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it all away with an attack by a swarm of thieving monsters. This kind of
regression is normal for the series, but previous installments didn't bother to
offer half-hearted explanations and they were probably better off for it.
The first thing Prime players will notice once they get into the game is
the vastly improved scan visor. Unscanned objects appear blue while vital objects,
such as elevator controls or doors, appear in red and already scanned items appear
green. This makes it much easier to tell if objects need attending to or not.
Also immediately noticeable is the improvement in the visuals: lush ambient environs
unfold, with motile plant life and foreign technology strewn across the path;
birds fly overhead; bubbles sneak up from the water; and sand slowly trickles
down the walls in certain areas. Rooms are often vast and open, but still full.
Rarely is the realism of the detailed surroundings suspended, save for when new
gear appears as an S emblem rather than the actual gear, which was how things
were done in the original Prime, as well.
The game plays much
like its predecessor; the feel and the control scheme are both similar to the
original and just as intuitive. Players can still enjoy rolling around and sticking
to walls with the morph ball and spider ball, respectively, and due to popular
demand there are more instances where both are required. The game's built-in help
feature proves to be both a curse and a blessing: needed or not, pop-ups telling
players to "Press Z" appear and stay on screen until the player does so. Sometimes
these unavoidable pop-up messages prove annoying, especially when backtracking
to access new areas after acquiring new gear, but other times they're quite handy.
Aside from being knocked off a few ledges and spider ball tracks repeatedly, the
roughly 25-hour game plays smoothly throughout.
The enemy encounters
in this Metroid are a bit different than before. Instead of small creatures
littered about the landscape, each area has a few larger enemies capable of delivering
a more massive punch, some of whom can rip through a couple of energy tanks in
just a few moments. There isn't a great deal of variation in the enemies, with
most of them simply being normal/dark counterparts, but they're still more interesting
than the palette-swap pirates from the last game. My personal favorites are the
Reznits, which players encounter later on in the Sanctuary Fortress. The Reznits
perform an attack which crashes Samus's suit, turning the screen gray and causing
it to "lag." By pressing L, R and B simultaneously, players can reboot Samus'
computer system and regain control of the suit. It's such an enjoyable procedure
that I left myself vulnerable to the attack on multiple occasions, just to gleefully
reboot my system and see all the flashy text that comes with it appear on screen.
Boss battles are much easier in Echoes, but they are definitely more creative
and epic. Many bosses force players to make use of several visor and suit modifications
(such as the spider ball and the boost ball) to succeed, though they're never
as challenging as the difficult battle at the end of the first Metroid Prime.
Speaking of suit modifications, there's a lot more gear to be had in
Echoes than there was in the last game, including some new goodies and
some returning series essentials. A key addition, present in pre-Gamecube Metroid
games but absent from the original Prime, is the Screw Attack. The screw
attack in Echoes is a combination of the space jump and screw attack from
earlier Metriod games. It allows players to do successive jumps in midair,
as well as damage any enemies in Samus's path. Some of the other gear isn't quite
so extraordinary, however. The two visors acquired on Aether, for example, are
not very impressive. The dark visor, although useful in that it lets you see the
otherwise invisible "dark" platforms and monsters, does not make a great deal
of sense as far as sci-fi gadgets go. By comparison, the infrared and X-ray visors
from the original Prime made sense, even if they were ugly. There's also
another visor, the last one players get, which appears to have been added in last
minute. It is only necessary in a few instances, and it's as ugly as the X-ray
visor from the original Prime. Players also obtain a dark beam and a light
beam, and their use is vaguely reminiscent of Ikaruga: Dark Aether creatures are
weak to the light beam and monsters killed with one beam will drop ammunition
for the opposite beam. Power bombs return, along with super missiles, and both
are required to access certain areas. Another new addition is the seeker launcher,
which allows players to hold down the missile button to lock on to up to five
targets at once and then release the button to blast out a missile per target
in a style that harkens back to Panzer Dragoon. The final weapon in the game,
though, much like the final visor, didn't really do it for me. It too seems to
have been thrown in last minute just to give players another weapon to use. I
have no complaints about the suits in Echoes, however, as all three each
have their own specific, worthwhile benefits, and they all look fantastic.
The game's music, written once again by series veteran Kenji Yamamoto, has also
been greatly improved. Most of the exploration music is ambient with electronic
accents. Thin, lonely synth cuts into the ambiance of the Torvus Bog, with playful
pitch-bends and a catchy melody, similar to the title music which players may
recognize from the Echoes bonus disc. There are also a few arranged tracks
from Super Metroid, which are quite delightful and nostalgic. The boss
battles are accompanied by hard electronic tracks which players of the original
Prime should feel right at home with. The Sanctuary Fortress has a driving
beat under the ambient chords, which sounds natural with mechanical nature of
the area. By this point in the game, the end is quickly approaching, and it feels
like the music is driving players across the finish line. The sound effects are
where they belong: there are booms, bangs, metal clatterings, and plenty of splats.
The sounds add to the experience of the game, as creatures all have their own
signature noises that warn you of their presence and give away their position.
I would sometimes flee from rooms after hearing a particular monster's cry and
then listen as the creature behind me gave chase and got closer and closer as
I waited for an escape route to open.
Echoes provides some nifty
bonuses for players, as well. Upon scanning specific percentages of scannable
objects, players will unlock photo galleries containing concept art and creature
designs. People who received the Metroid bonus disc will already be familiar
with much of the content, though it's nice for people who don't have that disc.
While it's relatively easy to scan the majority of the objects during the first
run-through, most players will have to play the game at least twice to scan everything.
Multiplayer levels can also be unlocked by progressing through the single player
mode. And lastly, in keeping with Metroid tradition, scan percentage and
item percentage is taken into account at the end of the game to determine how
much of Samus is exposed.
I left multiplayer for last because it is barely
worth a mention. Based on the great single player experience Echoes provides,
I was hoping for more here. Unfortunately, the level designs are small and uninspired,
the weapons don't do enough damage, and there are too many healing items scattered
across the battlefield. Most matches consist of pressing the fire button rapidly,
due to it being nearly impossible to hit opponents when they're in morph ball
mode, and using the boost ball to run away and collect healing items. It's difficult
to give pursuit, and the fact that there are so many healing items around means
it usually futile to give chase to begin with. The multiplayer mode is a clear
example of why Metroid fans were skeptical of a first-person Metroid
in the first place.
Overall:
9/10
Despite a few minor flaws, I believe Echoes is superior to its
already stellar predecessor. Even if the multiplayer mode won't bring players
back for a round two, the greatly improved single player experience is worth the
money and effort. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes had a tough act to follow, but
it managed to improve upon the look, sound, and feel of the highly atmospheric
series.
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Following
the critical acclaim and moderate commercial success of Metroid Prime,
Retro Studios, under Nintendo's guidance, set out to formulate a sequel that could
engage new audiences without alienating long-time fans. While I question some
of the additions in Echoes (most notably the multiplayer mode), I believe
that the new (and improved!) single-player experience is more than enough to satisfy
new players and returning fans alike. 
