titles that came later, Prime 1 really is exactly what it says on the tin: a 3D Metroid game.  It deviated minimally from the side-scrolling games' formula as far as power ups and progression went, which is most definitely a good thing in this case.
-The Fusion Suit, which is unlockable.  And in the Trilogy edition, it's actually accessible to the average player, which sadly can't be said for the Gamecube release.
-The comedic elements that you're treated to when reading about the Space Pirates' exploits.  No, seriously, some of their data is very entertaining to read.
-The Beams and Beam combos were awesome in this game.  Prime 2's beam combos were cool, too, but just not the same (and not as versatile); and Prime 3 dropped Beam combos altogether.  Come on, don't tell me you never went to town on a group of Pirates with the Flamethrower or Wave-Buster.

Regarding Echoes:
The gamble paid off, and now Nintendo wanted to try something a little different.  They took the basic concepts and gameplay mechanics of Prime 1 and added an expansive Light/Dark gimmick.  While I liked many of the embellishments and touches they added in Echoes, Prime 1 was a better game overall.  However, Prime 2 is still excellent.

Stuff I didn't like about Echoes:
-Call me crazy, but the beginning of the game seemed a little slower, or weaker, or whatever, than the beginning of the first game.  Maybe it has something to do with the lack of an escape sequence in the first twenty minutes.
-I'm not sure why they bothered adding Pirate or GF Trooper logs when they were all more or less grouped in the same place.  Just one visit to their respective bases on Aether saw their respective sections in Samus' logbook completely filled. 
-The beam ammo.  Yeah, it was an honest attempt at innovation, and I didn't hate the mechanic, per se, but I'd just as soon take the game without it.  I suppose it added an extra element of challenge, but it was really more of an element of annoyance.
-The Screw Attack, awesome as it was to see it again, had an annoying tendency to send Samus bouncing off surfaces like a rubber ball at the slightest touch.  It made a couple of expansions more annoying to obtain than they should've been.
-No Ridley battle?  For shame.  Where was it that I heard that, at one point, there was going to be a fight with Ing-Possessed Ridley?

Stuff I liked about Echoes:
-The whole Light/Dark gimmick.  In any other situation, I tend to think it's cliche, but Echoes didn't make it obnoxious, and the concept of Light and Dark dimensions was pretty well-executed.
-This is just a minor detail, but it made a big difference in my mind: the classic Elevator Room/Chozo Statue Room/Boss Aftermath music played whenever Samus beat a boss.  It was just a nice touch that did a lot for the atmosphere.
-Echoes, in particular, had the best morph ball puzzles, especially the ones involving the Spider Ball.
-The Dark Samus battles were crazy-fun to play. 

Regarding Corruption:
Um, well... to be honest, this one just didn't feel like a Metroid game.  I'm not saying it wasn't a good game, because that's what it was, in the end.  It just had a decidedly un-Metroid feel to it. 

Stuff I didn't like about Corruption:

-Hyper Mode (the gimmick, not the difficulty).  The concept was much better-sounding than the execution.  For one thing, the game practically required you to whip out Hyper Mode to fight even normal enemies, whether it was because the enemies entered Hyper Mode as well, or because there were just too many of them for your regular weapons to handle.  For another, the method that they used to implement Hyper Mode was questionable.  Instead of injecting a whole energy tank, why not just have the Phazon Beam and other Phazon-based attacks drain energy as you use them?  That would seem more streamlined, in my opinion.
-Hyper Mode (the difficulty, not the gimmick).  If you want all the bonus material (and therefore, all the credits), you get to go through the game again in Hyper Mode difficulty.  Personally, I would've had just one gold credit available per boss, and/or let the player choose Hyper Mode difficulty from the start (I don't like it when games in general make you unlock higher difficulties; I like to start on the hardest mode so I don't ever know any different - it's psychological, I guess).
-The atmosphere.  Between the all the friendly NPCs; the wide-open, sunlit areas; and the cutscenes with huge amounts of explosions and drama, the game stank of "Make it more epic!"  Unfortunately, this seems to have come at the cost of actually feeling like a Metroid title. 
-Probably as a result of breaking the game up into several different planets, instead of having the game take place on one planet with several massive regions and environments, Corruption seemed short compared to the first two.  This one could just be my imagination.
-They had a chance here to insert a full-fledged achievements system, but I got the impression that they started with that in mind, then forgot about it for the next two-thirds of the game.  The placement of "hidden" credits seemed rather arbitrary and/or sparse.
-No more Power Bombs.  Instead, they were replaced by the cooler-looking but relatively useless Ship Missiles.
-No more beam-switching system, due to the inclusion of Hyper Mode.

