A few months ago, I wrote an extensively in-depth retrospective of the Metroid Prime trilogy and posted it at a couple message boards. I've decided to touch it up a bit and repost it here along with a new article that will focus on the fantastic art of the series and finally I'll wrap the week up with my own purely speculative vision of the Metroid series' future. If you love Metroid, step inside. If you're simply curious about all the fuss and care not one wit about spoilers, come along for the ride. Let us begin with Metroid Prime.
Prime - Like milk chocolate. Smooth and sweet...
In my personal hierarchy of trilogy greatness, Metroid Prime sits at the pinnacle. It is a game where so much comes together so well that its creation feels inspired by Greek Muses. Obviously you already have to be a fan of genre and series to feel the same, but within those qualifications, Metroid Prime is special to many. Upon my first play through of this game, I wandered about the labyrinth of Tallon IV in wonder and awe at its beauty. Upon each subsequent play I gained a deeper appreciation of the game's craftsmanship, strengths and flaws all the same. Now I will try and take you with me on my exploration of what makes this game such a remarkable experience through my own eyes.
The living world of Tallon IV
Actually, before I even descend to the surface of the planet, I must pay my respects to the Space Pirate Frigate, hanging tenuously in unstable orbit above the planet. This is the introduction, my first step into the game world and it is a memorable one. The story is set up in a few brief sentences. A distress signal has been received; Samus investigates and I am treated to a scene of an alien vessel above an alien planet. The rumble of Samus' ship's engines are heard and within a camera pan I have control of the heroine. All is quiet in a perfectly captured eeriness and there's no rush to do anything. Did anyone not pause to admire the orangely glowing planet below or watch the passing of drifting meteors? It is nearly silent, only subtle sounds of the tread of her boots and the hum of machinery exist. A short jaunt through the airlock and I get an idea of the extent of detail that has gone into the creation of this world. During pressurization, steam briefly fog's the heroine's visor and as the ship's artificial gravity takes affect, the floating debris within the lock fall to the floor. A step inside the ship and I am introduced to the aftermath of carnage and a mystery invites me to take my time and have a careful look around. There is much to see.
The frigate introductory level in Prime remains my favorite of the trilogy. It draws the gamer forth with invitation to investigate, to discover the story through the effort of one's own detective work. You don't need a narrator explaining that a battle took place, you can see it and put together the course of events yourself through the examination of data logs and corpses. Here I must mention my, perhaps morbid, love of scanning corpses. Their silence does not stop them from telling their individual stories, it feels so much more real and immediate than the most carefully animated flashback could manage. The story they tell is one of hubris and folly. These creatures known only as Space Pirates, in their rush to grasp power from a substance they don't well understand have brought destruction upon themselves. It's all around me in fires and crackling electricity, in the green stains of ichor from their mangled limbs. It is in the mutated bodies of creatures they have experimented on and in the extensive structural damage done to the ship itself. I don't get to stay here long though, as my investigation quickly leads to confrontation and a passing encounter with Ridley, an old foe.
It is a traditional game mechanic of the Metroid Series to start off weak and gain in power and ability with each suit enhancement found. Being a sequel chronologically to the first game in the series, Prime handles the problem of knocking Samus down to starter hero status with simple efficiency. During her escape from the alien frigate, an explosion sends her crashing into a wall and pretty much every upgrade she had earned malfunctions, leaving her stripped and starting over. Once back on her ship, a quick cut scene shows her pursuing Ridley down to the planet's surface. I love the sound effect they use for her ship's engines. Rather than an obnoxious roar or an ear splitting scream, it puts me in mind of an expensive car's hum, a high performance machine that doesn't need to display its power with volume. Through the cloud heavy atmosphere the Hunter Ship plunges, landing within a small canyon thick with alien flora, heavy with rain. I have arrived.
It's amazing to think, Metroid Prime is a game of rooms and passages connected by doors, yet no two rooms are alike. Even the simplest metal hallway has a curve, or a pipe, or an intruding tree root to set it apart from any other. The amount of audio and visual detail that went into every aspect of Prime's design is staggering and each region of Tallon IV's world is unique in character.
