METROID PRIME 2: ECHOES REVIEW

If Retro's excellent 2002 Metroid Prime annoyed, frustrated, or simply didn't appeal to you, then stop reading now. The sequel, featuring Nintendo's legendary bounty hunter Samus Aran, is more of the same -- a lot more. Metroid Prime 2 Echoes takes a nearly identical path as its predecessor and offers up a stellar 3D action adventure rooted firmly in the famous Metroid legacy.

While there's really not all that much new in terms of game mechanics, play style, and presentation, what you're ultimately left with is a rock-solid sequel that offers a bigger, harder, more rewarding challenge than the first game.

A quick recap  of the storyline sees her sucked into an inter-dimensional war between two alien races: the Luminoth (who are the Light beings), and the treacherous Ing (the Dark bad guys). A Light and Dark instance of the planet Aether coexists in a less-than-harmonious fashion. In fact, the poor old Luminoth are about to be driven to extinction as the evil Ing are apparently on the verge of destroying the all-important power source known as The Light of Aether.

Samus is called down to the planet on a routine investigation which involves a missing squadron of colonial space marines who were pursuing an unidentified pirate vessel. Contact was lost with the marines, so Samus gets dispatched to figure out what's up. She soon gets sucked into saving the Luminoth's butts, and ultimately the very planet that they live on.



Evil alter ego, thingy!

Echoes is one of the most challenging and rewarding games on the GameCube. From its amazing intricate level design, subtle learning curve, and ferocious progression, it is a game that'll test your mettle more than most games dare. As is often the way with the Metroid series, you'll start off with barebones equipment and weaponry, progressing through each environment unearthing the story and facing off against puzzle and enemy challenges.

Remaining true the whole "exploration" legacy of the series, Echoes manages to once more make the leap from 2D gameplay to 3D successfully. It's most definitely not a run-'n-gun first-person shooter (a common misconception), but instead it remains an intelligent 3D adventure-action game with superb puzzle-solving elements and graceful platform elements.

In the beginning, Samus is fairly weak. Her gun is feeble, her missile and energy reserves are low, and she only has the Scan Visor with which to search for clues. Slowly, but surely, as the game gets underway, you'll notice hard-to-reach areas that are inaccessible to you. These serve to offer much enjoyable backtracking later on in the game when you've acquired new ability-granting items and power-ups for your Varia Suit. The delicate balance achieved by the level design is truly a joy to behold. In fact, one of Echoes' strongest points is the sense of reward it grants when you finally figure out how to do something you previously couldn't.

Retro Studios has seen fit this time around to fix some of the quirkier aspects of the first game. Aside from the addition of the rather bland split-screen-only multiplayer mode, the scanning / story revealing mechanism has been made more effective by the simple act of letting you quickly observe what's already been scanned. Using the Scan Visor, you'll need to check out enemies, items, and environmental objects in order to unfold the game's plot and solve puzzles. Objects that are important are signified by a computerized voice announcement and are logged into Samus' database. After an object has been scanned it turns green in color, meaning that you'll easily be able to tell what's been looked at and what's not. Simple, but effective.

Point blank shots are always fun!

Next up are the different abilities and weapons in Echoes. Gone are the Wave Beam and Ice Beam along with a Visor or two; they are instead replaced with the new Dark, Light, and Annihilator Beam weapons -- all of which are keys to the operation of portals which allow safe passage between the Light and Dark versions of Aether.

Not ALL the cool visors are gone

New Seeker Missiles allow multiple targets to be struck at the same time (key to opening some locks) while the ultra-cool Echo Visor shows the world represented by sound waves and nothing else. Similarly, the new Dark Visor provides Samus with better visuals when traversing the poisoned-air Dark version of Aether. Of course, the classic equipment such as the Spider Ball, Power Bombs, Grapple Beam, and Gravity Boost all chime in too. But the coolest -- and most retro item of all -- is Samus' Screw Attack. Good for instilling multiple hits on enemies and gaining access to high-up areas by wall-jumping, the Screw Attack will really make any old-school Metroider feel right at home.

The most prominent gameplay feature of Echoes is the focus on the Light and Dark worlds. Samus will have to flip between the two an incredible number of times in order to free up the correct progression path, and while this can at first be a daunting task, players will soon learn the importance of being able to read the in-game map properly as this is really one important skill that can't be avoided.


SCORING

GRAPHICS: 10  The Light world is has a more organic, peaceful look and feel -- at least in the beginning -- and contains some beautiful environments rich with indigenous animal and plant life (not to mention a few nasty rogue enemies). The Dark world, however, has a distinctly primal, evil look and feel, and features all-manner of bastardized mirror images of the relevant Light world areas and environments. Overall, fantastic visual appearance. And let's not forget those boss battles!

 

AUDIO: 9.5 The music is just as good (perhaps even a little repetitive) as the original. Gotta love those death sound effects!

GAMEPLAY/PLOT: 10 It doesn't get any better. Just as amazing as its predecessor, the intertwining of the Space Pirate and Metroid plots with the Ing makes this one of the most jam-packed shoot 'em up, puzzle solving, adventure hybrid masterpiece we've seen to date.

CONTROLS: 9.5 The controls, HUD, and standard operation of the game remain nearly identical to those of Prime; Retro is really concentrating on the story and intricate passage of events, rather than new flashy tech and gadgets. Not too difficult to pick up on either way.

Looks cool right? Not even a little.

MULTIPLAYER/ONLINE PLAY: 6.0 One thing that does come across as forced is the subdued multiplayer mode, which only supports split-screen action on one GameCube. There's no hint of LAN connectivity, and let's not even bother mentioning the lack of online potential here. The four-player stuff is ok, but that's it. It's nothing memorable, and even with a couple of different modes thrown in there, Echoes is simply all about the single-player experience.


OVERALL: 9.6

 

While there a few other niggles to mention -- chiefly no widescreen support, and for some, the same slightly non-intuitive joypad setup, along with the somewhat drab musical scoring -- Echoes shrugs these issues off easily and remains a highly polished, highly challenging, and well-crafted video game. It'll break you apart at times, but you'll be eager to get right back on top and beat it down. Metroid Prime 2 Echoes is a more than worthy sequel, and it stands alongside Gamecube's cream of the crop. Don't dare miss out.