Retro Studios may well have been an unknown developer for a lot of you but that's certainly about to change with the release of this little beauty. The brief history of the Retro Studios 'reform' if you will was that they were working on some titles you may know of such as 'Raven Blade' (wishful thinking has it that maybe they may undertake this project once again) but despite having the grasp for a great game, the team then were short staffed and were having all sorts of problems, then came along Nintendo and sparked some inspiration and effort. With a larger team, support from Nintendo and direct help from Shigsy himself Retro Studios cancelled Raven Blade and other projects to solely concentrate on Metroid Prime. Now in all truth, it was a long hard road, Prime in its early days wasn't the blemishing gem you see before you today, there were all sorts of technical problems and the graphics have come on in leaps and bounds, the gameplay itself was fiddled with numerous times when this game was switching from being totally 3rd person to cases when it was considered to go completely 1st person. But now we have the finished version and praise be to Retro Studios, their hard work has paid off, their status as a developer now has raised a few bars I'm sure, new outstanding developers like this may certainly overshadow our loss of Rare and future projects will certainly be ones to look out for�

Here be the third of our Staff's mini reviews of the mighty Metroid by Javid (myself) a full review and more mini reviews are on their way soon�

Mini Review #3:

I'll be honest with you, I wasn't all that optimistic about Metroid Prime in its early days, it seemed as if Nintendo had shunned a great resounding title and handed it to some unknown developer, and its development was very sketchy and I think it's fair to say, one that experienced a number of hiccups. I stand now proud to say I was wrong, and before us we have the evidence that given the opportunity smaller developers can produce the goods, and then some. Hats off to Retro Studios for pulling out the stops and giving it their all, this is one game you won't be forgetting anytime soon, let's check it out then shall we�

Now I'm no Metroid veteran, in fact this is my first Metroid game (bar the excellent Metroid Fusion on GBA) but I'm aware of the status and reputation it has grounded and excelled from. Isolationistic environments, heartless surroundings, eerie sounds and one goal in mind, defeat virus evil and survive. Now with little experience of Metroid games you can question my judgment but I can say truthfully Metroid Prime captures this impeccably well, in fact so well it's creepy. No help, no one to talk to, just you, Samus, your weapons and various upgrades. The whole game revolves around you being there, on this planet, alone, with the only instruction or help being derived technologically through downloads or scans with no human life what-so-ever. Supperb.

Graphically Metroid Prime is outstanding, you can only imagine how it runs through screenshots but seeing it in all its glory is a sight not to be missed. Moments of incredible attention to detail can be witnessed every few seconds, the swaying of the planets plantation, the sweeping clouds of fog or dust immerging across a clear sharp horizon, the blazing sun seemingly scorching the ground making it burn and appear hazy. Most impressively I found was in the event of an explosion, a huge burst of flames is crafted effortlessly looking more realistic then you could ever imagine, but whilst being able to handle such crisp graphics Retro Studios have also gone to the extent to show the reflection of Samus's face in her visor as the light glimmers of it, truly astonishing.

Now to the gameplay, there have been those who have tried to pigeon hole Metroid into various genres, FPS, shooter, adventure etc but at the end of the day its Metroid and it creates its own genre mixing elements of such said genres but extracting what's best about them and throwing them here in a balanced outcome. At first, the control will feel strange, not being able to strafe and turn in an instant is something of a flaw in how Samus is controlled, but it's only really a problem when there are no enemies. In true, proven glorified Zelda fashion, Metroid takes on the 'targeting' system, the best, most intense and accessible battle system there is, and in targeting an enemy in Metroid Prime, initial movement complaints are withdrawn as strafing, side jumping and maneuvering is all as easy as it is effective. Multiple, extremely varied enemies, locations and tactics keep everything fresh and exciting, in fact with every new upgrade to Samus's artillery it brings everything into a new light and dimension. What's great too is that its not simply a case of handing you a new technique in which you need to use to escape a certain room then using that from then on isn't necessary, nor is it that previous advancements are forgotten about, theres significant balance between using new techniques and upgrades whilst still requiring use of the older ones. This way with every upgrade the game expands more rather then a change of direction and the further you get the more techniques you have to use.

Enough praise though, every game has its bad points and so does Metroid Prime; first on my checklist is backtracking, a cheap way to add play time into the game where its simply a case of choose the right way or have to go back the other to get the upgrade you need to advance through where you first got to. Pointless, a little better direction wouldn't go amiss in the locations rather than it initially being pot luck in the door or passage you choose. Then there's the save points, sometimes in the most un-useful places and often in a place so ridiculously far from where you need to get to next that reaching that point is painfully difficult and when you get there, your life is drained so doing what you need to do is harder then need be. This was obviously an aim that Retro Studios had intended, to make it difficult in this sense, that this is a case of survival, but in my opinion it's wasted and doesn't add much to the experience. I find it tedious and annoying, they could have at least made it so it saves when you get a new upgrade, common sense tells you that that's an achievement the player wants to keep, not have to salvage by rummaging around looking for a save point possibly grasping for life. Last but not least, why some sections are focused on jumping accuracy when the perspective of the game is totally un-suited to this is beyond me, its no Mario-esque leaping style control let me tell you.

Still, immense diverse gameplay, no end of detail, a multitude of bosses and creatures, a classic story, decent lifespan (about 15 hours +), a whole range of upgrades and crisper graphics then even the best developers out there can come up with make Metroid Prime stand firm and be worthy of your hard earned cash, in fact �40 is probably a underpayment to the effort and thought that has gone into this game. If you haven't already done so, do the right thing and cash in on this beauty, you owe it to yourself. Other developers take note, be more like Retro Studios and step up to the plate�

by Javid

Feel free to post your own opinions on Metroid and on this mini review by utilising our comments system...