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Echoes with Greatness

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: February 25, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I have played every metroid game there is since the very first one, and this one does not lose it's originality in any way.

Starting out however, i did find myself questioning the areas and how unique they are, but after a short time I really found myself to liking the whole plot and the eerie Dark & Light lands.

The bosses are very cool and the game has just the right amount of challenge. The game is also very long, much longer than any other metroid game I have played. However I never even thought about thinking of saying that i was getting bored, the game stayed full all the way through and I'm still getting around to beating it on Hard mode.

I guess I would have to give this game 4.5 stars but i cannot do that cause it is not a choice, the reason i say 4.5 is because the music in this one I found not to be as good as all the other metroid games. However one track comes back from Super Metroid that brings back a great euphoric feeling, you'll see.

Do not believe that just because something is next-gen it cannot be classic and fullfill it's original tastes.

My favorite metroid games greatest to great:

1)Metroid Fusion (so eerie and i felt comfortably numb playing it)
2)Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (it's true beauty sneaks up on you)
3)Super Metroid (I find this to be the most classic to me, even more than the NES one)
4)Metroid Prime (start of a new breed)
5)Metroid II (ooo the good old days)
6)Metroid I (ooo the good old old days)
7)Metroid: Zero Mission (It's metroid, i love it no matter what, but i barely remember playing through this, the game must be beatable in about 1 hour)

Multipayer.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 13
Date: October 13, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Yep. I never thought I'd see the day Metroid go multiplayer. The graphics on this game rival it's previous installment, and it may even be better. Thae story mode is more interesting than Prime, because you have the world of Aether. Remember the meteor that hit Tallon IV? One just like it hit Aether. It didn't just leave a crater, it opened a path through dimensions which the Ing, the main enemy in the game (sorry, but Space Pirates do make some entrances) came from the dark world to the light world. The most interesting thing about this game? MULTIPLAYER! The game has a 4 person free-for-all mode which you have to find all of the upgrades to use them. This game comes out November 15, so brace yourself!

Cutey Samus Returns in Metroid Prime 2

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 23
Date: September 20, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I'm glad my favorite videogame girl heroine, Samus, is back in Metroid Prime 2. This game is a work of art and will be beautiful. The game engine is even better than Halo's because there is no loading time during the game play. The story is going to be very cool. I really enjoyed her story in Planet Tallon IV and found it amusing. I can't wait to see what happens to Samus on her next adventure. Also the music will rock if the same people from Metroid Prime one will make the music for this game. It will blow even Halo's kind of lame music. The new power ups and abilities Samus gains should be very amazing and cool to use and watch. Nintendo owes it to themselves a round of applause for making a sequel to one of the greatest game in Nintendo history starring one of the coolest videogame character ever made. I'm sure rushing out to a videogame store to get this game as soon as it comes.

the darker side of things...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: November 20, 2004
Author: Amazon User

being a big fan of the super smash Metroid Prime, i was very eager to get my hands on this sequel. like others, who have been foaming at the mouth for Halo 2, i have been anticipating this game's release before i even knew it existed. as soon as i beat the first Prime, i know there had to be more. and i was right. and the minute i popped it in, the whole nastalgia thing hit me. and after five minutes of playing with it, i could already tell this game was way better than the over-hyped Halo sequel. This time around, Echoes takes on a much darker appearance, even in the light world. things just seem gloomier,and in some spots creepier. but this is definitely not a bad thing. fans of Prime will love Echoes, just as i do.

there are still numerous things to scan and you are awarded with nifty and interesting bonuses and secrets depending on how much you get scanned. the weapons in this game are as cool as Prime's, but this time around, two of the four beams you get have limited ammo. killing foes with the light beam awards dark ammo, and killing foes with the dark beam awards light ammo. it's not too hard to understand.

the light and dark worlds are all well designed and never feel repetitive. in the light world, the only way you take damage from a really hard fall, or from enemy attacks. in the dark world, you take damage just from walking around outside the cool-looking light orbs. but by standing in them, you can slowly gain your life back. you become quite dependant on the little bubbles of light and fear not being able to find one in the next room. and you really begin to dread the dark world, not because it's no fun to play, but because if you're not careful, you will get stomped into the ground by the dark side's super aggressive inhabitants. but strategy will always when. if you are outnumbered, try and find a good light orb to stand in and circle-strafe while targeting foes. because if they step into the light, they will take damage. most enemies have projectiles in both worlds, so you're going to have to get used to dodging them from multiple angles at once.

