Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

The star born terror burnt through the heavens and struck Aether with an untold might. Home to the ancient alien race The Luminoth, their home was caught in a dimensional rift dividing the planet into two worlds. One light and one dark. Metroid Prime Echoes is an incredibly atmospheric game that unfolds on the dualistic planet of Aether where everything has a dimensional twin, even the heroine Samus Aran.

Echoes plays out from behind the visor of space bounty hunter Samus Aran. The view is truly original and creates the illusion that you are inside Samus Aran’s head, the hud display is also very functional and doesn’t obscure your view. Beyond the visor players will occasionally use their morph ball to solve puzzles and battle enemies in third person. The morph ball is great fun to roll around in and presents some very interesting puzzles. The morph ball comes equipped to drop small plasma bombs. You can also scale walls with the spider ball, boost with the boost ball, and drop super bombs with the suitable upgrades.

The organic level designs are as original as the players view and posses a strong sense of character, no two rooms are identical and the visual detail of most areas is enough to blow your mind. The design of the levels are also methodically planned out - as the game makes clever use of backtracking. Environments are very large and you will get lost, I wouldn’t be surprised if the strategy guide sells out but I encourage gamers to give the game all they have because it certainly pays off. Even without a sense of direction I enjoyed just soaking up all the stimulating architecture and dialogue from the logbooks of fallen allies and enemies. There also happens to be a twin Dark world where even the air is toxic; this changes gameplay drastically and adds to the overall scope. There’s no storyboard cinematics here, also missing in action is the use of voice acting. Fortunately Retro Studios is a grand master at telling a story through other devices; by scanning the environment you’ll discover endless stories written in the Lore as well as troopers logbooks, and simply scanning enemies can enlighten the player of the world around him. All these elements are wound together to create an engrossing tale that comes to life through the gamers imagination. On a personal note nothing comes close to matching this kind of story telling in a game, yet some gamers may overlook Prime for its story.

Many of The Dark Ing creatures traverse the lands in an amorphous puddle of violet goo. The puddle effect is just one example of the incredible effects that creates an atmosphere so believable yet so out of this world. Echoes is littered with gorgeous visual effects - from the stunning ripple effects of the light bubbles in Dark Aether that act as a breathing beacon to the particle effects found in the transformation of creatures engulfed by Dark Aether, watching Echoes is like witnessing the creation of a new art form. Yes, it’s that pretty.

The unique music and impressive sound is on par with the visuals. Each environment sings a harmonious melody to players as they traverse the lands - and sticking to its 8-Bit roots, all of the music is composed entirely in midi format (the astounding quality of the midi soundtrack may surprise some). The scores are not as memorable as they were in the original Prime and some areas, especially Dark Aether, have softer less invigorating scores. The stretch of diverse creatures all have their own unique and believable war cries and Aran’s assortment of beams sound very cool in execution.

Straying from the cookie cutter way of getting things done – Echoes features a unique control setup. Neck movement is cut off during movement and Samus will pause to hold her beam when leaning back – this gives Prime a very unique vibe creating the impression that you’re inside Samus Aran’s Chozo suit. Although a bit unorthodox it flows very smoothly after you realize your not playing Halo 2. Players engaging in gorgeous battles and deep into the immersive soundtrack won’t even recognize their using a controller. It gets to the point where the controller is more of an extension of your self - making combat all the more exciting. Engaging in the many frantic sci-fi shootouts is wildly entertaining and you’ll discover countless different creatures; each possessing a personality unique to the worlds they inhabit. Space Pirates will engage Samus at any cost and carry grenade launchers, beams, rockets, and even jetpacks. There are also monsters that could resemble a two legged dog with razor sharp teeth and players will need to destroy the hard shell on its back to weaken it. Most enemies have a weakness while some are more like suicide bombers. You’ll occasionally encounter Metroid’s and although they don’t play a big role in the game you have to give them respect because without them this game would not exist.

Samus is equipped with a blast beam and a missile launcher. The missile launcher has numerous upgrades and there are four different beams; two of which are the light and dark beam’s (which play into the light/dark theme of the game. Enemy encounters are often fast paced, strategic, and challenging. If you can handle the casual battles this game will then whoop your ass when it comes to the various boss encounters. The bosses will force you to play using your mind and the environment as well as utilizing Samus’ bag o’ tricks to the fullest. Overcoming the memorable and fun boss battles is satisfying and rewarding and often paves the way for further exploration.

Echoes is also playable as a multiplayer game with four friends. Be advised though because Echoes spares no effort when supplying all – and I mean all – the game weapons and visors to gamers in multiplayer. You may want to finish the single player campaign to prevent gameplay spoilers. Beyond that the multiplayer is a simple minded and addictive element that breathes life into an already lively title. The easy lock on targeting may not impress many avid first person fans but Echoes is hardly about who has the best aim. There are a number of unlockable special weapons as well as gun turrets, morph ball cannons, spider ball environments, and grapple hooks to make clever use of the game mechanics and players will need to use these elements to pull in the most frags. It’s far from a fully integrated multiplayer game found in Halo 2 or Splinter Cell but it’s very enjoyable and uniquely fun. Locking on to other players and spinning in a radius of love while you blast each other with missiles and beams is a sensation unmatched by any game. There is also a substantial number of arenas as well as unlockable maps and music tracks.

Metroid Prime Echoes kicked my ass and will do the same to you if you decide to pick this up, because the lengthy single player campaign and interesting multiplayer certainly don’t add up to a weekend rental. You’ll log in a solid twenty hours before you complete the game and Prime is just so lovable you’ll likely give it a few more tries testing out its Hard mode and unlockable features. If you liked Metroid Prime, you’ll instantly fall in love with Echoes – because its fundamentally the same game just longer, deeper, and more enjoyable.