Game Spotlight: Metroid Prime Trilogy

I’ll admit right upfront that I don’t actually own Metroid Prime Trilogy for Wii yet (it comes out on October 15 down here, minus the awesome metal case… damn you Nintendo of Australia!!), plus I’ve already played the hell out of the three games individually for GameCube and Wii. But forget about that and imagine the eerie, whistley theme of Metroid Prime is now playing in your head… MANUALLY.

As a long time Metroid fan, my first impressions of Metroid Prime being a first person game weren’t very positive at all. How could anyone turn a game series like Metroid into something that is so alien to the series? It’s impossible, it will never work and these developers I’ve never heard of are way over their heads… All of us who had doubts are very glad that we were dead WRONG about Retro Studios and their excellent work on Metroid Prime, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. They had the balls and the support they needed to take a very old and loved series and showing us that it can be more than just a 2D action platformer.

Metroid Prime

Who knew that Metroid would somehow work as a first person game? Retro Studios seemed to have figured it out early enough in its development to end up crafting one hell of a game from the concept. But it wasn’t just the fact that it was first person, Retro literally put you behind the visor and turned the HUD into a practical effect on the visor rather than being just THERE for no real reason other than to help the player keep track of certain information. I’m also impressed by the way they were able to keep a lot of what makes Metroid great, not everything, but there is a lot about Metroid Prime that has the same charm and greatness of Super Metroid. However, Retro wasn’t just out to try to make a first person game feel as Metroid as possible, they also took steps to add their own new and original ideas to the series. The best addition to the series, and something I will miss if missing in future 3D Metroid games is scanning objects with your visor.

The visor, for me, was an excellent way of telling a story for a series that wasn’t really known for its story telling. Metroid has always been a series more about ambience than story. The most story you get from a Metroid game before Prime came from a starting intro or some text in a manual. The information you get from visor scans may be in a raw format, but it allowed the player to figure out the mystery of what happened on Tallon IV for themselves rather than have to explain to them by dialogue or showing you outright. I like a good mystery and I love Retro for allowing me to figure things out for myself… but what I really love is how some of the elements from Metroid Prime ended up showing up in other games after it. For example, putting the player behind the visor was recreated for Star Wars: Republic Commando. Many games have also adopted the “scanning” concept for their own games with their own little twists.

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

Many find Echoes to be a lesser game than the first Metroid Prime. Yes, it is a little more linear, and sure the dark world may have become annoying after the initial awe wore off, these are valid points. However, as I look back at Echoes after playing the entire trilogy and having time to think about it over the years, I’m starting to think that whatever faults it may have don’t really diminish the greatness of the game. Retro put a lot of effort into the second game, the environments look phenomenal, the music is haunting and ambient and they managed to make the game look even better, which is quite the effort considering how great Prime looked to begin with.

I remember when I first got Echoes, it was on release day. As soon as I got home, I shut the curtains and made sure to make my room as dark as possible. I had my TV ready to go and my stereo (didn’t have the surround sound system back then…) for my run through of the game. I spent every waking moment playing Echoes religiously and took my time admiring the beauty of the game. I made sure to finish my first run with a 100% completion rate, and when it was all over, I felt very satisfied with the experience.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

When Wii was finally revealed to us, one of the first thoughts that came to mind was that this system is going to make the gameplay for Metroid Prime 3 so damn awesome. Nintendo knew it, Retro Studios knew it, and anyone who cared and didn’t care about Metroid Prime knew it. Nintendo and Retro were so confident that they even coded up a demo version of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes with Wii remote controls attached as a proof of concept that impressed all who played it.

The controls feel great, so good that after playing Corruption, it was hard to actually go back to playing the first two games using the GameCube controller. Luckily Nintendo was good enough to port over old GameCube titles to Wii lol. The controls are great, the art and environments are presented extremely well, but I did feel that Corruption did move away a little too much from some of what made Metroid great. For instance, you don’t quite feel as alone as you did before, a lot of the story was also told in a more traditional format rather than relying solely on scans… but the worst part for me was that the game felt and really was extremely linear. The feeling of exploration was extremely diminished in Corruption which is a big minus for me, but I guess it is forgiven since as a trilogy, you get a great mix that will satisfy a wide variety of tastes.

Metroid Prime Trilogy

In Japan, Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes have both been released as separate “New Play Control!” games for Wii. Outside of Japan we’ve gotten a great treat from Retro Studios who have repackaged the entire series as the Metroid Prime Trilogy. Prime, Echoes and Corruption all on a single disc. Do you feel the love? I know I do… it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. To add to its greatness, Nintendo (of America) also went all out with the packaging. The “Collector’s Edition” metal case and art book is an extremely rare thing for any Nintendo game. It really shows how much Nintendo values the series and the contribution that Retro has brought to Nintendo. The thing that sucks is that Europe and Australia doesn’t get that awesome metal case (damn you!)… But you know what? I’m that much of a fan of the series, I’ve decided that I’m going to buy the Australian release of the Metroid Prime Trilogy, but I am also going to get onto eBay and buy myself a copy of the US Collector’s Edition pack with the metal case just so I can take the AU version of the game and stick it in that awesome case. I will go that far just to get that case!

Thank you, Nintendo, for having enough faith in Retro Studios back at the turn of the century to allow them to have their own take of the Metroid series. Thank you, Retro Studios, for revitalising a very old series and injecting a whole lot of awesome into a series that you didn’t think could get any more awesome. And hell yes, thank you for re-releasing the entire trilogy for Wii! It really is a dream come true for all of us who are fans of the series.

I can’t wait to get my hands on it come October 15… I’ll be having a HUGE Metroid Prime Trilogy marathon and using up every second of my free time playing through some of the best games ever made.