Metroid Prime Federation Force Announced (Next Level, 3DS, 4 Player, Mission Based)
- Thread starter TheGreatDirector
- Start date
The reaction to Tropical Freeze was nowhere near this negative.
Ninja Scooter
Member
The reactions to TF also weren't because TF looked like a bad game that had nothing in common with what people expect from a Donkey Kong game. That's a terrible comparison and a hell of a reach. This could also remind you of the many number of times when a game is revealed and gets a negative reaction because it looks like crap.
It's alright, hehe. And the Hunters comparisons are probably due to it being a spin-off of Prime and also on handhelds, same as Hunters.
Hatty
Member
Just as nonsensical though
Labrynian Rebel
Member
Tropical Freeze is an amazing game. I honestly don't care what Retro makes, whatever they make has been golden.
I don't think it's the prime moniker that created the backlash.
If you're going to call it metroid might as well go all in.
It wasn't but it was negative (here anyway, remember "fucking donkey kong"?) and I'm getting flashbacks to that.
Gonzo The Great
Banned
People were mad at Tropical Freeze because it wasn't Metroid. People are mad at Federation Force because it looks like a genuinely bad game and doesn't offer a sense of isolation or exploration that Metroid games are traditionally known for. I'm a much bigger fan of Donkey Kong than I am Metroid, but after having to endure a slew of subpar bongo spin-offs during the GCN era, I can empathize with the Metroid fanbase.
I've wanted Nintendo to enter the Metroid universe in ways that similar to this game. And branding is a huge issue. If you call it Metroid anything, it's kind of disingenuous when the game could possibly not deal with metroids (which I would also be fine with).
Metroid Universe is kinda hokey, but could work. I guess World of Warcraft is okay in retrospect. World of Metroid is obviously stupid, but you get my drift.
kamineko
Does his best thinking in the flying car
Yes, the title is what all of us old-ass Metroid fans really care about. Way to see into the heart of things
Do people throw hissies if a Pokemon or Mario spinoff have the Mario or Pokemon names in the title, though?
This just seems dumb, how else do you label a Metroid spinoff without the word Metroid?
Well, I hope they mix things up a little. TF was great but from what I understand it didn't differenciate itself much from past entries.
Gonzo The Great
Banned
Tropical Freeze was fantastic, but they failed to fix many of the flaws that plagued Returns. Broken co-op, lackluster bonus rooms, lack of Animal Buddies, linear progression, boring enemies, etc. I know Retro can do better, that's why I want a third DKC game to finish off the trilogy.
You don't make a spinoff of a series that hasn't seen any game in half a decade, and hasn't seen a competent game in nearly twice that. You need an actual game to spin off from. Mario and Pokemon games never stop long enough for people to be upset about a spinoff instead of a new entry in the series.
I wouldn't be surprised if the game eventually has a mission where you compete with the pirates to capture a nest of Metroids. May even tie into a future game. The Federation clearly has no qualms about fucking with those things. I doubt they'd call it Metroid with no Metroids in it.
Evidentially you do. And I think the backlash is freaking weird.
Simbabbad
Member
From what I read, by default it controls exactly like Metroid Prime on GameCube, with lock-on system and the use of triggers.
I agree with all the related part of your post, but that's sort of my point: Metroid isn't something very specific, it changed and experimented a lot over the years, and I feel every main Metroid game fits into that general spirit. Only one I disliked at first was Zero Mission because it seemed redundant after NES Metroid and Super Metroid, but it does achieve its own thing.
Federation Force is something else, it's as much a spin-off as Metroid Blast.
It also confirmed you trashed a game before knowing anything about it, and contradicted yourself by saying it had no link with Metroid to later admit it had everything to do with Metroid. For clarity, I'll requote:
So you can guess how much value I put on your feedback now. No offence.
