Topic: REVIEWS: Metroid Prime: Hunters

[Smash_Brother]

Hunters actually has enemy generators, but they respawn when you leave the area but can be replaced with an enemy hunter.

[Giolon]

I am a longtime Metroid fan, and I disagree with the review of the single player portion of Metroid Prime Hunters.  When I was playing it, I felt just as much like I was playing Samus as any other Metroid game.  The fact that I was not reduced to naught and forced to find incremental upgrades over the course of the game did not reduce the Metroid feeling for me.

The additional weapons, in my opnion, are not simply interchangeable throw aways.  The Battlehammer functions as a nice intermediary between the uncharged and charged Power Beam.  The Magmaul makes a nice heavy hit comparable to missles if you're out of missles ammo.  The bouncing and shotgun spread of the Judicator gives you a bit more leeway in your aiming.  I could go on about the other weapons too, like how we have the first ever sniping weapon in a Metroid game (which is put to good use for puzzles).  I found the inclusion of the other Hunters in the single player game to contribute greatly to expanding the Metroid Universe and make it feel more like a living breathing world.  Now, finally, Samus has some competition!

I only have two complaints about the game.  The first is not being able to view your scan log anywhere but in your ship (ARG!!), and the second is the generally simplistic nature of the environment puzzles.  I can chalk these up to this being a handheld game, but by no means did I find it to be bad or un-Metroid-like.  I even appreciated the fact for the first time in 4 Metroid games (Prime, Prime 2, Zero Mission, and Fusion) there was no stupid auto-help mechanism either optionally, or worse, forced on.  I had to use my noggin a couple times.

Just because there is no lock-on and the gameplay mechanics are a little more straightforward of a first-person shooter type of game, doesn't negate the fact that this game felt completely like I was playing Samus in the Metroid universe to me.

[Jonnyboy117]

I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying the game.  I guess you and I just have different ideas about what it means to be a Metroid game.  I never for even a second felt like I was playing Metroid, not in adventure mode and certainly not in multiplayer.  I might be okay with that if the adventure mode was a very good first-person shooter, but I don't think it's near the top of that field, either.  It's just okay, and it may be a good diversion for some people, but I definitely don't think it's worth buying the game mainly for single-player.   It's WiFi or bust on this one.

[wandering]

Good review (Why haven't I bought this game yet?)

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IT makes you wonder if using the Metroid name was any good at all, they used the licence to guaranteed some sales I suppose, but ironically previous Metroid fans wont find in this game what they like, so its not a guaranteed sale after all.

Or maybe Nintendo thought Hunters would sell really well no matter what, and wanted to use the game to promote Metroid Prime 3?

[mantidor]

isnt that bad promotion? unless MP3 is going to offer something similar to hunters, and oh god, I hope not.

[KDR_11k]

Perhaps they wanted to introduce some new characters to Metroid so they could maybe use one or two of the hunters in a later Metroid game?

[Smash_Brother]

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Originally posted by: KDR_11k
Perhaps they wanted to introduce some new characters to Metroid so they could maybe use one or two of the hunters in a later Metroid game?

QFT! Say it with me, people: "Spire in SSB:Rev!"

I'm happy to see an expansion of the Metroid universe in terms of characters. Either we have this faceless "Galactic Federation" or some other alien race which is long since dead and buried.

With the presence of these 6 hunters, we now know that there are some alien races which aren't dead, waiting for Samus to come scan all their crap so the player can forget it all 10 minutes later.

Seriously, though, Samus is more of an archeologist than a bounty hunter. This is the first Metroid game I've played in which she's ACTUALLY a bounty hunter hunting bounties, and even then she still winds up searching for the secrets of yet ANOTHER dead race of aliens.

You'd think she'd eventually just turn down all contracts which promise to involve dead races of aliens...

[KDR_11k]

I'd be happy already if we got Ridley in Smash Bros.

[Smash_Brother]

I'd be happy if we got anything which wasn't a clone or another goddamn pokemon.

[Jonnyboy117]

To be fair, the Luminoth were not dead, just in stasis.

[Ian Sane]

"Or maybe Nintendo thought Hunters would sell really well no matter what, and wanted to use the game to promote Metroid Prime 3?"

That seems like a pretty elaborate plan.  Considering how Nintendo has been very gung ho about attaching their franchises to pretty much everything I think it's very likely the Metroid franchise was used to attract sales for Hunters.  They already made a Metroid Pinball game after all.  And this is the company that launched that whole "Who are you?" campaign where the whole emphasis was on drawing attention to Nintendo's franchises.

Regarding SSB I imagine Ridley hasn't been added as a character because he's so freaking huge it would be hard to make work.

[Arbok]

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Originally posted by: Ian Sane
Regarding SSB I imagine Ridley hasn't been added as a character because he's so freaking huge it would be hard to make work.

Considering Pikachu is supposed to be only 40 cm (1.3 feet), I kind of doubt that they wouldn't consider just adjusting his size to fit in with relation to the other fighters. If they wanted to use him, that is.

[vudu]

An oversized Pikachu is one thing.  Still cute.  A dwarfed Ridley is a whole 'nother monster.  It would look so stupid it's not even funny.  To illustrate, here's a picture of Godzilla fighting Megaman.  Not exactly a heart-stopping sight, is he?

[KDR_11k]

Ridley would still look intimidating if he were the size of Bowser. He has a pretty crouched stance in the games so his true size (which was much smaller in Metroid 1 IIRC) wouldn't matter as much. DK isn't in his true form (DK (SGB) shows at the end that DK was just drugged up on shrink mushrooms, without them he's as big as King Kong), either so who cares?

[Caliban]

What if Ridley was alone just a part of a super-combo attack from Samus.

The luminoth would be a cool addition to SSBMR

[hudsonhawk]

Just wanted to add my $.02.  

