Excellent review. I love how you focus on what's good and what's not. You use a language that really makes me want to play the game, without the usual foul language that accompanies a lot of reviews. You make no attempt to tell the whole story and what each stage is about. This is what a review should be: don't tell me everything about the game, but wet the audiences appetite enough, so they want to make that purchase. Good job! Keep up the good work!
Boy each of the Metroid Prime games has some incredible opening moments. This one from Echoes always chilled me to the bone, especially once the marines start reanimating so creepily.
Wow, really nice video. I appeciate these 3 things you did: 1) Uncover some of the hidden and often overlooked poetry of the game world with your introduction. 2) Give the game the credit it deserves instead of vaguely categorizing it as "weird". 3) Make an awesome metaphor of how Echoes in a way is in its own shadow world because it's in the shadow of the monumental Prime 1.
Looking back... if Majora's Mask is a better Zelda because of Link being finally "linked" to the player like never before (in my opinion)... in that case, Echoes is the best Metroid of all-time. Being more complex, feeling fresh despite being a sequel, a true hardcore challenge (Hard Mode of Echoes is insane), epic boss fights, time playing against the player because of Dark Aether atmosphere (this makes us being connected to Samus even more than before, something that even Other M did wrong), two parallel universes that are the same but so different too because of that toxic atmosphere and the puzzles... Sure the impact of Metroid Prime will never be denied because it revived the series as a whole but Echoes just proved to be an incredible sequel to an outstanding masterpiece. Sure I do prefer Metroid Prime 1 (it's the best game I've ever played) but I do think Echoes is a better Metroid. And because Yoshio Sakamoto doesn't even consider the Metroid Prime Trilogy in the timeline (the trilogy added more backstory than even Metroid Fusion and Other M themselves), I'll simply put aside Super Metroid until the faithful day, the day that Sakamoto gives all the rights, documents, musics, sounds... everything about Metroid to Retro Studios!
I'm not going to be one of those people who thinks this game is bad. It's not. I do like the game. But it does have it's flaws though. But what can I appreciate is how it's trying something differently and in many parts, it works. But there are few that don't. Overall, I still think it's a good game. Not my top 3 favorite Metroid games, but it's still worth it. And yeah, Zero Mission is also a great game.
I'm a huge fan of Metroid and Super Metroid... I grew up with those games... I tried Metroid Prime and I really couldn't get into it... but that was like 10 years ago, I should try it again.. maybe get the trilogy...
Metroid Prime is the game that started the series and made the biggest jump in terms of innovation. But it's MP2 that shattered the standards set by MP, in terms of plot elements, characterization (more body language to characterize Dark Samus and Samus), difficulty, new bosses, puzzles, atmosphere, and remixes (love the Submerged temple remix of Super Metroid's red soil song)
Metroid Prime was the main reason I bought a Gamecube. I finished the original game, then it took me 2 years to beat this game. I kept getting tired of it and then picking it up again later. I think my total play through time was about 26 hours according to the game clock. Very impressive game, though. Not boring at all. Just very long.
Retro Studios is my favorite game developer. Derek hit it on the head at 5:35. It absolutely made me feel a great deal of dread every time I had to enter Dark Aether. This is of course in contrast to other "Dark Worlds", like A Link to the Past, where I greatly preferred the Dark World.
I'm glad to see this review pop up, I hope Derek reviews all the Metroid games, I love them alot like he does. Also, this game was great, I liked the original better. Although I LOVE how they didn't just build off of the first, this game is a completely different one than the first, which is fantastic.
Ok, I guess by years, if you mean the past 3 or 4, than you are right. if we go back several there are a lot. Last 3 years have been pretty barren, but this year is looking unreal. They are back in a big way.
Oh but I do implore you big time to check out DK Tropical Freeze if you are at ALL into 2D sidescrollers. Actually it's more of a 2.5D I kind of wrote it off at first but just bought it a couple days ago. The game is amazing. The music is so good. It's just so polished.
I really prefer the first Prime. Everything about it just screams "classic" from the music, weapons, and environments. Even though each area has a theme, I don't need to check the map much to know where I'm going on repeat playthroughs. In contrasts, the different environments of Metroid Prime 2 look so similar. I often remember a room that held a powerup, but forgot if it's in Agon Wastes, or another place, and even on a repeat playthrough I get lost. The only area that stands out is the Sanctuary Fortress. In addition, the limited beam ammo, while effective in putting more pressure and making players think out their tactics more, felt like a burden and as the game nears its end, I start to get finger fatigue in getting to just a couple powerups a session. This would be all fine and good, except the dark world just makes it that much longer. This doubles the backtracking time, sometimes even more because of portal placement. The light fields in the dark world slowly regenerate your health, and outside drains it much quicker than that, so expect to wait awhile in the light for your shield energy to replenish before you can move on with the game, making exploring even more tedious and slower than it was already. Once the new beams are obtained, expect to be shooting containers with the opposite beam to farm for ammo for half the game. Then there's the Sky Temple keys. These are like the chozo artifacts, except for the fact that there were also keys needed to face the boss of each climate, so there's that. Because of all of this, I haven't even touched the game with its improved motion controls in the Metroid Prime Trilogy and I've played the original two times already on that collection. It's a nice game at first but after getting halfway through exploring the planet starts to feel more like a chore than it does actually being fun. That's just me though.
