"A masterpiece. The best Metroid game to date."

The anticipated sequel to Metroid Prime is here... with a bang. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes is a first person adventure game where you are the bounty hunter, Samus Aran, the heroine of Nintendo's Metroid series.

Storyline

We join Samus as she's starting her next mission after the events of Metroid Prime. Galactic Federation troops have activated a distress signal on a docile planet called Aether, and Samus's orders are to respond to the call and solve the problem. The Galactic Federation had chased a group of Space Pirates to Aether, when something happened. She arrives in the midst of a thunderstorm that damages her ship, and is barely able to make a safe landing. Leaving her ship while it repairs itself, she discovers what's left of the troopers, and uses their computer logs to determine what happened.

She discovers that Aether, in fact, is far from peaceful. A meteor strike had caused a dimensional disturbance on Aether, splitting the world into two dimensions; one light, and one dark. The habitants of Aether, a race called the Luminoth, are at war with the dwellers of Dark Aether, shapeshifting monsters called the Ing. The space pirates were on Aether because they were searching for Phazon, the deadly substance from Metroid Prime. What's more, a Samus lookalike has appeared, clad in a black and blue powersuit. This "Dark Samus" is also seeking Phazon, though whether she is on the side of either the Ing or the Space Pirates remains to be seen. Unable to leave the planet, Samus has no choice but to get to the bottom of this.

Upon meeting U-Mos, a surviving Luminoth, your goal is laid out for you. Aether and Dark Aether share the same energy and life force, and the Luminoth and Ing are at war for this energy. By this time, most of the planet's energy is in Dark Aether, and the planet is dying. It's time to do something about that.

Objective

Aether and Dark Aether both have energy controllers, found inside temples. Samus' job is to get inside each of the temples of Dark Aether, and transfer the energy she finds there to it's counterpart on Aether. Easier said than done. To get inside of these temples in the first place, you'll need to find a set of "keys" to open the door to the temple, and getting these keys means exploration, solving puzzles, acquiring powerups for your suit, and defeating everything that opposes you. Upon collecting the keys and entering the temple, you'll be forced to fight a powerful temple guardian before access to the energy controller is granted. Enter every temple, defeat every Guardian, and bring back energy to Aether, and it will be saved, and Dark Aether will be destroyed.

Gameplay

The bulk of the game plays exactly the same as Metroid Prime. Same controls and physics. I highly recommend you play and finish the first Metroid Prime before playing this one, because without doing so, you will be confused and the game will be much more challenging than it already is. Even for Metroid Prime veterans, this is a very large, deep, and challenging game.

You'll spend much of the game in combat. Some of the creatures you find aren't aggressive and won't attack you unless provoked, some will attack you on sight. If you run into Space Pirates, they will attack you as soon as they see you. Trust me; they want you dead. Like every other Metroid game, Samus' combat abilities are directly related to her powersuit, which boasts a Power Beam that acts as a gun. You can upgrade your powersuit by finding different kinds of beams, missile launchers, visors, and all sorts of movement enhancements. Some enemies are particularly vulnerable to a certain type of beam. You'll find that most of the inhabitants of Aether are vulnerable to dark energy, and many of the creatures on Dark Aether are vulnerable to light energy. Some doors can only be opened by a certain beam, and some critical areas of the game are inaccessible without a certain item.

The principle of combat is simple enough. Shoot the enemies until they are dead. However, it's a lot more complicated than that. Your Power Beam is the only weapon you have with infinite ammo; the rest of your weapons have limited use, and will need to be refilled, which can be done by visiting an ammo station, or by picking up ammo found by defeated enemies or pods and crates. You can defeat enemies quicker and conserve ammo by learning their weaknesses. Temple Guardians and other bosses will require advanced tactics and strategies to beating them. It's not easy. Luckily, we have save stations. You can't save you game at will, you have to find one of these. Upon entering one, your game will be saved and your energy will be replenished. If you die fighting, you can try again starting from the last time you saved your game. Remember to save often.

Samus interacts with her environment simply by running, jumping, morphing into a ball, and scanning. Yes, the Scan Visor returns, and once again a large part of the story of this game is told through scans. You can use the Scan Visor to learn more about an object or an enemy, to read a computer screen, or to activate a switch. All of your important scans are recorded into your logbook, so you can easily double check them later. You can tell what you've scanned and what you haven't by what color it is in your Scan Visor. Green means you've already scanned it. Blue means you haven't, and Red means you haven't, and it's important. You can also use the scan visor on corpses in an attempt to recover their logs, and can read messages the Luminoth left behind, called "Luminoth Lore." In your logbook, you can view the percentages of important scans and items you've found, and read up on all the creatures, lore, and miscellaneous objects or lifeforms you've scanned. If you get enough scans, the game will reward you, and sometimes scanning is the only way to find out where to go next, so keep at it.

