Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

Nintendo created the first-person adventure genre when they brought the Metroid franchise into the third dimension - two years later Samus Aran returns in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes with a mission to investigate the disappearance of missing Galactic Federation Troops on the planet Aether.



Aether is a planet struck by a massive phazon meteorite that opened a dimensional rift dividing the world into two alternate realms; a light world and a dark world. These two dynamic worlds don't just look and sound cool, they are the fundamental basis behind two new weapons; the Light Beam and the Dark Beam. Dark enemies are susceptible to the Light Beam and vice versa, simliar to the play mechanics in GameCube shooter Ikaruga. There will be a limited supply of Light and Dark Beams in each world so you will need to conserve your ammo moderately - there is ample supply for chaotic battles, just don't go shooting everyone you see with a dark or light beam. In addition to the new beams the originals will also make a return. The blast beam is Samus' standard weapon and it can rapidly shoot balls of energy or charge to emit a massive matter bending shot. The Wave Beam shoots a plasma sphere, ideal for taking out electronic enemies and opening said doors. There's also the Ice Beam, fairly straight forward. And finally the Power beam shoots rays of firey energy that can quickly burn enemies and also open said doors.

Among the combat beams is a more useful less threatening beam called the grapple beam, used for...grappling! Expect key areas in Prime 2 to take advantage of the grapple beam, enabling Samus to use her grapple beam to swing over huge drops and gorges. Your grapple beam is also available to gamers in the 4-player multiplayer modes (but that's for later). Samus also gets a missile upgrade that allows her to paint multiple targets at once - useful for battling unique bosses and opening special doors.



The Metroid series has always been about sci-fi space exploration and intense battles with super-sci-fi aliens, and Echoes is no different. The platforming elements are more interesting in Prime 2, thanks to the added morph-ball canon and screw attack. There are now more morph-ball puzzles that will have players solving something by travelling through intricate tunnels and daves via their morph ball. And the screw attack creates vertical variety for puzzle solvers (but more on that later).

Environments are larger, more diverse from one another, and much more intricate and will prove to be more challenging for gamers. The environments are also about a hundred times more atmospheric thanks to dynamic weather effects, larger landscapes, and lots of hard work from the men and women at Retro Studios.

Samus now has visors that spot otherwise invisible elements in the alternate realms. The Echo visor lets Samus see sound by making sound waves visible - this helps for spotting enemies in areas that the naked eye could not see and it's also keen to finding hidden caves and secret areas. There's more to the echo visor than simply spotting sound waves, but Retro is leaving that as a surprise.

The Echo Visor spots a hovering foe in the fog.

The Dark visor has multiple functions - it enables Samus to; see better in the dark world, reveal otherwise invisible enemies, and lock onto otherwise unattainable targets (such as this space alien found below). It also happens to look very very teched out.

The Dark Visor reveals a hidden enemy.

Revived from previous Metroid games, Samus now has an ability called the Screw Attack; after morphing into a ball she can pivit up walls through carefully timed button tapping.



At some point in the game your going to run into Dark Samus; a twisted dark reflection of our heroine Aran Samus. She will try everything in her will to stop you in your path, and players will battle Dark Samus from time to time. She's also featured in some of the reworked cinematics and makes as an excellent new character to an already encapulating story.

The organic level designs that gave the original such a unique feel and atmosphere are only going to feel more alive in Echoes. The sole responsibility of the artistic team at Retro is to fill in the blue space that makes up the games infastructure with living breathing worlds where no two rooms look the same. There is also a big emphasis on environmental diversity; from ancient temples to sprawling hive infestations to sci-fi space interriors - Prime has it all when it comes to level design.

Visually Echoes is looking kick ass compared to the original Prime thanks to alot of graphical upgrades including the lighting, which has been reworked so gunfire reflects on enemies and the environment in a more realistic manor. There are also cool ripple and particle effects seen in the wormholes enemies spawn from and in the light/dark world portals. Texture resolution is also noticably smoother and there's just a whole lot more action happening on the screen in general.



Climatic boss battles are part of Nintendo's pride and joy and were grossly entertaining in Metroid Prime. Without a doubt they've returned in Echoes bigger, badder, and a hell of a lot tougher. The difficulty level has increased in general, so it's no surprise you'll be getting your ass handed to you by the many new bosses. On top of battling new bosses you'll be battling more bosses in Echoes, the number of boss encounters has increased significantly. And in glorious Nintendo fashion you'll need to defend yourself against the boss' unique attack while seeking out a weak spot, once that weak spot is found the monster will usually adapt to your newly discovered strategy and begin to put survival into his attack plan. The boss battles were unforgetable in Metroid Prime, especially the creatures you battled near the end of the game, and we can't wait to see what original creatures await us in Echoes.



New to the Metroid series is split screen multiplayer, which is pretty straightforward except for the ability to roll into a ball. Players can't fire from ball mode but attacking opponents can't lock on either. Making ball mode an ideal escape ruote when someones attacking you with missiles. There are also launch cannons in the multiplayer maps that shoot you to unique areas otherwise unaccessible - they also make for a quick escape ruote.

Players will have the ability to computer hack doors by scanning them for a few seconds, players can also hack each other and disable missiles or morph-ball functionality - making for a quick game of cat & mouse. Four-player deathmatch should be an interesting addition to the series that breathes new life into the sequal.



Echoes ships this November and the our hype continues to gain momentum as we prepare to strap into our favorite bounty hunters boots. Expect a review shortly after the games release.