BlueAmpharos What's so similar about Agon Wastes, Torvus Bog and Sanctuary Fortress? I agree that the Dark world does look a bit similar, but I'm ok with that.
I honestly think the original Prime was the weakest entry of the trilogy. Echos > Corruption > Prime for me. Not that I didn't like Prime, I loved Prime.
You're not alone in preferring the style of prime to this. I was always sad that I didn't enjoy this more and kept coming back to it to try one more time. It never clicked with me though. I felt the same as you. Interestingly enough, I also prefer ocarina of time to majora's mask. For similar reasons.
This is one of the best reviews very nice you did a great job. I never really got into these games because it wasn't my style but I wish I did and might sound weird but this game could make a great movie
I'm playing through this game on the trilogy disc right now. The dark world is interesting in that the map looks the same but the actual environment is completely different. It's hard to recognize landmarks from light Aether in dark Aether.
Great review. I have Metroid Prim 3: Corruption, which is great, but this seems really different. I've never watched any review about this Echoes, and this really described everything well.
So I am new to the series. Should I get 1 and 2 on the gamecube and 3 on the wii, or get the wii trilogy version. Keep in mind I prefer the gc controller over the wii nunchuck. Can anyone elaborate for me?
If you prefer the GC controller, get the GC versions. Of course I've heard most people say that they like the controls in Prime 3 better, and if that's the case, then the trilogy version is the version to go with. I don't have a Wii, so I have only played the GC versions of the two first, and I think the controls work perfectly
I agree with lasseplatburk. I found the gamecube controls to work very well with Metroid Prime 1, though I haven''t played Metroid Prime 2. It just felt very smooth, and the lock on combat felt good opposed to Metroid Prime 3 where you aim with the wii mote. (I think you do at least) Anyway I'd get GC.
Zeemanhuismerk It really depends. The original two Prime games didn't have a twin stick control scheme and you literally had to stop to aim, or use lock on. So in the case of Metroid Prime 1 and 2, the new addition of motion controls make the games a hell of a lot better IMO. Splatoon uses both motion and a twin stick at the same time, and it works really well.
+Joel Auguste There's actually a pretty damn great Metroid game from the GBA called Zero Mission, which is an entire remake of the first game, only more balanced and has a map. It's a fun experience that is as close to the classic as it gets(and you even unlock the option to play the original Metroid after beating Zero Mission once), and I would highly recommend picking up Zero Mission somehow.
I got this game as a Christmas present for my nephew. If I had had a Nintendo Gamecube, I would have been intrigued enough to open the game and play it.
This is the bad-ass version of Samus at her best. Echoes just oozes mood and atmosphere all over you. It's a crime that this review doesn't show any scenes from Sanctuary Fortress. Man, that is still my favorite area from any Metroid Game
While not my favorite of the series, I can appreciate how the game tries something differently than no other Metroid games tries to do before & how it works. There's some things of this game that I like, but there also some things that I don't like. Overall, Prime 2 is a good game in it's ways. Not my top 3 favorite Metroid games, but I still like it.
@slogsweep I really love Metroid Prime. The original is one of my fave games ever. And I agree with the whole FPS after FPS thing. The only quarrel I have with MP is the backtracking, and sadly because of the odd aiming+moving combined thing, the platforming is a bit meh. I love the Gamecube.
This particular entry in the series stood out to me in all honesty. It has a dark undertone, provides a decent challenge (or damn near-overkill on that DAMN BOOSTBALL BOSS!) and plays at the yin-yang aspect really well. It was a real labor of love and has a unique identity compared to Metroid Prime 1 which took several cues from Super Metroid. Then's there the fact that the feeling of isolation couldn't have been felt greater considering that you were trapped on an alien world split in two.
Not necessarily due to the fact that the game is based towards exploration, therefore its more of an adventure game, also the game has other aspects like the MORPH BALL WHICH ISNT FIRST PERSON, for a game to be classed as an fps it has to be fully based on it, dont get me wrong in the game you do first player shooting but to class it as fps it has to be based on it but the game is based on exploration and adventure so its classed as an fp adventure game m8. Sorry to blow up your mind
I'm about halfway through playing Prime for the first time and I'm really looking forward to this game. There's Mario, Link and then there's Samus, just as iconic as the other two but for the hardcore gamers. It's been said that Prime 2 is the hardcore gamer's game.
Derek, You failed to talk about the multi play aspect of the game. That form of gameplay was not be used in the series again until metriod prime hunters for the ds and given a much needed facelift. It was not handled by retro studio but by Nintendo software technology who make the mario vs donkey kong series as well as ports of games. Sadly hunters suffered for the stylus controls that all ds fps games do, but when it was new it showed the power of the ds, and improves what METROID PRIME 2 tried
@DrNo0Entertainment1 I know this comment is old, but its not underrated at all. It sold quite well, and had near perfect reviews from major reviewers back in the day. The reason its 4 dollars is because its very easy to find. If it was a rare game, the game would cost a lot more. I love all the Metroid games, but Prime will always be one of the best.
@shikavic Agreed. Next to fighting the Nightmare on a 1% items run in Metroid Fusion, Boost Guardian on hard mode was probably one of the hardest points in the entire series.
