Nerd Mentality

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

Posted by Ken B..

After months of waiting and avoiding spoilers like the plague that they are, I finally got to play Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, and it was well worth the wait. So many emotions assaulted my mind while sustaining myself with Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper and cheap microwave burritos. From elation to disappointment to just plain gassiness (by the way I do not recommend the washing down of bean and cheese burritos with any sort of carbonated beverage), I felt them all.

Before getting into the juicy bits, it's important to bring out the bad news first. I'm sure many of you are wondering what could possibly have disappointed me with MP2, and I'll make it as quick and painless as possible. First though, I'll need you to keep in mind one thing: I have intentionally quarantined myself from Halo 2 and GTA:San Andreas so that this review would be untainted. They are different games, focusing on different things. To compare them would truly be asinine and sophomoric.

So, having said that....

At first I was kind of disappointed that there was really no spoken dialogue in the game. I often asked myself would it hurt so much to give Samus an inner monologue? I'm not looking for any Shakesperean soliloquy or anything like that, but I really think it would have been nice to hear some sultry voice helping you along instead of the very rare hint to pop up on the screen. However, as you progress along you realize that the lack of dialogue doesn't really affect the enjoyment of the game. In fact, now that I think about it, the lack of dialogue really helps you feel truly alone when playing this game and that is exactly what this game is about: being alone, not having back up, not having a squad that can provide cover fire. Your survival is completely up to you. So when you think about it, having a lot of voice acting or any for that matter would simply take away from the experience. Maybe it is for the best that they didn't try at all, which brings me to my next gripe....

Hey Nintendo, where is this multiplayer mode that we were promised? I thought for sure you were going to include an in-depth multiplayer experience that would keep myself and three other friends shooting at each other for hours. I was expecting several large environments that I could get lost in. I was expecting so many different modes that my head would be spinning, but alas all you included was something that can be called "multiplayer" by name only when really it was as short lived as a chain smoker's New Year's resolution. Hey! I know. Maybe I received a defective copy. I eagerly await the correct copy with the multiplayer experience that I was expecting. My name is Ken Booth, my address is.... Who am I kidding? It almost feels like they did this just to make people realize that Metroid isn't about multiplayer at all, but about a great single player experience.

My final Metroid Prime 2 complaint would have to be the plot. There isn't anything spectacular here; and it's pretty standard stuff. A defeated race needs your help blah, find some keys blah, and find the temple for said keys blah. Like I said... standard.

But now I'm just being petty, so lets move onto what this game does right, which is pretty much everything else you could think of. MP2 has the unique ability to make you a part of its world. From the beautiful graphics and painstaking detail to the ambient sounds and perfectly timed music this game delivers, you'll be immersed. And don't think you will see the best this game has to offer with just a couple of hours of play, because the graphics go from really good to amazing when you leave the first area of the planet. It's hard to go into more detail without ruining any of it for you, and I'm trying to stay spoiler free, so bear with me. One of the things I noticed graphically is that the developers at Retro fixed something that really bothered me about Metroid Prime: the spider track. To be blunt, it looked like crap in the first one. You know what I'm talking about. It looked out of place.... like it was made in MS paint; however, it has now been upgraded to blend in with the beautiful environment in which it lies. A small detail, sure, but enough to show how very little really needed to be fixed from the first installment. Take everything that made the first Metroid Prime a must buy, tweak it, and pile on some more: that is Echoes in a nutshell.

One thing that could have used a little tweaking, in my opinion, is the controls. While they are functional, especially when platforming and trying to solve puzzles, they really require you to think outside the box when it comes to your engagements with some of the quicker enemies. With a little practice though, you can become adept at strafing, dodging (dashing), and of course scanning in the middle of a fight, all of which are essential if you plan on getting anywhere in the game. You'll also need to choose your battles wisely, given that the addition of Light and Dark beams that require special ammo will force you to keep an eye on your usage. Oddly enough though, you always seem to get just what you need right when you need it.

Metroid Prime 2 gets you so involved. While there aren't really any characters that you'll truly care about, you'll be immersed in the game's world. When you are running low on energy you'll find yourself scanning a room from the doorway, afraid to enter an ambush. If you can keep yourself from being distracted by the beauty of the landscape you'll probably go to great lengths to find hidden power ups and expansion packs for your missiles. Soon enough self-preservation becomes key; your survival becomes paramount. You can actually feel yourself getting excited during an ambush (and there are many). You'll be frustrated, about to give up on a boss and then suddenly feel joy when you finally figure out how to beat him/her. The anticipation you feel when you've just been given a key to open up even more areas will make your heart skip. These emotions are real. Few games have ever been able inspire such physical reactions, but Metroid Prime 2 does this handily. The credit for this is owed mainly to the fantastic musical score that compliments the game. Not once did I think to myself "God this song sucks" while playing Prime 2, and I'm glad, because for the most part the music is so flawlessly interwoven throughout that you almost don't notice it until it has already manipulated your array of emotions. Ever trying watching an epic sequence in a movie with the TV on mute? Suddenly it isn't so epic. The music makes the mood. Allow it to take you on a ride and I promise, you will be fully engrossed in Echoes.

Beware that this game is not for the impatient or the unskilled. Even some of the little enemies can be a pain in Ms. Aran's shiny glutes. Some quick thinking and mastery of the controls is required if you are going to make it. Like a throwback to the 2-D era; MP2 makes you realize it's all about THE game and THE experience. It's that great.

This game gets an N-Philes score of A.

I want to go on about how perfect everything else in this game is, but you need to experience this for yourself. The title is an amped version of the original Metroid Prime, making an epic experience even better, and making very little mistakes in the process. If you are a gamer of skill, you will enjoy Metroid Prime 2 Echoes. This reviewer strongly recommends a buy.

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