Metroid Prime

Evil waits below the surface. But first it must be found.

There's that mysterious music as the camera looks into the depths of space, pulls back, and reveals... a creepy space station sitting above Tallon IV. This vessel appears to be a space pirate frigate, and the Space Pirates have invaded Tallon IV mining Phazon and trying to collect artifacts.

Metroid Prime is a complex action/adventure game that weaves dark webs with story lines containing the dead Chozo race, the powerful Space Pirates, the mysterious element Phazon, and a beast only known as 'The Worm'. You are Samus aran, and you must find out how all these connect AND bring order to it! This is the best game to date. It contains a lot of action without being annoying. The graphics are stunning, and the boos fights are worth the wait. Metroid Prime takes you from the fiery tunnels of the Magmoor Caverns, to the beautiful snow land of Phendrana Drifts, to the rainy forest of the Tallon Overworld, to the barren shrine of the Chozo Ruins, and to the powerful mining base built by Space Pirates called 'Phazon Mines'. Prepare to have your mind blown, cause this game rocks! Evil waits below the surface. But first it must be found.

OK I'll start off with the graphics; Flawless and beautiful! Man, the way the morph ball leaves streams of light as it rolls around is awesome. Oh and if you are quick enough to notice that when your close to a bright blast, you can see Samus' eyes on the inside of the visor.(What a beauty touch, eh) The gameplay is sick! 2 thumbs way up for whoever decided that Prime would be a FPS!! I love the way the music and the lighting add a sense of fear to playing. When I first battled the Chozo Ghosts, man, it was like "AAAHH, where are you bitches!" Another good touch was the HUGE bosses, and Metroid Prime itself is such an incredible final boss. And how could I forget the return of Ridely. Great battle against him. The best part of this game is the story! How such an advanced, peaceful race was nearly wiped out by the destruction a meteor caused when it slammed into their planet Tallon IV. How the space pirates are manipulating the radioactive material known as Phazon to build stronger and more effective soldiers and weapons. The levels are beautiful and very massive and of course they had to stick to the usual Metroid levels of a lava level, water level, surface area level, frozen ice level, and temple ruins level. Plus the whole Impact Crater is sooo sick. Great controls and abilities this time too. All around this game rules. If you have a Gamecube and dont have this game, you NEED to go get it!! and if you dont have a GC, go get one and buy Metroid Prime as your first game! MIBALZ have spoken!!

This is the best Game for the last .....well it's one of the best ever. The Graphics are stunning, you actually feel that your there on Tallon IV. The bits which made me gasp were things like Samuses face reflecting on the inside of the helmit, the condensation when you go neer a waterfall.

The atmospheric sound effects and music are the best on gamecube, PS2 or X box. Exept the music acumpining Meca Riddly, which was pants.

When i first heard that this game was NOT going to be made by Nintendo, but by Retro Studios, i almost cried, me being a massive fan of the whole secries, but to make me dred this even more was when Nintendo shut down Retro's other project, Raven Blade, for looking and playing like a piece of old tarmac. But much to my relefe Retro proved me wrong, thank the lord.

Buy this game, if you dont have a Gamecube, buy one and get this game, I Will give this game 97%, or 10 out of 10, easy.

Metroid Prime was a big gamble that Nintendo took when it gave the responsibility of this franchise to a small known "TEXAS" based developer. The end result is nothing short of spectacular. People who "bash" this game for having no story or "cut scenes" are just the few (or many?) that are accustomed to having their stories played out for them "FINAL FANTASY" like and who are too lazy to read. The story isn't something that is playing out as you progress, but rather a history of the inhabitants of the planet and how it may tie to your character. The game layout is magnificent and the sound of the surrounding ambiance is a treat for the ears. The developers even threw in little details into the graphics that make you get a sense that the programmers really do care and they put a lot of effort into this game. I bought the game and had it sitting in my closet for over a year without ever playing it (I bought it because it was giving to me REALLY cheap). Once I picked it up, I smacked myself silly and asked myself over and over why I had waited so long to take a dive into this future classic. 9.5 out of 10.

Prime is not actually a FPS, despite how it looks. It's not Halo, it's not even Half Life. It shares more with Zelda 64, in fact. What I mean is that most all fighting is done via a lock on system. The game is far more based on adventure, strategy, and tactics. It's not based at all on aim, and very little on reflexes. It feels exactly like the Metroid series should.

The graphics are incredible, the best on the Gamecube to date. It's hard not to be amazed when you jump out of a lake and water streams down the front of Samus's visor. The first time you try the Thermal visor or the X-ray visor, you'll be thrown for a loop. It's simply stunning. The bosses are incredible looking, and the game never skips a beat. Loading is done seamlessly as you move through the map, so you'll never see a loading bar even once.

Samus has some new abilities that both help the story along, and make perfect sense for a bounty hunter of her skill and experience. Using your visor, you can scan computers or other electronics and the power suit will hack any security in no time flat. This is used for everything from opening force fields, and shutting down turret guns. Best of all is hacking computers to read messages and files and figure out what the heck is going on. The visor scans other items in the same fashion. It will translate carvings in walls, scan weaknesses in structures, scan enemies for weaknesses, and just about anything else you come across.

All in all, this game in unmatched on the Gamecube. It's by far the best Gamecube game today, and possibly the best Metroid game to date. You'll be amazed. The game is roughly 20 some game hours, which translates into 30 some real world hours. A dedicated player can beat it in a week, but a casual gamer could play for a month. If you replayed the old Metroids, you'll probably replay this. If not, you probably won't reply this one either. But either way you'll have one amazing trip from the title screen to the ending sequence.

• Rirath_com