Are they targeting the Metroid fanbase, or people who liked Metroid Blast and play as Samus in Smash without knowing who she is? Will these dislikes be relevant? I doubt it. If anything, those dislikes would validate the idea they'd better change or mix up the Metroid audience.
So good.
Of course, because clearly the name is so valuable that they can't just sit on it without making a game. Just not valuable enough to actually make a game in the series, apparently? So why again did they need to make a game with Metroid on it that has no resemblance to anything Metroid?
Ninja Scooter
Member
People don't because those games are usually complementary to a main entry in the franchise. The reason people are upset is because we hardly ever get Metroid games, people have been clamoring for one for years, Nintendo KNOWS this (hence the Retro teases and Reggie wearing the pin) and when we finally get one it's a 4 player co-op spinoff with ugly graphics and an uglier art style. That is why people are reacting negatively to this. If this was Konami after all the shit that has gone on with Silent HIlls and PT finally announcing a new Silent Hill game...and it ended up being some kind of Telltale game or a 2D platformer or something, you wouldn't get anywhere near as many people trying to play apologist for them. Nobody else are afforded the kind of leeway you see people reach to give Nintendo.
God forbid they do a little world-building as a bridge towards that next game.
Exactly. I'm glad they're doing it.
Other M gave us more than enough "world building". That's really not what the series needs right now.
Ninja Scooter
Member
Yeah I'm sure the story of the super chibi federation force are meant to build the world of Metroid.
Hatty
Member
I must've missed the outrage that the f-zero courses in Mario kart caused. Nintendo shouldn't reference or release any games unless us gamers decide it is allowed. Here, sign my petition to cancel this children's game for daring to take place in the Metroid universe. The gall of next level, they should be shut down imo
Ninja Scooter
Member
The FZero courses in Mario Kart? Care to make any more disingenuous comparisons?
The backlash is really easy to understand. People want a new metroid, they get a spinoff. People want a big ambitious 3D adventure on Wii U, with the budget and visuals to match. The spinoff is a 3DS game, which isn't exactly known for cutting edge visuals. Not only that but the spinoff gives off Prime Hunters vibes which isn't a franchise people have been asking to see revived.
And frankly a lot of people probably just think the game doesn't look very interesting, and they're not delusional or anything for thinking so. It's Nintendo's job to try and get them excited about the project.
Probably because people don't think of F-Zero as a realistic expectation anymore, and there's no obvious Nintendo studio to point to that they think should do the project.
Ninja Scooter
Member
There it is. Not everyone has this attitude that everything Nintendo does is right and fantastic. Coming from that perspective of course you are going to try to find the silver lining to any Nintendo announcement and make the best of it. They could have announced Metroid Golf and we would have had people saying "Wait til we play it" and "It could be cool"
A lot of people in this thread don't seem to get this. If the game actually looked good, it wouldn't be getting near this much hate. It's not just that it's different, it's that it's different and looks really cheap and awkward. Watching Blast Ball from the Treehouse today, it really felt like I was looking at shovelware.
Next Level Games has a great pedigree, but the footage released of Federation Force so far shows none of the imagination their other games have. The gameplay seems to be in an awkward place, especially for the co-op missions. Someone compared this to Monster Hunter, but Monster Hunter is such a good co-op game because of how the different weapons all have important yet flexible roles. Here, everyone has the same skills outside a few limited use items and their co-op roles seem forced.
This is the first thing with the Metroid name in 5 years, and first game with the Metroid Prime name since 2007 (which also happens to be the last good game in the series)
With no official signs of life for the franchise, the fact that this is how they decide to use the name? People are justified in being disappointed. Can you imagine waking up, seeing Metroid Prime trending on Twitter, and then you see that it's this? Like... come on. I don't think this looks SO awful or whatever, I'm not offended by its existence, it could be fine. But Nintendo's dismissal of the Metroid series for years only to revisit it like this is bound to upset fans.
How do you know that this one is not complementary to the Metroid franchise? It seems to be exploring the themes of capturing creatures that we've seen the Federation and Space Pirates involved in time and time again. Comments today even indicated that games like this help build the overall universe.
