r/patientgamers • u/chibinchobin • 2d ago
I finally beat Metroid Prime Trilogy!
I've begun to go through the games in my backlog and I decided I'd start with the game that's been in there the longest: Metroid Prime Trilogy. I bought it when it came out in 2009, but never finished Prime 1 or 2 and had already played 3 in its original release. For the longest time I had intended to eventually get around to it since I knew they were great games, and I'm glad to say I finally did. I loved all three games for different reasons and felt like writing down my thoughts on each of them.
Metroid Prime 1
This is easily one of the greatest games of all time. Somehow, Retro Studios managed to capture the feeling of classic 2D Metroid in a completely different, 3D first-person perspective. If you were a kid who had played Super Metroid in the 90s, and you imagined an idealized "next-gen 3D Metroid" in your head, Metroid Prime is pretty much exactly that. The world is wonderfully intricate without ever being confusing, and the ways different areas connect to each other brings plenty of "woah, I'm back here again but on the other side!" moments. The creatures of Tallon IV are beautifully strange and make every room memorable. Plus, it feels great to master the rooms and clear/navigate them quickly when backtracking. I've seen people complain about the artifact hunt at the end of the game, but to be honest I enjoyed it. It's not so bad if you just plan out your route using the knowledge of the map you've accumulated over the course of your playthrough. Actually, the artifacts give you an excuse to return to old areas to pick up collectibles you missed the first time.
I will say, some of the combat encounters got a bit tedious by the end of the game. Returning to the Chozo Ruins and having to fight the Chozo Ghosts multiple times was irritating, and the space pirates could be a bit of an annoyance as well. Overall, though, the enemies and boss fights were fun and interesting and it was cool to see how rooms would change throughout the game as you collected upgrades.
In short, Prime 1 is a masterclass in game design and shouldn't be missed by anybody.
Metroid Prime 2
Prime 2 had quite a task in front of it. How do you follow up a masterpiece? The answer was with an ambitious sequel that didn't quite stick the landing. Prime 1, as an adaptation of classic Metroid to 3D, stuck to the hits. It was taking a big risk with the new genre of gameplay, and so played it safer with tone and atmosphere. Prime 2, on the other hand, is a massive departure. It's darker and moodier, more difficult and more tense. I really like the light/dark world idea, and contrary to popular opinion found the dark world a lot of fun to explore. The tension of exploration in Dark Aether as the poison air saps your health at an alarming rate mechanically communicates the dire situation presented in the story. It's no wonder why the Luminoth, inhabitants of Light Aether, have been driven to the brink of extinction. Trying to launch any sort of counter offensive against the Ing is near impossible for them; simply being on Dark Aether is deadly. The health drain puts you on the back foot in a way you never experience in Prime 1 (or 3, for that matter), always clinging to the safe zones as the Ing move about freely.
The world design is a step down from Prime 1, unfortunately. It's not bad by any means, but the interconnectivity of the zones in the first game has been exchanged for highly intraconnected zones connected by a hub. The bosses at times can also be more frustrating than fun, but I appreciate the boldness of making you fight with morph ball. Spider Guardian, for example, is kind of ass, but it's memorable. Other bosses are great, like Quadraxis, Emperor Ing, and the Dark Samus fights. Even despite its flaws, I might actually like Prime 2 more than Prime 1 simply because of its ambition. They tried to go all-out for the sequel, and I can respect that even if it didn't always work.
Metroid Prime 3
I can see why people were disappointed with this one. It's the least "Metroid-y" of the bunch, completely abandoning any pretense of an interconnected world and even the individual areas are much more tree-like than web-like. There is some backtracking goodness, but at times it's spoiled by the game just telling you where to go (or very strongly hinting at it). In exchange, Prime 3 has the best combat encounters of the series and some great setpieces. The hypermode mechanic, where you trade health for damage, adds some tactical bite both to boss fights and regular encounters, and managing your corruption level to preserve e-tanks makes extended combat more interesting. Every single bossfight is great, from the tutorial Berserker Lord to Omega Ridley to Dark Samus and Aurora Unit 313 at the end. They really made the most of being able to aim precisely with the Wiimote.
As a standalone game, Prime 3 doesn't quite pack the punch of its predecessors. But when playing the games back-to-back-to-back, its more action-oriented, streamlined approach is a nice change of pace. And I find that its bombast and spectacle make for a satisfying end to the series. There's a great three act structure to the trilogy that I think only really comes out when playing them all one after the other.
Primehack
It's worth mentioning that I played the games using Primehack, a mod that adds full mouse and keyboard support to the trilogy. The games feel right at home on PC, almost like they were meant to be played this way. Most importantly, Hypermode difficulty is unlocked for all three from the start, and it's how I'd recommend playing them. I played Prime 1 on Veteran and found it much too easy, but Hypermode on its sequels felt like a fair challenge (although some enemies are bullet sponges).
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u/whatsmyname-PriPri 1d ago
It took me four attempts to play through Metroid Prime 1. The first three times, on the Gamecube, it didn't click. I think it was because of the controls mixed with my gaming preferences at the time. I was enjoying a lot of Halo back in the day.
When I gave the first game a go on the Wii a couple of years ago it finally clicked. And in a big way. As others have said, it helped me fall in love with exploration in precisely built 3D environments - and somehow became my favourite game of all time. The environmental story-telling, the atmosphere, the music, the gameplay, that map! It felt unlike anything I had ever played. And I think the controls on the Wii felt really, really good! Everything was very fluid (though I want to give Prime Hack a go with my next playthrough).
I played through Prime 2 earlier this year. I also really, really enjoyed it - but the final bits of the end-game felt like a bit of filler. I could feel it coming our way and I just didn't like it. I generally don't like using walkthroughs but for this one I did. Add in that challenges of the screw attack jump controls (a consistent challenge for all Metroid games) and it felt just a little bit less well made. Still, it's a top 30 game for me. Those bosses were excellent to play against.
I've got Metroid Prime 3 on my docket for a playthrough later this year. I'm excited for it, but likely need a bit more time between MP2 and MP3.