First Metroid Prime Hunters review

[Kolzig]

http://www.gamepro.com/nintendo/ds/games/reviews/52709.shtml 4.5/5

Hunter's visuals shine on the DS. Upon entering Morph Ball mode, Samus armor reflects light, shimmering like a new car. But it's the environments in Hunters that really show off the visual capabilities of the Nintendo DS. Each of the five worlds follows a different theme ranging from sleek frozen ice to molten lava. Even though the frame rate typically stays smooth and consistent, you will experience some jerkiness upon entering a large room containing four or more enemies.

The first-person touch screen controls in Hunters may be impressive from a technical standpoint, but they falter when it comes to precision aiming. An auto-aim function would have been helpful, but you won't find one in the option menu. You can, however, adjust the sensitivity and choose from four different control types -- southpaws are welcome -- and setting options that enable you to play with or without the stylus.

Approximately as big as Metroid Prime on the GameCube, it's hard to imagine how Nintendo squeezed Hunters into a tiny DS cartridge. Metroid Prime: Hunters is a very polished game, suffering more from small quirks than actual flaws. Come March 20th, be prepared for one of Nintendo's greatest achievements yet.

I need this game, right now.

[Jayel]

I've had fun with Metroid Prime until I got bored with it.

Is this game different or better?

[Lechimp]

The demo felt very different. It actually felt and played a lot like Quake. It seems like more of a traditional FPS than the action/adventure that Metroid Prime was. This was just a demo though, I have no clue how much exploration is in Metroid Prime Hunters, but the game did feel faster paced.

[Moosferatu]

Yeah, from what I've heard and read the game is quite different from all the previous Metroids. This isn't a direct quote, but if I remember correctly in interview #2 the guy says something along the lines of the game not focusing as much on exploring but rather on fast paced action where you're always on the move. To be honest, that doesn't really sound all that appealing to me. I don't like constant pressure and the feeling that I have to keep moving because something's always after me. I had planed on getting it right when it came out, but I'm going to wait a little bit at least before considering getting it now.

[Jayel]

I've played Zero Mission I really liked was the change of pace near the end where you're constantly running away from the space pirates completely defenseless. I can't imagine an entire game being like that from beginning to the end though. That'd totally tire me out.

[miffy495]

Yeah, part of the reason I enjoyed MP so much was that it was an FPS that wasn't. If it's now becom an FPS that IS, well, what's the point?

[Chris]

Yeah, part of the reason I enjoyed MP so much was that it was an FPS that wasn't. If it's now becom an FPS that IS, well, what's the point?

That it's in all likelihood a good game...? One couldn't possibly say that every "FPS that IS" is automatically not worth playing simply because it's an FPS.

[miffy495]

Yeah, but the thing with Metroid was that it was such a change from a genre that's really gone stale. I haven't really been able to enjoy a real FPS in a long time. HL2, FEAR, etc while all good games didn't really grab me like they were supposed to. I've gotten tired of normal FPSs, and Metroid served as some respite from that. If it's just a very solid FPS now, it'll probably fall victim to the same thing that kept me from really enjoying the other great FPSs of the last few years. That is why I have the problem with this change in Metroid gameplay. Hope that clarifies my statement.

[n0wak]

So I played Metroid Prime Hunters a little bit, in between a lot of Tetris DS sessions. You fly your ship (not directly, it's just an interface) to some planet (and, partly, isn't that the Metroid Prime sequel that we really wanted? Flying around planet to planet collecting bounties? Although instead of bounties, here you're collecting artifacts.) You land. You walk around. You scan things. Some things shoot at you and then you shoot them back. You go through a bit of an annoying jump climb (not too bad, but jumping is the one thing that's harder to do with these controls than anything else). Then you fight a "boss" of sorts in an almost arena deathmatch setting.

It's kind of interesting in that it's a change of pace from the standard giant creature bosses of the past.

So far it's alright. Nothing amazing, but it is good and it runs smoothly and does control fairly well (though it takes a bit of adjustment.) Doesn't seem like there's going to be as much (if any) sequence breaking -- or just plain old exploration -- so I'm not sure how the single player will stack up. Not great, I imagine.

