Metroid Prime
Reviewed By: Thatguy

Graphics: The graphics in this game are magnificent. Everything is so realistic. Not only are the graphic on this game the best I have seen on the Gamecube, but they are also some of the best I have seen in general. When I first saw the water, I thought it was real. Now that I think of it, I thought allot of things looked real.

Storyline: The Chozo were a bird-like race of creatures who over the millennia made incredible technological and scientific leaps. Even when they reached their technological peak, they could not prepare themselves for the destruction that was soon to come. A meteor came and crashed into Tallon IV, the home to the Chozo. The meteor was full of a cancerous element know as Phazon. The moment the meteor crashed the fumes of the Phazon plagued almost all forms of life and water. Most of the plants and animals died. Anything that lived became a mutated and hideous form of what it once was.The Chozo used all of their knowledge and technology to control the power of the Phazon, but all of their efforts were hopeless. All they could do was build a temple over the crater site, separate the Phazon core, and seal it away. Believing that a hero would one day come to the planet, the Chozo left for an unknown destination. All they left behind was engraved accounts of their time on tallon IV.The Space Pirates were interstellar nomads, technologically advanced in both space travel and weaponary.When they plundered the Metroid population on SR388, they recognized in them massive military and energy resource potential. They then invaded Zebes and wiped out all signs of life and then built a massive network of research facilities below the planet's surface. Now Samus Aran comes into the picture. She was trained as a warrior and infused with the blood of a Chozo. She also wore a Chozo-made power suit and cut a swath through the Space Pirate's operation while destroying everything in her path. That included the mainstays of the Space Pirate army known as Ridley and Kraid. She eventually made it to the core of their base, destroyed all of the metroids she saw and destroyed the Mother Brain. The Space Pirates were far from finished. They split up into two camps. One camp was to go to Zebes and rebuild their facility and resuscitating Mother Brain, Ridley, and Kraid. The other camp went out to search for a planet with powerful resources. The shortly found Tallon IV. The planet was still full of Phazon from when the meteor crashed. They mined the Phazon and were able to harness its power and started combing it with indigenous life-forms. They powered their thermal-powered machinery with the molten depths of the Magmoor Caverns. Their two main research laboratories were located in Phendran Drifts where the sub-zero temperatures made specimen containment easier. By harnessing the power of the Phazon, they were able to create creatures that patrolled the dark caverns below. The Space Pirates also transported many species to their orbiting ship. Samus Aran re-enters the story. She had found the orbiting ship and found out the space pirates plans. Samus went towards Tallon IV preparing to wipe out the rest of the Space Pirates.

Gameplay: I found the controls on Metroid Prime pretty good. I compared the controls of MP to other FPS' (I know MP is an FPA and it's a different category) but I thought the controls to MP was better than other games. In FPS's the R trigger is the normal fire button. In MP it's the A button. The B button is the jump button, which I thought it was well-placed. The C stick was used to change beams, which I thought it was well-placed. The D-Pad, which is used to change your visors, was well placed. The L trigger was used to lock-on to your enemies and scan them. It was well-placed, but some of the times it wouldn't work for me. The R trigger is the manual aim. I had no problems with it. The Y button was the missile button. I didn't have many problems with it. The Z button was the map. I had no problem with the button placement, but I had a problem with the map in general. My main control problem, however, was the morph ball. That was pretty much my only control problem.

Camera: There were two camera angles in this game: First person and third person. Normally I don't like first person games, but I really enjoyed myself in the first person view in this game. The third person view was kinda bad though. You had no control on the camera whatsoever.

Misc. Stuff: I friggin loved the beam weapons. They were so friggin cool. The visors were really cool too. The morph ball option was kinda cool too(Despite the fact I didn't like the boost ball, even though it was important for the game.) The missiles were cool, and so was the grapple hook. One thing I hated though was enemies that were either plated(meaning that you cant damage them with regular beam) and enemies that attacked in swarms (ex: War Wasps.).

Graphics: 10
Storyline: 9.5
Gameplay: 9.0
Controls/Camera: 8.5
Miscellaneous: 9.5

Overall (Average): 9.3 / 10

Review Legend
Note: For consistency reasons, the scores are arranged exponentially from 0 - 10, so that an average score lies closer to a 7 than a 5 (many review agencies do not take this into consideration, yet they award average games a 7 anyway).

0: Should not even be considered a videogame

1: Absolutely not worth a try in any way

2: Little better than garbage, and nothing near rental or purchase status

3: Horrible game - flawed fundamentally, and not worth a rental or purchase

4: Bad game, but not horrible - painful to play, and probably not worth a rental

5: Below Average - probably not worth a purchase, but if you are interested, possibly a rental - bothersome to play

6: Close to Average, but not quite - could be worth a purchase, but only is you're interested - very obvious flaws

7: Average - could have been a good game, but misses the mark in one or more important categories; noticeable flaws, but still worth a purchase if you can overlook its problems

8: Above Average - a good game, and most likely worth the purchase, provided that it piques your interests; detectable flaws that affect the overall level of enjoyment, but not enough to ruin the experience

9: Great - a wonderful game that deserves a look from almost everyone serious about gaming; very few flaws, but enough to hold it from Excellent status; worth a purchase from anyone even remotely interested

10: Excellent - very rarely does a game this good make an appearance; very few detectable flaws, and those that are discernable are too small to affect the experience; near-perfect execution in almost every category; deserves a look and most likely a purchase from anyone at all; even those who aren't sure whether they are interested should at least give it a rent