This used to be my least favorite Prime game until I played it on the Prime Wii anthology. This is the the hardest and most satisfying Metroid game ever made.
I will always have more love for Prime 1. Don't get me wrong, all of the Primes are beautiful, amazing games, but 1 is my favorite of the four. Sure it had several flaws that were fixed in the other Primes, you can't deny that, but it's the game that got me into Metroid, and it did a lot of other things for me as well.
Echoes, before the Trilogy release nerfed it, really was the hardest of all Prime games. At the time I really enjoyed the dark atmosphere and challenge, but unfortunately, it's very taxing on the game's replayability. The original Prime I'll go back to anyday. Echoes? Ehhhh...I dunno.
This is true. I think Metroid Prime 2 is a far better game than Metroid Prime 3 (which is still good), but at this point I'd rather replay Metroid Prime 3 because it's far more accesible and less taxing. I did finish Metroid Prime 2 on hard mode though. :) On the original GC of course.
GRIMLOCK07 I struggled for a long long time at the boost ball guardian, but then I decided to find an ammo expansion (I kept running out on light beam ammo) and actually took him down relatively easy. Other then that I didn't struggle that much with it. This was also my first Metroid game lol... I breezed through Metroid Prime 3. In that game I only struggled to the control scheme in the beginning (I'm left handed).
soulripper31 I never really had a problem with Boost Guardian, but I've read that a lot of players do. Spider Guardian was always a "P"ain in the Ass for me. I could rarely get the timing with the Bombs down. I'm actually think of replaying the Prime series over the Christmas Holiday again. 1 and 2, but I want to play them on Hard. I wish knew of a way to transfer a game save from Internet with Hard Mode already unlocked to my Game Cube Memory Card. I don't want to play thru the entire game just to Unlock Hard Mode. Since I haven't these two in many years, it'll be and feel like a Somewhat New Game to me. Or Perhaps I should do Timesplitters 2 or 007 Agent Under Fire??
GRIMLOCK07 I kinda liked the Spider Ball Guardian. The only annoying part was that there wasn't any save station nearby. Do you have the Prime Trilogy? Because they made MP 2 easier in those games. Especially the Spider Ball Guardian is easier because you can use the spring ball instead of bombs.
You know, I am so sick of hearing people say that Prime 2 sucked. Just because it wasn't as good as the other installments doesn't mean it sucks. I mean, look at Metroid 2:Return of Samus. It wasn't nearly as good as Metroid or Super Metroid, but people still loved it.
My issue with Prime 2 is that it just didn't feel fun. Sure, that's partly because of the difficulty, but the dark world's impending doom feeling was fairly unwelcome. It was like those sequences in Fusion when the SA-X runs after you...except it was spread out over the whole dark world. Plus, the ammo thing was really annoying after unlimited ammo on Prime 1. These things don't make the game bad by themselves but yeah.
great game but if I could find something to nitpick, it'd be the cartoony-wind waker effects against enemies. I know it's Nintendo, but it is such a contrast in style to the rest of the art direction imo
This is by far my favorite of the three games. It's atmosphere is phenomenal, dark, and isolating. The gameplay runs like a well-oiled machine. The story (both what is given to you and what you have to find) is perfect for the type of game it is. My only complaint is that they nerfed the Trilogy version, so I have to play on Hypermode to feel like I'm getting the real experience. Although, the slick Wii controls more than make up for that. I don't know how I played this game on Gamecube.
There is a definate difference between those games you mentioned and a game like halo for example, in portal, its all about puzzle solving, not shooting things, the things you shoot add to the puzzle element of the game, in metroid prime, yes you do shoot things, but most of it involves platforming, exploring, finding items, and solving puzzles, just because you shoot things in a first person view in a 3d space doesnt automatically make it a shooter.
5:41 he sead dread!!! project dreadd! there was a posting on a wall in metroid prime that sead "project dread is nearing compleation" and when asked about it, myamoto sead there was no such game being worked on... XD
if you shoot, and is in first person, then it is a first person shooter. But it doesnt mean that it is the only genre that it belongs to. It-s like saiyng that Castlevania Symphony of thr night is only either an action platformer or and rpg, it-s not, because it-s both
I never said Metroid prime was "not really an FPS" Metroid Prime is an FPS. Your primary view is first person, and the only means of completing the game is shooting things in that first person view, just because this game brought more to the table than your average FPS doesn't mean this game isn't an FPS. Your arguement would be like saying "Mega Man is not a platformer, it's a shooter" Or "Mega Man is not a shooter, it's a Platformer". Metroid prime is both an FPS and an Action Adventure.
Personally i preferred mp2 over mp. The feeling of Dark Aether was just awesome. Even though i was 14 when it came up, it scared the shit out of me. I simply didn't want to go to it, and when i was there, i took my time. Also the Ing, they looked so invincible during most of the game. But you don't remember that part, you remember the last 10% in which you have the anihilator beam and light suit and you kicked ass, very satisfying. Mp is still awesome of course, but mp2 tops it.
that one is an awesome game too! I still prefer the atmosphere, the world, and the gameplay of the original though. I actually consider prime 1 my favorite game of all time, I have been doing a camcorder lp of it, its been a while since I returned to that.
