Metroid Prime (2002)

I love this game, and every time I revisit it I appreciate it more. On this play through I experienced the same feeling I get when I re-play Super Metroid. Talon IV used to be an alien landscape to me, I used to get lost often and struggle against the tougher bosses. Now the game's pacing feels like a breeze. Remembering where to go made me appreciate the level design and hints more. Besides two moments of backtracking and lack of elevators to Phazon Mines and Phendranah Drifts, the world design is genius and fun to explore.

This game excels at atmosphere and lore. I'll never get tired of taking in my surroundings, listening to the amazing soundtrack, shooting aliens, and scanning anything out of the ordinary. That being said, I can't bring myself to find every item in the game. This game doesn't mark items on your map, but Super Metroid had that feature 8 years earlier, it made late game backtracking a little easier. Not having an ability to mark your map is even more baffling in the 2023 Remaster. The game has a different ending and artwork to unlock for finding everything, but doing so is horrible without looking at a guide. I love getting different endings and finding everything in the other Metroid games, so this is a disappointing aspect of Metroid Prime for me, but not a deal breaker at all. It's in my top 10 favourite games of all time for a reason.

Play this game, and then play it again!

3/5

Played about 6 hours on Nintendo Switch. Got up to the thermal visor.

Probably not for me. On paper I can see all the positives - great atmosphere and environmental world building, nice graphics for the nintendo switch, sprawlling and interesting level design with satisfying metroid elements - but it just didn't do it for me.

I felt the puzzles weren't that satisfying, the combat is boring, and I wasn't invested in the world. Just nothing to keep me playing really. I only ever played it on flights without other options. I don't think it stands the test of time - to me at least.

The first few missions of Metroid Prime Remastered felt like when I played the first 3D entries in two other Nintendo franchises - Ocarina of Time and Super Mario 64. Unfolding in front of me was an exciting but familiar new frontier. A new perspective on an old favourite.

Exploration was wonderfully delightful - scanning many objects to learn little by little about the alien world around me.

The only aspect that grew tedious was the combat with the space pirates. The encounters never progressed into anything all that interesting, many fights boiling down to checking your different visors for enemies or weaknesses and matching your weapon’s colour to that of the enemy. The maneuver quickly grew tiresome.

Having finished both Metroid Fusion and Prime this year I am taking a short break before returning to jump into Dread and Samus Returns.

Starting with the positives, the game has a great sense of atmosphere and a fantastic score. You will feel isolated playing the game just like Samus would and it definitely gives a "Lost in Space" genre vibe. The controls are smooth and getting all the upgrades for Samus is fun as you slowly improve your fighting capabilities throughout the game.

Why I'm giving the game 3 stars is that it wastes a lot of your time. Some easy quality of life changes could have made me enjoy the game much more. There is little direction in the game so it's mostly just wandering around and exploring. Unless you are following a walkthrough there is going to be a lot of trying to access or finding places you cannot yet enter since you won't have the upgrades yet. The map is large and sprawling with different levels and being able to put a custom marker on the map that I could later reference what upgrade I would need to access that area would have helped reduce backtracking and frustrating ambling around greatly. Backtracking is a big part of the game, and that is fine, but the map is a bit confusing and being able to set a way point so I could follow an arrow rather than constantly pausing again to check the map would have been a huge improvement in my opinion.

I like games with a strong story, dialogue, and cut scenes. Metroid Prime doesn't do any of these but it is able to convey a story through log/research entries you can scan. Still, it is a bit lacking in that respect in my opinion.

Combat is good but a bit repetitive and the final few boss fights were a good challenge but long and a bit frustrating.

I like Metroid Prime but it really frustrated me and made me feel I was wasting time through parts of endless backtracking. I am happy to have played it but I am happier I am done playing it.

Fast travel is a must for me. Thus, Metroid is not an ideal fit from the start.

Fortunately, little time is spent without a destination in mind. Though I'd prefer to fast travel to a save point near my target, the repeating journeys across sectors is not terribly difficult, and the core objectives and challenges are just compelling enough to overcome the tedium.

The controls are not great, at least on the Switch. Switching visors or weapons with D-Pad requires moving the left thumb, leaving Samus momentarily motionless and vulnerable. I assume this to be a result of poor translation from motion controls of earlier releases. Or perhaps the remaster dev team has two thumbs per hand and assumed the audience to be similarly endowed.

Even in the Switch remastered release, the game shows its age. Low-poly environments, vast open spaces with minimal organic movement or lifeforms, and enemies that take just as many hits and deal just as much damage on every repeated encounter regardless of Samus' progression all stood out as relics of long past console generations.

