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''Metroid Prime'' is a first-person adventure/shooter ''. ''Metroid Prime'' is now available as a Player's Choice title. The game was first announced in 2001 E3 and was shortly revealed to be played from first-person perspective. Screenshots of gameplay in first-person quickly set off much outrage in many ''Metroid'' fans who perceived it as a first-person shooter. The game was widely believed to be an inevitable train wreck, and it was the biggest running joke since '' Daikatana '' throughout gaming related boards, publications, and magazines until near the point of retail release where various publications quietly claimed it as possibly The Best Game They Had Ever Played . After its release, the game has received much critical acclaim (including a perfect review score from '' Electronic Gaming Monthly '' and a 9.7/10 from GameSpot ) for its "very impressive graphics, amazing, innovative gameplay (yet still true to the classic ''Metroid'' formula), and excellent soundtrack." The video game countdown show '' Filter '' named ''Metroid Prime'' as having the Best Graphics of all time. It also won many 2002 game of the year awards from major publications and gaming sites. Most ''Metroid'' fans believe that ''Prime'' was a great transition into 3-D for the series; however, some question the choice on having it made as a first-person game. Also, many fans of more conventional first-person shooter games have questioned the unusual control scheme and wished it were more like a typical first-person shooter. PHAZON See Also: Phazon An important part of the ''Metroid Prime'' storyline is a highly mutagenic Radioactive substance of unknown origin known as Phazon . Direct exposure to this electric blue-coloured substance results in either a violent death or the rapid addition of new abilities and/or organs, depending on the amount of the substance that the organism is exposed to. Another, more powerful, form of Phazon is bright orange and is only found in the core of the impact crater of the meteorite that brought Phazon to the planet. It seems to exist naturally as a Solid and sometimes as a Liquid , but its solid form may be considered more common—and possibly a metal—as many Space Pirate log entries call for mining of Phazon ore. According to the North American release, the Space Pirates discovered the powerful creature that fed upon Phazon, and captured it, naming it Metroid Prime . STORYLINE DIFFERENCES The version released in North America has several storyline differences with the one released in Europe. The European storyline, among other things, says that:
The versions released in Japan, Europe, and the North American Player's Choice versions have also had a number of gameplay modifications implemented to prevent players from using certain tricks to play the game out of sequence. Certain aspects of difficulty have also been increased. Furthermore, when the game was being prepared for translation by a European team, the team decided to remove specific logs from the game which could be originally scanned, finding them to be confusing for someone trying to understand the plot. The edit not only occurred in the translated versions of the game, but also in the , although there were still some version differences. PAL VERSION STORYLINE Many years ago, the Chozo were prosperously living on Tallon IV, then a beautiful planet full of life. The Chozo discovered the power to see into the future and prophecised the coming of "the Worm", which would destroy their way of life. Sure enough, a meteorite harbouring the radioactive substance "Phazon" crashed into Tallon IV, mutating and destroying the life of the planet. The Chozo sealed off the source of the Phazon, the Impact Crater, using their technology with twelve artifacts hidden around the planet. The Chozo then retreated from the planet, waiting for a prophecised hero to destroy the worm and cut short the poison that destroyed Tallon IV. It is possible that the worm (Metroid Prime) could have been carried inside the Meteorite but the Metroid Fusion Instruction Manual reveals in an official timeline that the Metroids were actually created by the Chozo to prevent the spread of the highly corruptive X-parasites. If this is true, then the Metroid that mutated into Metroid Prime must have already been living on Tallon IV by the Chozo around the area where the meteorite crashed (perhaps it was a Queen Metroid). Like other Metroids, Metroid Prime was attracted to the Phazon energy and fed upon it to the point where it actually became a being of Phazon (as shown in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes). After Samus defeated the Space Pirates on Planet Zebes at the end of the first game, a Space Pirate colony discovered high radioactive levels on the surface of the barren planet Tallon IV. Investigating the radiation, they set up a new base to conduct research. They soon discovered the radioactive material and named it Phazon. They researched its potential and developed a new race of Elite Pirates that were over-powered by Phazon. They also discovered that the Metroids were attracted to the Phazon because of the enormous energy emitting from it but had not managed to create any new weapons out of them. The Space Pirates traced the source of the Phazon to the Impact Crater and found bio-signs within but they could not access it because the Chozo had sealed it with the twelve artifacts. They searched for the artifacts but were hindered by the Chozo Ghosts who were guarding the artifacts until the phrophecised hero would come to take them and destroy Metroid Prime. When Samus picked up a distress signal from an unknown space vessel flying over Tallon IV, she discovered that it belonged to the Space Pirates but had been overrun by small parasites. While escaping the ship, she came across the metallic re-incarnation of Ridley, one of the leaders of the Space Pirates who also escaped. Back on Tallon IV, Samus infiltrated the Space Pirate bases, destroying the Metroid population along with the Elite Pirate specimens in containment. Upon defeating the newly developed Omega Pirate, Samus' Power Suit became contaminated with Phazon. After collecting the twelve artifacts, Samus defeated Ridley once again and gained access to the Impact Crater. There, Samus defeated Metroid Prime, whose only remaining instinct was to absorb all the nearby Phazon that existed in the crater and Samus' Power Suit. The crater collapsed but Samus was able to escape. Meanwhile, Metroid Prime (now a simple pool of Phazon) began to reform itself in the form of Samus' Power Suit. Now a creature of pure Phazon, Metroid Prime (now Dark Samus ) searches the galaxy for more Phazon to rebuild its weakened form.... ITEMS ''Related article'': Items In The Metroid Series Throughout the game, the player will find and collect many different items, which