It was with great excitement that I downloaded the Prime ROM and got it set up at home. I got the Metroid Prime Gamecube bundle back in the day and it was one of my favourite games of all time. Step ahead more than 10 years, and I'm playing the same game - albeit a little prettier. This is meant to be short and sweet.
It really is a thing to behold. Each area is a meticulously crafted thing of beauty. In terms of art direction then, Prime stands among the giants of gaming, and perhaps even above them.The particle effects and attention to minute details were unprecedented. Snow, fire, electricity, sparks, fog and much more. The HUD is still among the best ever. Running on dolphin, it becomes alive in splenderous HD, with only the odd clue that this offering isn't cutting edge.
The controls are still fine. You feel like your inside an incredibly advanced suit. There is a lot of platforming - some of it precarious, but never unfair. Combat is great. You zip around the level while locking on to helpless targets and taking them out with precision and grace.
The morph ball, four visors and four weapons offer a multitude of gameplay and puzzling opportunities, and each and every one of them is expertly exploited to the max by Retro. The puzzles border on genius, and are greatly satisfying to complete. Progression is even more satisfying. It genuinely feels like you are exploring a beautiful, alien world.
And what a world! I read every single piece of lore on my last playthrough. I hadn't realized in 2002 how mind blowing the back story is to the fall of the Chozo. It feels almost religious at some points. Likewise, the hostile, phazon affected creatures that still inhabit the land have had life breathed into them. It is all just so... Perfect.
I love this game. I really do. I finished it last week after about 12 hours play time. Stellar.
2002 Score:
10/10
Modern (dolphin) Score:
9.5/10
Why the deduction? Well, despite the game still being first class, gaming has moved on. And YOU WILL see me being very critical of a few other 'classics' that certainly have not stood up to the test of time. Ther is a single (rather big) problem with the game as it stands today. Backtracking. Fetch quest. Trying to figure out a route from A to B by scrutinizing the map. Frustration. A few hours down the drain. It looks pretty, but I quit my gaming session twice because I was "over it". If there were way points a-la Red Dead Redemption, then it would have been... Perfect. As it stands, it's almost there.