@BearGuardian303 Other M is the latest game in the series storywise, set after Super Metroid. The prime trilogy takes place before the original Metroid I believe. I think it goes Prime trilogy, Metroid, Metroid 2, Super Metroid, Other M.
You just contradicted yourself. You started by saying that Metroid Prime IS an FPS. You didn't say that it was other genres. It's mostly an adventure game, so I'd personally classify it in the adventure or first person adventure genre. However it is also a platformer, and a very small part shooter. It's all of them, not just one. Just like you said Castlevania SotN is both an action platformer and an RPG.
I think from an atmospheric perspective, it was the best out of the three. It even has some of the most creative environments. The only thing I dislike about this game is that changing between dimensions gets extremely annoying at the end of the game.
Yeah I have the trilogy too and I've only played through 3. I bet the other 2 are great but they start of sooo boring that I never get around to finishing them.
When I first played it, I had nightmares of it and still muttled through till I got stuck til a couple years later when I beat the game. Its a beast game and super hard with great puzzles and super original.
They just wanted to experiment with the universe and the characters. I see nothing wrong with that. Not that I want Metroid to be like Other M was, mind you, but I liked it for what it is and what it tried to, what it succeded in and even where it fell short because you can see what potential this series has in the future.
@MBlueFlame Try and get the prime trilogy for the Wii but it can go for a price so try hunt down all 3 of the prime games individually. If you have a Wii get Super Metroid on the Virtual Console its the best Metroid IMO and its my favourite game of all time, or get a Rom of it on the internet. Metroid is a great series and I highly recommend getting into the series
@soxeaglesyuoke you look through her eyes and you shoot just because it has exploration elements and you can turn into a ball doesnt mean it isnt an fps
I had a lot of fun with Echoes, but I see why people prefer the first and third instalments of the Prime trilogy - variety. Prime and Corruption offers arctic, jungle, lava and desert environments on top of space station and research base locales - Echoes on the other hand (in both the light and dark worlds) spends 99% of the time in similar looking deserts and stone temples. Personally I loved Echoes, but I can see how the lack of visual variety might have proved tiresome for some players.
Its a personal journey. And by the way, have you never played fusion? The story is practically the same. And yes it deviates from the formula, so what? That doesn't mean it sucks, it just mean that its not what the core fanbase of Metroid might want, but who cares about the fanbase? Its not the fans who make the games, its the developers and I like devs taking a risk at some point and doing something differently, other than playing it save like CoD does.
The game is even classified a FPA, first person ADVENTURE. Shooting things isn't the prime goal it, it's to explore and reach the ultimate goal getting the 12 artifacts and getting to the crater.
Excellent review. I love how you focus on what's good and what's not. You use a language that really makes me want to play the game, without the usual foul language that accompanies a lot of reviews. You make no attempt to tell the whole story and what each stage is about. This is what a review should be: don't tell me everything about the game, but wet the audiences appetite enough, so they want to make that purchase. Good job! Keep up the good work!
Agreed.
Boy each of the Metroid Prime games has some incredible opening moments. This one from Echoes always chilled me to the bone, especially once the marines start reanimating so creepily.
I own Metroid Trilogy for the Wii, and i have almost played Prime wholly trough, i can't wait to start on Echoes next.
Probably one of the best video game reviews I've ever seen... Well done Derek!!
Hi awesome review. You really sound like Pit from Smash Bros btw.
Wow, really nice video. I appeciate these 3 things you did:
1) Uncover some of the hidden and often overlooked poetry of the game world with your introduction.
2) Give the game the credit it deserves instead of vaguely categorizing it as "weird".
3) Make an awesome metaphor of how Echoes in a way is in its own shadow world because it's in the shadow of the monumental Prime 1.
Looking back... if Majora's Mask is a better Zelda because of Link being finally "linked" to the player like never before (in my opinion)... in that case, Echoes is the best Metroid of all-time. Being more complex, feeling fresh despite being a sequel, a true hardcore challenge (Hard Mode of Echoes is insane), epic boss fights, time playing against the player because of Dark Aether atmosphere (this makes us being connected to Samus even more than before, something that even Other M did wrong), two parallel universes that are the same but so different too because of that toxic atmosphere and the puzzles... Sure the impact of Metroid Prime will never be denied because it revived the series as a whole but Echoes just proved to be an incredible sequel to an outstanding masterpiece. Sure I do prefer Metroid Prime 1 (it's the best game I've ever played) but I do think Echoes is a better Metroid.
And because Yoshio Sakamoto doesn't even consider the Metroid Prime Trilogy in the timeline (the trilogy added more backstory than even Metroid Fusion and Other M themselves), I'll simply put aside Super Metroid until the faithful day, the day that Sakamoto gives all the rights, documents, musics, sounds... everything about Metroid to Retro Studios!
I'm not going to be one of those people who thinks this game is bad. It's not. I do like the game. But it does have it's flaws though. But what can I appreciate is how it's trying something differently and in many parts, it works. But there are few that don't. Overall, I still think it's a good game. Not my top 3 favorite Metroid games, but it's still worth it. And yeah, Zero Mission is also a great game.
it's ok to be wrong
I'm a huge fan of Metroid and Super Metroid... I grew up with those games... I tried Metroid Prime and I really couldn't get into it... but that was like 10 years ago, I should try it again.. maybe get the trilogy...
the Light and Dark World Concept is a great idea, but the problem is that the time you have to Backtrack is much bigger because you have two worlds.