Stuff I liked about Corruption:
-The game throws you right into the action, and the scenes taking place in space were pretty neat-looking.
-Let's face it, the Grapple Lasso was just awesome.  Something about ripping shields and appendages off of enemies was very satisfying.
-Christopher Sabat.
-The return of the Plasma Beam!  I can't tell you how much I missed its high-temp, melty goodness in Echoes.
-Operating computers and terminals was the most fun in this game; using motion controls to flip switches and the like was a nice touch.
-Fighting Ridley in free-fall was awesome.  Probably the best-looking fight of the game, if not the series.  If I may slip into the internet vernacular, it was full of epic win.
-The PED suit looks cooler and cooler as Samus' corruption grows.  I'm a real sucker for that neon-blue color scheme.
-The battle with AU 313 was a nice bit of retroactive foreshadowing of the Mother Brain battle in Super Metroid.
-Maybe it's just me, but Corruption had the best lore and back story to it; that is, they seemed to have the most effort and thought put into them.

Last words:
There it is.  I hope that loooooong post wasn't too incoherent.  The tense was probably woefully inconsistent, and the points rather incoherent, so my apologies for that.  I suppose if I were to give each game a rating out of ten, they'd get a nine, eight, and seven, respectively.  And if you actually did read all that, more power to ya.
"It'll say life is sacred and so is death
but death is life and so we move on"

« Reply #1 on: January 28, 2010, 02:18:34 PM »
I actually read it all. :)

.. but I've only played the first game, on Gamecube. I agree that having to scan abolutely everything was annoying, but at least they tried to make it worthwhile (the Pirate Logs, for instance.)

Maybe someday I will find the other two games and get the chance to play them (though, I don't like the whole "Metorid in first person" thing. Hopefully Other M will have minimal instances of first person..)
Kinopio is the ultimate video game character! Who else can drive a kart, host parties, play tennis, give good advice and items, and is almost always happy??

Glorb

  • Banned
« Reply #2 on: January 28, 2010, 02:45:11 PM »
This guy talks about Metroid Prime so much, why doesn't he just marry it? Ha!
every

« Reply #3 on: January 28, 2010, 04:23:20 PM »
Wow, Glorb, have you ever even played Metroid Prime Trilogy? I agree with Turtle one-hundred-percent!
MPT is the best game I have ever played!
« Last Edit: January 28, 2010, 04:28:03 PM by waddle_doo »
I don't see why we can't have links or images in this.
Avatars would be nice too.

« Reply #4 on: January 29, 2010, 01:00:23 PM »
I'm digging the vibe of the Other M website.

« Reply #5 on: February 01, 2010, 06:19:19 PM »
Joystiq says Amazon says Nintendo's discontinued "Metroid Prime Trilogy". As one commenter said, looks like it really was a collector's edition. Maybe it's like Zelda Master Quest: you really do need to snag it up when it's available, else it will be gone forever. Too much of a good thing just can't be available forever and replace the old thing, that'd make too much sense.

I can't say it any better than Turtle has, but I'll try to sum up my experiences with Metroid Prime 1.

I didn't know what to expect when thinking of a 3D Metroid (other than how I had successfully dreamt about what double-jumping in the air would look like - your view wouldn't change because that'd be too disorientating). I wasn't thinking about how jumping would work. I just thought I'd be blasting baddies in corridors and finding energy tanks inside walls. Never did it enter my mind what the spirit of Metroid would be so that I'd know whether the thing I'm playing feels like a Metroid game. Because from screenshots it did look like a shooter. I know Nintendo said it was a "first-person adventure", and I understood sooner than most that it would just be more of an exploratory game from a first-person perspective. Except I didn't know how that would play out. If I kill all the guards on the first level of Perfect Dark and then wander around looking for that one elusive door that will lead me to the exit, that's what I thought "first-person adventure" might be like.

So I'm playing Metroid. Not being able to aim up without holding down R is kind of a concern, as is not being able to dodge effectively (I hadn't learned how to do that sidestep move). Scanning the stuff along the way is cool. I'm no sci-fi buff, but there's something interesting about all the random stuff you read about. I guess it made the game more immersive, as if the game was taking itself even more seriously than usual. So the space pirate frigate level's over, I lose my stuff, and head to Tallon IV.

That opening shot of the Tallon IV lobby when you finally get out of the ship is breathtaking. I finally understood it when I did the morph ball under an overhang and found a missile pack: Metroid's about finding secret stuff and backtracking with newfound powers. As I later learned with Shadow of the Colossus, I love it when I go to a location and find something new I had missed before, even in the smallest of locations that I may have passed by a thousand times. I had almost thought about keeping track of the stuff I come by that I can't do anything with yet (thanks to each room finally having a NAME), but Prime's thought of that too: it will give you a hint of where to go next. Some don't like the hints and will turn them off. I love them because otherwise I'd never remember where I was supposed to go in that vast world.

Another big factor in my enjoyment was how distinctive and beautiful each room was. Some feeling would always come up when you returned to a room. Of safety perhaps, or dread, or "oh crap, I stepped into the Chozo Ghost room again". Personally I always favored that one path you can take through Magmoor Caverns that acts as a shortcut between Chozo Ruins and Phendrana Drifts, because it's basically a straight line. After a while you get so used to the rooms that you don't even have to fight the enemies anymore (or at least not think about it). I think I favored the Arboretum room the most because of how tall it is, there's so many rooms connected to it that it becomes a hub.

