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Metroid Prime: Hunters Review
Written by John Benyamine, GameDaily on Thursday, March 23, 2006
The multiplayer! :)
The singleplayer :(
It's tough to be overly critical with Metroid Prime Hunters. On one hand, that's why I get paid the (ahem) big bucks. On the other, it's a first-person shooter on the Nintendo DS, a system that, for many good reasons, should never be home to an FPS. But if you're familiar with the Metroid Prime series, you'll know that we're not talking about some ordinary shooter. Metroid Prime Hunters continues the series' tradition with creepy, desolate settings, a peculiar sci-fi storyline, and some sweet gameplay. This is the point in the review where I say something like Samus Aran is back, and she's better than ever! and that would be true, to an extent.
The biggest worry many people may have is that the one-player game is sorely lacking in Metroid Prime Hunters. After all, this is one of those deathmatch centric games that begs to be played until the battery runs out. Thankfully, solo Hunters is a fun experience, impressive for those looking for some Metroid Prime action. While there may not be as many levels or enemies, Hunters exudes that certain quality the Prime games are known for, which is isolation.
Unlike a ton of other FPS games, Hunters plays very methodically, sometimes bordering on extremely slow, but that's what the series is about. Rather than just going in and blasting at hundreds of mindless enemies, Samus is all about taking her time in scouring each level for info and items that will aid her on her quest.
Which quest would that be? Why to beat all the other bounty hunters (seven total, including Ms. Aran) in obtaining Alimbic artifacts, of course! If all of them are put together, the artifacts will unleash more power than Reggie Fils-Aime after five cappuccinos on stage at E3. Powerful stuff, I tells ya.
The quest will take you to different worlds, each with very unique attributes. But if you've played any game since Super Mario Bros., you can guess that among those are an ice world and a fire world. Still, you can't discount the really impressive level of detail in each environment, with the Nintendo DS working mighty hard to create cool looking lava flows and transparent ice floors.
Throughout the levels, much like the previous Prime games, you can don your scan visor with a mere click on the touch screen. This will allow you to fill your Logbook with info on the history of the planets and the Alimbic people. Unfortunately, these tidbits are small and pretty scattered, but they do help create a mood that can only be described as spooky. You learn about how their race was obliterated and why, and it may beg you to go back to each world and make sure you get as much of the story as possible.
As for the action, it's not too shabby on the dual-screen. The stylus is used for aiming, while the shoulder button on your opposite hand is used for shooting. The touch-screen also houses a map, the ability to change weapons, and the ability to turn Samus into her famous morph ball form. It does take some getting used to, but the game starts off slowly and allows you to get the hang of things.
So after several hours of play, how are the controls? Surprisingly solid and reliable. The thing is, you feel that Hunters is sort of forcing the touch-screen issue. You aim, but the precision really isn't there, and if you're trying to blast enemies from far away, you'll notice your aim shakes enough to make it equal parts luck and skill. Also, doing moves like a 180-degree turn can sometimes be tough in the heat of the battle, and you become very conscious of the control. Rather than immerse you in the game, there are certain things (including double-tapping the screen to jump) that can sometimes take you out.
With that said, is the control a bust? Definitely not. Hunters has a learning curve and your hands can kill you after playing extended sessions, but those of us who spend enough time learning the basics will find the control to come through 97% of the time.
Moving on, what about the big multiplayer options, which are the main reason for picking up Hunters? Fantastic. LAN play and Wi-Fi come through in spades.
Let's start with LAN, which can support up to four players through DS Download Play on one card. Sure, the moochers will have to be Samus Aran, but that's what they get for not shelling out the bills. It's pretty great, though, with the action moving fast and furious. Multi-card play looks to add more options (not only deathmatch), no load time, and the ability to choose other characters, but we were unable to play LAN multi-card. If single-card is any indication, it's sure to impress.
And then there's Wi-Fi. Nintendo's disjointed username/connection ID/friend code system isn't making any friends, but if you can get past that (more to do with infrastructure than any particular game), you'll see that the Wi-Fi experience is quite good! It's not going to rival the likes of Halo 2, but what kind of comparison is that anyway? For some on-the-go action, Wi-Fi keeps things quick, and the voice chat (and text chat) feature is a great addition. Nintendo's wary to let trash-talking even begin, so be prepared to only chat with people on your Friends list.
Some may be put off by this limitation and the fact that only four players can play at once, and it doesn't seem like you're able to pick modes in a standard Wi-Fi match search. Those nagging things aside, Hunters is still enjoyable, as the many hours that we spent online testify to the game's addictiveness.
Overall, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better online title for the Nintendo DS. Metroid Prime Hunters is a very solid game with good-looking graphics and sound. While more depth to the one-player game would have been nice, it's tough to fault the game, as it does a lot right. If you're into online deathmatches or just an all around exciting game, pick up Metroid Prime Hunters.
posted June 20, 2006