Samus' visor vision

Alien holograms

The Rest -
From the same visor view that was controversial before Prime was released, Samus takes on a new enemy. The story isn’t that esoteric - directly after Samus Aran finished off the space pirates in Prime, she is called in to assist a Federation ship that has crash landed on the planet Aether. Things have gone completely awry when Samus lands - the landscape is littered with the fallen bodies of Federation soldiers and the native Luminoth are nowhere to be found. What Samus does find is the remnants of a displaced race and signs of their battle with the evil Ing.

The game’s main theme is a double-edged sword. Aether, apparently has been hit by a meteorite which caused an inter-dimensional portal to be opened between Aether and Dark Aether, the ass-backwards evil counterpart to the peaceful planet. From this portal has come dark aether infused monstrosities who wish to steal the energy of Aether for use in their twisted world.

Dark Aether is the spitting image of Aether, just darker and more disturbed. This provides many colorful situations in which light and darkness are in opposition, creatures morph between worlds and puzzles need to be solved using both dimensions ala Soul Reaver and other such games. But while this is interesting and fits the elemental themes of most Nintendo games (wind in Windwaker and water in Mario Sunshine, etc.) it’s difficult to decide whether or not this was simply a lazy way to reuse environments while also doubling the size of the game. Both Aethers need to be explored fully and even though they are different they are not different enough to feel separate. Dark either seems like nothing more than ugly, bland, more difficult version of the rest of the game.

That brings us to the graphics. Expectations have been met and surpassed - Echoes is one of the most visually stimulating games I’ve ever played. The level of in game design is astounding with multi-layered textures, all sorts of plant and animal life flittering about and attractive lighting, machinery and decoration. Seeing each level is enough to make you want to continue. With slightly sharper graphics than Prime, Echoes’ world, Aether, is cluttered with the remnants of it’s former inhabitants. Lighting is superb and the frame rate is even more consistent than before.

Keeping with Nintendo’s tradition of power-ups and upgrades Metroid has always been all about collecting things but not in the annoying way that Resident Evil is notorious for. Samus needs a variety of beams to open doors, weapons to fight particular monsters, morph ball upgrades, energy and missile pack expansions, grapple beams and other abilities that, when acquired, prompt significant back-tracking. For instance, finding a light beam will make you back-track through the entire game to find all of the doors that the light beam will open. This is fun because new areas are constantly being opened but it’s sometimes a bit frustrating and tedious searching through old areas.

The map is the only thing that makes this back-tracking possible. Without it, Echoes, and Prime for that matter, would be entirely too frustrating to finish. Samus has a 3D map downloaded on her visor that you can pan around to see all the areas you’ve traveled through. The map can be confusing and so can all of the multiple pathways and varying levels of depth in the rooms you encounter. Sometimes, finding your way back can be an exercise in patience that requires a lot of map checks.

This is all excusable though. Nothing is more satisfying than getting past obstructions that previously blocked a mysterious path. Echoes is filled with mystery - machinery is strewn about the landscape and all sorts of objects that you come into contact with are usable. Samus’ visor is not only the focus of the adventure but the coolest aspect of the game. If you played the first game there is very little new about the visor besides some new abilities - the format is exactly the same. Retro didn’t mess with a good thing. This time there are many more objects to scan with the visor’s scan ability, much more logbook entries to read and many more machines to use. The scan feature has been upgraded to make it easier to detect scannable objects and switching between weapons, visor views and morph and regular mode are just as easy and smooth as before.

Most of the original sounds have been reused which was expected and the music feels nearly identical to before besides the main menu music which took a turn for the worst when that guitar riff kicked in. Otherwise, everything is in it’s place. Some noticeably new sound effects could have helped the game’s newness factor but playing Echoes with the lights off and a good pair of headphones is aural heaven.

The Verdict -
It’s clear that Retro Studios was going for a more active, less lonely mood in Echoes than in Prime. Echoes still has the feel that has become familiar to Metroid fans (endless linked passageways, tunnels and eerie rooms) but the story is more fleshed out, the boss battles are more frequent and adrenalized and there are more cut scenes. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes is certainly one of the best games of the year excluding any comparisons to the previous game. But even with the comparisons it has improved upon most aspects of Prime - the only complaints are stylistic instead of practical. Nintendo games are usually filled with the wonderment of exploration and Metroid has always been a benchmark of this concept. The Metroid series is an ever-evolving classic that is nearly 20 years old. Though the newness is not there in Echoes it’s no fault of the game that it just happened to be born second in the Prime series. By itself, it’s a masterpiece.

Posted: December 30, 2004