Metroid Prime

[Link | 2,709]

When I first heard of the new Metroid game being a FPS, I wasn’t into it. But I picked it up used at Gamestop when I was living in Philly circa 2005 to try it out. I didn’t care for it. I couldn’t figure out the wayfinding, is the short of it. 

I recently had unrelated reason to break out the GameCube, so I decided to give Prime another shot today. I’m liking it much better this time. The map makes sense to me. I can figure out where to go and what to do.

I would still prefer 3rd-person view to 1st. Easier to gauge jumps and know what’s behind you. 

It looks and sounds great; I always liked that. 

[ZeldaFreak | 3,600]

I still need to get around to trying out the Prime series, I'm a big fan of the 2D ones. Just really holding out hope for the long-rumored Prime Trilogy on Switch at some point, since otherwise, I don't really have a convenient way to play them.

[phart010 | 1,706]

Amazon better give us people who preordered Metroid Prime 4 back in 2016 some super special preorder exclusives... Been waiting WAAAY too long!

[CMR | 519]

I still don't care for it that much on the cube, but on the Wii I think it's awesome.  I don't know why they couldn't just include normal thumbstick controls as an option for the rest of us.

[MegaMan52 | 2,442]

I prefer playing it on GameCube. The Wavebird is the best.

[Tanooki | 4,932]

Don't play the trilogy, the wii controls make the game play so much more easy to use, enjoyable, you won't want to go back.  That game despite the age sits in that realm of non-cartoony few on the system, along with like Rogue Squadron 2 where they honestly coming up on 15-20 year range in age and really don't show it (especially if you run an HDMI option for your GC like I do and it's nuts when you think about it how well they assembled the game.)

CMR said it first, the control on the gc version are not great.  They inanely wasted the c-stick on visor flipping when it should have been used as a second stick for your whole move/aim system like most games.  It leaves you open late game to getting beat on with cheap free hits on you while trying to stop, hold a button, then aim about, then another to hold to lock a moving target to spar on an even field of play.  Button kung fu is the one failure of the MP series on GC.  Wii uses the pointer so it aims like a mouse/keyboard setup and the game is just sooo much better.

Edited July 22, 2020 by Tanooki

[StanJr | 7]

I dearly love this series.  It was magic when I first played it when it launched. And it's still magic today.  The sense of exploration and isolation was amazing.  I loved tagging everything and reading the lore of the world.  I generally hate FPS, but this was transformative for me.  Can't wait to play through them all again.

[DefaultGen | 5,401]

I love everything about the first game, not the least of which being the music and atmosphere. One of my favorite games of all time, top 10. The second game is pretty great too. For whatever reason I never got around to the third one, maybe because I have so little interest in Wiimote pointy controls. I gotta play it before 4 comes out, whatever decade that is though.

[Gloves | 11,771]

I've only played a demo of Prime at a Blockbuster waaaay back. Didn't capture my interest, alas.

[Calan87 | 45]

I loved prime. I never did try Echoes though. Honestly ive never even seen gameplay. I might go look at that now.

[Tanooki | 4,932]

I tried echoes when the Fusion Tour hit town all those years ago here.  I took it hating it pretty quickly.  The game was far harder than the original for two reasons.  The lame c-stick being wasted, but also just the unintuitive screwball design of the light/dark world setup it had where weapons/armor could get entirely ineffective.  I mean I guess it was a nice idea maybe on paper, but the game just was annoying.

[Link | 2,709]

I’m at 12% and 4 hours. Probably at least twice that time in actual play, due to not saving after a session where I didn’t get anywhere new.

I have 20 missiles, Varia suit, and charge beam. I just found the Artifact temple in Tallon. I’ve been through almost all of Chozo Ruins. Most of Magmoor Caverns but not the boss yet.. 

[Link | 2,709]

and three energy tanks.

I’m finding some of the level design a little bit annoying. Getting up to higher ground is always a hassle, you usually have to go across the area and find a convoluted path. I guess new boots will make this less of a drag when I find them.

[Sir Centroid | 79]

Played it, beat it, loved it. Metroid Prime will always have a special place in my heart, right alongside Metroid Other M. I still remember getting a demo disc that showed upcoming Nintendo releases for the year, and recall being incredibly excited when I saw not only gameplay for Metroid Prime, but also Metroid Fusion! That was a good year.

