Genre: First Person Shooter
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: NST
ESRB Rating: T for Teen
Price: 31.95 USD
US Release Date: March 20, 2006
Equipment: Nintendo DS Lite
Completion: Intro level and Boss fight, approximately 1 hour.
Metroid Prime: Hunters? More like Metroid Prime: Terrible Game.
Metroid means Samus Aran, and it's hard not to like Samus. The overall storyline involves Samus on a planet-hopping quest to recover 8 artifacts, all the while dogged by the titular hunters who are seeking the same artifacts.
Hunters plays nearly identical to the Metroid Prime games on the Gamecube. The action is in first person, through Samus' visor. When Samus goes into Morph-ball mode, the camera pulls back to third person.
A first person shooter on a handheld is difficult to pull off. Hunters doesn't look bad, given the limitations of the hardware, but it doesn't look good, either. Anything past a foot in front of your visor is nearly unrecognizable. Background textures are dull and repetitive. The menu screens are clean and well-organized, however.
Sound quality and music is excellent. The classic Metroid theme is still here, and still great.
What kills Hunters before it even gets out of the blocks is the control scheme. There are three ways to do it: forgo the touch screen and play with the D-pad and A, B, X, Y buttons, use the D-pad and the thumbstrap stylus while holding the DS normally, or use the D-pad and the stylus while holding the right side of the DS with your pinky. The first option is far from ideal, and very imprecise. The second option is comfortable, but your thumb blocks your view. The third option is extremely uncomfortable. Some players might be able to get past the pain and frustration of learning and dealing with the controls, but the learning curve is very steep, and nearly a brick wall.
Multiplayer is an option over Wi-Fi.
Hardcore Metroid fans and/or those players who don't mind struggling with the controls for a few hours could get into Hunters and have a great time. It is Metroid. Everyone else should probably rent first, if at all.
Heath Says:
I'm a big fan of Metroid and Samus Aran, but I simply don't have the patience anymore to screw around for hours on end with difficult controls. I play games to have fun, and if I'm not having fun after an hour, I move on to something that is fun. Buying this game sight unseen would have been one of the biggest purchasing mistakes I've ever made, so I'm real glad I decided to rent it first.
Final Verdict:
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