There are several ways to go about facing-off against your pals in Metroid Prime: Hunters, and each variation has its own highs and lows. You can take on friends from across the globe through Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, or you can challenge people in the same room, with or without their own copy of the game, through multi-card or DS download play or, if certain lamentable circumstances have put you in such a position, you don’t even have to have any friends at all and you can assign Bots to all the extra spaces!
No matter what type of multiplayer you choose – that is to say, online or off – the matches are almost always exciting, as this game stands as the first real frag fest for the Nintendo DS. However surviving your deathmatch, or whichever of the seven initial modes you decide to play, comes second to surviving the load times. DS-to-DS multi-card play is certainly the shortest wait between them all, with single card DS download play taking a bit of time to download to the other systems and, finally, Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection (like every game I’ve taken online over the service) is simply the worst. If that’s your mode of choice, well, I suggest you head on over to McDonald’s to connect, as you’ll probably have plenty of time to scarf down some lunch while the game searches for opponents. Of course, it isn’t quite so bad (though not necessarily good) if you have a full roster of friends, which also gives you the added bonus of voice chat before and after a match by holding down the X button and speaking into the system’s built-in microphone. And, just to sort of comment on that, though only one person can speak at a time, kind of like a walkie-talkie, the quality of the voice chat is actually a lot better than I expected.
However, that’s not the only thing of surprising quality in Metroid Prime: Hunters, for the graphics, put simply, knocked my socks off! The gameplay itself, even at it’s most frantic looks at least as good as some of the best N64 games, and it’s exactly as you would expect a Metroid Prime game to look had one been released in that generation of technology. Now, while that may not seem like much to those of you who have played a PSP, you have to remember that the DS is working with substantially less and, if I might add, costs substantially less as well. So, proportionately, I’d be willing to wager this is the crème de le crème of handheld gaming.
The menus also have a high-quality look about them, and it’s clear a lot of work was put into it, though it is nothing compared to the cutscenes. Even though they are a bit grainy, I have no problem saying that the cutscenes are even up to the standard you will find in Metroid Prime: Hunters’ GameCube cousins and, until this game came along, I had no idea the DS was even capable of having a game that looked this good.
As for how Metroid Prime: Hunters sounds, well, it isn’t anything you haven’t heard before...literally! I swear more than once I heard sounds in the game that seemed so very familiar, and not necessarily from the Metroid series; however, my canon of knowledge isn’t so vast (and my memory not so good) that I could identify them. And then again, there’s always a very strong chance I simply imagined it all. After all, when I used to stop playing a POKéMON game, I would hear the tune all over the place, just as I would also hear a Game Boy turn on from time to time. But I guess it just comes with the territory....
Apart from that, the sound effects are just par-for-the-course for these types of game. You can probably handle them in short doses, especially some the more subtle effects and tunes in the game, which do a great job of setting the mood for each level, but I’m certain extended play will have the death wail of the various floating thingamajigs grating on your nerves eventually.
Unfortunately, not every aspect of the game is as wondrous as the graphics or even simply tolerable, like the sound. And, if I had only one complaint with Metroid Prime: Hunters, it would unequivocally have to be the controls. When you first start the game, though a little awkward at first, the stylus controls (which have you moving/shooting with one hand and aiming/jumping with the stylus in another) seem fine and you’ll be shooting, scanning and skipping your way through the level until you reach the first rival hunter (which, I suppose, you could consider a mini-boss) or boss. At that point, in the fast-paced and gung-ho action that follows, you could undoubtedly suffer the worst pain you will ever feel while playing a game (with the possible exception of playing the bizarre PainStation, but we won’t get into that).
While I’m not going to compare it to having your hand cut off or anything of that sort, I will say you’re probably certain to seek out ice at least once, probably after the first time it happens, so have that freezer stocked. Also, if you push it too far, you are bound to regret, not so much because of the pain though, but because, it is your game that will ultimately suffer.
Lucky for you, those are only the default controls and there is an alternate control scheme in Metroid Prime: Hunters (technically, there are four control setups in all, but that just includes a right and left hand variations of each). Unlucky for you, the alternate control scheme switches the responsibility of your stylus to the unused buttons, and the game just becomes very, very unwieldy. I never did get used to this setup and, presented with the option between the two, I chose pain. However, if that’s the price I must pay, and two years the time I must wait, for a great game, then I am more than willing to do so!
Bottom Line:
This game is everything we’ve been waiting for on the Nintendo DS and it was a long wait, at that: over two years. But, overall, I really think it was worth it – with Metroid Prime: Hunters, Nintendo delivers on all it’s promised (once they themselves finally decided) and more! This game has great presentation (eye-popping graphics, musical ambiance and, heck, even rumble pak support) and it really shows what the “third pillar” is capable of. The fact that this game has such a robust online aspect (not to mention single-card and multi-card DS-to-DS multiplayer) is just icing on an already very delicious cake, and, even without it, the game would still be great.
If I needed to, I could easily sum up my experience with Hunters in just three words: “[explicative deleted], my hand!” Rest assured, the censored word is very, very inappropriate, and I’ll leave it to your oh-so-hardy imaginations to fill in the blank. But, apart from that, it proves a crucial point to the nature of the game: even though Metroid Prime: Hunters is so very painful to play, I’ve never wanted to be hurt so badly!
| Pros: | Cons: | Final Score: |
|---|---|---|
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| 9.0 |
Posted: 2006-03-31 07:28:57 PST