Samus is excellent, though. Her acquisition of weapons and abilities is well-balanced across time and space. The various boss battles are engaging and appropriately difficult (*with the exception of Meta Ridley, which left me with enough hand cramps to put the game down for a full month before finally returning to the crater where the final-final boss battle was notably more forgiving).

The hints highlighted on the map provide welcome respite from mindless wandering. The biomes are varied and hold unique environmental challenges. Secrets are exciting to discover and satisfying to reach.

I'm so glad to have experienced this adventure, but I will most certainly never attempt another playthrough.

A great remaster of an absolute classic.

Metroid Prime is one of the greatest Gamecube games and one of the best games of that generation. It’s great to see it get a quality remaster for old fans to revisit it and so new players can jump in easily. They did an excellent job with this remaster by taking an already good looking game that was still holding up well after all this time and making it look beautiful. The game works perfectly too. They also added new control options without getting rid of the old controls. One thing to keep in mind though is this is a Gamecube game so it was made within the limitations of that time and hardware. Not that it really matters as I still enjoyed this more than the majority of current games but it’s still worth remembering when going into Metroid Prime remastered.

Metroid Prime is one of those games that can be hard to put down after starting it. The exploration is so satisfying and enjoyable. Every time you find a new ability it triggers your memory of all the things you went past that can now be reached/unlocked. The exploration is also elevated so much by the atmosphere, beautiful visuals and great soundtrack. The environments are a joy to become familiar with and all the small details, like reflections and moisture on the visor, add so much. Combat is good with a variety of great looking enemies to dispatch. There is also a good variety of weapons at your disposal, once unlocked, that you are regularly forced to switch between. Things really work well when faced with a small number of different creatures. There are some puzzles to solve too and the developers trusted players to pay attention to the environment and use the tools available. There is plenty of scanning to do and lore to discover which adds another layer of depth to the experience.

Metroid Prime does have some things to nitpick though. First of all I think the design could be a little tighter or the locations more interconnected to reduce backtracking slightly. It is also on the smaller/shorter side and could have benefited from one more location. I think most first time players will probably finish it in around 11 to 13 hours. On top of this, while it is definitely worth revisiting, it doesn’t have a lot of immediate replayability. You could try for 100% or do a different difficulty but Metroid Prime could be a one weekend game for many people. It does lack a little in challenge and the enemy AI could be better. Another thing is that some of the bosses don’t take quite enough damage which means the fight drags on a tad too long. However none of this brings down the whole experience too much.

Metroid Prime is a beautiful, fantastic game with very minor faults and this is a really well done remaster. I hope Metroid Prime 2 can get the same remaster treatment soon too. Metroid Prime Remastered is a must own Switch game. If you’ve never played this before then go grab yourself copy, this is one of the greats.

9.3/10

Metroid Prime on yksi kaikkien aikojen arvostetuimmista peleistä. Peliä pelatessa on helppo nähdä todella monta syytä, miksi näin on. Omilla nykypelaajan silmillä ja toimintapainotteisiin peleihin ehdollistuneella pelikokemus jäi kuitenkin kauas hehkutuksen esittämästä tasosta.

Aloitetaan hyvästä: peli tuo Metroidin 3D-maailmaan täysin. Hyvin erilaisesta pelattavuudesta ja kontrolleista huolimatta peli tuntuu hyvinkin selkeästi Metroid-peliltä. Musiikit, viholliset, tunnelma... kaikki ovat täyttä Metroidia. Lisäksi pelin maailma on hyvin tarkkaan suunniteltu. Peli palkitsee hyvin paljon vanhojen paikkojen koluamisesta ja pelimaailmasta löytyvien öttiäisten, vihollisten ja viestien skannailusta. Näin peli luo hyvinkin syvällisen pelimaailman luottamatta paljoa ollenkaan välivideoihin tai dialogiin. Pelisuunnittelun kulmasta pelissä on myös hyvinkin selkeästi jokaiselle kyvylle oma käyttönsä. Aina jollain uudella kyvyllä on mahdollista tehdä jotain uutta, joka ruokkii pelimaailman tutkimisen palkitsevuutta. Ja etenkin pelin Switch-remasterissa pelimaailma on hyvin näyttävä ja yksityiskohtainen kokonaisuus.

