Metroid Prime 2: Echoes [GC]

Two years ago newcomer Retro Studios created with Metroid Prime what we consider to be the best GameCube game. Better than Super Mario Sunshine, Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Pikmin, and Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem. Better, in fact, than any Nintendo-developed GCN game. And it did so against all odds, amidst a series of internal company layoffs, of cancelled projects, and incidentally against the predictions of most critics. Not bad, huh?

Depending on whom you ask, Metroid Prime is even today described as the best game ever created, an amazing transitional sequel for the franchise, or a surprisingly well-produced adventure game that should have featured dual-analog control. There are people on both sides of the fence, but few would disagree that the title was at the very least a success at recreating the series in the first-person perspective while remaining true to the play mechanics and smart level design that helped make Samus Aran a star to begin with. Whether it was the way the game easily handled platform elements where other first-person games failed, or the stylistic heads-up display that put you in Aran's suit, Prime felt fresh and groundbreaking.

Metroid Prime 2 Echoes, in every way an extension of that winning formula, does not. As a result, anybody who played through the original game will already have a very clear picture of what waits in this anticipated sequel: more of the same. Yes, that means an identical control scheme and similar level structure, pacing, weapon and upgrade advancements, and Morphball-based puzzles. And despite an updated graphics engine, even the visuals look closely related to those in the title's predecessor.

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That feeling of totally new, of completely fresh, is subdued. But this is the truth and in the end all that matters: if you can look beyond that, you're going to discover that Metroid Prime 2 Echoes is still one hell of an engaging, thrilling, and wholeheartedly entertaining sequel. It plays just as well as the original and in some ways better. It is at times cleverer, more difficult, and even prettier. And there are still some surprises to be found hidden around corners and behind locked doors. Which is why, like the original, it's one of GameCube's best titles.

The Facts

• All-new adventure starring Nintendo mascot and bounty hunter Samus Aran
• Explore Aether, a planet caught between two dimensions: the Light and the Dark World
• Join the Luminoth to fight against the evil Ing, a beastly race from the Dark World that threatens the Light
• Travel between the Light and Dark World, solve environmental puzzles, battle enemies, unlock new areas, and more
• Search the planet for upgrades that can improve Samus Aran's weaponry and gadgetry
• Fight a wide assortment of challenging boss characters
• More third-person Morph ball-based puzzles than ever before
• A lengthy single-player quest promises at least 20 hours of gameplay
• New four-player compatible multiplayer mode
• Unlockable art assets
• Runs in progressive scan mode
• Dolby Pro Logic II compatible
• Requires three memory blocks for saves

Let There Be Dark
Metroid Prime had an amazing opening. Space bounty hunter extraordinaire Samus Aran landed atop a desolate space station and fought off Space Pirates before the entire structure exploded. The complete segment, dripping with atmosphere, proved to be the perfect setup for the quest that followed. Prime 2's beginning is disappointingly far less dramatic. A well-orchestrated real-time cut-scene illustrates Aran's approach to the largely unexplored planet of Aether. An electrical storm damages the heroine's ship and she's forced to set down. You take control from here.

Samus has come to the planet to aid the Federation Troopers, whose own ship is abandoned somewhere nearby. The Troopers, you learn, followed a group of Space Pirates to Aether, but before they could pursue the enemy they were attacked and slaughtered by an unexpected foe, a nasty race of dark creatures from another dimension. Aran comes upon the dead soldiers shortly after the game begins and downloads a computer log that triggers another cinematic of the attack. The game's story is driven by an assortment of other in-game cut-scenes -- much more than the original offered -- most of them polished and intriguing.