the only real 'complaint' i have with this game is the fact that sometimes i just had no freakin' idea where the hell i was supposed to go. i wish Retro would have made the objectives a little more obvious. but that's only a minor complaint, as the world you must trek through is quite a sight to see. the game's environments seem much more open this time, even though they are more closed in. not every area has walls surrounding it. there are lots of cliffs and beautiful scenery. cloth blows in the wind and the perticle effects are awesome. beams look really cool and the enemies, as well as Samus, are well detailed and hail as some of the best graphics for any system.

some might comlain about this game's lack of story. sure, there are little dialogue bits here and there (as well as some actual voice-overs, but they are just usually evil laughter or a blurb somewhere. though in one part people were actually talking to eachother, but other than that, there is just reading.) and again, your main goal is to locate a bunch of keys. but who cares? most of the classic games in history have little to no story. the first metroid: landed on planet, kill things until game is complete. Doom: landed on planet, kill things until game is complete. so who cares if a game nowadays has a barely there story? as long as the gameplay kicks ass, story doesn't really matter to me.

and the gameplay does kick ass. fighting enemies is easy and fun, thanks to the lock-on function and strafing. switching through weapons and visors is fast and simple. swinging around with your grapple beam is always a pleasure. the bosses, while some can be quite a pain, are all well designed and fun to fight. and jumping from here to there has never been more of a breeze. never once did i miss a jump do to the fact that i couldn't really tell where my feet were. i always felt safe leaping over large gaps of nasty phazon or bottomless pits.

so all in all, this is an excellent sequel to a ground-breaking game. buy it if you're a fan of Prime, just be aware that the difficulty has been ramped up a bit. so this one's a bit of a challenge at times, and is riddled with...well...riddles. some of them are hard, while other a blind baby could figure out. i still haven't gotten the chance to play the multiplayer, but i've heard it's not all that special. so buy this game now and get ready to fear the dark side.

Masterpiece

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: November 25, 2004
Author: Amazon User

After 5 hours of playing Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, I am thoroughly impressed and surprised at the amazing game that Retro and Nintendo have made. This game proves that games do not have to follow the mold and like its predecessor, it is an experience like no other. The story begins with Samus crash landing on an alien planet named Aether. The planet was once ravaged by a phazon meteorite (Phazon is a bio-organic substance which mutates creatures and other living things and was a big part of the original metroid prime), and now Aether has been split into two planets. One is a light side which is inhabited by the peaceful Luminoth wereas the Ing live on the dark side. The Ing are an evil and cruel alien species who attack anyone who encounters them. Samus crash lands on the planet after her ship is hit by a lightning storm and her reasons for coming to the planet involve rescuing marines who had too been caught in the lightning storm after they had chased and destroyed a space pirate cargo freighter. After arriving on the planet and doing some exploring, Samus encounters a "wormhole" of sorts and after entering it, samus arrives on the dark side of the planet. Samus encounters a dark version of herself and before she can attack she is sent back to the light side of the world. Since I don't want to spoil the storyline, thats as far as i'll go. As you go on, you will collect keys and continually take portals between both dark and light worlds. If this sounds familiar to Legend of Zelda: A link to the past (Which also had a world which had a both light and dark side), this is because Metroid Prime 2 uses a very similar structure and physics and the same people who worked on A link to the Past's light and dark world technology. In Echoes, this creates a lot of puzzles and confusion such as solving something in the dark world to initiate something in the light world. this causes much use of experimentation and creativity in the entirety of the game. AS far as gameplay goes, it follows the same scheme as Metroid Prime. Many people have complained about the scheme but this is because Metroid Prime 2 is NOT a first person shooter. Unlike games like Goldeneye and Halo, Metroid prime is much more oriented with exploring and gaining new weapons instead of just shooting everything that you see. This not only makes Metroid Prime 2 unique and fun, it makes it an experience that can be found nowhere else. As if all of this is not enough, the graphics can not be put in any terms but completely amazing. All of the environments are rendered amazingly and there is so much detail in every enemy, tree, or rock. water and even sand are all realistic and the graphics in the game can rile anything on any game of all three consoles. As for people's complaints about not being able to save anywhere you want, obviously these people have NOT played other games in the Metroid series. Not only would having the ability to save anywhere make the game too easy, it would also make the game feel out of sync with the other games in the series and detract from the overall complexity of the game. Whether you're a casual gamer, or a hardcore Metroid fan, anyone would enjoy this amazing game.