Ja tämä johtaa kätevästi omiin kipukohtiini pelissä: vanhoissa mestoissa käydään pelissä aivan liian paljon. Todella iso osa pelistä on harhailua paikoissa etsimässä seuraavaa uudella kyvyllä avattavaa reittiä. Tämä on helpommin sanottu kuin tehty, sillä hieman hankalakäyttöiseen karttaan ei ilmesty eikä voi lisätä merkintöjä esim. räjäytettävistä seinistä tai grapple beamilla ylitettävistä paikoista. Eri säteillä avattavat ovet kyllä näkyvät kartassa, mutta näihinkin pääseminen saattaa olla vielä puuttuvan kyvyn takana. Pelissä on onneksi vinkkimahis, joka tietyn ajan hapuilun jälkeen näyttää kartalla suunnan, johon kannattaa lähteä. Tämä on hyvä lisäys, kieltämättä.

Lisäksi vanhoissa paikoissa kolutessa vastaan tulee vihollisia, joita vastaan taistelemisesta en suoranaisesti tykännyt. Kaikki pelin aseet ovat joko tehottomia tai hitaita käyttää, mikä saa tulitaistelut melko puuduttaviksi. Eri vihollisten tuhoamiseen tarvitsee myös vaihdella eri säteitä käyttöön, mikä ajoittain tuo oman säheltämisensä taisteluihin. Moni vihollinen on myös movesetiltään hyvinkin ärsyttäviä, ja osumilta on vaikea välttyä ilman nurkan takaa kurkkimista, sillä viholliset roiskivat panoksiaan melko arvaamattomasti eri suuntiin. Bosseissa on omaa ongelmaansa: ne toimivat periaatteella, jossa pelaajan tulee odotella iskunpaikkaa tai saada se aktivoitua iskemällä heikkoihin kohtiin. Hyvin Zeldamaista menoa siis, mutta samalla tekee taisteluista melko tylsiä ja pitkiä.

Vaikka nillitänkin paljon miinuksista, oli pelin tutkimista painottavassa meiningissä myös paljon hyviä hetkiä. Niin outoa kuin se onkin, tykkäsin pelin lopussa suoritettavasta artefakti-fetch questista. Tässä peli antoi tekstivihjeitä alueesta ja huoneesta, josta artefakti löytyi, ja sitten oikeassa paikassa piti vielä voittaa taistelu tai suorittaa puzzle, jonka jälkeen artefaktin sai. Hauskaa ja tyydyttävää etsiväntyötä. Lisäksi pelin remasteria on pakko kyllä kehua. Nintendo ei ole varmaankaan ikinä tehnyt yhtä huolellista remasteria vanhasta pelistä. Kontrollivaihtoehtoja on lukuisia ja niitä voi viilata makunsa mukaan, grafiikat ja suorituskyky ovat ensiluokkaiset ja koko paketti oli vielä halvempikin kuin esimerkiksi Skyward Sword -uudelleenjulkaisussa, joka vaikutti pienemmällä vaivalla kyhätyltä. QoL-uudistuksia peliin ei tietääkseni ole oikein tuotu, mutta sen tietyllä tavalla myös ymmärtää: peli ei olisi enää sama peli isommalla kädestäpitelyllä.

Vaikka pelin pelaamisesta jäikin käteen pieni pettymys (mestariteokseksi hypetetyn pelin pelaamisesta näin helpolla käy), odotan innolla Metroid Prime 4:sta. Moni tässä pelissä rusinoita rasautelleista asioista on helposti ja todennäköisesti korjattu sarjan tulevassa osassa. Ja pelin menestys ylipäätään on hienoa katsottavaa: kenties se innostaa Nintendoa panostamaan kunnolla myös muihin sarjoihinsa, jotka eivät ole Zelda, Mario tai Kirby. Ehkä tästä starttaa Metroid-renessanssi.

I had tried recently to play the original GameCube version, but the combination of low-poly graphics, claustrophobic field of view, and overwhelming HUD made it impossible for me to enjoy it. I always play Metroidvanias with the intent to 100% them, so the disorientation just gave me completionist stress.

I am so glad they made this remaster. The modernized controls and clearer details makes me finally appreciate what a well executed game this is. It still has that Metroidvania feel, but theres a layer of immersion that is super special.

My biggest complaint though - fast travel and secrets. Getting around the map in the late game was very annoying, especially when you knew exactly where you wanted to be and there’s nothing good to explore on the way. I also can’t imagine trying to 100% this game without a 3rd party map. If they had implemented fast travel and a similar secret indication system as Dread, I would’ve thought it was a perfect game.

It can be argued the lack of fast travel adds to the exploration and immersion, and I know the secret mapping is a personal preference. I absolutely recommend this game, it nails the mission of “3D Metroidvania” better than I could’ve ever imagined . I’ve not played anything quite like it.

