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Every NintendoDS fan who managed to bag one of the early
release models will have already fallen in love with Metroid
Prime: Hunters. Regardless of the fact that the title received
was merely a demo, most thought the game was easily the most
revolutionary title not only on the NintendoDS, but that the
industry had seen for several years. Retro Studios have now decided
to offer us a new take on the game, which makes the original First
Hunt demo look little more than a steaming pile Metroid turd.
Running at a much higher resolution than the demo coupled
with a higher frame-rate, crisper textures and clearly more
polygons per character there’s no doubt that the difference
between the two versions is on par to the difference between F-ZeroX
and F-ZeroGX. The layout of the Touch Screen has changed
drastically also and, seemingly more responsive, now makes
allocations for additional weaponry as well as variations
respective of each individual character, which leads me nicely onto
how the game actually plays…
In the preview build available at the Electronic
Entertainment Expo (E3) only multiplayer options were available.
From a total of four selectable characters – still including
Samus Aran – a level selection consisting of a single arena was
available. In total
there were three options for gameplay mode and, while each seemed
to differ drastically, finding out the objectives set by each was
decidedly difficult with three other players intent on blasting you
to the other side of the planet before you’ve moved into the next
corridor. One of the gameplay selections did require you
first to collect a bomb, then reach a destination point and execute
detonation of the device before you died, dropping the bomb where
you lay.
Each of the characters playable featured drastically
different physical appearances and abilities. The jumping ability
of each character varied, as did the amount of damage each could
take and speed. Also, each character had a totally different basic
weapon and Morph-Ball ability. Samus and two others maintained a
variation of the original ball (one being spiky – allowing it to
climb walls) while the fourth character transformed into an
amazingly quick slug-type beast, capable of dropping some rather
nasty bombs.
As a newer rendition of a title already previewed
extensively, I can’t see how Retro Studios could have pulled-off
such a feat between the launch of the Demo Cards (about 7 months
ago) and this years E3. But they did. And I feel congratulations
are in order, at least, for the multiplayer mode.
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