Haven't played multiplayer yet, so I don't know about that.

In conclusion: need more time with it.

[twmac]

I was warned that one requires a good sofa and a good seating arrangement to get the hang of this in single player, but all were extremely gushing about the game.

[-MaSQuE-]

If it is a true FPS on a handheld, wouldn't that actually be actually the first time it's properly done?

[spazmatron]

first time i've seen an FPS done properly on a handheld for sure...

one thing i've always hated about console FPS's is the generally restricted plane of action. it's either that or trying to aim with one analog stick and move with the other, which coming from a PC just feels retarded.

hand cramp issues aside (i had some pain but that was after two 2-hour sessions) i found using the touchscreen to look around quite intuitive.

sure story~, explorey, and environmenty~wise it doesn't quite stack up to Half-Life, but like the reviews say the single player game is fairly solid, and what most of the reviews didn't mention is that you can play any of the multiplayer levels against bots, which is great for practice and a quick shooty-shoot fest.

i'm happy with it, tbh i wanted at least just one game that looked pretty and consisted of not much but run and shoot stuff... after a hard days animal crossing and fire emblemming sometimes i need a change of pace! there's some backtracking, but not so annoying, a minor trek back might uncover a whole section as big again as the "normal" part of the level, which is cool.

[Kolzig]

Still a week before the Euro release comes, I'm going to buy this one immediately. Too bad that I can't play the wifi multiplayer immediately. I have to wait until June...

[miffy495]

I'm a bit concerned about MPH. It was going to be something that I picked up as soon as I had a working DS. Now that I do, it doesn't have the thumbstrap so I have no access to the means of control that made me like the demo so much. Does anyone have a recommendation on how to play it w/out, or know where to buy a separate thumbstrap? Otherwise I may never play this (reportedly awesome) game...

[spazmatron]

i found the stylus worked better for me than the thumbstrap - but i'm a lefty playing it right handed... feels more natural since i play pc fps' right-handed.

just had a look at www.play-asia.com and it appears all their thumb straps are out of stock.. yeh dunno where you'd get a new one ??

[Kolzig]

Man, the game feels great!

I bought it yesterday and the thumbstrap is indeed the Right and Only True Way to control the game.

[Tanukitsune]

This may be the first Nintendo game I don't like...

They took away everything except the morph ball, because if they had taken that, it would simply be UT or Quake...

I don't like playing with the thumb strap, because my thumb is less acurate than the stylus, but fighting the bosses actually gets painful, my arms start to hurt after a while...

You only get four worlds to explore, which are deathmatch arena with corridors between them, and the bosses seems to repeat, so far I've only fought two bosses twice, and then I got fed up of this game...

This game is clearly made to played againts others, it's like Four Swords, great to play multi, but that good to play alone...

And I didn't even get to see a Metroid in the game!

[miffy495]

...I stole my sister's thumbstrap. She doesn't use it anyway. It works surprisingly well with the Lite, especially considering that you can't pull it through the hinge like I always did with my old DS, and feel pretty good. Mind you, I still don't have Metroid, so this is from trying it out with SM64, but now I'm not afraid to buy Metroid and have it be ruined by crappy control. Thumbstrap forever!

[Moosferatu]

Is SM64 worth getting?

[Tommy Gun]

I've ranted about this before, so:

SM64 is still a great game on the DS, but the controls bother me too much to play it. You really need an analog, the d-pad just doesn’t work very well. You can use the touch screen, of course, but here’s the problem: The “neutral point” is always moving. If you touch the middle of the screen, then drag up, Mario will run forward…but if you drag up past the top of the “analog circle” on the screen, the circle will also drag up, moving the neutral point higher. So that means you have to constantly lift up your thumb and reset back to the middle! All the fun of controlling with a mouse, on a handheld! They should have “locked” the circle to the middle, or the side, or wherever, so the neutral point was always the same, like an actual analog stick.

----

I really don't like the d-pad, you may not have as big a problem with it. The Lite probably has a better d-pad also.