We don't know what Nintendo is working on. They could have a more "mainline" Metroid in development now. Why all the salt over a spinoff? Your comment about it being ugly is subjective. Graphically unpolished? Sure, but I see definite merit in the way the designs are being handled and it adds a lot of readability of the game. If the models were more traditionally proportioned I'd worry about some visual clarity issues, but I would not be surprised if Nintendo revisited the current models due to the backlash this week.
I wonder though do you hate Pokemon Rumble and Pokemon Shuffle for the same reason with the non-franchise-standard Pokemon designs in those games?
The direct wasn't as good as I'd have hoped, but the levels of vitriol I've seen are frankly embarrassing.
A Telltale Silent Hill spinoff could be pretty cool actually.
Spieler Eins
Member
What? Is this based on the same kind of thought that made some people think that Nintendoland was preparing people for the return of old series, or that the Mario Kart DLC was hinting at a new F-Zero?
According to some Nintendo fans, there is always a new awesome Metroid in development that we know nothing about and will have info released at the next major event, you just gotta see the clues like Samus being in that New 3DS commercial or Reggie wearing a Metroid pin.
After a while you realize that most of it is just people being desperate.
ElectricBlanketFire
Member
There's no point in debating you if you're going to make absurd comparisons.
Next Level Games has other games than this in development.
You're right probably not another Metrod though, lol.
Spring-Loaded
Member
Wasn't there a recent story about how there's no Metroid being developed at the moment?
QuixoticNeutral
Member
For all the (justified) chatter about how the design of Federation Force has just about nothing in common with the mechanics we associate with a Metroid game (other than a very loose second-order connection via Hunters), has it occurred to anyone else that Blast Ball could have been the basis for a fantastic additional mode in Splatoon?
That's not accurate. How Tanabe's comments can be interpreted is that the studios he oversees (Retro, NLG, Monster) are currently not working on other Metroid titles but this one. Then there's Sakamoto who does his own thing.
Most likely Blast Ball is just another prototype NLG pitched to Nintendo. Kind of makes sense that they would be the ones developing it further.
I was one of those who wasn't too happy (and complained) about Metroid Prime's first person perspective yet I got the game and loved it. I'm willing to give Federation Force a chance.
It won't be a traditional Metroid but all popular Nintendo franchises have been expanded beyond their core games. Even Fire Emblem is getting a spin-off. I think it's a good sign for Metroid that it's getting a game at all.
I understand the disappointment that there's no Wii U Prime but I don't see how hating on a 3DS game helps the situation.
It won't be a traditional Metroid but all popular Nintendo franchises have been expanded beyond their core games. Even Fire Emblem is getting a spin-off. I think it's a good sign for Metroid that it's getting a game at all.
I understand the disappointment that there's no Wii U Prime but I don't see how hating on a 3DS game helps the situation.
Spieler Eins
Member
Sakamoto just last year said he doesn't want to return to Metroid, unless someone has fundamentally new ideas for it or something (in the same vein as Miyamoto cancelling out F-Zero).
QuixoticNeutral
Member
Yes, I know it's likely an NLG pitch. I should clarify (as I see I put it ambiguously): I don't mean that Blast Ball could have originated in Splatoon, but that the basic format of a competitive multiplayer game where you use shooting mechanics to pot giant balls in goals would have been right at home in Splatoon, especially when you consider the shoot-to-deflect mechanics in the single-player campaign.
That's totally possible. We know very little about the complete package. We've seen one arena and I think two mission maps at most?
AzureTranquility95
Banned
Now that I'm thinking about it, what HAS Sakamoto been up to since Other M released? This begs the question...
Also,
Also,
A new Rhythm Heave recently came out. Isn't he the director of that series? Tomodachi Life was also directed by him if I'm remembering right.
Tamodachi and Game&Wario.