I think people are being way harder on this game than it deserves.  It's a very innovative, fun portable FPA - easily the best first-person game on any portable console (not that there's a ton of competition, but still).  The single-player is still very "Metroid" to me, though I say that as a fan of the 3d Metroids, not the 2d Metroids.

It's great to see them try new things with a franchise, rather than making it fit into the rigidly defined criteria that Nintendo sometimes uses for its franchises.  I'd rather see them do something new and fun like this than something like, say, Partners in Time, which made me feel like I was playing a game I'd played many times before.

I actually don't love the online multiplayer, I think it feels a little dated - very Quake Arena.  I was hoping for more than just deathmatching (something like Oddball in Halo 2 would have been tons of fun online, especially in MPH's small levels, or 2-on-2 CTF).  It may have those in local multiplayer - I wouldn't know, though, since that isn't something I'll ever be able to try.

So just wanted to dissent a little from the underserved criticism this game is getting.  If you're on the fence because you're afraid it isn't "Metroid" enough - get over it, and go get this innovative game.

[Bloodworth]

hudsonhawk have you played with friends or rivals at all? It sounds like you're just doing random matching, which only allows battle.  Of course there's two-on-two CTF, and several other cool modes.  

[hudsonhawk]

Ah, thanks for the tip BW!

That is exactly the case - I need to start adding rivals and pimping my friend code around the forums.  I dont have anyone on my friends list so I have indeed been playing random matches.

I'll have to check that out - that would indeed explain why my opinion of the online multiplayer is so out of whack with everyone else's.

[KnowsNothing]

You can also go into multicard play and play any of the modes against bots, too!  Fun for everyone!

[Jonnyboy117]

hudsonhawk, my criticism of the single-player in Hunters is not that it tries too many new things but that it contains almost none of the things that are the core of the Metroid series.  Retro's Prime games have done tons of new things that were never done in the 2D Metroid games, and most of it works great and adds to the series.  But those games were very careful to keep the core of the series intact and build upon it from there.  Without that core material, or a convincing argument for changing the core design, Hunters feels like a very distant cousin to the other Metroid games...more like pinball than Prime.

And lest people get into this mindset that I'm bashing Hunters...I gave it an 8/10 score and had many, many good things to say about it!  In fact, it is one of my favorite games on the DS, at least when I can get a good series of online matches going.  But I think there are serious problems with the single-player that need to be addressed in a thorough review, and as an extension of that, I think serious Metroid fans need to be aware of the game's faithfulness (or lack thereof) to the series before they make a decision to buy it.  It really all depends on what you are hoping to get out of the game.

[AC]

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...there is no upgrading beyond the six sub-weapons, which are interchangeable for the most part.  And you can't have a Metroid game without upgrades; that would be like having a Mario game without jumping... The original Metroid on NES establishes the importance of upgrading within the first thirty seconds of the game.

WHAT? Completely worthless statements in what sounds like a pretty worthless review. Review the game for what it IS not for what it ISN'T. The comparison with Mario is ludricrious, that's a platformer. A fairer comparison would be with mushrooms and fireflowers in Mario games, but is that worth marking Super Mario 64 down as some kind of 'fake'? I doubt it.

I haven't actually played the full game yet and fair play if it the Adventure Mode isn't up to scratch. But for god's sake, throwing a hissy fit because NST actually decided to (god forbid) freshen up the series, makes me worried that you actually get to talk to Retro. Metroid Prime 2 was filled with undeniably great Metroid gameplay, but was so uninteresting to me. Why? Perhaps because it was the same damn thing yet again.

[mantidor]

Echoes was a very, very diferent game from Prime and the 2D games by the dual world's mechanic alone.


Johny already said it, all Metroid games offer new things, its not about sticking to the same upgrades, suits or whatever, is about having the same core gameplay, which this game clearly has not. The review was very worth for me, as a metroid fan and online gaming hater, this has made me avoid a purchase that Id probably would regret.


Also, I dont now how can be called "fresh" making Metroid more of a normal FPS when the genre has been explored to death.

[AC]

Prime 2 didn't feel fresh to me, dark worlds or not. It felt closer to an expansion pack of Prime than an entirely new product. Although this was a while ago I played it.

Is Hunters really less of a Metroid game than say - Fusion? Why does this not have the same "core gameplay"? Because there are no upgrades? The review makes out that this is a cardinal sin, and the game must be dismissed immediately. I'm not so sure. I'm sure I've read comments on fansites such as Metroid2002.com happily considering it a Metroid game. I think dismissing the game as not belonging to the series, not even dabating the point and printing it as fact in a review is ridiculous.

Also, I meant to say "NST tried to freshen up the series", although I'm not sure what you mean by "normal FPS" - I don't think there is one.

[mantidor]

I call "Normal FPS" a doom/quake clone, basically, every single damn FPS made ever since. I know of very few exceptions, like Thief, Metroid Prime, and Ive heard that also Deux Ex. Not even the armor mechanic (one number for phisical health, one for armor) has changed since those times, not the focus on onine play for that matter, and sadly lately, not even a change in scenario, is the military setting all over again, I miss my Heretic/Hexen typ of games a lot.

Johnny's review was excellent and he's not telling anyone to dissmiss the game, but the focus of the game is in the multiplayer, and if you are getting the game it should be because of that, not because the single player campaign.


 

[AC]

Well that isn't what I take issue with, I thought we all knew that this was multiplayer-centric from day one (hence memory restrictions that mean the areas get shoehorned into the single-player game rather than the other way around).

It was the idea that constant upgrades (and I guess the constant contrived in-story reasons for them) MUST be part of every title that calls itself Metroid, at all costs. The very notion that a developer may try something slightly different is criminal. How is that justified?