Tallon Overworld – Bioluminescent plants and fungus light stony tunnels. Roots from trees spread down rock walls and moss hangs in green curtains from stepped ledges. Waterfalls feed into streams and ponds and the ever present rain spatters Samus' beam cannon and visor. The unobtrusive music enhances the feeling of calm. Here one can find a mysterious temple built by the Chozo, displaying their love of iconic architecture and the flooded remains of the Space Pirates' Frigate, so lately visited while in orbit.
Chozo Ruins – Water trickles through the broken brickwork of stone walls and sand is carried upon gusts of wind. A feeling of solitude permeates the atmosphere. Tiny green moths gather in the sunlight that pours through the gaps of collapsed ceilings. A past glory can be seen here, gentle and organic, now dried and faded. It's a lonely place but far from empty.
Magmoor Caverns – Tunnels and caverns of dark volcanic rock lit with the lurid red glow from lakes of magma. Glowing ash floats on the super heated air and steam erupts from crevices to fog Samus' visor. Magmoor is a long corridor of fire and stone and my steps through it are hurried along by the music, an ominous march veterans of Super Metroid will instantly recognize.
Phendrana Drifts – From fire I emerge into ice. Frozen cascades glisten in the light and encrust cold gray stone. Snow is piled into drifts next to the ruins of what possibly were dwelling places long ago. Frosted branches, woven into bridges add warmer browns and oranges, counter points of color amongst the white and blue. Within the organic valleys and caves is the pirate's research center. A hive of metal catwalks and strange machinery. One of my favorite rooms here is the Observatory, with its luminous hologram of the solar system and the heartbeat thump of its power generator.
Phazon Mines – What begins as an industrial area of stone and rusty metal becomes more and more otherworldly the deeper I go. Eventually I leave the mine shafts and enter claustrophobic caves illuminated by mutated fungus large enough to stand on, filling the air with irradiated spoors. Phazon, somehow both organic and crystalline, spreads tendril like formations across the stone, alive with arcing electricity. It's dark down here and the uncanny aura is only enhanced by Samus' need to rely on her Thermal and X-ray Visors.
Impact Crater – And now things really get strange. Structures reminiscent of bone and teeth are lit with garish light and the floors that at first seem to be stone squish beneath Samus' booted feet. There can be no doubt that somehow, the very walls around me are alive. This small area is the home of festering corruption.
The Metroid games have always been deep experiences, combining action and adventure; environmental puzzles and combat, to create more than one draw. As a result they are difficult games to summarize and, I imagine, difficult to advertise. Most poplar games concentrate on a singular focus, be it shooting, or strategy, or puzzle solving. They can often be explained in a sentence, or single image, or thirty second video clip. One simply can not get the idea of a Metroid game across with such brevity, and maybe that's why it's such an under appreciated series in our society of sound bites and shortening attention spans. When I go about describing how Metroid plays, I've created three terms to categorize the experiences.
Navigation - This consists of exploration and puzzle solving. Travel from one point to another is often not straight forward. A lot of examination and thought is required to figure out the environment and discover how to progress.
Traversal - The actual act of moving through the environment. Samus makes use of basic jumping, acrobatics, and her own inventory of tools and weapons to interact with the environment to allow her to progress.
Combat - Most enemies in Metroid are trivial, little more than nuisances to shoot or avoid or make use of. That's not to say there are no intense fire fights. There are points where you run into aggressive enemies that take a lot of damage before going down, unexpected mini-bosses to keep you on your toes, and main boss battles are never short of spectacular.
Together, these elements mesh together to form an intricate whole, an overarching cerebral/visceral experience that characterizes the series. Prime balances these aspects masterfully. To me, it feels that Navigation is the main focus with Traversal coming in as a complimentary, secondary trait. In this, Samus' trademark Morph Ball plays a major role. While playing through Prime for the purpose of writing this piece, I tried to keep track of every Morph Ball obstacle course and every Spider Ball track. I failed. There are so many instances of using the Morph Ball that are seamlessly integrated into the environments that they become effectively invisible. I can only say there were, very roughly, 20 substantial morph and spider ball sections that ranged from straightforward and easy to complex and challenging. I also counted roughly 25 puzzle rooms, places where Samus had to manipulate her environment in some way to proceed.