Better than the First

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: November 21, 2004
Author: Amazon User

If, you already have played the original Metroid Prime (or any of the previous Metroid title, as well) and is not considering at least trying, much less buying, Echoes, you are quiet frankly OUT-OF-YOUR-MIND. The graphics put the Gamecube through its paces and the sounds are as great as the first but the most mesmerizing part of the game is the multiplayer mode. You can virtually start up the game and go straight to it and it won't hinder it at all. It is almost a preview of the weapons you can get in the game and some you can't but makes you wonder why they didn't think of this before. So if you want eye popping graphics and an awesome single AND mulitplayer mode, get this game, but you probably already knew you should.

This game is going to be great

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 17 / 35
Date: September 29, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Since this is a preview i dont want to rate it but i have to so i rated it whta i thought it might be.first of all id like to name something that amazon did wrong. these arent reviews, there previews and metroid prime 2 echoes is a first person adventure like the first one. now to the PREVIEW and to all you other guys you shouldnt compare halo 2 to prime 2 because there diferent genres(wow because there both first person, lets compare um):

The story of the game goes: samus is called to a planet in the dasha region called planet aether to rescue a federation trooper squad codenamed bravo. Eighty years ago the planet was hit by a phazon meteor and created two realities. alight and dark aether. Light aether is the remnant of how aether was before the metor but the monstrous creatures called the Ing horde were born. The Ing look like five legged spiders with multiple glowing red eyes. They can possess the bodies of other creatures in order to take physical form in the light world. If they possess a creature it then has dark infront of its name. the luminoth are losing the war.The troopers were masicured(i cant spell it) by dark splinters. It is unknown if any survived. When samus gets to aether her suits powers are taken. One of the last surviving luminoth(the native people of aether) ask her for help she accepts the task of collecting the four keys to the energy controller scattered through dark aether so that light aether takes all the internal energy from aether and dark ateher and the ings goals are the opposites. The pirates in the search for phazon in dark aether are stranded. they have brought metroids with them. Samus also encounters an entity called dark samus and creatures who hvae her suits powers called guardians. if that story doesnt get you siked about this game nothing will.

Since the atmospere of dark aether is poison samus needs to get a special dark suit to survive.

She has a light and dark beam. They take amo but if you charge a dark or light beam with an empty amo tank itwill fire a normal shot. The dark beam, if shot at the ground homes in on enemies and can freeze them. if a charged dark beam is fired into the air it creates a mini black hole.

The light beam works like plazma beam. it can lance through enemies. A charge shot reales a spreaded beam that can set the ing on fire..

The dark visor lets you lock on to the ing when they dematerialize , see invisible enemies and see things that dont normally exist in the light world. It also can be used kinda like night vision.

Echo visor: For all your dare-devil fantasies you can see sound(for sound base enemies and finding items)

Screw attack: this lets you mAKE AN INFINate horizontal jump. If used on walls you can perform something called the kickclimb.

Seeker missile: lock onto multiple foes at once.

Spider ball;now you can use it on more places.

Multiplayr: Test yur medal against your friends in the two modes bounty and deathmatch. bount is when you shoot someone and tokens come out. and if you collect the most tokens you win.

This game has a better lighting and dark and light based puzzles. By the way water is solid in the dark world. BRING ON METROID PRIME 2 ECHOES. IT WILL PAWN ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

gonna rock

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 18 / 39
Date: October 12, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Now that I've played it, I have to say, I don't think it's as good as the first Metroid Prime. The gameplay is great and everything, but I wish they had come up with a little more new for this game. They pretty much just took all the elements from Metroid Prime and tweaked them a little bit and made this game. It's still a really great game, just not as good as the original.

