"Insult my mother eh? Just you wait till I find the Light Beam!"

Players: 1-4
Genre: Sci-Fi Adventure
Publisher: Nintendo
Released: Yes
ESRB Rating: T for Teen
Time for Completion: 20+ Hours
Opening Scene

Storyline- 8.4/10
You have been assigned yet another mission from the Galactic fFederation. This time you are venturing into the Dasha region, to a planet named, "Aether". Contact with Bravo Squad was lost 30 days ago, and the Federation fears the worst. Upon arrival on Aether your ship is damaged leaving you unable to leave the planet. You engage the auto-repair function and set out onto an unknown planet. You find Bravo Squadron corpses scattered through out the area, and from their logs, it looks like something was hunting them...

...wait! Is that a Space Pirate Cruiser!?

"The game takes place on the planet Aether, where an advanced race of moth-like creatures, the Luminoth, have been harboring and protecting the natural energy of the planet, called the Light of Aether. A Phazon meteor struck the planet some 80 years previous, dividing the planet and its energy into light and dark dimensions. This new dark world is home to the Ing, a race of dark, semi-liquid like creatures that can inhabit the bodies of the living, the dead, and the non-living, and sometimes have a body of their own. The Ing and Luminoth are locked in a bitter struggle for survival, as Aether's planetary energy cannot support both worlds"



From the widely popular Metroid series comes the newest and, best title yet! You must venture to an unknown planet in search of a lost squad, but when your investigation takes you to a dark world, where a creature resembling yourself, Samus Aran, attacks you're left stranded and unable to retaliate, can you continue? Or is this Samus's final adventure?

Gameplay- 9.6/10
Controls of this game are taken directly from Metroid Prime one. That means fans of the old lock-on system won't be disappointed. This game not only supports one player adventure, but also incorporates, multiplayer, but we'll go in depth with that later on. Echoes revolves around the old search and find system. That means you start in one area and discover new ones, as you do, you find new items and upgrades that will allow you to access new and unexplored areas. In total there are five areas including their dark counter parts, which adds up to one MASSIVE game.




The game starts as always, at your ship, where you can save, recover your energy and missiles. Along your path to the many areas, you will encounter natural predators that view Samus as their next meal. Using your different weapons, you are able to fight wild animals, and solve puzzles. Nevertheless, the game wouldn't be complete with just that. Along the way you may want to scan items, enemies and upgrades. This will better your odds for survival, reveal the weaknesses in certain enemies, and of course, help you solve puzzles. Altogether, there are four weapons and four visors, some of which include:
The classic Scann Visor and Power Beam.
The new Echo Visor, which allows you to see sound waves, and the new Dark Beam, which fires black matter at foes.

Looks like Samus will have many new tools in this adventure! In addition to the standard beams and visors, you will be able to use missiles, super missiles, and beam-missile combos to create devastating attacks. But be cautious, this isn't the same old game you know. A new ammo system will make sure that you conserve dark and light ammo. You'd hate to run out of either just before the boss fight wouldn't you? Fear not! By destroying crates and enemies you will be able to pick up missiles, health and ammo. Another new addition to the series is the Dark World. A dark and twisted form of the normal Aether where the Ing lurk. Not only are predators stronger, faster, and smarter, but the environment itself is corrosive. Lucky the Luminoth erected Light crystals, which shield you and recover your health.

All wrapped up in a nutshell, Metroid Prime 2 is one hell'uva an adventure. Just be sure to watch you're back, there are enemies lurking in the shadows, literally.

Gameplay Video by me

Music- 10/10
In all honesty, Metroid is probably the best series in terms of music. While it may not be widely realized, the music in the game seriously contributes a lot to how the game runs. You may not notice it while you take out those annoying grenade troopers, but it's there. Pause for a moment and hit mute. Can you continue to play normally? If you can't it's because you've created a subtle dependence on the games amazing soundtracks. As in most other games, Echoes takes the majority of its music and from orchestrated songs, and instrumental Crescendos.

Apart from the stunning music, the sounds and background effects are marvelous. You don't often notice it, but the game's mood and feeling comes nearly directly from the sounds. You hear it everywhere. If you just caused that War Wasp to explode you can hear the chunks of it fall to the ground. If you jump a far-ways down, you hear the thud and the clinking of the Samus' suit. If you’re walking through a desert, you can hear each sand granule rub along your feet, and if you step onto metal that sound becomes a soft clink.

Whether important to your gaming or not, Metroid Prime delivers in the musical section, and if you don't believe me you can check out some tunes below.
Metroid themed OST- Metal Item Room FTW!

Graphics- 9.5/10
So now you love the story, the gameplay is JUST right, and the music is set to give you a great experience, what about the graphics? Well let's just say that Nintendo Power's award for best graphics was given to the game I'm reviewing. So if you're looking for graphics you came to the right guy... girl... lady... whatever, let's go in depth.



Well the game was made in 2004 so you would expect out-dated graphics, seeing as the release was over 2 years ago. But what you didn't expect was for Retro and Nintendo to deliver a visual masterpiece. The games graphics are comparable to Halo 2 and other Xbox titles that supposedly had, "Better graphics". If you ask me, I'd say the reviewers were stoned. From a simple shot from the power beam, to the destruction of a giant Ing-Smasher (No relation to the FC user) Echoes is stunning. And once you acquire the new suit... oh my god does Samus look awesome. And then their's her light suit. Nowhere else where you find such a stunning beauty and a deadly personality. (Except for maybe Dani, but that's not quite what I was thinking)

And then there's the cut scenes... all done in fenomenal graphics, you can practically see yourself in Dani, I mean Samus's amour. And speaking of reflections, this game is so well designed that if you shoot a power beam shot at a wall in a dark area, you can see Samus's eyes, tracking the foes. Make sure to take the time to stop and admire the game's beautiful environments.

Multiplayer- 8.6/10
What that Davy? You think your all that? Well let's duke it out in some Echoes MULTIPLAYER! That's right! For the first time ever, the series has included a multiplayer function, so fellow hunters can duke it out in 4-player brawl. The multiplayer has been noted as, "Tacked on" and "Sub-par" I disagree. The multiplayer enjoyment is based on whom you play. If you’re playing your little sister, it's going to suck. She will nag and nag about controls, complain when they lose, and make you go easy on them (Sounds like a friend of mine). However when you play with fellow gamers, things get frantic, fast-paced and fun. If you've ever wondered how it feels to be the best of the Prime series grab your friends and prove it!


It's no MP:H, but it's still one great function, with multiple modes and maps, make sure to give it try next time your friends are over.

Other Things- 7.7/10
It's an adventure game, so don't expect a bunch of reply value and unlockables. However what is replyable and what is unlockable is pretty cool. After your first time through you have the ability to play hard mode. It's not a drastic increase in difficulty, but for those that like to do their best (like me) it's worth a go. In terms of unlocking things there isn't much to be noted. A few Image galleries that allow you to check out this games killer artwork, and beta drawings. And unlockable for the multiplayer arenas. Overall, play it once, play it again, come back in a year, and do it again.

Overall- 9.0/10
The game is great! Add it to your wish list if you don't already own it. If you plan on buying Prime 3, then you'll want to know where Dark Samus came from. The only minor flaw is the weak difficulty setting, and the scarcity of hard en emies. More space pirates and less splinters would have been good, but alas the game has already been made so just enjoy what God has given.

~Chaoszero