After the success of the first Metroid Prime, Retro Studios decided to pop a squat and let one plop!

User Rating: 6.5 | Metroid Prime 2: Echoes GC
By WEDMotorsports | Review Date:
No doubt there was a lot of pressure on Retro to live up to the indisputable success of the Metroid Series. Obviously with the level of innovations and graphical wizardry that Super Metroid was fraught with, they couldn't just push out another sub-par sequel. Retro stepped up to the plate and what we were left with in the end was nothing short of a miracle. I mean, who could have ever imagined that Retro was capable of creating what we all didn't even realize we wanted? The first Prime was not only a success, it was deserving of it in EVERY aspect. This game had it all! They even went so far as to add slight movement discrepancies that for all intents and purposes were only their to mirror the slight nuances of the Super Metroid release that to most was simply perfection in a 16 bit hoody. With the exception of the Screw attack and Samus' legendary super-bomb regeneration maneuver, the first Prime felt like it was created only days after the Super Metroid release.

Why then was Prime 2 just not as good? I'll explain. When the first Prime emerged it was so well met that you would have thought we were welcoming old veteran's back from a 25 year tour. That's because Prime honestly felt like a direct 3-dimensional version of Super Metroid. Any old-school gamer who played both the original and subsequently Super Metroid, should have gone through a an almost euphoric feeling of deja-vu! I got the same exact feeling from playing Prime from Super Metroid that I did Super Metroid from the original. It was simply uncanny. This is exactly where Prime 2 falls short. All Retro had to do was build on the first platform while simply adding improvements to the arsenal and thusly allowing for improvements in the game-play. If and only if necessary of course. Instead splash damage for the standard Power Beam was lessened if not removed altogether for non-charged shots. Territories nolonger had a distinct feel and atmosphere of their own. Sure, the idiotic notion of indicating an elevator was taking you to the North, South, East, or Western part of the next map without the aide of a compass was removed. But what did it matter when every area of the map looked interchangeable? This argument is only strengthened by the fact that Retro could no longer leave your exploration to intuition like ALL previous installments. They decided to block every wrong path with temporary and often cinematic barriers. Some of these roadblocks less forgiving than others. I died once in the dark world and lost about five hundred units of health in a mere five to six seconds. Why you ask? Because until I entered that room leading me down the wrong path, that same amount of health would have taken at least a full minute to drain. Unforgivable was my sin of exploration obviously. Oh yeah, what about the scanning? Did anyone NOT in Nintendo's pocket actually praise the First Prime for this? Was it really so widely accepted that your desire to obtain the best ending possible didn't lie with your ability to kill Space Pirates, but rather it took a second chair to scanning planetary garbage? Why didn't they take this out, or at least not make it so detrimental to your sense of accomplishment when you save the friggin planet?! As far as I can tell, the only improvement to the game has been the new boost ball mechanics. Stupendous! Oops, I meant stupid.

All Retro had to do is take the wheel that they had already successfully reinvented and continue to build on that. Instead they decided to throw on some cheap rubber and see if it still rolled. Well that's not how Metroid rolls man.

-Moto

5/03/2012 - I Seriously hate this game the more I play it.

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