Minimum Tempo

There are slight, but negligible spoilers in this review.

This article was originally published on Gamer7.com which is now defunct. April 11, 2005.

After the excellent Super Metroid (SNES), Metroid fans had little to look forward to, seeing Samus (the series’ armoured heroine) cameo in a few titles (e.g. Super Smash Bros. on N64) but little more. Then out of the blue, an unheard of studio was given the task of creating a Metroid title for Nintendo’s new GameCube title. After various development problems, and the cancellation of Retro’s other projects, the result was the critically acclaimed Metroid Prime, which turned the 2D concept into full 3D. Fans were pumped up and ready for a sequel, and as a result, Retro have now delivered Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.

Your mission, as bounty hunter Samus Aran, is this: Locate and report a missing Galactic Federation squad, their last known co-ordinates being near the planet of Aether. Miss Aran goes to investigate, uncovering the squad’s gruesome fate at the hands of an alien race called the ‘Ing’. It is this same race that then attacks our heroine, stripping her once more of all upgrades and equipment. The quest begins…

Early in the game, you learn that there has been a large scale civil war between two races; the Luminoth (a simple, peaceful race similar to the Chozo) and the aforementioned Ing (dark creatures who are located in an alternate reality, caused by a meteor that crashed on Aether). The Luminoth lost, and now it falls to Samus to defeat the Ing and close the portal from ‘Dark Aether’. She’ll also need to deal (again) with the Space Pirates, who have a base on Aether - and on top of that, a phazon-infected copy of Samus is running rampant, causing chaos for all.

Perhaps in an effort to silence those who attacked the first game for having no storyline, Retro has made a stronger effort to project Echoes’ plot via an increased amount of cut scenes - though like the original, the back-story is still detailed mainly in the logs you find scattered throughout Aether/Dark Aether.

“…Everything seems a little more polished…”

Echoes looks better than the first Prime; many things remain identical or slightly tweaked, but everything seems a little more polished and the heads-up display is sharper. Environments are lush and beautiful, and atmospheric special effects like lightning can be seen better. The various terrains are all very different, with creative architecture and clever level design. The controls have barely changed at all, with button/control stick functions the same as ever.

One things that sticks out the most (for me, at least) is the soundtrack. Catchy remixes from the older Metroid games tie well with the new tracks created specifically for the game. Even if the sound effects remain the same as Metroid Prime’s, the overall music and sound connect with the gameplay better than ever.

One of the most noticeable additions Echoes brings to the series is the Light/Dark World set-up. You’ll start off in the Aether (“Light” Aether), and can move into Dark Aether via portals. It’s a constant back-and-forth path through these two worlds, which can be extremely similar; Aether is a rich, organic world with creatures living everywhere and environments ranging from dusty wasteland (Agon Wastes), flooded swampland (Torvus Bog) to a mechanised fortress created by the Luminoth (Sanctuary Fortress). And each of these environments has a counterpart in Dark Aether; contrastingly dark, gloomy and basically… purple. The interesting (and perhaps most annoying) thing about Dark Aether is that the atmosphere constantly decreases your health, meaning you’ll spend much time hunting out Light Crystals and other such things, which provide some temporary shelter.

Another significant change is the ammo-counter for your beams. As usual, your Power Beam has unlimited ammo, but this time, your other three beams (Light, Dark & Annihilator) use up ammo, so there’s much collecting to be done (logically, the light beam uses light ammo, and the dark beam dark ammo - but the Annihilator requires one of each!). This makes you think before you shoot, and also allows for some puzzles to be created using the beams.The X-Ray and thermal visors are gone (replaced by the ‘Dark’ and ‘Echo’ visors), but there is also plenty of new equipment in addition to the various visors and beams, including the long-missed ‘screw attack’, and multi-targeting missiles. Veterans will be pleased to know, however, that all the old equipment is not lost; expect the usual array of jump-boots and grapple-beams, with each new upgrade again opening up a large number of areas for you to wander.

“…If you love Metroid Prime, then Echoes opens up a brand new challenge…”

Now you can’t review Echoes without talking about the multiplayer mode. This is a brand new addition to the Metroid series, that has shocked and surprised many long-time fans. Two modes are available: Regular Deathmatch and Bounty Hunter. The first is your typical ‘shoot everyone’ game-style, while in Bounty Hunter, your objective is to collect the most coins; wounded players bleed this coins, and you need to gather as many as possible before the time limit ends. Most of the equipment from single-player is available in multiplayer as ‘power-ups’ stored in little rotating boxes. Surprisingly, the lock-on targeting works quite well in these matches; to escape being locked, all you have to do is switch to Morph Ball mode.

The multiplayer is certainly a nice addition to the game, but seems quickly done, without too much thought being given to it.This is a superb game, but there are a few creative let-downs. Many of the creatures for example are too similar to those in Metroid Prime (e.g. Echoes’ “Grenchlers” are practically identical to MP’s “Sheegoths”) , and this is an area where it would have been nice for the developers to give a little more thought. Also, the three beams are basically different coloured copies of the beams in the first game; something a little different would have been good. Some of the tasks also seem more burden that fun (the search for the Sky Temples keys, for example, is a tedious process).

(Verdict:) Flaws aside, If you loved Metroid Prime, then Echoes opens up a brand new challenge, though it won’t win any new fans. Echoes takes about 16 hours for a first run-through, and there’s plenty to unlock such as two new multiplayer areas, six image galleries and a harder difficulty mode. The sequel to one of the greatest games of this console generation certainly lives up to expectations.

Rating: A

This post is tagged GameCube, Metroid Prime, Nintendo, Retro Studios, Review

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