[tbone3969 | 304]

Love Metroid Prime.  Amazing game.  I wasn't expecting much going into it and was blown away.  I ended up getting every item and missile upgrade, only to find out I also needed to scan each boss to get 100%.  Maybe I'll go back and try it again.  So good.

[DefaultGen | 5,401]

2 hours ago, tbone3969 said:

Love Metroid Prime.  Amazing game.  I wasn't expecting much going into it and was blown away.  I ended up getting every item and missile upgrade, only to find out I also needed to scan each boss to get 100%.  Maybe I'll go back and try it again.  So good.

I forgot where I learned this but I remember going through the game stressing out that I was going to miss scans and not be able to get them again.

[maxlords | 36]

On 7/19/2020 at 10:27 PM, phart010 said:

Amazon better give us people who preordered Metroid Prime 4 back in 2016 some super special preorder exclusives... Been waiting WAAAY too long!

They cancelled mine.  Lost out on those sweet E3 prices.

[maxlords | 36]

I LOVE Metroid Prime.  Fantastic game!  Echoes wasn't as good but it was playable. It got pretty weak towards the end though.  Unfortunately, Prime 3 was completely unplayable for me as I'm left-handed and the forced Wii motion controls were simply untenable. 
I was thoroughly disappointed that they didn't offer standard GC controls as an option in 3. 

 

[OptOut | 8,883]

Dudes, seriously, I can't believe I am STILL having to explain this to dudes on the internet like 17 years later... It's NOT an FPS it's and First Person ADVENTURE game! The combat is secondary to the experience, the exploration, environment traversal and puzzle solving are the core experience.

The lock on system is great for the kind of game they were trying to make. Sorry it wasn't Halo, geez. 

[Link | 2,709]

4 hours ago, OptOut said:

Sorry it wasn't Halo, geez. 

Who wants Halo? Not me. 

It’s a first-person perspective and you shoot stuff. I agree that exploration is more of it than combat. But I didn’t even know “first person adventure” was a genre. I mean sure, there’s Myst, and Ken’s Labyrinth, and... 3-D Monster Maze. Shadowgate. I wouldn’t put Metroid Prime with any of those.

I guess I like the idea, though. It is an adventure game. Retro did a great job capturing /updating the feel of NES Metroid.

 

[OptOut | 8,883]

Another example of an FPA game would be Hexen. Obviously there's an overlap in the genres, between FPS and FPA as there are with most genres.

But yeah, it's all about where the game emphasizes the gameplay experience, combat or adventuring. Although the combat in Metroid Prime is great, especially some of the boss battles are incredible, it's still more a game about exploring and getting through the world rather than just killing badguys.

[Link | 2,709]

Oh, yeah, in my local scene at the time, we considered Hexen and Heretic to be the same kind of game as Doom, Wolfenstein 3D, Quake, ROTT, ETC.  

[OptOut | 8,883]

16 minutes ago, Link said:

Who wants Halo? Not me. 

Oh yeah, sorry! 

Thisis leftover ammo from a long ago time in the console wars, circa 2002, when it was Xbox fanboys shitting on MP for not being Halo...

Trying times... I still get the flashbacks sometimes... 

[Tanooki | 4,932]

Eh just remind them they're only that attached because it was the only A quality game the system got in over a year.   I remember that setting off a few in the day.

 

Still going to have to not agree on the whole FPA is an excuse for bad control.  Even if the adventuring is making combat secondary, it's not like combat is optional when locked in a room with a lot of fast moving targets already opening fire while jumping, flying, strafing and firing at the same time.  And you there, a punching bag for hot lead until you can button kung fu a lockon to retaliate properly.  It was a bad oversight that shouldn't have happened, even Nintendo corrected it in the Trilogy.   Hexen though, definitely FPA and combat is optional in a lot of cases as you're not forced to kill to survive a stage, just flip switches, get keys, and exit.

[Estil | 1,264]

I couldn't get over at the time just how realistic and detailed the graphics were...remember this was 2002, the GC hadn't even been out for a year and it could already make games look THAT good.  i miss the days when you could truly be wowed and blown away by seeing graphics on a home console that were unheard of just a few years ago.  I miss getting surprises like that.  

Not to mention the handy/clever way they put the D-pad and C-stick to use in this game and its sequel.

Edited July 27, 2020 by Estil