Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

November 28,2004 -

Nintendo's Metroid franchise has really made its presence felt this gaming generation. Even after skipping the days of the Nintendo 64, everyone's very bounty hunter remains one of the most popular heroes in video game history. A lot of credit should be given to Texas-based developer, Retro Studios, for Samus' reiteration into today's modern world of first person video games. The developer didn't just make a first person shooter and stamp Metroid on the box, but they made a game that won Game of the Year on almost every gaming publication available because of its ability to not screw up the entire Metroid formula. It's hard to build upon a game that was as great as Metroid Prime, but Retro has managed to pull another one out of their hat with this sequel to what was arguably the best game on the GameCube to date.

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes begins as Samus receives some distress readings coming from the distant planet, Aether. As she closes in on the planet for a safe landing, a dark atmosphere suddenly surrounds Samus' starship, and she suddenly plummets down hard into the planet's surface. Curious about the sudden crash landing, Samus gets out safely and starts to explore her new surroundings hoping to find out what exactly is going on.

From there, the game puts you behind the first person perspective that gave Metroid Prime its trademark. You can see everything through Samus' visor, and much like most Metroid games at the start; you have a good amount of your abilities still intact. This basically works out as a well-guided tutorial because as you explore your surroundings, your body suit will give you signals on what you should be doing'of course, this little help system can be turned off once the game actually unfolds. As you get used to some of your abilities, you'll encounter what looks to be your enemy'a dark version of Samus. You won't fight yet, but following her leads to what is expected in all Metroid games'the inactivity and loss of your upgrades. All of the projectile weapons from your concussion missiles to your power bombs are gone, so it's up to Samus to go look for them and at the same time find out what exactly is going on.

Along with that, the scan visor is still intact. This is what pretty much made (or broke) the game for players as scanning was an essential part to Prime 2's predecessor. Like it or not, Retro went ahead and improved on the scanning system by making the scan wait much faster and everything you can scan is now color coded. Red is something important, blue is something never scanned, and green represents something you've already scanned'a lot more convenient than the scan squares in Metroid Prime.

Once you get used to your default abilities and get farther through Aether to reach a lone temple, you'll meet up with a dangerous looking character. Turns out he's an elder Luminoth'a superior creature of light that inhabits Aether. It appears Samus and the galactic federation had arrived at Aether at the wrong time. Aether had already been abducted by a dark species called the Ing, and they're slowly infecting all of Aether causing evil and darkness wherever and whatever their shadows touch. Now that Samus has crashed their party, she's the Luminoth's only hope in this fight against darkness, but the good thing about all this is that the Ing are in possession of Samus' valuables anyway. This pretty much puts Samus in a position she can't avoid.

In order to save Aether from the darkness and evil of the Ing, Samus has to master the ability to travel between the worlds of Aether and Dark Aether. Deep within the temples, there lies a chamber where Samus can warp to the opposite of the current world. Once she solves the riddle of the chamber, she'll have the ability to go into Dark Aether.

Despite the lack of variety in the game compared to its predecessor, Retro did a fine job in capturing the essence of both worlds. Light Aether is a land composed of wastelands, rain-soaked marshes, and modernized temples that were always a sight to see in Metroid Prime. Dark Aether, however, looked like a hellish, haunted, and somewhat twisted mirror image of its opposite. However way you look at it, the areas in both worlds pretty much have the same layout and topography'much like'the way it was when traveling the light and dark worlds of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. The main twist in all this is that the toxic, dark purple environments throughout Dark Aether are harmful to Samus and her suit, so the bounty hunter is forced to seek refuge in bubbles of light energy that you barely fit into; there are also balls of light energy in the atmosphere that you can shoot and have light up for a while to regain some health.

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