On to the review. I'm glad that for the sequel they are bringing a little back from the first Metroid for Gamecube. If you've beaten it on 100 percent, you know what I'm talking about. But this game should be great. Graphics will be good, puzzles should be as challenging as before, and the new weapons will kick this game's gameplay up a few notches, which it was pretty high to start with. check this one out when it comes out.

Exceptional Design, Beautiful Aesthetics, Extremely FUN

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: November 29, 2004
Author: Amazon User

[...]

WHAT IS 'METROID PRIME 2:ECHOES'?
Despite relatively modest commercial success, 'Metroid Prime' stands as THE most highly acclaimed game in the HISTORY of the Video Game Industry. Two years later, 'Metroid Prime 2: Echoes' continues the Metroid legacy with revamped gameplay & graphics-technology, as well as yet another completely unique, beautifully realized sci-fi/fantasy world.

THE BIG PICTURE - HOW DOES THIS GAME COMPARE TO XBOX/PS2?
In terms of pure technical proficiency, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes IS comparable to other top titles (to Halo 2 on Xbox, Metal Gear Solid 3 on PS2), and the game's multi-player options are quite basic. Metroid Prime 2's single-player mode, however, is without equal on any system -- IF you're willing to sit down with a videogame that's decidedly more thoughtful, more about exploration and aesthetics than action and combat.

THE BREAKDOWN
It's a sci-fi/fantasy adventure in which you play Samus Aran, a bounty hunter in a future where intergalactic travel is commonplace (but the typical sci-fi-alien-melodrama is not!). You view the world (alternately) from the first-person and third-person perspectives, aided by a powered-up, transformable Space Suit (of 'mysterious' alien design). Samus has a huge array of moves that enable the player to FULLY explore and interact with the meticulously detailed sci-fi/fantasy environments. It's a Nintendo-brand Adventure-game formula that rewards the player through artistry and clever design -- incredibly realized landscapes and a true SENSE OF DISCOVERY -- feelings that are exceedingly rare amidst the simplistic "shoot-em-ups" that prevail in today's videogame market.

There's definitely some intense shooting action in this game -- the "Boss" enemies, for example, are definitely bigger, tougher and more complex than the "GENERIC ALIENS" you fight in 'similar' games -- but overall, battling is secondary in Metroid Prime 2; often, even battles contain some puzzle/problem-solving components, and overall the game is heavy on exploration and atmosphere. There is a good amount of story, but most of it is conveyed during gameplay, with only the occasional/brief pre-scripted sequence.

And while Metroid Prime 2 lacks the "Online" Internet/Multiplayer options of other games (e.g. Halo2 on Xbox), it is the best single-player game you'll find: A uniquely rewarding game that stands, along with its predecessor 'Metroid Prime', as the 'Aesthetically-Loaded' Thinking Man's Action/Adventure Game.

Something IS missing. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ boring

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: January 19, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The game starts off with Samus crash landing on a planet after responding to a distress signal. After landing, you have given control of her, you are fully upgraded, but that won't last long, you will eventually lose all of your weapons, after losing a battle with the mysterious Ing. After that, you know the routine, find weapons, upgrades, solve puzzles and defeat bosses.

Graphics:
The graphics in this game are almost identical to the original Prime, but that is a good thing. The detail in this game is nothing short of amazing. The lighting and environmental effects are so real and life like. The enemies are also very interesting. They move like they were patterned after real animals.

Sound:
There is nothing really new in the sound department either, again not a bad thing, because the sound in the original was very effective.

Gameplay:
While the controls are very intuitive and responsive, the actual game play does make it seem like something is definitely missing that made the other Metroid titles such a blast to play. I am an old school gamer, and I beat the first Metroid on NES as well as Super Metroid in the SNES. I also played the Metroid on the very first gameboy, until someone stole it. Anyway, the first thing I noticed is that this game focuses much more light and dark versions of the same world, rather than distinctive worlds. This game does have different worlds, but to me they seem to blend in with each other and you really don't get that feel of a true environment. A good portion of your time is spent cycling through the light and dark worlds to solve puzzles; it gets VERY tedious and boring. Oh yeah I did I mention you have to solve puzzles? While I like a challenge sometimes, this game has gone entirely too far with the puzzles. In the later stages of the game, you have to solve puzzles in nearly every room you go to just to get to the next door. Even a good number of the later mini-bosses are really just more puzzles you have to solve. Imagine fighting a boss while your in the morph ball for the entire fight, and you have to move Samus onto spaces that are a tenth of her width, and THEN bomb up into a bomb slot in a space that is barely big enough for the ball to fit through in the first place, oh yeah you have to activate 3 bomb slots before the hidden timer resets or you have to start all over again from the first one. If you die, then you have to spend 5 minutes getting back to the boss. What fun is that? Imagine having to switch between the light and dark world, over and over and over and over and over again just to get one missile expansion.