I liked the game but could never figure out how to revive/rebuild Quadraxis?
Metroid Prime is the game that started the series and made the biggest jump in terms of innovation.
But it's MP2 that shattered the standards set by MP, in terms of plot elements, characterization (more body language to characterize Dark Samus and Samus), difficulty, new bosses, puzzles, atmosphere, and remixes (love the Submerged temple remix of Super Metroid's red soil song)
The title music to this was incredibly epic, that was the main thing i remember of this game. Damn i need metroid prime trilogy. TO EBAY!!
Metroid Prime was the main reason I bought a Gamecube. I finished the original game, then it took me 2 years to beat this game. I kept getting tired of it and then picking it up again later. I think my total play through time was about 26 hours according to the game clock. Very impressive game, though. Not boring at all. Just very long.
Retro Studios is my favorite game developer. Derek hit it on the head at 5:35. It absolutely made me feel a great deal of dread every time I had to enter Dark Aether. This is of course in contrast to other "Dark Worlds", like A Link to the Past, where I greatly preferred the Dark World.
...why would that prevent her from meeting them? She grew up with them. She was able to interact with them just fine when she was a kid.
Pause at 3:14. If you have played Twilight Princess, you know why you are paused.
omg I see it wow
I'm glad to see this review pop up, I hope Derek reviews all the Metroid games, I love them alot like he does.
Also, this game was great, I liked the original better. Although I LOVE how they didn't just build off of the first, this game is a completely different one than the first, which is fantastic.
Last true Metroid game, Dark, Explorative, and Absurdly Epic! Haven't Seen a true Explorative nintendo game in years. Sure do miss em.
On that point, I havnt seen a great game from Ninty for years.
Raiken Xion Haha. You cannot be serious dude. Seriously. Let me know, I'll make you a list.
Justin Dloski seriously, thatd be great i might have missed a few. Gotta be a nintendo published, and the games cant hold your hand.
Ok, I guess by years, if you mean the past 3 or 4, than you are right. if we go back several there are a lot. Last 3 years have been pretty barren, but this year is looking unreal. They are back in a big way.
Oh but I do implore you big time to check out DK Tropical Freeze if you are at ALL into 2D sidescrollers. Actually it's more of a 2.5D I kind of wrote it off at first but just bought it a couple days ago. The game is amazing. The music is so good. It's just so polished.
I really prefer the first Prime. Everything about it just screams "classic" from the music, weapons, and environments. Even though each area has a theme, I don't need to check the map much to know where I'm going on repeat playthroughs. In contrasts, the different environments of Metroid Prime 2 look so similar. I often remember a room that held a powerup, but forgot if it's in Agon Wastes, or another place, and even on a repeat playthrough I get lost. The only area that stands out is the Sanctuary Fortress. In addition, the limited beam ammo, while effective in putting more pressure and making players think out their tactics more, felt like a burden and as the game nears its end, I start to get finger fatigue in getting to just a couple powerups a session. This would be all fine and good, except the dark world just makes it that much longer. This doubles the backtracking time, sometimes even more because of portal placement. The light fields in the dark world slowly regenerate your health, and outside drains it much quicker than that, so expect to wait awhile in the light for your shield energy to replenish before you can move on with the game, making exploring even more tedious and slower than it was already. Once the new beams are obtained, expect to be shooting containers with the opposite beam to farm for ammo for half the game. Then there's the Sky Temple keys. These are like the chozo artifacts, except for the fact that there were also keys needed to face the boss of each climate, so there's that. Because of all of this, I haven't even touched the game with its improved motion controls in the Metroid Prime Trilogy and I've played the original two times already on that collection. It's a nice game at first but after getting halfway through exploring the planet starts to feel more like a chore than it does actually being fun. That's just me though.
xxy xxyy Well okay.
BlueAmpharos
What's so similar about Agon Wastes, Torvus Bog and Sanctuary Fortress? I agree that the Dark world does look a bit similar, but I'm ok with that.
I honestly think the original Prime was the weakest entry of the trilogy. Echos > Corruption > Prime for me. Not that I didn't like Prime, I loved Prime.
Al0neStillAlive
I think just the same way.
You're not alone in preferring the style of prime to this. I was always sad that I didn't enjoy this more and kept coming back to it to try one more time. It never clicked with me though. I felt the same as you. Interestingly enough, I also prefer ocarina of time to majora's mask. For similar reasons.
Just finished prime 1 for the first time... gonna jump into echoes now! Wish me luck!!!
This is one of the best reviews very nice you did a great job. I never really got into these games because it wasn't my style but I wish I did and might sound weird but this game could make a great movie
I'm playing through this game on the trilogy disc right now. The dark world is interesting in that the map looks the same but the actual environment is completely different. It's hard to recognize landmarks from light Aether in dark Aether.
Great review. I have Metroid Prim 3: Corruption, which is great, but this seems really different. I've never watched any review about this Echoes, and this really described everything well.
I was so happy when I beat the final boss. There would be no way I could win if I didn't get all of the ammo expansions!