Since each item sort of marks a different part of the journey since you can only go so far before you need that new item, I think my favorite weapon acquisition is either the Ice Beam or the double-jump. Ice Beam because I wait frickin' forever before I finally get my hands on it (before realizing there's still a LOT more of the game to go), double-jump because of how much more maneuverable (and careless) you get with your jumping. I'd also say the old favorite the Gravity Suit because that was always one of the tougher things to get, and it represented a point where you could finally dive into the dreadfully difficult water portions of the game. But the Plasma Beam was anti-climatic because beams don't necessarily increase in power like they do with Super Metroid (rather, the beams are used on a need basis to open doors or solve puzzles, as opposed to doing all that and killing baddies all at once), leaving me with a somewhat-slow beam. Through most of the game I just stuck with the Wave Beam.

Favorite sound effect? The sound when you get a Chozo artifact (I didn't bother getting them until the end of the game, so I got to hear the sound a lot). It's so much more satisfying than the sound effect of getting a new item.

But it wasn't all roses. Sometimes I feel like the enemies just slow me down. This games works perfectly well with adventure and puzzles, I don't need enemies testing my (horrible) combat ability and deciding whether I get to continue. At least the enemies don't seem to regenerate until you hop onto an elevator (or at least don't regenerate for a while), so that helps. I normally wouldn't complain, but I've seen games like Star Fox Adventures and Beyond Good & Evil that make combat a joke and STILL manage to be great games. Granted there's a lot more variety in here on how you take out enemies, but I start complaining when I'm getting hit every second despite my best efforts to kinda dodge (or just whenever I face off against a Chozo Ghost). This was my main complaint against Metroid Prime 2: it stopped being fun when I wasn't good enough to survive each encounter, and Metroid Prime 2 really doesn't give you much leeway (at least not in the beginning, from what I can tell). I didn't feel like I was in control as much as with Super Metroid (and to you Eris fans, I happen to like the slow falling).

(Makes you wonder what games if any I appreciated for kicking my butt and telling me to buck up and continue. World Driver Championship doesn't count because I could dump hours of my life to get faster cars to coast me through the challenges since my strategy was "speed toward wall, brake and turn sharp, hit the wall with the side of my car so I don't have to pop it into reverse, and go". There's something wrong when I'm able to beat racing games using that tactic. But recently I've appreciated Star Fox ever since I got good enough to get through most of the stages without dying. Maybe I should play some lousy NES games instead).

Worst area of the game would be the Phazon Mines. Not only was I left wondering whether I could do anything special with the phazon, but I had to get through a gauntlet of enemies that regenerated and go through this madness for an hour or more before I finally got the chance to get out and save my game again. Nobody should have to wait that long to save again (Turok 2...).

The most fun I had was finding hidden stuff and backtracking with new items. Finding the Chozo artifacts near the end was pretty much the highlight because they hide those things really well. The one in Phendrana Drifts is one I'll never forget: I didn't know you could actually get to that rocket thing. I thought it was just part of the background!

Actually, I should just say Phendrana Drifts was my favorite location. Tallon IV was a lot more beautiful, but the amount of secrets Phendrana had... wow. And if I recall, it also had the tallest room in the game.

I just barely survived beating Ridley, just like in Super Metroid. But I never beat the game. The final boss kept killing me. I was more interested in finding those beam+missile combo attacks I had overlooked.

As for Metroid Prime 2, I got as far as the Torvus Borg Bog and had to give up. I was hating the Dark World a lot by now, as well as the stupid decision to have ammo for your beams. But there was one memorable moment: I'm creeping along in the Dark World and see these hideous-looking sleeping monsters ahead. I didn't know whether they'd attack, I just know anything in the dark world kills me awfully fast. I try to jump across the platforms but fail and drop into the energy-sapping muck. I'm frantically trying to get back up, and eventually I get back up with less than 30 health to spare. Total. All energy tanks gone. It's been a long while since I last saved. So I'm under one of those light things, just waiting for my energy to regenerate, even though it's really really close to one of those monsters. I kept hoping that thing wouldn't wake up and kill me. Anyway, that gave me inspiration to draw this. Later turns out those things don't wake up (or at least not if you just walk by them), so it was all fear for nothing.
You didn't say wot wot.

Black Mage

  • HP 1018 MP 685
« Reply #6 on: February 02, 2010, 04:50:20 PM »
As the owner of all three Prime games individually and someone familiar with wasting money, does the Collector's Edition have anything that would cause you to recommend my purchasing it?

Turtlekid1

  • Tortuga
« Reply #7 on: February 02, 2010, 08:31:14 PM »
The controls are much better for the first two (along with reworked difficulty and enemy AI), and you can get the Fusion Suit in Prime 1 without needing a GBA, a copy of Fusion, and a GBA Link Cable.  These probably aren't worth fifty dollars, though; it should be noted that I only had Prime 1 before getting Trilogy.
"It'll say life is sacred and so is death
but death is life and so we move on"

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