The environmental challenges are really wonderful. Sometimes they demand a detective's keen eye to locate scannable switches. Often Samus must make use of a variety of her tools/weapons and other times it's up to the gamer's mastery of her bomb jumping skills. There are puzzles scattered everywhere: walls and objects that can be destroyed, small holes to roll into, ledges to grapple towards. Usually the reward for curiosity is a suit expansion. Missile, bomb, and health tanks are scattered about and usually well hidden or require a challenge to be met. One of Prime's strengths is its pacing. The game moves along at a steady clip, parceling out various upgrades and expansions pretty evenly. There's always something new to look forward to right up until the end, and by the end of the game, Samus has gained immensely in power. I've always enjoyed the feeling that accompanies walking through an environment, nearly immune to the best efforts of enemies that once seriously threatened my welfare. Of course, that also means the final boss encounters will be all the more fierce.
Most of the enemies in Prime are minor nuisances. Small creatures trundle about their daily lives and are only dangerous if stepped on. Often I tried to simply avoid them as it seemed rather mean to mess up some bug's day by blowing it into green pulp just because it's on a ledge I wished to jump to. Conversely I enjoyed the various effects different weapons have on Tallon IV's inhabitants. Ever take out those annoying Blood Flowers by shooting the exploding fruit growing nearby? Probably the most notable non pirate enemies in Prime are the sheegoths, both baby and adult. Not even the various metroid types are quite as intimidating. Ultimately though, the most dangerous and aggressive enemies in Prime are the Space Pirates.
Bipedal insectoids, Samus' old foes come in a variety of forms. Some can't be seen without a special visor, others are only vulnerable to a certain weapon. Whatever the type, they are all highly aggressive, often charging at Samus to attack with a melee strike. They will drop in from concealment for surprise attacks, roll and move around to evade Samus' shots. They also make some of my favorite sound effects in the series. I have a special love for their growls and roars when hit or killed which adds to their aura of viciousness. Ultimately, Combat is the tertiary aspect of Prime. Enemies that need to be taken seriously are common only in certain environments. Most of the time, the gamer is left in relative peace to explore. Which makes the sudden encounter with a boss all the more intense.
Prime has some of my all time favorite boss encounters. For me, Only the collection of bosses in Echoes out does Prime, and only because I'm a big fan of “puzzle bosses”. Most of these major enemies in Prime are of the shooter type, requiring the gamer to simply identify a weak point and fire away. Easier said than done as the bosses are every bit as nasty as I could wish, and nicely challenging to defeat. All of the major battles are memorable with each foe requiring a different approach. I particularly liked the giant Sheegoth, a toothy beast with two separate methods for taking it down: the obvious way, shoot it in the mouth; and the less apparent technique, plant bombs under its belly. I'd like to see more boss encounters like this, with multiple methodologies for taking on the enemy possible.
One of the few criticisms I can make about Prime has to do with the way the environments of Tallon IV are interconnected. The only section that connects to every other area is Magmoor. I don't know how many times I stomped up and down the long corridor of the Magmoor Caverns but if I wanted to go to Phendrana, I had no choice. Magmoor's straight line simplicity makes it pretty quick to move though so even when I had the option of alternative routes, Magmoor ended up as my default far too often.
Another hiccup in the game's steady progression is the artifact hunt. I don't mind hunting down items that do something, but searching for glorified keys isn't a favorite activity. At least the search offers its own set of varied challenges and I can collect them throughout the game. Each game in the trilogy has a key hunt, and I'd place Prime's in the middle, neither the most, nor the least annoying.
Minor irritations aside, Prime is solid from the start. A fun and very satisfying voyage through an alien world. In its pacing, activities, and challenge, Prime feels very well balanced. When Retro Studios went about designing a sequel, they obviously took Prime's formula and made everything “bigger and better”. Indeed, I would characterize Echoes as Prime amplified. Unfortunately, this applies to both the positive and the negative attributes.
Check back tomorrow as I revisit Metroid Prime: Echoes.
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