Metroid Prime 2 IGN review up

SantaC

SantaC

Member
9.5

http://cube.ign.com/articles/565/565908p1.html



Closing Comments
Metroid Prime 2 Echoes proves that Retro Studios' first game was not a fluke. This long-anticipated sequel to what I consider to be one of the greatest games ever made arrives as one hell of a great new installment to an already-outstanding franchise.
Echoes isn't exactly a groundbreaking product. The feeling of originality, of freshness, that overwhelmed me as I played through Prime is not present in this sequel, and that's mainly because Prime 2 doesn't stray from the winning formula. It strictly adheres to it, in fact. That's a little disappointing. But at the same time the end experience is every bit as amazing as the first, which means that if you loved the original game then you're going to love this one too. And if you hated it, well, you're probably not going to have a sudden change of heart now.

Prime 2 succeeds because it successfully recreates the Metroid experience in 3D. It succeeds for all the same reasons that the first did, and no new ones. The wide-openness of the huge, gorgeous world. The gargantuan number of hidden upgrades that promise access to areas unreachable. The intense boss fights. The intuitive first-person platforming elements and the challenging third-person environmental puzzles. And most of all, the exploration factor. Just getting to know the world is immensely enjoyable and extremely rewarding. Did I mention that the game is artistically and technically head and shoulders above most games on the market, competing systems included?

I have a couple of minor quibbles with the Echoes. The Dark World is less compelling than the Light World. The lock-on system is not without problems. A dual-analog control setup is long overdue, at least as a secondary option for those who might prefer it. And at least one boss fight was made unfairly more difficult due to the lack of a nearby save point.

But everything said and done, this is still one of the best games to come out in the last couple years and in many ways it stands side-by-side with Metroid Prime. Some gamers may actually prefer it.

And what it boils down to is this: if you're okay with Echoes being an extension of the first game and not a revolution, you're going to flip out over this sequel.

Our highest recommendation.

-- Matt Casamassina


10.0 Presentation
Retro knows what it's doing. Slick menus and cut-scenes, huge amounts of logbook data that can be viewed, and unlockable art, too.

9.0 Graphics
Gorgeous. One of the prettiest GameCube titles, to be sure. Huge worlds filled with detail. Unequaled art direction. Near-perfect framerate. Textures tend to blur up close. One or two framerate dips.

9.5 Sound
Moody music by composer Kenji Yamamoto and a wide assortment of thumping sound effects, too. But more voice work is missed.

9.5 Gameplay
Superb. Nearly flawless. An extension of Metroid Prime in every way. Extremely satisfying platforming and puzzles. Some minor lock-on issues and a Dark World that is not as compelling as the Light.

10.0 Lasting Appeal
A bare minimum of 20 hours to complete the single-player quest and likely double that for completionists who want it all. Then there's the archaic, but still enjoyable multiplayer mode.

9.5 OVERALL:
(out of 10 / not an average)
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great score

But everything said and done, this is still one of the best games to come out in the last couple years and in many ways it stands side-by-side with Metroid Prime. Some gamers may actually prefer it.
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:)
 
Socreges said:
9.5 > 9.4

Metroid Prime 2 > Halo 2

Mathematically, it cannot be ignored.
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9.8 = 9.8 > 9.7 > 9.5 > 9.4 > 9.1

Metroid Prime = Halo 2 > Halo > Metroid Prime 2 > Halo 2 > Metroid Prime 2?

But everything said and done, this is still one of the best games to come out in the last couple years and in many ways it stands side-by-side with Metroid Prime. Some gamers may actually prefer it.
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I'm thinking about playing it if I can find someone who owns it (or will lend it to me). I'm much more interested in this game than I was with Prime.

I think Matt is saving the big ol' 10 for the next Zelda.
 
IBHAT.

Good review. I am pumped. I'm gonna have to put it and MGS3 on the backburner until Christmas tho. This week is all about Half Life 2!
 
gamespot also said it has the same gameplay as prime 1, but I guess that's good.

now all I have to do is beat prime 1 :lol
 
the commentary on difficulty is great. I'm stoked about this.

The review text is less pleasing than the score - it seems like Casserole-face had to score it high. Multi-player was skimmed as were some control issues and some frame rate issues.

It reads like the review should have been a 9.1 final. I WIN.
 