The game in general is harder this time around as well as the bosses. Aside from the annoying puzzle bosses, the boss battles are the most fun part of this game. I am really finding solving puzzles in worlds that are already uninspiring to get very boring. Even though this game plays exactly like the first, it just doesn't have that "Metroid" feel that I have come to love. This game as all the elements to be an awesome game, but they just don't come together as they should. The developers went WAY overboard with all the puzzles; you do more puzzle solving than actual fighting! I like solving complicated problems here and there, but not for the entire game! I shouldn't have to turn on my echo visor and shoot 5 beacons to open a door, just because the game decided it wanted to lock it in front of my face for no apparent reason. If I wanted a puzzle game, I'd get Wheel of Fortune or play Tetris. To put it bluntly the game is boring. Its possible to spend a good hour with this game before you discover you only actually advanced three rooms because if you mess up ONE single thing in a puzzle, then you are forced you to start ALL over again. Wow that sure sounds fun doesn't it?

One thing I must add is that I also agree that the limited saves in this game can be a problem. I didn't find this to be much of an issue until I spent 20 minutes unlocking three locks to get to a boss, only to find that I couldn't save my game after the locks were open. Needless to say the boss really handed it to me first time around, meaning I had to spend ANOTHER 20 minutes unlocking the same locks just to fight the boss again. I beat him the second time, but BARELY; I was down to my last energy tank with 15 health left in it; which is not that much considering every hit from him takes 30. Now before I get to a boss, I backtrack and save just so I don't have to solve the annoying puzzles again. The time spent backtracking to a save point is sure a heck of a lot better than having to solve EVERY single puzzle again just to get to the same boss that beat you for the 7th time!

I agree with the other reviewer that said something seems missing from this game. When I got the first Metroid Prime, I played it ALL the time, because it was just so much fun. This game plays almost exactly like the first, except for a few new weapons and items. Despite this, I have a hard time getting involved in this game. With the original Metroid Prime, I played it every day, this one I play once or twice a week for a couple of hours or so, then I get bored and turn it off. I will eventually beat it, but it is not on my list of priorities. And after I beat it, I can say that I will NEVER play it again, EVER; and thats even if I don't get 100% scans. That says a lot coming from me, since I'm usually the type to beat games over and over again. But once I beat this one, I don't even want to think about playing this boring game ever again. Recently, I even picked up the strategy guide, so I can beat it faster and be done with it.

I finally got to the last boss today, and unsuprisingly, he is super hard, you have to beat 3 forms of the same boss using your same energy for all three forms. After 15+ tries and 3 hours I finally beat him. After beating the last boss, the countdown timer started. I was escaping to my ship, then all of a sudden dark samus shows up more powerful than ever. You have to beat her before you can continue and yes, the timer is still going down while you fight her. Needless to say I lost, thinking I would have to start over from the original final boss. I was about to throw my last controller out the window, but was realived to see that I was able to start from the countdown sequence. I FINALLY beat the game, but not without breaking one of my controllers. After completing it, I found out I got 99% complete my first time through, bummer. This game is way to frustrating, long and boring to warrant another go at it for 100%. In fact I was so frustrated with the last bosses I didn't even bother scanning them, I just wanted to beat them and get it over with.

If you haven't played the first Prime, then I would highly suggest getting that first. If for some reason you have never played Metroid at all, then I STRONGLY suggest playing Metroid (NES) and Super Metroid (SNES) Those two titles to me are the best in the series both very worthy of 5 stars. Prime is close behind with strong 4. Prime 2 is a weak 3, with the ONLY thing saving it from a 1 or 2 star rating is that great graphics, and the Metroid name. Honestly, I will think long and hard before subjecting myself to antoher Metroid Prime game after this one, I just don't think I will have the patience to put up with something like this again.

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