Best of the Decade: Metroid Prime

Metroid Prime

Platform: GameCube

Release Date: November 17, 2002

Publisher: Nintendo

Developer: Retro Studios

We’ve been in the 3D era for so long now that the painful memories of awkward transitions into the third dimension are starting to fade. Save for perhaps the lingering spectre of controversial Castlevania adaptations, most franchises have either made the move into 3D, made their position on maintaining their 2D purity clear, or been forgotten entirely.

I’m sure every gamer old enough remembers the magic of firing up Super Mario 64 for the first time though. The sheer amazement at the revolution in control and design that game brought is almost certainly unmatched in scale and importance. That Nintendo pulled off the trick again a number of years later with The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time and transitioned another of their classic franchises into 3D while making one of the most loved games of all time is simply stunning.

So who would have thought, one console generation later, that they could do it all over again? 

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First Impressions - Metroid: Other M

As I dusted off my trusty Magic 8-Ball to peek into the future of what Metroid: Other M had in store for me, I was not prepared for the rather unorthodox answer that awaited me.

“Man, you better hang on, ‘cause this is going to be one rocky ride.”

I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen that come up as an answer before.

The all-knowing plastic sphere was right, though. Other M has been tossing me around like a roller coaster, with thrilling highs that kept me begging for more and terrifying lows that left me wondering whether I wanted to keep going at all. 

To put it simply however, it can pretty much be boiled down to one simple statement. When the game shuts the hell up and lets Samus do her Samus thing, it’s a mighty good time. When it attempts to derail the proceedings with needless cutscenes, horrible voice acting, and bad writing (none of which you can skip, by the way) things go sour really damn fast. And I do mean fast. 

After 15 minutes with Other M I wanted to put it down and never so much as see it ever again. If the disc happened to end up on fire and at the bottom of the ocean being eaten by whales or something too I wouldn’t have complained. What I’m saying is that Other M makes a horrifyingly off-putting first impression.

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