Once again, August is upon us and it’s time
for my theme. This year, I decided to look at something that’s been sincerely
lacking in this show: women. Now, much like Ninjas from last year, I have
talked about games where women are playable, but very few where they are the
only choice. The only one that comes to my mind off the top of my head is Lady
Sia. So this August is Femme-month, where I will be looking at 4 games starring
female protagonists. And of course, much like Ninja Gaiden last year, the
obvious choice needs to come first, so we are looking at Metroid Prime,
originally for the Nintendo GameCube, but I’ll be playing it on the Wii as part
of the Metroid Prime Trilogy collection.
Metroid was never a series that was ever
high on my radar. Not because I thought it was overrated like Zelda, but just I
never heard much about it for the longest time. The first generation of games I
remember paying attention to was the 5th one, and there wasn’t a
Metroid game released on the N64 (for the better, I suppose). Despite knowing
about the Metroid-vania game play style and it being one of my favorite variations
on platforming, Metroid Prime was the first Metroid game I played, and still
that wasn’t until the collection came out on the Wii.
So as a first impression to the series-
HOLY CRAP IS THIS GAME AWESOME. Like I just said, it was probably better that
this game waited a generation. On the N64, it might have been a platformer, but
by the GameCube, first person shooters were starting to get big. Metroid was
re-envisioned as a first person game, and that might have added a whole new
level of immersion to the discovery. The element is there in 2D, but seeing it
from the point of view of the character gives you a whole new experience.
Though the main attraction to me is the
exploration, I do need to talk about the fighting. The variety and scope of
enemies is amazing, and they ease you into the more difficult and frustrating
ones. You get a variety of weapons and upgrades, and eventually learning how to
switch on the fly is an essential skill. Of course, if you’re having trouble
with an enemy, you can also switch visor modes, either to help you see weak
points or use the scan function to read their database entry.
I could go on, as there are a lot of little
things that make the game play fun, but it would take far too long (perhaps
I’ll explain a bit more on the sequels). From the great maps, to the intuitive
combat, to the range of gadgets you get, the game play is simply great.
The story is as basic as it gets, not just
in what it has to say, but the way it tells it. It starts with Samus on a
bounty hunting mission when she is struck and loses her equipment (a convenient
reason for having lost them between games). She follows her targets, the Space
Pirates, to a nearby planet. After that, it’s just hunting on the planet and
figuring out some mysteries that pop up. It leaves a lot to be desired in
Samus’ motivations, but people who like immersive new worlds will enjoy this.
But again, it’s not just what this says,
but how it tells it. There’s no voice dialog in this game except the occasion
computer message. Samus’ reactions are done through body language, and though
she’s kind of a blank slate silent protagonist here, it does make the game more
of what you want it to be. But what really gets me are the music and sound
cues, along with the short scenes from discovering a new area. It pretty much
says “look at what you found, now enjoy exploring!” There’s a sense of wonder
put into this new world, which sucked me right in. In a Metroidvania game, that
is exactly what you’d want.
Metroid Prime is an amazing game that I would
recommend to almost anyone, as there is such a variety offered. That being
said, I don’t think it is a perfect game: the story is a little lacking in
motivation (at least for someone new to the series) and near the end you’re
required to do this big annoying “treasure hunt” that I feel ruins the flow
(you should want to explore, not be forced into it). Those are the only things
really worth mentioning, and they are pretty easy to look over. Awesome space
shooter based around exploration, what else can I say? I give Metroid Prime 9.5
levels out of 10.
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