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Metroid Prime Preview
Mark Simons
00/12/0000
Hands-on preview of this important title FROM Nintendo.
Metroid Prime caused a lot of excitement when it was first revealed back with the GameCube and after being playable at E3 2002 it is clear that the hype and anticipation was justified. The return of Samus is being handled by Retro Studios and so far they seem to be doing an admirable job of fleshing out Nintendoās classic 2D games for the current generation of consoles.
Following on from Super Metroid the plot sees Samus travel to a distant planet called Tallon IV to investigate some reports of space pirates. Coming up to the planet Samus notices a space station floating around apparently completely deserted, which of course warrants attention, as expensive space stations do not often float about without a crew. Once you get down to the space station you discover all sorts of creatures milling about and set about making your way through, in the process causing the thing to explode just as you set of to the planetās surface. The introduction to the space station is via a glorious real-time cut-scene that looks astonishing and sets the tone for the rest of the game, which is, beautiful, atmospheric and damn good.
The first person view, which so worried fans of the series in the beginning, looks like it could be a masterstroke for Metroid Prime. The game interface is Samusā suit interface, that is to say Retro Studios have created the effect of being inside the suit. Given the right lighting conditions you can even see Samusā reflection on the visor, some very nice attention to detail that, and cool, very cool. All of the information is presented in a way that does not take you out of the game world, messages, ammo levels and health are all shown on the suitās heads up display. When you are close to death you see cracks start to appear and even condensation will form if it is hot outside.
Making even more use of the heads up display are the visors, which are seemingly integral to the game. We only know of two at the moment the combat visor and the scan visor and there are more, but theyāre under-wraps at the moment. Toggled by the d-pad the visors allow for vastly different functions, the combat visor is, naturally, for when you have to do some shooting. It allows you to lock onto enemies and strafe around them utilising the control scheme which is implemented pretty much perfectly. You have a combination of a Zelda style lock-on with a GoldenEye type of aim all available when you need it at the touch of a button. The scan visor is again pretty self-explanatory, it allows you to look at pretty much any object in the game and find out information about it. This is vital for solving puzzles as it allows you to identify and activate electronics that need re-activating as well as giving you handy information about the enemies that you are fighting.
The combat in the game is very fluid, the L trigger allows you to lock on and strafe around enemies, itās subtle as well as pressing down slightly allows you to strafe but activating the trigger click locks you on to a specific enemy. The R trigger allows you to aim freely which is good for looking around or taking out enemies from a distance. The A button fires and the Y button shoots missiles with B jumping, thatās the basics, but play around a bit and you will find that holding A charges your weapon producing a markedly different effect. What is great is that even though itās not out for another few months Metroid is already a very playable game. The weapon effects too are hugely impressive, charging up and firing a beam results in a trail that distorts the air, just like in The Matrix or something ā“ very cool in practice.
One of the key features of the previous games was Samusā ability to morph into a ball, and in Metroid Prime this feature is activated by pressing the X button which triggers a very nice morphing sequence. When in ball form the view changes to a third person perspective that allows you to judge your movements more precisely. There are some situations where you must use the ball to progress; so far we have seen tunnel sequences with poisonous gasses that must be avoided and zipping through at high speeds as a ball helps to avoid them. In the ball mode you can drop bombs by pressing the B button this is handy for dispatching enemies or propelling yourself up in the air to reach otherwise inaccessible locations.
Graphically Metroid is simply stunning. Thereās not much other way of putting it. The level of detail is amazing and constant, animation is stunning, framerate ā“ a flawless 60. There are environmental effects, fog, amazing lighting, heat haze, sparks fly out and there are lights and animating things doing things everywhere. Not only does it look great but it also feels very solid and imagined as a whole, the levels make sense. There are plenty of little cutscenes throughout levels, for instance when Samus activates panels, these look very good showing off the graphics as well as the directing skill.
The audio more than matches up to the visuals and gameplay thus far. Like all other Nintendo titles this one is presented in Dolby Pro Logic II, which allows for some very high quality real time surround sound. Sound effects are all top notch as is the music, which is apparently composed by Kenji Yamamoto ā“ who did the scores for the previous Metroid games.
