Ah, Samus-sama! (Metroid Prime Review)

[lord_morte]

As a slight preface, I'll say that reading the FAQs to something that you're logged on to is a very good thing: the LiveJournal FAQ has enabled me to no longer take as much space on my friends' Friends pages, which might be met with much acclamation. That, however, shall remain to be seen.

Comments

[lord_morte]

No problem at all, Procyon: I knew that you had a livejournal (via your comments in Wayne's,) but didn't know if you'd want to bother with the "little brother." *adds you to the Friends list*

To clarify, though... I don't really mind the large, somewhat sprawling style of dungeons (that's one of the things that made me happy with SotN, for example,) it's the fact that there are so many blasted instances of having to go back and forth across landscapes that don't get any easier. For example, how many Chozo ghosts could possibly respawn in any one room? To put it another way, I don't mind the backtracking, it's the fact that I have to do the same thing over and over again. (I know, it doesn't make too much sense, but...)

The other major complaint that I have is the verisimilitude of the game. In most games, you can accept some otherwise inconsistent factors (such as being able to breathe underwater in FF1 or on the moon in FF4,) since everyone can do so and it is otherwise accepted as possible. In Metroid Prime, it seems like Samus is the only person in the entire world that has to deal with some of the obstacles.

For example, Magmoor Caverns. It's so hot that you are required to get a special suit simply to avoid damage. Yet the Space Pirates fly around in rocket packs with no apparent difficulty at all. It wouldn't be so bad if they had merely mentioned some sort of equipment being handed out to survive the infernally high temperatures, but... Not a one.

There are also some magnetic tracks randomly sprinkled about, and we know (via the wonders of SCAN-VISION!) that their only purpose is to move the Spider Ball about. Only the Chozo have the Spider Ball, and it was mentioned that they had given up all of the technology that they had once used as soon as they made planetfall. Ergo, either some of the now-insane Chozo randomly decided to create some magnetic tracks, or someone lied somewhere. Or there was a plot hole. :)

As for the control scheme... I actually kind of like it. My TV's got a very dark lighting scheme, which means that I have to constantly shift from high lighting (for the dark areas) to lower lighting (for brighter ones.) On the other hand, I really don't use the map all that often, usually just to find out what route I have to take in order to get to the next area.

I think that X was made the Morph Ball simply because you have to use it so many freakin' times! >:( It's convenient, I think, to make that button one of the more easily-accessible ones. As for the super missiles... I'm inclined to agree with you about that. Especially for the constant-fire ones (like for the Wave Beam's,) it uses up an inordinately high amount of missiles, which really hurts.

As for enemy damage... Er? Maybe for some of the lower-level monsters (like every non-sentient, non-boss creature?), but the Space Pirates do enough damage with their missile/beam/sword combo. The Metroids also do a high amount of damage (with continual drain,) and most bosses do enough damage to put me in "Worried" mode. :-/

Shane: Ah... that would be helpful, yes. Assuming, of course, that I ever beat Metroid Prime. (Feels the pain of slogging through the Tallon Overworld.)