Review by Idarak

"Some of the worst controls ever in a video game"

I'm a huge fan of the Metroid Prime series. Prime 1 was awesome, Prime 2 was amazing, and Prime 3 was fantastic. And so after completing Corruption, I decided to finally try out Metroid Prime Hunters on the Nintendo DS.

When I popped the game, I wasn't expecting much. Just a scaled-down version of the original. But I was pleasently surprised. Loads of attacks, a great story, hordes of enemies, and a full log book - one of my favourite parts about the console series. Exploring the different locales of the game was great; the graphics were surprisingly good for the game and, as usual, hunting down the various missile expansions and energy tanks was fun.

But the biggest problem I have with the game is the controls. To turn the camera, you have to use the stylus and drag it across the screen. That's okay on it's own, but it's kinda hard to do while you're moving, let alone jumping. Jumping requires you to tap the screen twice, so it's hard to turn and jump at the same time. In the console games, you just had to tap the A button. Another thing is that you cannot lock on to enemies. This is freaking ANNOYING. When you've got flying enemies zipping around you in all directions, slowly draining your health, you just wish you could lock on to them and dodge out of the way as you blast them. Instead, you have to just stand still and slowly turn the camera until you can shoot the enemies, one-by-one slowly losing health. Another thing is the rival enemy Hunters you encounter. As well as being extremely fast, they are always accurate unless you are moving, which of course means you can't shoot. You have to stand still, hope he's not attacking, then turn around and shoot him once or twice. There's tough regular enemies as well, but mostly it's just the bosses.

The story is fine, really, you have to travel to a far-off system and find some mysterious Octoliths to open the door to ultimate power. And if a Hunter destroys you, he steals your Octolith and you have to travel to random worlds, hunt him down and defeat him again. As for the music, I haven't really payed attention to it. It took me about two weeks to complete this game, mainly because I couldn't bare playing it for more than an hour at a time. The final boss will make you tear your hair out, seriously.

As a summary, if you like the Metroid Prime series but are integrated into their control systems, don't play this game. But if you can struggle through the terrible flaws, you'll find a great Metroid Prime experience.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10 | Originally Posted: 01/19/10

Game Release: Metroid Prime: Hunters (EU, 05/05/06)

Submit Recommendation

Got Your Own Opinion?
