The long wait is over. Metroid has finally seen a sequel. And the great news is: it is a Metroid game.
I'll start by saying this: If you're looking for a Quake/Unreal/Doom/Serious Sam/Halo/etc. clone, don't bother looking into Metroid Prime. The game doesn't play like these games, even though it is played mainly from a first person view.
Now, if you are looking for an oustanding transition of Metorid from 2D gameplay, to 3D gameplay, then look into Metroid Prime. This game feels like a Metroid game, just in 3D.
Graphically, this is the best looking real-time rendered game on the GameCube to date. Incredible use of geometry and textures helps make all the areas look and feel like they should, and give the entire thing a very organic look. There is no bump-mapping, however, which would have made the game look even more organic.
There are a lot of nice graphical touches put into this game that really help to add to it. For example, should an explosion happen really close to Samus, you will actually see her eyes reflect on the inner glass/plexiglass/whatever her visor is made of. You can see the bones of her hands when you have the X-Ray visor up. Etc. Nice touches like these, and others, really help add to the overall feeling of quality put into this game.
The sound is equally superb, especially considering the entire soundtrack is done in MIDI and not Red Book audio (CD style with real instruments). The original composer for the Metroid games has returned, and has shown that MIDI can do a lot more than people thought it could, and still sound great.
Weapon blasts have a feeling of power from their sounds. Enemies give off appropriate roars and shrieks, as well as death sounds. Machinery gives off the sounds for what it is doing, etc.
Gameplay, even in a 3D first person view mode, is pure Metroid through and through. You aren't supposed to just go and kill everything. You have to look for power-ups and upgrades in order to get through all the areas. And these power-ups aren't just there for one-use-only deals. Each upgrade you recieve really does open up all new areas within each part of the game, and every major upgrade is fully required to complete the game.
The game is about exploration. It's about finding everything you can in order to complete your goal, which won't become apparent until you go and scan everything you possibly can. It's about seeing a power-up nearby, and knowing you just need the next upgrade to get to it.
Is the game completely perfect? No.
The controls do have a learning curve to them, especially if you are used to Halo, TimeSplitters 2, and other console FPS games. It controls much more like GoldenEye on the N64. If you were a GoldenEye master, then you should feel right at home with this game.
There's also the chance that the game might freeze on you. It seems to happen the most when reaching the top of an elevator shaft leading to a new/different part of the game world. It seems random, however. Judging by how much this game is constantly loading (to eliminate a 'now loading screen") it's possible there's just some erorr correction that isn't working right at certain points. Because of this, I reccomend saving at every opportunity to ensure you don't lose a whole lot of progress to a possible crash.
There's also the fact that Samus is actually a bit slow, especially turning around.
But do these things detract from the game at all? Not really. This game is still one of the best to come out on the GameCube, if not the best so far. And it is also one of the best games to come out this year.
So if you are a fan of the Metroid series, then I heartilly reccomend this game. If you want games like Quake/Unreal/Halo, then go look somewhere else, since this game won't give it to you.
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