Eventually you will travel to Dark Aether, which is where the game really separates itself from Metroid Prime. The atmosphere is Dark Aether is lethal, and simply walking around will lower your health. However, there is good news. The dark atmosphere of Dark Aether than be nullified by light. The Luminoth who have travelled this world left light beacons and light crystals, which act as "safe zones." Both project a field of light for a few yards. Beacons need to be charged every once in a while with your Power Beam, a crystal's field will never fade. While standing in the area of effect of a light beacon or crystal, your health will gradually go up, and some dark enemies will be damaged. Energize a beacon or crystal with light energy, and it will damage everything in it's field with the exception of you for a short time. Get around in Dark Aether by moving from safe zone to safe zone, and keeping your health high at all times. Many times you'll have to fight the Ing while staying in these safe zones, including the Temple Guardians, so it can get pretty intense, and already adds another dimension to the combat system we saw in Metroid Prime.

You change dimensions by entering Dimensional Portals. Some of them are connected to a machine, which will generate a portal when activated. Most are simply noticeable rifts in space, and will open when you charge them with light or dark energy. Dark Aether is a counterpart to Aether, and things you do in one world may affect what happens in another. Lowering a bridge in a room on Dark Aether may lower a bridge in Aether, for example. You'll often have to alter the rooms and areas in one dimension to get the desired effect in the other. It's a little overwhelming at first, but you'll get used to it quickly.

There are even more aspects to the gameplay of Echoes than there were in the first Metroid Prime. You can solve elaborate puzzles and even battle enemies with the Spider Ball, a modification to your Morph Ball that lets you climb magnetized rails. You can use the Seeker Missile to lock onto multiple targets at once and send a volley of missiles flying, you can use sonar equipment to unlock doors with sonic pulses and waves, and you can use the Space Jump and the Screw Attack to cross a vast gorge. The gameplay is always exciting, and changes frequently. Let's just say you won't be bored.

Sound

The music of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes has a very ambient feel to it. It's designed to blend in and add to the atmosphere of the game, rather than stand out on it's own. The music will change according to the state every room is in, and you'll find your own mood will subtly change due to this. By changes in music, you'll know that something is happening, or that you're safe for the moment. The music has this odd quality of sounding very familiar when you play the game, but it's hard to correctly remember the melody when you're not, unless you're very familiar with the game. Again, it's meant to be ambient.

Graphics

...Wow. It's hard to know where to begin. Okay, think Metroid Prime graphics, only better, and more detailed. Lighting is especially more detailed, and it shows in Dark Aether. You see the world through your equipped visor. You can view the world normally with your combat and scan visors, but there are other visors that will allow you to see the world very differently, where the colors radically change. There's also a lot of variety in the graphics. The Torvus Bog makes you feel like you're really in a swamp or underwater, and Sanctuary Fortress really looks like a technologically advanced fortress. And no two areas look alike. The ground changes in appearance from inside a cave to out in the open, and even the walls are different. Retro Studios left no stone unturned in it's quest to make a realistic planet. Make sure to take note of the graphics. Perhaps a large crack in a glass barrier means something.

Control

The controls are the exact same as they were in Metroid Prime, and that's a good thing. You can change visors and beams quickly with the D-Pad and C-Stick, and still be able to move around, aim and fire your power beam while doing it. Use the analog stick to move around, or you can hold L while doing it to strafe or R to aim. I think Echoes features a better control than any other Gamecube game. The controls quickly become intuitive, and you will be able to play the game without thinking about what button to press very quickly. The physics of the game go with the controls perfectly, as aiming and jumping are done with ease. You will be able to glance at a situation and know if you are capable of dealing with it or not yet.

Replay Value

The game tracks how many scans and items you've collected, and how much time you've spent on a game. There's also a Hard Mode to try once you've completed the game once. There is always something left to do in Echoes, whether it's item hunting, improving your completion time, or just having fun.

Synopsis

What can I say? The game is flawless. The graphical detail, the sounds and music, the level design, the puzzles to solve, the weapons, visors, and items you find, the amazing enemies, the epic boss battles. This game takes what Metroid Prime started and perfects it. If you love adventure games, then this game is a must-play. I've been playing video games for over 15 years, and I can easily say that this was one of the best gaming experiences of my life. Buy it immediately.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/22/04