So I am new to the series. Should I get 1 and 2 on the gamecube and 3 on the wii, or get the wii trilogy version. Keep in mind I prefer the gc controller over the wii nunchuck. Can anyone elaborate for me?
If you prefer the GC controller, get the GC versions. Of course I've heard most people say that they like the controls in Prime 3 better, and if that's the case, then the trilogy version is the version to go with. I don't have a Wii, so I have only played the GC versions of the two first, and I think the controls work perfectly
I agree with lasseplatburk. I found the gamecube controls to work very well with Metroid Prime 1, though I haven''t played Metroid Prime 2. It just felt very smooth, and the lock on combat felt good opposed to Metroid Prime 3 where you aim with the wii mote. (I think you do at least) Anyway I'd get GC.
Get the trilogy on the Wii U eShop. Was it's only $20 (was $10 the first week if your savvy to such things like me).
This is my favorite game of all time
Hands down my favorite game. And let me tell you, playing this game on drugs is WILD!
LSD my friend
Super fantastic game. You'd be a fool not to get the Metroid Prime Trilogy off of the eShop if you own a Wii U.
...Unless you own them all in their original form on the Cube! I can't stand motion controls.
Justin Dloski They work better in it's favor than you'd expect.
Justin Dloski Have fun with the Spider Ball Guardian
Justin Dloski
Motion controls ae the best way of playing first person games hands down.
Zeemanhuismerk It really depends. The original two Prime games didn't have a twin stick control scheme and you literally had to stop to aim, or use lock on. So in the case of Metroid Prime 1 and 2, the new addition of motion controls make the games a hell of a lot better IMO.
Splatoon uses both motion and a twin stick at the same time, and it works really well.
lol i was worried this would get a bad review. Every video i watched with this guy does
Wow great review man!
i heard that there is a multiplayer is that like portals or is it like an fps or possibly co-op? thnx
I've never played the Metroid series but I'm considering going into it.
+Timdeuces ok, but I was actually gonna get the Metroid Prime Trilogy.
just get the trilogy, dont play the old ass gba games
+Nick Anderson I will. I don't own a handheld.
+Joel Auguste You should. Start with Super.
+Joel Auguste There's actually a pretty damn great Metroid game from the GBA called Zero Mission, which is an entire remake of the first game, only more balanced and has a map. It's a fun experience that is as close to the classic as it gets(and you even unlock the option to play the original Metroid after beating Zero Mission once), and I would highly recommend picking up Zero Mission somehow.
I got this game as a Christmas present for my nephew. If I had had a Nintendo Gamecube, I would have been intrigued enough to open the game and play it.
is there a version of this game for the Wii?
I know this comment is old but i cant wait to see what Retro Studios does with the Zelda series!
@theras18 You are of course aware that this is on the Gamecube?
On a related note you can get this for wii with new play control or in the metroid prime trilogy
This is the bad-ass version of Samus at her best. Echoes just oozes mood and atmosphere all over you. It's a crime that this review doesn't show any scenes from Sanctuary Fortress. Man, that is still my favorite area from any Metroid Game
@NinjaNidoking metroid was on xbox? when did that happen? o.O are you from the echo world?
that makes sense, thank you for clearing that up.
While not my favorite of the series, I can appreciate how the game tries something differently than no other Metroid games tries to do before & how it works. There's some things of this game that I like, but there also some things that I don't like. Overall, Prime 2 is a good game in it's ways. Not my top 3 favorite Metroid games, but I still like it.
@slogsweep I really love Metroid Prime. The original is one of my fave games ever.
And I agree with the whole FPS after FPS thing.
The only quarrel I have with MP is the backtracking, and sadly because of the odd aiming+moving combined thing, the platforming is a bit meh.
I love the Gamecube.
This particular entry in the series stood out to me in all honesty. It has a dark undertone, provides a decent challenge (or damn near-overkill on that DAMN BOOSTBALL BOSS!) and plays at the yin-yang aspect really well. It was a real labor of love and has a unique identity compared to Metroid Prime 1 which took several cues from Super Metroid.
Then's there the fact that the feeling of isolation couldn't have been felt greater considering that you were trapped on an alien world split in two.
Not necessarily due to the fact that the game is based towards exploration, therefore its more of an adventure game, also the game has other aspects like the MORPH BALL WHICH ISNT FIRST PERSON, for a game to be classed as an fps it has to be fully based on it, dont get me wrong in the game you do first player shooting but to class it as fps it has to be based on it but the game is based on exploration and adventure so its classed as an fp adventure game m8. Sorry to blow up your mind
is it wise for me to get this as my 1st metroid game[?]
great review sir
I'm about halfway through playing Prime for the first time and I'm really looking forward to this game.
There's Mario, Link and then there's Samus, just as iconic as the other two but for the hardcore gamers. It's been said that Prime 2 is the hardcore gamer's game.
This was a great game and the atmosphere was fantastic in the dark world, but I preferred prime 1 more.
Agreed.
Derek, You failed to talk about the multi play aspect of the game. That form of gameplay was not be used in the series again until metriod prime hunters for the ds and given a much needed facelift. It was not handled by retro studio but by Nintendo software technology who make the mario vs donkey kong series as well as ports of games. Sadly hunters suffered for the stylus controls that all ds fps games do, but when it was new it showed the power of the ds, and improves what METROID PRIME 2 tried
Great review
Well said compairing prime 1 and 2. I agree 100%. I love the prime series and Echoes is my favorite of the 3.
the same as any other fps? I mean have you ever PLAYED Metroid Prime and Portal?
