Metroid Prime Pinball

"Metroid fuses with the pinball genre very well"

Introduction

Metroid Prime Pinball was published by Nintendo and developed by Fuse Games, the same people who brought you Mario Pinball Land for the GBA, which got fairly bad reviews. This time around, however, Fuse Games made a much more playable, fun pinball game.

The game is based on the Gamecube Metroid Prime 1. Most of the locales in that game are featured here, at least in pinball form. The player can choose Multi Mission, Single Mission, or Wireless Mission.

Multi Mission is the meat of the single player game, and has you playing through a rough version of Metroid Prime. All the "areas" from Metroid Prime are there, (aside from Magmoor Caverns, which is set aside for the multiplayer) and you must progress through them to "beat" the game. This is done by collecting Artifacts, like in the original Prime. You obtain these by completing certain objectives on the tables - for example, getting a Super Jackpot or defeating a boss. Once you have twelve of these, you are able to enter a third boss battle on a separate table, and if you beat that, you advance to the final boss.

There are 2 main tables where you'll be spending most of your time, namely, the Pirate Frigate and Tallon Overworld, as well as the four other tables on which you fight bosses. If you play these on Single Mission, the four boss tables are based on time, and Pirate Frigate and Tallon Overworld are based on score.

Graphics

The graphics for this game are excellent. It really does look as though the graphics from Metroid Prime were shrunk down to be portable. Samus rolls around with great detail, and even the enemies look good as well.

The art direction in this game is superb as well. The menus, pop up scores, table graphics, and everything else mesh perfectly. Nothing looks out of place or strange, and since you will be staring at what amounts to virtually the same tables a lot, this is crucial, as there are no visual distractions.

Sound

The music tries to imitate the music found on the Gamecube Metroid Prime, and it does this very well. The songs sound almost exactly the same - and the one new song, as far as I can tell, a electric guitar remix of the Metroid Theme (the Pirate Frigate music) - is awesome. The fact that the songs are ripped directly from Metroid Prime is a blessing and a curse, though - some people may be annoyed that all the table themes weren't remixed. But since I enjoy the music from Prime, the lack of musical originality doesn't bother me too much.

Gameplay

Now, as someone who doesn't play a lot of pinball, but enjoys the occasional bout of it, this game plays extremely well with few missteps.

The pinball physics seem great to me, every bounce of Samus and every reaction to a bumper or flipper seem accurate. It can sometimes be difficult to hit a light shot, as any movement from one of the flippers sends Samus careening to the top screen - but needing to make a light shot is a rarity, so this isn't too big an issue. Samus can lay bombs at any time, which don't help her get anywhere special as in past Metroid games, but do help her defeat enemies.

In both of the main tables it is possible to obtain Combat Mode, which is done by spelling the word S - A - M - U - S out on the lower screen. This is done differently in both tables, but you must go around a certain loop five times to activate it. Once Combat Mode is on, if you shoot the ball to the circle just above the lower screen's flippers, Samus will exit ball mode, stand up, and start shooting. Enemies will start to flow towards you, and you have a chance to earn an Artifact if you kill them all without being hit four times.

One of the major problems I have with the gameplay, though, are the Triclops. A mere annoyance in Prime becomes a huge burden in Prime Pinball. If Samus gets grabbed by one of these guys on the lower screen, chances are you will be shot directly into the hole, causing an immediate lost ball. You can defeat these by laying a bomb in front of them, but if you hit a shot wrong, it can result in a quick demise. The other enemies don't seem so cheap, although the bosses can be very difficult.

One of the things I must praise this game for is the way it seems to make a game of pinball actually seem like it takes place in the Metroid universe. This is not simply a normal pinball game with the Metroid license slapped on top - this game has many qualities that make it seem like a regular Metroid game. The enemies are very similar to their counterparts in the other games, and the way you shake a Metroid off is like you would in any other Metroid game - you lay a bomb. The bosses look great, and even have the moves they had in Prime - they affect you differently now, and obviously, you destroy them differently, but it doesn't matter because they are still fun. Even the Scan Visor makes a quick cameo.

As far as challenge goes, if you are great at pinball, this probably won't be too hard. There are some luck elements to it, however, so you won't be able to beat it every time. If you don't play too much pinball, this game can be difficult. Other than the cheap Triclops, the game doesn't usually cause too many unnecessary deaths - there is a force field that is present between the flippers for the first 20 seconds or so of a new ball. This can be regenerated almost anytime by collecting an Artifact, or obtaining it through use of the Scan Visor.

The multiplayer board is very basic, but Magmoor Caverns isn't terrible. You race other players who download the table from you wirelessly to 100,000 points - the first to get there wins. You can have up to 8 other players play with you. It is somewhat disappointing, however, that online play was not included in this game - I know very few people who would like to play pinball with me, as I'm sure is the case for most people who buy this game.

Replayability

Since this is a pinball game, once you beat the first few tables you will have seen everything. Getting high scores is great fun though - staying alive with just one ball and scoring millions of points is an absolute blast. If you don't like pinball (and really, if you don't, you shouldn't be reading this), you will not like this game. It certainly has Metroid elements in it, but do not be fooled - this is definitely a pinball only game.

More tables based on score would've been nice, as only two seems a little light. For a $35 game, Metroid Prime Pinball is certainly light on content - what is there is great, mind you - but more would've been nice. Also, not being able to delete data is inexcusable - I bought this game used and the previous owner's scores and tables were all unlocked from the get go. I would've liked to start from scratch.

Final Recommendation

If you like both pinball and Metroid, this is a must-buy game. Fuse didn't screw this one up like they did with Mario Pinball Land. This game plays like a dream and even comes with multiplayer! Pinball lovers who have the DS shouldn't miss out on this game, because even if they don't like Metroid this is definitely a well-crafted pinball game. If you are looking for a regular Metroid game, steer clear.

Overall Rating - 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/17/07

Game Release: Metroid Prime Pinball (w/Rumble Pak) (US, 10/24/05)