Ok, I'm about to beat Circle of the Moon (2nd form of Dracula has been causing me problems for a week).
Once I beat that, any suggestions on really unique or fun games on the GB, GBC or GBA for me to play and join in this month?
SpaceBooger wrote:Ok, I'm about to beat Circle of the Moon (2nd form of Dracula has been causing me problems for a week).
Once I beat that, any suggestions on really unique or fun games on the GB, GBC or GBA for me to play and join in this month?
prfsnl_gmr wrote:Man…it’s November 9, and no one else has posted here yet!
For this month’s TR, I am paying Metroid Prime Hunters for the NDS. It is based, obviously, on the Metroid Prime series, which debuted on the GameCube in 2002, and it was released in 2006, between Metroid Prime 2 and Metroid Prime 3. (Narratively, however, the game takes place between Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2, at least according to Wikipedia.)
Like its console forebears, Metroid Prime Hunters is a first-person action-platformer. In it, you explore abandoned space stations and alien worlds, fighting dangerous creatures, obtaining upgrades, and scanning objects for information. Both the morph ball and the scan visor make a return, and the game is presented much like Metroid Prime, but with much smaller environments and lower resolution textures due to the hardware. Still, the game looks great, and I imagine that had a really good Metroid game come to fruition on the N64, it would have looked similar.
The game differs from the home console games in the Metroid Prime series in several important ways, however. First, the Metroid Prime games for the GameCube and Wii are very focused on a seamless single-player experience, and they play very much like a traditional metroidvania, but in three dimensions. Metroid Prime Hunters, in contrast, has more of a “level” structure, and while you slowly obtain new color-coded weapons that allow you to unlock different color-coded doors, you don’t gain any new abilities that enhance your mobility, a hallmark of other Metroid games. In each relatively linear level, you must locate three artifacts, which open a portal to a boss. Once you defeat the boss, you have a set amount of time to return to your gunship and escape the level. These escape sequences can be very tense, especially if you encounter some difficult foes on your way back to your ship, and you repeat this process until, presumably, you collect all eight of the game’s “octoliths” and defeat a final boss. (I haven’t yet beaten the game, but I’m pretty sure that’s how it will play out.)
The game also differs significantly from its console predecessors with regard to its design focus. Whereas the console games are focused on exploration and puzzle-solving, Nintendo conceived Metroid Prime Hunter as a multi-player deathmatch experience, and the game’s primary selling point is its multi-player deathmatch mode. While the single-player experience isn’t entirely an afterthought, the multi-player design philosophy clearly influences it, and the single-player game’s best moments are those in which you fight against other bounty hunters seeking the octoliths. (In a way, these battles-between-equals against other bounty hunters are similar to the battles against the Mawkin Tribe in Metroid Dread.) These encounters occur at set times and locations during the first half of the game, but somewhat randomly during the second half of the game. When they occur, you find yourself locked into a room with one of several other, unique hunters, and you use defeat the Hunter to proceed. If you are defeated, the Hunter steals one your hard earned octoliths, and you must track the Hunter down, potentially in another level, to win it back.
While I still prefer the console games’ formula, I appreciate Metroid Prime Hunters’ deviation from series norms, and I think future games in the Metroid series might benefit from some of Metroid Prime Hunters’ design decisions. The game really nails the “you are alone on a dead alien world” atmosphere whenever you aren’t fighting the other hunters, which is something that Metroid Dread didn’t get quite right. Moreover, it’s nice to see Samus doing some actual bounty hunting, and it’s refreshing to see a storyline divorced from the Chozo, Metroids, Ridley, Space Pirates, etc. The game makes the Metroid universe bigger and weirder (even if the other hunters all look a bit like Lego Bionicle creations…), and I would like to see other Metroid games move in that direction (especially since, I think. Nintendo has now tapped out the original games’ narrative arc).
A few other random thoughts:
* The game recycles two non-hunter bosses repeatedly, and they are both REALLY annoying.
*The standard enemy variety is underwhelming, so say the least.
* The touchscreen controls are both awesome and infuriating, and the NDS’s fragile triggers weren’t meant to handle so much shooting. (RIP left trigger on my trusty silver NDS Lite. I’ll always remember the good times…) I’m now playing the game on a 2DS, which is much better.
* There isn’t as much to scan in this game as in others, which is understandable given the hardware limitations.
* The decaying Celestial Archives is a great location. I’d love to see it make a return in another Metroid game.
* I now understand the cameo at the end of Metroid Prime 3, and I’d be delighted to see some of the cooler Hunters return in another Metroid game.
* An open-world (open-galaxy?) Metroid game where Samus does actual bounty hunting in competition with other Hunters would be amazing. It could be Nintendo’s answer to RDR.
I now have five of the game’s eight octoliths, and I suspect I’m about halfway through the game. I’ll post some more when I beat it. In the meantime, I hope someone else joins me here!
opa wrote:Hunters was a pretty good multiplayer game back in the day.
Did you ever play the First Hunt demo?
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