First and foremost, everything every Nintendo fanboy, girl, or just fan has said about this game is true.
Cunning as it may seem, this is actually one of the most playable games you'll ever find.
I'm sure most know the backstory by now, so I'll skip the details.
Suffice to say, you are Samus Aran, Bounty Hunter.
Your job generally consists of killing Space Pirates and stealing whatever it is they're working on.
To assist you in this task you have a variety of big guns, and a big suit of armour to kill, and not be killed respectively.
The premise of all Metroid games, really, is the same: It's a slight variation on 'get key to open door'.
What you do is pick up upgrades for your weapons and armour. As you do so, new areas become available for you to explore. The variation on this, of course, as opposed to the standard 'key' method, is that you're also blasting your enemies with the self-same weapons that you're using to advance yourself in the game.
Ingenius indeed.
Onwards, then, and we'll look at what, exactly, about the game makes it appeal so much. Well, naturally the first thing that's going to strike you about a game is the graphics. And Metroid Prime goes one step further than that.
The actual title screen itself is a beautifully rendered microscope's view of a red blood cell cluster, rendered down to the individual strands. Coupled with the compelling music, makes this one of those games that you put in the drive, and it just gives you shivers from even the very thought of playing it.
As we move into the game itself, we realise we were right to feel such tremulous anticipation. The game is gorgeous. To begin with we don't see a great deal of what it has to offer, but we see enough to know that we're in for some eye candy throughout. The discerning listener will notice that the music, whilst subtle at points, certainly sets the tone of the game perfectly.
So we know the game has us hooked as a sensory experience, but what about the main thing? The gameplay? Well, I'm happy to report that the gameplay is by far and away the best part about the game.
I've touched on the fundamentals of what it's all about above, but I'll go into a little more detail here.
Effectively what we have is a puzzle-'em up with shooting elements.
It's back to the roots of gaming; stuff we generally don't see outside of GameBoy Advance remakes nowadays. So expect the game to include boss fights. Big boss fights. Big, hard, boss fights.
And, obviously, it's not just a blast-fest. We have to use our noggins here. Just aimlessly shooting all your most powerful weapons is going to do diddly-squat to most bosses, so you have to work out a strategy.
Whilst we're on the subject of 'strategy' I'll highlight what I think is probably the one thing that sets this game apart from any other, at least that I've ever played: The Scan Visor.
The sheer wealth of knowledge and information available to you in this game is staggering. You could feasibly only ever go through this game reading the vital information, and forgetting the extras. But why would we want to do that?
Reading the Space Pirate entries (just as a 'for instance'), and watching as the entries get more and more panicky the further through the game you go simply adds a depth lacking in nearly all other games.
But these messages also serve to suggest routes through secret areas, ways to kill upcoming enemies, suggestions for what these enemies will be.
Simply put: It's a wealth of knowledge at your fingertips, turning a game into a complete experience.
After playing the game through, I could almost feel myself wanting to start over again... right after completing it. It's just so... fun! I can't really put my finger on exactly why, probably the culmination of everything that we've already discussed, but it's just the most beautifully elegant, playable game you'll ever play.
So in summary: If Halo is a reason to buy an XBox, Metroid Prime is a reason to own a GameCube. Oh, and it's better.
Graphics: 10 (some textures aren't hugely detailed, but it's barely noticeable)
Sound: 9 (The music is fantastic, weapon sounds, enemies... all fantastic. The only thing is that the music gets a bit samey by the end of the game)
Gameplay: 10 (Perfection. Nothing more needs be said)
Longevity: 10 (~25 hours through the first time, and I'm definitely going to play it again, probably when I hook up Metroid Fusion)
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