@DrNo0Entertainment1 I know this comment is old, but its not underrated at all. It sold quite well, and had near perfect reviews from major reviewers back in the day. The reason its 4 dollars is because its very easy to find. If it was a rare game, the game would cost a lot more. I love all the Metroid games, but Prime will always be one of the best.
so this took place after other M?
@NinjaNidoking what weird universe are you from?
@shikavic Agreed. Next to fighting the Nightmare on a 1% items run in Metroid Fusion, Boost Guardian on hard mode was probably one of the hardest points in the entire series.
I love this game I have no idea why everyone was hating on it when it first came out.
This game is great. Thumbs up if you think that Johnny's review was a little harsh though.
This used to be my least favorite Prime game until I played it on the Prime Wii anthology. This is the the hardest and most satisfying Metroid game ever made.
Yeah. The Prime Trilogy version makes Prime 2 much more tolerable. It still has it's flaws, but it's worth it.
I will always have more love for Prime 1. Don't get me wrong, all of the Primes are beautiful, amazing games, but 1 is my favorite of the four. Sure it had several flaws that were fixed in the other Primes, you can't deny that, but it's the game that got me into Metroid, and it did a lot of other things for me as well.
Echoes, before the Trilogy release nerfed it, really was the hardest of all Prime games. At the time I really enjoyed the dark atmosphere and challenge, but unfortunately, it's very taxing on the game's replayability. The original Prime I'll go back to anyday. Echoes? Ehhhh...I dunno.
This is true. I think Metroid Prime 2 is a far better game than Metroid Prime 3 (which is still good), but at this point I'd rather replay Metroid Prime 3 because it's far more accesible and less taxing. I did finish Metroid Prime 2 on hard mode though. :) On the original GC of course.
soulripper31 How Fun were the basic Enemies and Bosses on Hard Mode??
GRIMLOCK07
I struggled for a long long time at the boost ball guardian, but then I decided to find an ammo expansion (I kept running out on light beam ammo) and actually took him down relatively easy. Other then that I didn't struggle that much with it. This was also my first Metroid game lol... I breezed through Metroid Prime 3. In that game I only struggled to the control scheme in the beginning (I'm left handed).
soulripper31 I never really had a problem with Boost Guardian, but I've read that a lot of players do.
Spider Guardian was always a "P"ain in the Ass for me. I could rarely get the timing with the Bombs down. I'm actually think of replaying the Prime series over the Christmas Holiday again. 1 and 2, but I want to play them on Hard. I wish knew of a way to transfer a game save from Internet with Hard Mode already unlocked to my Game Cube Memory Card.
I don't want to play thru the entire game just to Unlock Hard Mode. Since I haven't these two in many years, it'll be and feel like a Somewhat New Game to me.
Or Perhaps I should do Timesplitters 2 or 007 Agent Under Fire??
GRIMLOCK07
I kinda liked the Spider Ball Guardian. The only annoying part was that there wasn't any save station nearby. Do you have the Prime Trilogy? Because they made MP 2 easier in those games. Especially the Spider Ball Guardian is easier because you can use the spring ball instead of bombs.
Light and Dark Ether, eh? Sound familiar?
You know, I am so sick of hearing people say that Prime 2 sucked. Just because it wasn't as good as the other installments doesn't mean it sucks. I mean, look at Metroid 2:Return of Samus. It wasn't nearly as good as Metroid or Super Metroid, but people still loved it.
I don't know why people say this game was weak compared to the first game. I had a lot of fun with it.
My issue with Prime 2 is that it just didn't feel fun. Sure, that's partly because of the difficulty, but the dark world's impending doom feeling was fairly unwelcome. It was like those sequences in Fusion when the SA-X runs after you...except it was spread out over the whole dark world. Plus, the ammo thing was really annoying after unlimited ammo on Prime 1. These things don't make the game bad by themselves but yeah.
great game but if I could find something to nitpick, it'd be the cartoony-wind waker effects against enemies. I know it's Nintendo, but it is such a contrast in style to the rest of the art direction imo
They would make the most badass team the world has ever seen.
This is by far my favorite of the three games. It's atmosphere is phenomenal, dark, and isolating. The gameplay runs like a well-oiled machine. The story (both what is given to you and what you have to find) is perfect for the type of game it is. My only complaint is that they nerfed the Trilogy version, so I have to play on Hypermode to feel like I'm getting the real experience. Although, the slick Wii controls more than make up for that. I don't know how I played this game on Gamecube.
Samus aran isnt half chozo, she has chozo blood in her so she can with stand the surroundings and the area, without burning up
The best game I own for my dust-covered Wii is the Metroid Prime Trilogy. Time to dust it off and play through these games once more :)
There is a definate difference between those games you mentioned and a game like halo for example, in portal, its all about puzzle solving, not shooting things, the things you shoot add to the puzzle element of the game, in metroid prime, yes you do shoot things, but most of it involves platforming, exploring, finding items, and solving puzzles, just because you shoot things in a first person view in a 3d space doesnt automatically make it a shooter.
