" Doesn't live up to it's predecessor, but has the potential to."

Doesn't live up to it's predecessor, but has the potential to.

Two years ago Retro Studios released "Metroid Prime", a groundbreaking experience that raised the bar for all FPS/Adventure games in that genre. With a minimum of 10-12 hours game play the first time through, Prime took gamers to a new level of nirvana. Its puzzles were mind-boggling and its action and boss fights were intense. On top of that, it was all wrapped in a package of beautiful graphics and easy-to-listen-to sound. This followed up the "Gamecube Game of The Year" for 2002, "Metroid Prime 2: Echoes". It took two long years but Metroid fans received what they were waiting for: A blockbuster sequel, the only downside was it was released the same week as many other large titles as "HALO 2", "Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater" and "Half-Life 2".

Although being backed up by Halo 2, "Echoes" still shines through the crowd of the millions of HALO fans that took the media by storm. With little media attention Prime 2 was not ready for the gaming world; fans and lovers new the release date, but average gamers sure didn't.

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes begins with a much less dramatic entrance than its predecessor. The Galactic Federation recruits Samus for a new mission. She has been ordered to head to a rogue planet and answer the distress call made by Bravo Squad of the Space Marines. As Samus enters the planets atmosphere her ship is struck by a bolt of lightning, she has to make an emergency landing in a cavern on Aether-a planet fluxing between the dimensions of light and dark.

Like most Metroids you will begin this game with your original inventory, but your first venture into the Dark world will resolve in many of the Ing stealing your arsenal off your body. She will continue to reclaim her items and head towards the great Temple to find a deeper sub-plot of Aether: it is on the verge of self-collapse and the Luminoth are fighting a war they are losing against the dark counterparts of themselves: The Ing.

The game play in "Echoes" is almost identical to the original: A is still shoot, B is still jump; same with the missiles and morph ball controls. Samus still has the same old repertoire as the original and many Metroid that precede it; such as (as mentioned before) the Morph ball and Missiles, the same goes for the Power beam and Varia Suit. Unfortunately, classic weapons such as the Ice and Wave beam are gone, as well as the Plasma beam too. Also, inventory from the original has also been replaced. The X-ray visor, modified from the x-ray scope in "Super Metroid" has been replaced by another debut item, and so has the Thermal Visor. The replacements for these treasured items seem quite original but you should still be able to link them to the one's they replace. The Dark Visor allows you to see things from the other dimension, this would replace the X-Ray visor, instead of seeing through walls, it sees through dimensions, and the Echoes visor replaces the thermal visor. This little item is quite amazing, you will be in aw of how it changes sound into a physical form, I sure was.

Unless comparing it to the original, the graphical changes are hard to distinguish but there are subtle differences. The scan and combat visors have been revamped, now, when in the scan visor, scan able objects such as lore, creatures, bosses and data are visible as the basic form but tinted blue and objects such as doors, levers or panels are visible in a red tint and everything you have scanned before is now red, you would be surprised how much time this will save. When entering the Dark World, the phazon-induced atmosphere will eat away at your suit and health. This will extremely drain your energy until you receive the Dark Suit; much like the phazon suit it nulls the effects of the dark atmosphere. It looks beautiful- like a bronze shield in the sun. It inflicts Samus' dark side. The only problem is it does not fit well with the original design. Imagine a bronze Samus with large steel wheels on her shoulders. Yea, that's what I thought.

Having gotten rid of the Ice, Plasma and Wave beam, Retro had to think of three new beams to replace them- what they came up with was genius but also perfectly fit into the atmosphere of light and dark. The Light and Dark beam are now a part of Samus' inventory. The Dark beam- doing more damage to light world creatures and resembling the Ice beam, when charged it will freeze the enemy in dark matter. The light beam- contrary to the dark beam, does more damage to dark world creatures and when charged will burn your enemy in white-hot matter. The third beam which most suits the theme of "Echoes" : as a dark world mimics that of a light one. But it does throw the sound factor in there as well. The annihilator beam takes both light and dark energy and fuses together to create a sonic beam. Each of these new beams now has an ammo limit such as the missiles do. It can be disappointing but if Retro did not add this feature the game would become extremely easier. It is possible to pick up ammo tanks that upgrade your total capacity by fifty which does become extremely helpful throughout the game.

A few other of the new items include the gravity booster- replaces the gravity suit and adds an extra boost in the water, and the Seeker missile. It allows you to fire up to five missiles at once to five different targets.

Most people would see this game as a Fusion-Prime combination. But I would see it as a Fusion-Link to the Past mix. Clearly Echoes is not the first game to use the light/dark theme in the storyline. Back in the Super Nintendo days A Link to the Past brought the world to its knees. Echoes does this theme better than any game since Zelda, but that's no the only thing. You will also need to travel to three temples and collect keys to power the light worlds energy. The fusion part involves a Luminoth Guide U-Mos to replace the computer simulation of Adam, although U-Mos is more of an overseer to point you in the right direction than walk you through it step-by-step.

The most distinguishable new feature in this game is the contrary of Samus-Dark Samus. She will track your path through Light and Dark Aether looking for Phazon to feed on. On top of all this, Space Pirates have also found the phazon-enriched mines of dark Aether and plan to further their dark schemes of metroid mutilation.

The first time through this game it offers a minimum of twenty-hours of game play. To think about that is to realize that that is more game time than most games in the action/adventure genre. That is the minimum number, but for a rookie, at least double that. The starting difficulty in this game is about that of the halfway mark in the original. It is meant to be tougher, it is meant to give you a challenging experience that when looked back on you will realize it is one of the most valuable gaming experiences out there.

And finally, the replay value of this game is very high, energy, ammo and missile tanks will keep you searching while missile combos and scan ables will keep you busy in each area of the outrageosly over-large world that has both the dark and light dimensions to it.

Presentation- 4/5
Game play- 4/5
Audio-4/5
Visual-5/5
Value-4/5
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21/25 (Silver)

84/100

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/13/04