I played this on WiiU, with the wii-controller, not the original on gamecube.

I am doing a playthrough of the entire Metroidseries before i go out and get metroid dread. Or at least the Metroidgames i was able to ger my hands on.

First time i played this i was one of those nostalgic jerks who assumed that just because a franchise went from 2d to 3d it was bound to be bad. So i never gave the game a fair shot. My brother did, and i tried his game a few times and kept telling him that the 2d metroids of old were sooooo much better!

I recentrly replayed the very first Metroid, and no, it is not good. I remember Super Metroid as one of the best games of my life, but it has been some time since i played it.

Prime is a totally ok game, it is even quite good. I am happy i finally played it, but i dont think i will be playing it again anytime soon.

The Wii-version of the game has the obvious drawback that you have to play it with the Wii-controller, which is just awful... I am gonna power through Prime 2 and 3 with this controller, but i hope the rest of the games will let me play with a "normal" controller.

I'm not sure how much of this game I'd played before, but it felt really good to sit down and work my way through it. This still holds up with really immersive aesthetics, an engaging exploration loop, pretty fun boss fights, and a usually great pace.

There were a few times in the middle where I sort of just wandered around waiting for the hint system to tell me where to go next, but other than that I really enjoyed it!

“Space can be mapped and crossed and occupied without definable limit; but it can never be conquered. When our race has reached its ultimate achievements, and the stars themselves are scattered no more widely than the seed of Adam, even then we shall still be like ants crawling on the face of the Earth. The ants have covered the world, but have they conquered it — for what do their countless colonies know of it, or of each other?” -Arthur C. Clarke

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With Samus back in the hearts and minds of so many these days (though perhaps she never left), thanks in no small part to Metroid: Samus Returns and the Nintendo’s Metroid Prime 4 announcement, I thought it was time for me to get in on the space-faring, bug-blasting, heroine action with a review of Metroid Prime, one of the best leaps from 2D to 3D ever. It is also one of the most obvious.

Leading the Metroid series from its influential, two-dimensional, side-scrolling platforming origins to full-on, three-dimensional, first-person-perspective shooter may not have been a lightning flash of genius so much as it was the most logical direction for Samus and her world. With the rise of more powerful systems supporting 3D gaming came the tide of first-person shooters. Metroid was Nintendo’s best bet for slipping into the increasingly popular FPS scene. The Metroid games themselves had an air of maturity, seriousness, and coolness factor that could appeal to older gamers. Samus, the series’ champion and an icon in the Nintendo gallery, was a natural choice for an FPS lead with her stolid persona and arm-mounted cannon.

The transition between dimensions, from two to three, was not an easy one to make for all characters and franchises. Several were left behind as the gaming industry moved forward. I’m sure you can think of a few franchises which died with the end of the 16-bit age…

If a series couldn’t define itself as technology expanded and then refine itself to keep up with the times, then it simply disappeared, provided there was no other niche in which it could exist. In the survival of the fittest world of gaming where at bottom the success of a product is measured in sales, only the adaptable make it to the next generation. Metroid, despite gaps in its series, is one of those which has survived because it could be reinvented without being fundamentally changed. It could enter into a new kind of genre without sacrificing its core elements. Whether that’s purely by design or by coincidence that Metroid just so happened to function that way already, perhaps no one can say.

Metroid Prime doesn’t lose any of the sense of foreboding and isolation that the series achieved in Prime’s forebears, Super Metroid most notably, and this game is a textbook example of storytelling through atmosphere. This series is the closest Nintendo generally gets to flirting with the horror genre. Everybody knows the Big Red N for their happy-go-lucky innocence and magical games evoking childhood nostalgia, but with Metroid Prime, indeed with the franchise as a whole, there’s a very potent sublayer of horror: aliens, mutants, shambling monsters of all sorts, the presence of silence, and the sensation of loneliness.

As an accent to the Nintendo canon, Metroid is significant. If Nintendo ever puts out an adaptation of one of their IPs in the full, gory, violent, terrifying rated-M for mature flavor, odds are that mantle would fall to Metroid. I can’t exactly envision an Animal Crossing horror game! Not saying they shouldn’t try, though. Maybe there could be a Nintendo development division, “Nintendo After Dark”, though to be fair this game was developed in collaboration with Retro Studios as well. Retro Studios is an American developer and I think that’s interesting to take note of in the adapting of Nintendo’s Metroid to the FPS genre that’s popular in the West.

Click here for the full review... https://thewellredmage.com/2017/12/12/metroid-prime/