I've always loved Metroid Prime. It's always been one of my favorite games. So you can imagine I was ECSTATIC when I found a copy of Metroid Prime TRILOGY for super cheap at Gamestop recently.

...Some context. There are 3 Prime games.

Metroid Prime

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Prime and Echoes are both Gamecube games, and play very similarly. But Corruption is on the Wii and has a unique control scheme.

Metroid Prime Trilogy is, as you can guess, a collection of all 3 games on 1 disk. In addition, the first two games have been redone with Corruption's control scheme. It's incredible.

...However, it was a limited release. So copies of the game are both super rare and super expensive if you can find one.

But I managed to find one, in mint condition, at Gamestop for about $45.

So I bought it.

And decided to play through all three games. In order.

I'm currently about 1/3 of the way through Echoes, but I've been ranting about the game so much I decided to organize all of my thoughts in a blog post.

Here is my experience so far.

PRIME

Prime will always be one of my favorites. The game is brilliant. It perfectly recreates the metroidvania formula in 3D.

After an epic opening sequence, in which you face off against the first boss, find out that Ridley is still alive and has been rebuilt with cybernetic implants, lose all of your suit's abilities, and escape an exploding space station, you are dropped on an alien planet with no direction other than that you should find Ridley.

From this point you explore the planet, known as Tallon IV, looking for upgrades to restore your suit to full power.

The plot is never directly told to you, but hidden in scan logs scattered all over the map. If you want, you can ignore it completely, because all you really need to know is "upgrade suit, find Ridley."

The only bad thing I have to say is that to get the 100% ending you have to fill up your logbook completely, and some scans are one-shots that if you miss them, tough luck. And some of them are things you wouldn't even think to scan. I missed the 100% ending because I didn't scan Flaahgra's tentacles. I scanned Flaahgra, just not the tentacles.

Otherwise, I just love the game. End of story.

The sequel, however...

ECHOES

Now I'm only about 1/3 of the way through this game, like I said, but already I just want it to be over. Unlike Prime, which felt like a true 3D Metroid title, Echoes just feels like a generic FPS with a Metroid skin.

Now, from a technical standpoint it has improved over the first game. The lighting and textures are better, etc. But the gameplay is far inferior.

First of all, the map is boring and poorly designed. Prime had several areas that connected in different ways, and overall was a very irregular layout but one that still fit together very well. Echoes is a triangle. Three unique areas with one "hub world" in the center.

Also, it introduces a new gimmick: A dark world.

That's right.

Another map that is identical to the regular one, but darker. Joy.

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE.

The dark world DRAINS YOUR HP merely by being in it. Unless you are in a safe zone, which are thankfully very common, then your HP restores very slowly.

So, navigation through the dark world consists of running to a safe zone, waiting for your HP to refill, then running to the next one. Rinse and repeat.

WHO THOUGHT THIS WOULD BE FUN?

The entire game is a giant fetch quest. In each area you have to find keys to get into the temple and fight that area's boss. It's very formulaic, tedious, and repetitive.

To make matters more annoying, your weapons now use ammo. Weapons that are required to navigate the map and exploit enemy weaknesses, can run out of ammo. And they run out very quickly.

Echoes tries to have more of a plot than Prime. And by more of a plot, I mean the exact same amount of plot, only now it forces you to sit through cutscenes and tedious dialogue to tell you things that, in the first game, you could figure out on your own.

The game reuses a ton of enemies from Prime, only they try to pass them off as new by giving them different names and descriptions. And confusingly, the enemies that have the same names look different (though still behave the same). What.

I have to say, Echoes isn't really a BAD game. It''s definitely better than many games out there. But compared to the first game, it's very... disappointing.

I haven't started Corruption yet, but when I do I'll have updates. I have played the game before in the past though, and it's much better than Echoes, so I cant wait to start it.

...That is all.