I left the original Metroid Prime highly confident I would never revisit Retro’s take on the franchise, but, since I couldn’t justify only using 1/3 of the Trilogy disc, I decided to give the sequel a shot. Much to my surprise, after about ten minutes, I was really into it. The familiarity earned with the prequel, both in regards to gameplay mechanics and the basic control scheme, came back instantly. Echoes was a game I was automatically comfortable playing, it didn’t require a learning curve or some awkward period of waggle adjustment like most other Wii software. Given I played Prime just six months ago, but it was still nice to not have to clear that hurdle.
Anyway, the design behind Echoes is kind of a bummer. I expected to start the game with certain powers only to momentarily lose them to some random act of fate, but I wasn’t prepared to have to go and refind the exact same powers that I spent all of Prime acquiring. Power bombs, the grapple gun, charge missiles, a new suit, boost jump, and boost ball have all been lost and found. The two new beams are sort of annoying because they require ammo, and they’re at least thematically different, but their core use remains identical; now you can open doors you couldn’t have opened before. I know that this is basically the tried and true Metroid formula that is, by requirement, going to happen in every single Metroid game, but it doesn’t even feel like Retro went out of their way to make it feel any different.
Except for, of course, the light/dark world nonsense. While I do feel that such a mechanic can be done well (Link to the Past and (sort of) Final Fantasy VI, to name two), in Echoes it just comes off as sloppy and lazy. Having to stay inside a bubble wasn’t any fun, and nor was having to alternate between the two worlds to hit arbitrary switches or collect pointless objects. It all just seemed so contrived and purposeless, as if Retro didn’t know how else to make as sequel so they just took a bunch of ideas from the lineage of videogames and reskinned Metroid Prime. Darkness (or whatever) infecting certain creatures, light/dark ammo strengths and weaknesses, randomly placed portals, and an enigmatic evil clone of myself wreaking interdimensional havoc. It’s still a well designed game, but it comes off as predictable and uninspired. I can’t get immersed in the world because all of these design choices keep reminding me that I am playing a videogame.
Which sort of leads to the problems I’m having with the art direction. Prime’s environments, Phendrana Drifts specifically, all managed to tell a story. Though I am scanning some stuff, I can’t be bothered to go through my menus and read a bunch of drab text – maybe the future has spoiled me, but I want to learn everything I need to know and feel by simply walking through the game’s environments. Super Metroid did this automatically, and Prime did in spite of the large amount of the same text, but I’m not getting that same sense from Echoes. The environments just don’t feel all that distinguished from one another; I wouldn’t be able to tell you the differences between Agon Wastes and Temple Grounds. Prime had all these thematically different places you were going to, and, so far, it seems like Echoes just has drab brown, some under water stuff, and dark purple.
Despite the laundry list of complaints I can’t say I’m having a bad time. I like the new menu interface, the color coded scanning, and seemingly better hidden missile/energy expansions. Samus in ball form seems to be easier to control, though that could be because the puzzles aren’t as taxing thus far and I sort of knowing what I’m doing this time (though I can now regularly double bomb jump). Combat seems to flow better aside from the constant resource drain, and the bosses are way, way less annoying despite their considerable lengths sometimes. Speaking of time, I’m pretty sure the in-game clock is gimped or doesn’t count when I’m in a menu or something. I sat there for ten hours of real life yesterday and my clock only read like six hours. I only died once, so I’m not entirely sure what the hell is going on there.
As of this writing I just picked up my Dark Visor. I’d like to finish the game, but, umm, tomorrow starts the Heavy Rain, Lunar, Final Fantasy XIII, Mega Man 10, Perfect Dark, God of War III, Yakuza 3, Just Cause 2, and SMT; Strange Journey in three weeks onslaught.
