Topic: REVIEWS: Metroid Prime: Hunters

[Bloodworth]

I think that it's a matter of the single-player game simply being shallower.  The bounty hunters are the only real addition and they are just briefly a threat.  Aside from that, the game can be summed up more in what's been taken out of it.  Now instead of new items that allow you to do new things - like jump higher, climb walls, run faster, etc - you use the same set of moves throughout the game and a bunch of items that don't do anything more than open doors.  The very flaws that hindered Prime and Echoes were actually amplified in Hunters due to the lack of variety in the gameplay, levels, and bosses.

[Jonnyboy117]

AC, I'm sorry (happy) to tell you that I know someone very high up in Retro and have talked to him a great deal about the Metroid games, and he seems to agree with me.  Hardly surprising since Retro's games actually feel like Metroid, no matter how much they change the perspective, add things like scanning, change iconic abilities like Screw Attack, etc.  They know what makes a Metroid game, and they make sure that's in there, then go in and screw around with the formula as much as possible without messing up the core.  I'm sure Prime 3 will take that idea even further.

[KDR_11k]

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?

If you're not making Metroid then don't call it Metroid. The Metroid name stands for upgrades and exploration. Don't call a spade a fork and complain that people expect a fork.

[AC]

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Originally posted by: Jonnyboy117
AC, I'm sorry (happy) to tell you that I know someone very high up in Retro and have talked to him a great deal about the Metroid games, and he seems to agree with me.  Hardly surprising since Retro's games actually feel like Metroid, no matter how much they change the perspective, add things like scanning, change iconic abilities like Screw Attack, etc.  They know what makes a Metroid game, and they make sure that's in there, then go in and screw around with the formula as much as possible without messing up the core.  I'm sure Prime 3 will take that idea even further.

I'm looking forward to Prime 3 because of the new hardware and massively improved control system alone (as well as the gameplay). I just hope the game also feels fresh. Also, as the Metroid universe expands certain things worry me, for example how many times can Samus just lose her abilities at the start?

Anyway, here's a thought I just had. Seeing as Hunter's multiplayer is apparently top-notch and multiplayer in Prime 3 is obligatory, how about NST does Prime 3's multplayer while Retro focus on the single-player? Ah never-mind.

[Nephilim]

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If you're not making Metroid then don't call it Metroid. The Metroid name stands for upgrades and exploration. Don't call a spade a fork and complain that people expect a fork.

well if they kept to the formula for mario, then we wouldnt have mario 64
heck donkey kong 64 was more about platform jumping then mario 64, and that didnt make it fun

[Jonnyboy117]

Multiplayer for Prime 3 is not obligatory.  Last I heard (which was a long time ago), they would only consider it if they could find a much better and more interesting way to do it than was in Prime 2.  I'm sure they are impressed by the multiplayer in Hunters, but it wouldn't be a good fit in the real Prime games (just as its precessor was not a good fit in Prime 2).

[AC]

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Originally posted by: DeadlyD
well if they kept to the formula for mario, then we wouldnt have mario 64
heck donkey kong 64 was more about platform jumping then mario 64, and that didnt make it fun

Exactly.

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Originally posted by: Jonnyboy117
Multiplayer for Prime 3 is not obligatory.  Last I heard (which was a long time ago), they would only consider it if they could find a much better and more interesting way to do it than was in Prime 2.  I'm sure they are impressed by the multiplayer in Hunters, but it wouldn't be a good fit in the real Prime games (just as its precessor was not a good fit in Prime 2).

After the success of Hunters, and with the removal of lock-on, I honestly cannot see the logic of releasing the game without multiplayer. It just makes no sense to me.

[Bill Aurion]

Last I heard, multiplayer only needed to be fun, it didn't have to fit in with any "story"...