None of them really reach the heights of GBA Pokemon Pinball but both Pinball of the Dead and Metroid Prime Pinball are pretty enjoyable. And I really loved Sonic Pinball Party too, even if the Samba de Amigo table was almost unplayable.
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Game 08 - Metroid Prime Hunters
We continue through the period where the Metroid franchise felt like it was at its most vibrant and alive thanks to the success of the Prime arm of the brand, this time bringing another spin-off in the form of an attempt to deliver an FPS experience on the humble power of the NDS. Set between the two existing main entries at this point, this had the doubly ambitious plan to focus on multiplayer. Though technically well realised the games controls were less than popular, the system having to work around the lack of analogue control.
Was Hunters a worthy continuation of the Metroid franchise or another oddity curio?Comment
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It took a while to get a hang of the controls on this one but, once I did, I loved it. It was a huge amount of fun. The single player was not good but that was kind of thrown in. It was a multiplayer game first and foremost and to have something like this on the DS run so well was a big surprise. Yes, what I really wanted at the time was a proper DS Metroid Prime but, on its own merits, I thought this was a success.Comment
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Yeah I enjoyed this too. It was very fast and fluid in MP and was well worth putting up with all the hand cramps you got from the stylus aiming.Comment
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It was the closest thing we would ever get to Quake 3 on the DS.Comment
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Game 09 - Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Releasing on the Wii and mixing up the controls by adding motion aiming, the third Prime is where this sub-series ran out of steam despite the popularity of the host console. Taking place six months after the events of the second entry, this added power moves and reviewed very well again but didn't sell enough for Nintendo to hold on to it as the direction for the series moving forward managing to shift 1.3m units on a system with around 100m units sold.
Where does Prime 3 stand these days in the lineage of the Metroid franchise?Comment
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Having skipped 2, I was back in for 3 and, well, my impression of it is a mixed bag. It's a good game. It's enjoyable. There is some really good level design. Some of the visuals look lovely.
But the visuals are essentially pasted over level design with no attempt to make them feel like a world. They are just game levels. As all game levels are but other games make more effort to get you to buy into the locations. Prime 3 doesn't. It has quirks that almost nobody else would have got away with when this game was released, such as enemies respawning the moment you leave a room and far too many repeated areas.
And I felt it struggled to create a rewarding sense of progression this time around, mostly due to the fact that you have most of the abilities at the start of the game. I guess not wanting to yet again strip Samus of her basic abilities and drip feed them to you, the game had to create new things to give you. But they all amount to the same thing - they are essentially door keys. Use whatever beam in whatever door to progress. Unlike the older abilities such as double jump, morphball and so on, you don't feel like you have a new toy to play with, a new way to explore the space. They're just keys.
So I remember feeling a bit disappointed with the game overall. And yet all that said, it is a good game and it is fun for most of it. It plays well.Comment
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Prime 2 is my favourite. It drips with atmos.Comment
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I remember Prime 3 much less clearly than I do the original but I do remember enjoying and playing it and beaitng it was in itself a jump from still never having done Prime 2. I don't know if it was due to the controls or design but I remember it being a fair but easier than Prime 1 as well.Comment
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Game 10 - Metroid: Other M
Fans were ready for the next game in the franchise but because Nintendo can't just iterate when it really should sometimes it veered into a new direction with a new developer, bringing Team Ninja in to develop a third person entry that more closely tried to marry the gameplay of the 2D entries to that of the 3D ones. With a simplified control system to try to appeal the Wii's newfound casual audience and lots of narrative cutscenes, Other M was well recieved despite what its legacy would suggest but even that initial positive response and the huge userbase would see the game fail to sell as well as Prime 3, bringing the console entries to an end for a decade.
Were original reviews right about Other M or does it deserve the negative reputation it later developed?Comment
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Other M was great. It played so well. Only the music really disappointed me. It lacked that Metroid atmosphere.Comment
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This game didn't click with me at all. Admittedly, I probably played it only for about an hour or so and that may have not been enough time to really get into it. I don't remember what it was that didn't work for me, to be honest. But the overall impression was that it was like an odd Metroid only not quite Metroid thing.Comment
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Game 11 - Metroid Prime: Federation Force
Leveraging the Prime name we reach the final entry in our returning tour of the Metroid series with this handheld co-op title. Playing somewhat similarly to Hunters, the game was outright poorly received from reveal to delivery. It had been hoped that the game would feed into the canon of future entries but that seems unlikely given the reaction the game garnered with it proving to be the biggest failure the franchise has had to date.
Did Federation Force deserve the reputation it received?
And overall, how strong truly is the Metroid gaming legacy?Comment
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I’ve just started playing Return of Samus on my RG-350M having only really played Super, a bit of Fusion, and the original Prime. Whilst it is obviously a bit rudimentary compared to Super (which I maintain is one of the GOATs on any console), I’m still having a lot of fun with it. Its monochrome graphics, bleepy audio, and sprawling area to explore WITH NO IN-GAME MAP (!) reminds me of Speccy games of yore such as Starquake and Underwurlde.
Yes, the audio, this is somewhat of a disappointment knowing that its follow up, Super, sounds so fricking amazing. I’m constantly referring to an online map because I just can’t be arsed to go back to the days of no maps, pens and paper, and all that shenanigans.
Aside from that it’s all great fun and well worth a look. It’s Metroid FFS.Comment
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I never played Federation Force but I did enjoy us calling it Federation Farce.Comment
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