Sigh...like the first Metroid Prime was easy. Why can't they just include difficulty levels from the start? We know they can do them, Metroid Prime had a harder mode.

I hate sucking at games. I'll struggle through as many levels as I can of this, but if it's harder than Prime then I'm never going to complete it, I'm well aware of my skill level.
 
!! I looked at that new spider-ball movie at IGN

rail jumping w/ boost ball = :D :D :D


this game is going to be sweet.... 20 hours minimum :D
 
Flatbread said:
ign ranked halo 2 9.8

gamespot ranked halo 2 9.4
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34II0059.jpg
 
Cliches are the lowest form of speech.

I wish I hadn't seem one of the pictures that's slap bang in the middle of the IGN review, but it does look beautiful. Damn their spoilerific beauty!
 
Mama Smurf said:
Sigh...like the first Metroid Prime was easy. Why can't they just include difficulty levels from the start? We know they can do them, Metroid Prime had a harder mode.
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Most likely because Nintendo doesn't seem to believe in difficulty levels. It would have been pretty easy for them to include a few difficulty levels in Wind Waker by simply doing something like on the harder difficulty level enemies do twice as much damage.

I don't really understand why Nintendo seems to be against this sort of thing most of the time but they should include difficulty levels. It would make games like Echoes more accesible to a wider audience and it would satisfy gamers looking for more of a challenge than you got in Wind Waker.
 
Really? So if I go to EB on Monday, it won't be available? Don'y go telling me Tuesday only for me to find all the copies sold out on Monday!

What a stupid system. Why don't they just tell us the day it'll be available?
 
Mama Smurf said:
Really? So if I go to EB on Monday, it won't be available? Don'y go telling me Tuesday only for me to find all the copies sold out on Monday!

What a stupid system. Why don't they just tell us the day it'll be available?
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It says on the website, "Ships on 11/15/04." Now, if you live on the West Coast, it might be in Monday. But anywhere beyond Washington/Oregon/California, expect it Tuesday.
 
Like the last game, MP2E also has a hard mode, but you've gotta play through the game to unlock it.
 
Deku Tree said:
I don't really understand why Nintendo seems to be against this sort of thing most of the time but they should include difficulty levels. It would make games like Echoes more accesible to a wider audience and it would satisfy gamers looking for more of a challenge than you got in Wind Waker.
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Iawtp. WW needed some whoopass handdown to the gamer. Boo-urh to Miyamoto/Iwata and their *accessible* games!
 
Matt-IGN said:
There is a lot of backtracking in Echoes, which has been a point of complaint for some critics. But in our opinion, this is part of the franchise's charm, just as backtracking has always been engraved in the Zelda series
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Matt owned the haterz.
 
I don't like difficulty levels myself.

But I think Nintendo should take some of its own advice: stop making its games so videogamey. Most of Nintendo's GameCube games require a videogame mindset to even get accustomed to -- not true for Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time.
 
snapty00 said:
I don't like difficulty levels myself.

But I think Nintendo should take some of its own advice: stop making its games so videogamey. Most of Nintendo's GameCube games require a videogame mindset to even get accustomed to -- not true for Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time.
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eh what did you just say...? that doesn't make any sense.
 
snapty00 said:
But I think Nintendo should take some of its own advice: stop making its games so videogamey. Most of Nintendo's GameCube games require a videogame mindset to even get accustomed to -- not true for Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time.
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You'd think MS would at least insert someone that was freakin articulate.
 
snapty00 said:
I don't like difficulty levels myself.

But I think Nintendo should take some of its own advice: stop making its games so videogamey. Most of Nintendo's GameCube games require a videogame mindset to even get accustomed to -- not true for Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time.
Click to expand...


...?

[insert 'what.gif' here]
 
snapty was quite clear. As videogames, videogames should not be videogamey. In being so videogamey, videogames are videogames that are consequentially videogamey. This videogame mindset arbitrarily placed on videogames elicits videogamey aspects in videogames.
 
SantaCruZer said:
Matt owned the haterz.
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No he didn’t, he is an idiot for comparing the backtracking in Zelda to Metroid.

You don’t back tack tough the same part of a dungeon 10 times in a Zelda title?

I wouldn’t say backtracking was engraved in the Zelda series, hey if it was good in the 80’s it’s good now.

Maybe I will go out put on some red vinyl pants and a red vinyl jacket and go to the shops.

-
 
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