Thumbstraps: I got my DS on ebay so it didn't have one. I went to my local Game Crazy, where I sort of know the people working there, and one of the guys gave me a strap off one of the used DSs in the case! I kinda feel bad for whoever bought that one, though.

I've only played MPH for a couple hours, but I really liked it. I thought the jumping worked really well (double-tap on the screen). It sounds like it would be annoying, but it wasn't hard to do. There's sort of low gravity in the game so you get this nice floaty jump that feels like the *suit* is jumping, rather than Samus, which I liked.

[miffy495]

Yeah, I really liked how the demo of Hunters played back in the day. I should try and dig up that cart so I can give it a try on the Lite. I really didn't have a problem with the touchscreen movement in Mario 64. It took a little while to get the hang of, but once I was a few hours in it felt incredibly natural to me. I think they tried that fixed-centre thing with the Rayman 2 port and the general consensus was that the controls in Mario worked better.

Worth buying? I got it back when there were 2 things worth playing on the DS. Mario and Feel The Magic. The clincher for me was that I never owned the original Mario 64 (I know, I know...) so the game was mostly new to me. I'd played up to the first encounter with Bowser before when a friend lent me his copy, but that's as far as I'd gotten. In that context, Mario 64DS fucking rocked. If you've played the original, it really depends how much you want to try out the new characters and the 30 new stars. If you're hardcore obsessive about it, you may enjoy it. If not, either wait for New SMB for your Mario fix or try to find it used and cheap. I doubt it would be worth full price for you, but it's still a fun little game.

[Roderick]

I borrowed Mario 64DS from a friend and played it up to somewhat halfway, after which I just kind of gave up, not from difficulty but because I had lots of work to do. I also only once or twice played the original for a while because I never owned a N64. That was before I got into consoles. From my point of view, Mario 64DS offers a LOT of gameplay to dig into. May not be as nice if you already know 90% of it, but you can still sure waste away plenty of hours with it. And it's still effing Mario, you know. It's not Daikatana.

[Tommy Gun]

Yeah, I really liked how the demo of Hunters played back in the day.

It should be pointed out that the MPH demo was a *completely* different engine. They started over from scratch for the final game. I barely played the demo, so I don't really remember if it's much different.

I think they tried that fixed-centre thing with the Rayman 2 port and the general consensus was that the controls in Mario worked better.

Interesting, I didn't know that. I'm not planning on getting Rayman DS, but I just checked out some screenshots again. It looks like the circle is really small! That may be the problem--or does it detect outside that circle too? Maybe they need bigger "zones" (neutral, walk, run).

What I really think they should do with each upcoming DS platformer is let you choose the size of the circle, and whether or not it's fixed. If you choose fixed, you should be able to choose the location (left side, right side, middle, etc.). That way everyone can tweak it to their liking, and people who use their right thumbs will be fine too.

[miffy495]

It would be nice to have the option. I'm not sure how large the radius in Rayman was. I didn't buy it, but I do remember previews talking about how it would fix that problem everyone had with M64DS's controls by making the movement disc-thing stationary. Then all the reviews said that on second thought, they liked Mario's better. Can't compare them myself though.

From how you described Hunters (double-tap to jump, etc) it sounded just like how the First Hunt demo controlled. I'm not sure about the looks, but I don't think the controls have been changed much if at all. I hope not, at any rate, as I found the demo to feel quite natural. I didn't even have to look anything up. There was a moment of "hmmm... how do I jump? Maybe if I use the screen as a button..." and that was the first day I had the system.

[Tommy Gun]

One of my best friends is obsessed with Metroid. Upon getting Hunters, he told me, "they changed the control from the demo! Before you were using your thumb, now you use the stylus!" To this day, I have absolutely no clue what the hell he was talking about. Obviously you can use either, since they're both styluses. I think I ended up liking the (pen) stylus better, because there are small points on the screen you have to touch (weapons, visor, etc.). The visor one is at the very bottom, and I had trouble activating it with the thumb stylus. In any case, I really liked the way it controlled. Felt like a mouse-and-keyboard on a handheld.