Downloaded this evening and played Metroid Prime for about an hour. I've beaten the trilogy, and consider myself a pretty dedicated Metroid fan. However, I haven't played the Trilogy version of the games and I haven't picked up a Prime title since beating Corruption just after its release in 2007.
I had a slightly rocky start. The download took an age. My TV encases the game in black border (apparently, I don't have an overscan option on my very new television). Oh shit, now I have to go back to the Wii Mode on the Wii U and make a Mii, unless I want a generic cartoon avatar (which I don't). Okay, now we're good to go. What? They took out the title screens for the individual games? I fucking loved the title screens.
Then the game started. Sweet buttery Jesus. First off, Metroid Prime still looks fantastic. I was shocked by how good a 2002 game designed for CRT displays looks on a 42" 1080p screen from late 2014. Ah, then the music. The immaculate music. This, of course, followed by the pitch-perfect introduction of Samus. The god-damned incomparable atmosphere. And when I say "incomparable," I mean it. I still haven't encountered a game with an ambiance that is quite so palpable. The art direction remains unparalleled -- the world is just so immensely dense, and the assets so lovingly crafted with so very much variety. And it turns out I still have the impulse to scan every object under the sun; I just want to soak it all up like some strange intergalactic ray. I'd forgotten how nicely the game builds -- the sense of inevitability and doom you get from collecting the scraps of the story through environmental data. And how outright badass you feel when you realize that the Space Pirates have written about you, "The Hunter."
One thing that struck me, something made especially clear by the passing of years, is how completely tactile this game is. It's a cliche at this point, but no other game -- first-person or not -- has put me so believably into a virtual character's shoes. Nintendo's developers talk a lot about how a game "feels," and here we have a prime (aaaaaaay) example. The way Samus' visor wobbles a bit when she moves, the way she looks down as she jumps and lands with a heavy thud and the myriad interactive environmental touches combine to give you a really compelling sense that you're in this suit of armor, peering through this HUD just as Samus would. And -- again, having never played Prime with motion controls and not having touched Corruption since the heyday of the Wii -- it's a crying shame that pointer controls didn't catch on for console first-person shooters. Holding that remote and watching Samus' blaster mimic the little rolls of your wrist just adds another (I'll say it) immersive wrinkle. You forget about the controls very quickly, just as you should, because they just feel like natural propulsion.
I have a buddy who's developing an indie first-person game, and has never played any of the Prime games. I called him up just now and told him that I've planned his weekend, and it involves lots of beer and hours of Metroid Prime. The reason for that is the same reason why ever gamer should play this trilogy: it's a masterclass in game design.
