 Preview By: Andrew Joy |
Developer: | Nintendo Software Technology (NST) |
| Publisher: | Nintendo | |
| Genre: | FPS | |
| ESRB: | Teen | |
| # Of Players: | 1-4 | |
| Online Play: | Yes | |
| Accessories: | Local Wi-Fi (multi-card or download play), Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection (online play, leaderboards), Microphone (voice chat) | |
| Estimated Release: | 03/15/2006 |
Although the Metroid series is no stranger to handhelds, its DS release is somewhat of a new turn for the series. The series has only been a first-person shooter for the past few years, with Metroid Prime for GameCube being the first foray into 3D. However, both elements will make the jump to its next handheld version, Metroid Prime Hunters, and the result is something unique and yet something that the series has seemed to be missing.
I say that it is perhaps what the Metroid series has never had in part because of its graphics. The franchise never had an N64 release, and the quality of graphics fill the niche quite completely. I also say it because this will be the first game in the Metroid series to have online multiplayer, taking advantage of Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection when the game is released sometime in the first quarter of 2006, though it was not always so.
Originally, Metroid Prime Hunters was set to launch in the last few months of 2005, before Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection would go live. This led many gamers to believe the game would not take advantage of Nintendo’s new Wi-Fi setup, and their fears were confirmed when Nintendo officially announced just that. However, perhaps due in part to the great outcry of disappointed fans (“...and a million sofa warriors wept.”), or perhaps because the company’s drug-induced stupor wore off and Nintendo came to its senses, they announced that Metroid Prime Hunters’ release would indeed be pushed back in order to include multiplayer with Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. So, now that that’s in, what else have you got to look forward to? Well, lots.
While they are nothing compared to the GameCube’s Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (or, undoubtedly, Metroid Prime 3, which is being developed for the Revolution), the graphics of Metroid Prime Hunters are damn pretty for a handheld. The levels just have a feel about them, an atmosphere usually created by the lighting and the level design itself, and the varying intensity of battles, from shooting fish in a barrel to high-tailing it to a safe distance which never turns out to be safe enough. What is at one moment a blob in the distance soon becomes a highly detailed and in your face alien sucking the life out of you. It’s great! Believe me, I know, I played it – and you probably have, too.
Including Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt, a demo of the future title, with the first wave of Nintendo DS’ of 2004 was a smart move on Nintendo’s part. The company, which at first had a hard time selling the 3D and FPS redesign of Metroid Prime until gamers actually played it, had thrown in a new twist with this game in the form of touch control. Having played the demo myself, like many of you (Nintendo eventually stopped including the demo), I can tell you that it played great. First Hunt offered a variety of different control screens, and we can only assume they will all make it to the final version of Metroid Prime Hunters, which we continue to learn more and more about as its release approaches.
I won’t go into great detail with the story, for you both love the series and know it, or I will just be speaking complete nonsense to you. Nintendo’s own website sums it up nicely with this: “A mighty race, now extinct, has left behind relics of their once-powerful warrior culture. Now bounty hunters from across the galaxy are racing against each other to lay claim to these relics to harness their power for themselves.” I will only add that of those bounty hunters, Samus Aran has only been revealed to face-off against six: Noxus, Spire, Kanden, Trace, Sylux and Weavel. Some are good, some are bad, and all seven (that’s Samus Aran included) will be available in Metroid Prime Hunters’ multiplayer deathmatches and other online modes.
Metroid Prime Hunters seems armed and ready and once Nintendo finishes the much-wanted online multiplayer, you can start gunning for your friends through Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection when the game comes out in Q1 ’06. The graphics are great for a handheld, though fans of the console Metroid Prime series may be a bit crestfallen when they see the difference. The game seems to make great use of the hardware, including the touch screen and its multiple control types. All in all the game is shaping up to be a very decent Metroid title and it seems like a great way to start out the new year for both fans of the series and gamers looking for a bit of FPS online action.
Posted: 2005-10-27 15:11:26 PST