range from weapons, to upgrades of Samus's Power Suit, and to various other items that grant additional abilities (such as the Morph Ball). Most of the items from previous ''Metroid'' games make appearances here; however, the functions of many of them have been altered to suit the 3D environment. For example, the space jump only allows the player to perform a double jump, as opposed to jumping continuously as in previous games, to prevent the player from getting stuck or unwittingly triggering a Glitch . Glitches can allow knowledgeable players to receive items much earlier than intended, or to bypass collecting them altogether. The current world record for lowest item pickup percentage at the end of the game is 22%. LOCATIONS ;Space Pirate Frigate: Orbiting the planet Tallon IV, this is where Samus begins the game. The frigate's name is ''Orpheon''. The Space Pirates conducted numerous experiments on this frigate on parasitic lifeforms. However many of these experiments went catastrophically wrong, as the gargantuan parasitic creatures escaped from their labs and wreaked havoc; destroying everything in their sight and leaving a trail of injured Space Pirates behind them. After Samus' visit, the frigate goes into critical meltdown and explodes. A large chunk of debris from the frigate plummets towards Tallon IV and crashes on the planet. Samus later explores the sunken piece of the frigate after she acquires the Gravity Suit. ;Tallon Overworld: A rainforest-like area, this is where Samus initially makes planetfall and is where Samus' Gunship stays for the duration of the game. Tallon Overworld also encompasses the sunken ''Orpheon''. ;Chozo Ruins: This ancient structure was once a center of the thriving Chozo civilization on Tallon IV that was brought to an end by the meteor that hit many years ago. When Samus arrives at the ruins the water supply is infested with poison, and she has to find a way of purifying it. ;Magmoor Caverns: A kind of subway system for the game—its magma-filled tunnels connect all the areas together with the exception of the Impact Crater. The Space Pirates use the caverns as a source of Geothermal Power . The music is a remix of Super Metroid's Lower Norfair area. ;Phendrana Drifts: This cold, mountainous location consists of three main parts: an ancient Chozo ruin, some Space Pirate research labs (since the subzero temperatures make specimen containment easier), and the ice caves and valleys at the edge aptly called Phendrana's Edge. It is home to many creatures of electrical origins (Pulse Bombu, Scatter Bombu) and ice based creatures (Sheegoth, Ice Shriekbats). ;Phazon Mines: The Phazon Mines are the center of the Space Pirates' Tallon IV operations. The scenery here alternates between the Space Pirates' mining and research facilities and dark caves illuminated only by the glowing Phazon. Some of the Metroids here have been mutated by the Phazon to become Fission Metroids (Metroids with the ability to split into two when shot at). ;Impact Crater: This is the final area of the game. This location is completely corrupted by Phazon radiation. Samus finds orange Phazon which is strong enough to damage her even through the Phazon Suit. Infested with Metroids, this area is extremely dangerous. BOSSES The main Bosses , in order of appearance, are: MINI-BOSSES Mini-Bosses are fairly common throughout the beginning of the game. Mini-Bosses can be characterized as enemies with special battle music and yet lack a health bar at the top of the screen, with no way of escaping the battle. Most of the mini-bosses will be encountered only once, though some, like the sheegoth, plated beetle, and chozo ghost, can be found several times after the initial fight. Hive Mecha - The first accessible miniboss, it is criticized as one of the most often missed scans in the game due to the fact that the actual scan is below the surface of the water. This machine calls several Ram Warwasps (another one time scan) to its aid throughout the battle and is its only form of attack. The warwasps will circle the player at highspeed then stop before attacking three at a time sometimes knocking the player into the poisonous waters below. The goal of the battle is to shoot inside the mouth while open to destroy part of the inside. Each destruction of a mouth means that it calls three more warwasps to its protection until the player destroys three mouths at which point the machine will deactivate and surrender a missile upgrade, or in this case the actual missile launcher. Plated Beetle - This battle starts off with Samus against 15-20 regular beetle enemies in a small room to 'soften her up.' After all of them are defeated the Plated Beetle makes its entrance in the center of the room. Unlike the previous beetles it can only be harmed in the back and to get to its back the player must wait until it is about to charge and then side jump, quickly launching a missile. After it is defeated the player may retrieve the morph ball upgrade. Incinerator Drone - A waste disposal drone who found Samus to be an enemy. Impervious to Samus's limited arsenal at first, it spun around the room in the center, sending flames from both of its mechanical 'arms.' It did however reveal its core which Samus quickly damaged causing it to set a nearby War Wasp Hive on fire causing the angry insects to attack Samus. After enough damage to the drone, both it and the hive were destroyed and Samus received the morph ball bombs. SPEED RUNNING Unlike its predecessors, ''Metroid Prime'' is not designed to be run quickly, illustrated by the fact that the ending one gets is determined solely by the percentage of items one collects, rather than by how quickly one finishes the game (as was the case in earlier Metroid games). A person who knows precisely where to go would likely still take seven to ten hours to finish the game; however, the current world record is one hour and four minutes, done using the first North American ( NTSC ) version of the game. Speed Run s are possible by taking shortcuts that allow the player to collect items in a different—and faster—order from the one intended (known as Sequence Breaking ). Speed running is popular among hardcore fans of ''Metroid Prime'' and can significantly increase the replayability of the game. Fast finishes in this game are somewhat complicated by the loading system: the game loads as it is played, with few loading screens, and original NTSC versions of the game will sometimes freeze. (Please note that because the game was released later in Japan and the PAL territories, changes were made to prevent sequence breaks. The Japanese, PAL and North American Player's Choice versions are therefore undesirable for speed running compared to the original North American (NTSC) version.) TRIVIA
SEQUELS
SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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