5:41 he sead dread!!! project dreadd! there was a posting on a wall in metroid prime that sead "project dread is nearing compleation" and when asked about it, myamoto sead there was no such game being worked on... XD
prime 2 is my favourite in the trilogy,its more refined than the first one in my opinion.
if you shoot, and is in first person, then it is a first person shooter. But it doesnt mean that it is the only genre that it belongs to.
It-s like saiyng that Castlevania Symphony of thr night is only either an action platformer or and rpg, it-s not, because it-s both
I prefer Metroid Prime 2s art better, they nailed the biomechanical nature of the planet.
Finally someone said it, thank you.
I never said Metroid prime was "not really an FPS" Metroid Prime is an FPS. Your primary view is first person, and the only means of completing the game is shooting things in that first person view, just because this game brought more to the table than your average FPS doesn't mean this game isn't an FPS.
Your arguement would be like saying "Mega Man is not a platformer, it's a shooter"
Or "Mega Man is not a shooter, it's a Platformer".
Metroid prime is both an FPS and an Action Adventure.
I still like the first one better, I think the controls are smoother and the world is much more fun to run around in.
Personally i preferred mp2 over mp. The feeling of Dark Aether was just awesome. Even though i was 14 when it came up, it scared the shit out of me. I simply didn't want to go to it, and when i was there, i took my time. Also the Ing, they looked so invincible during most of the game. But you don't remember that part, you remember the last 10% in which you have the anihilator beam and light suit and you kicked ass, very satisfying. Mp is still awesome of course, but mp2 tops it.
1:06 I always loved the creepy music at the beginning of the game. :)
that one is an awesome game too! I still prefer the atmosphere, the world, and the gameplay of the original though. I actually consider prime 1 my favorite game of all time, I have been doing a camcorder lp of it, its been a while since I returned to that.
it looks like both 1 and 2 were made on the same graphics engine but I love that in this series!
Prime trilogy FTW! Retro rocks!
@BearGuardian303 Other M is the latest game in the series storywise, set after Super Metroid. The prime trilogy takes place before the original Metroid I believe. I think it goes Prime trilogy, Metroid, Metroid 2, Super Metroid, Other M.
You just contradicted yourself.
You started by saying that Metroid Prime IS an FPS.
You didn't say that it was other genres. It's mostly an adventure game, so I'd personally classify it in the adventure or first person adventure genre. However it is also a platformer, and a very small part shooter. It's all of them, not just one.
Just like you said Castlevania SotN is both an action platformer and an RPG.
I think from an atmospheric perspective, it was the best out of the three. It even has some of the most creative environments. The only thing I dislike about this game is that changing between dimensions gets extremely annoying at the end of the game.
I have prime trilogy and still haven't beaten this game :(
Yeah I have the trilogy too and I've only played through 3. I bet the other 2 are great but they start of sooo boring that I never get around to finishing them.
The first one is more exploring than action-packed. The 2nd is somewhere in between but by far the hardest.
The final boss on Echoes is hard as hell IMO.
Even though he already reviewed all of the prime games he should review metroid prime trilogy
This game is so...*sniff*....this game is so beautifull.
The moment i got the light suit.....*sniff*....i cant begin to explain it.
When I first played it, I had nightmares of it and still muttled through till I got stuck til a couple years later when I beat the game. Its a beast game and super hard with great puzzles and super original.
I don't why but out of one and two? why two ?
so,it is or isn't wise for me to get this as my 1st metroid game
They just wanted to experiment with the universe and the characters. I see nothing wrong with that. Not that I want Metroid to be like Other M was, mind you, but I liked it for what it is and what it tried to, what it succeded in and even where it fell short because you can see what potential this series has in the future.
What about multiplayer?
@MBlueFlame Try and get the prime trilogy for the Wii but it can go for a price so try hunt down all 3 of the prime games individually. If you have a Wii get Super Metroid on the Virtual Console its the best Metroid IMO and its my favourite game of all time, or get a Rom of it on the internet. Metroid is a great series and I highly recommend getting into the series
@soxeaglesyuoke you look through her eyes and you shoot just because it has exploration elements and you can turn into a ball doesnt mean it isnt an fps
I had a lot of fun with Echoes, but I see why people prefer the first and third instalments of the Prime trilogy - variety.
Prime and Corruption offers arctic, jungle, lava and desert environments on top of space station and research base locales - Echoes on the other hand (in both the light and dark worlds) spends 99% of the time in similar looking deserts and stone temples. Personally I loved Echoes, but I can see how the lack of visual variety might have proved tiresome for some players.
Its a personal journey. And by the way, have you never played fusion? The story is practically the same.
And yes it deviates from the formula, so what? That doesn't mean it sucks, it just mean that its not what the core fanbase of Metroid might want, but who cares about the fanbase? Its not the fans who make the games, its the developers and I like devs taking a risk at some point and doing something differently, other than playing it save like CoD does.
I dunno why people hate on Prime 2 I think its far better than Prime 3 and up there with the first Prime but IMO none of them beat Super Metroid :D
The game is even classified a FPA, first person ADVENTURE. Shooting things isn't the prime goal it, it's to explore and reach the ultimate goal getting the 12 artifacts and getting to the crater.