Metroid Prime Preview continued...
The original Metroid on the Nintendo Entertainment System was extraordinary for its time. It had a versatile 2D engine that allowed for vertical as well as horizontal exploration, meaning new areas could be anywhere around you. The weaponry in the game wasnt there to just go boom either. Clever use of weapons could open up whole new areas to the player, such as freezing a flying enemy with the appropriate weapon and using their suspended body as a platform. The title brought something new to the table, something that would make gamers everywhere sit up and say, hey thats neat!.
Following a much loved previous outing; Retro Studios must have been wondering where they were going to pull a winner out from. Sensitive issues had to be met face-on, and this meant leaving little to no room for errors early on in development. In stark contrast to popular belief, it was Miyamoto not Retro- who suggested the game engine should focus on the first person perspective. No matter how much we as gamers want to believe it, the fact is that a permanent 3rd person perspective in Metroid Prime would damage the gameplay as it has so many other times to games where weapon-based combat interlaced with platforming elements is vital along with the 3rd person view. An efficient camera method simply hasnt been created for this genre as of yet.
Jumping from a 2D environment to a completely 3D one isnt as easy as some of the best minds in gaming make it out to be. Multiple aspects of the titles original games must be taken into consideration and such is the case with creating Metroid Prime. Samus and Retro studios are in a unique but vulnerable position, they have the privilege of bearing the new, chilling Metroid world full of bump mapped, beautifully textured polygons. Looking at Metroid Prime as of right now, even the trained eye of a fan couldnt really pick out misplaced Metroid memorabilia, everything is as you would have imagined Samus to have been viewing through her visor all those years ago.
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The talented artists, programmers and animators at Retro have converted their vision of the world Samus can see in front of her admirably. Perusing the impressive wastelands of a space station clinging, still, to the emptiness of space is made incredibly easy on the eyes we can assure you. However the impressive part of this is not the actual visual splendour of the environments and models but the actual feeling that youre still playing a Metroid game, youre not playing Turok Gaiden. This in itself is a commendable achievement for such a young studio, (young in age, not in experience) thrown such an ambitious project.
Metroid Prime is set contain most of the elements that made the original incarnations of the series the powerful franchise it remains to be even after being MIA for neigh on ten years. However, resting on their laurels is not what Retro does well as you may have worked out for yourselves. Expect concepts and ideas not seen any Metroid games before to surprise you around every turn you make in the eerie environments that pay homage to the Aliens movies from which the original metroids themselves drew inspiration from. The key to achieving the intense atmosphere of the science fiction classic lies in the films ability to immerse the audience in the experience.
It is clear to see Retro Studios has worked hard on immersing the gamer, hooking them into the title with a variety of environments. From large, overbearing, outdoor environments to the tight corridors of a space station somewhere in the vastness of space, you wont help but feel a sense of anticipation which drives you to complete tasks urgently and efficiently. Expect to take Samus across an assortment of differing locals from icy areas, to exteriors with lush green vegetation, to underground areas dedicated to some Samus roll-ball action and expect to see many more treats when the final version of the game ships.
Gazing over a few of the screens you may have noticed that Metroid Prime packs some serious kick on the visual side of things too. Textures and lighting seem to take a front seat; with some areas of the demo we played looking absolutely gorgeous. As your gun-arm charges, particle effects come into play, moving towards the tip of your weapon and converging, just waiting for you to release a beast of a shot. Everything moves smoothly and seems to be locked at 60fps at the title's current stage in development, which adds to the over all WD-40 slickness Metroid oozes.
Its the little things that make up the big package that weve seen so far of Metroid Prime. The little things such as the fully operational cogs and moving parts, smoothly churning around as you ride in an elevator, or a jet of steam gushing from a damaged pipe fogging your visor then slowly evaporating to clarity again. Lets not forget the warp effect when you let loose a charged shot. Neat effects like those are subtle and numerous, and are important factors in hooking the gamer into the world Samus sees and adding weight behind the games sci-fi facade.
When looking through you visor for the first time youll see everything Samus should see. Youll be able to choose from a host of scanner modes situated in the bottom left corner of your visor such as X-ray and thermal modes among others (not present in the recent demo). On the bottom right youll be able to change weapon modes and use an array of gun-arms and utilities that are explained here. Apart from that, your energy bar and a nifty 3D map (which pays homage to the original games) adorn the upper part of your visor and to the centre of the screen your target lock-on. The left and right sides are home to your number of missiles tally and your enemy warning system respectively. That said, the icons never obstruct the action on screen, every one of them seems to have been placed with care.