I understand what you are saying - especially about how tricky it is to change perspective on the fly - however, I thought that the required use of missiles in some of the boss and mini-boss fights would have made them even more intense. As I approached the end of the game, I found that I could defeat most enemies with only my auto-aiming charged beams.flamepanther wrote:I agree with you on pretty much all points except these two (I also would have liked at least a few powerup drops in some places, but I appreciate what the lack of them is supposed to do).prfsnl_gmr wrote:2. The ability to recharge your missiles automatically means that there is no real incentive to finding missile tanks. In addition, the game is very beam heavy and I think that it could have required the use of missiles in more boss and enemy encounters.
3. The ability to recharge your energy repeatedly - which somehow makes the boss battles both easier and more tense - means that there is no real incentive to locate more than a few energy tanks.
2. Because the switch from third- to first-person can sometimes be tricky in the middle of a fight, I feel they showed the proper amount of restraint. It can be tempting for developers to overdo it when it comes to targeting and weapon-switching gimmicks, especially in boss fights, and I feel this was one of the few weaknesses in the Prime Trilogy. I was afraid there would be an excessive amount of switching perspectives during boss fights with little time to fire off a shot, and I was relieved that there was actually very little of this.
3. Only the earlier bosses give you any time to use your Focus ability. Since the bosses' destroyable projectiles or henchmen never leave item drops anymore, I find it even more important to collect energy tanks later on in the game.
I also found that I could charge my energy tanks in the middle of even the final boss fights if I put some distance between myself and the boss. The only ones that gave me any difficulty were Ridley and the Metroids. Accordingly, the bosses would do insane damage to me while I was figuring out their patterns, wearing my reserves until I was at critical levels. I would then charge my energy tanks repeatedly until I took down the boss. As a result, the energy tanks and other health power ups only prolonged the amount of time I had to discover a boss's pattern, and the most helpful power-ups were the ones that allowed me to charge faster. (On a positive note, having to hold down a button and constantly charge your beams during the most intense firefights added an element of physical tension to the game similar to the gripping mechanic in Shadow of the Collossus.)
What did you think of the dodge mechanic? I have heard complaints that it is too easy to pull off; but I thought the maneuver's ease was critical given how quickly some of the enemies moved - which, by the way, was awesome - and how necessary the maneuver is to efficiently disposing of various bosses and sub-bosses.
I can understand why Metroid fans wouldn't like it, definitely. It's like there's Ridge Racer, and then there's R: Racing Evolution. Which was good, but not true to its roots and not as good as the games it imitates. It's an unfortunate middle ground.