I like Zelda games. Would I like Metroid Prime?

The Game Room
1

My wife and I really enjoy playing video games. I usually play and she watches, giving suggestions.

We like action-adventure games, like Zelda. We’ve played and loved:

Zelda(all of 'em)
Okami
Psychonauts
Lego Star Wars and Indiana Jones
Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy
Ico
Starfox Adventures
Beyond Good and Evil

I’m sure we’ve played more, but you get the idea.

Anyway, is Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2 along these lines? Are they fun to play and watch? Are they really action-adventure games, or are they more adventure games?

2

You would definitely like the mechanics. Action-adventure (more adventure than action) is the best way to describe it. It’s a lot like Tomb Raider with a little shooting, a little platforming, and a little puzzle-solving.

The mood is fairly dark, though. If you like the darker Zelda games (Majora’s Mask and Twilight Princess) you should like it.

3

In my humble opinion, no.

I also really enjoy the types of games you’re talking about. The camera kind of floats behind the main character to follow them around. Other good ones are the Prince of Persia series and Resident Evil 4.
Metroid Prime is more of a FPS (first person shooter). To me they feel rather cramped, it’s easier to get disoriented, and I get motion sickness too easily.

4

I should have added that we also loved all 3 Prince of Persias from the last generation.

5

Isn’t Zelda an RPG? Reflex shooters are different.

6

Yes, you would like it.

7

About the mood: it depends on how much of the story you investigate. If you don’t scan anything and skip the cutscenes, it’s just a game. IF you do look into everything, your actions take on a darker (but much cooler!) tone.

8

Also, I’d recommend Ratchet & Clank 1 through 3. There’s a lot less puzzle, more shooting, but it’s still got a great vibe, wonderful story, and customization.

9

Are these more platformers than Psychonauts? I liked Psychonauts, but that’s about as “platformy” as I like to get.

10

No, they aren’t very platformy.

Here’s a video from the second game.

11

The Metroid Prime series uses a first-person shooter interface, but the gameplay is more about trying to get somewhere, not being able to get past an obstacle, going somewhere else, getting sidetracked, getting additional ammo or a life meter extension that helps you beat the enemy you sidetracked by, which then leads you to a new item that will let you get past that first obstacle. And so on, and so forth.

The old Metroid games were basically Zelda as a side-scrolling action platformer; the Prime games just use an FPS framework to move it into 3D, but you don’t have all that many weapons (an infinite ammo energy gun that uses a kind of elemental-weakness mechanic, with ammo-based secondary weapons when you need extra firepower), and the game uses an auto lock-on feature where you hold one button down and it automatically tracks the target so you can just maneuver and keep firing. In other words, you really don’t need to have any skill with FPS gameplay to get by.

The first-person can make the platforming elements tricky, but the game is pretty well designed in this respect, so if you have any experience with platformers you’ll do fine as long as you go by your gut and keep moving. Over-thinking it tends to cause me more problems. Edited to say: I kind of agree with pedescribe, but kind of don’t. I haven’t played more than 1/4 of Prime 2 and none of Prime 3, but I beat Prime and there was a fair bit of platforming, but it’s really not that hard. the Prime games are easier in that regard than the 3D Mario games or Spyro, for example. If you liked the new Prince of Persia games you’ll do fine.

The theme of Metroid games is exploration and isolation. It’s dark, foreboding, and lonely, but you get a neat storyline with some pretty amazing vistas as you explore, and if you scan all the extra details for the fluff text there’s a lot of interesting backstory and world-building. Plus, when you’ve got a bunch of the power-ups, you get to roll around feeling like a total bad-ass.

I’ve always liked the Zelda and Metroid series for the same reasons: the exploration, puzzle-solving, item upgrades, and elaborate boss fights. If these are what you like about Zelda I’d say give Metroid Prime a shot, because you’ll probably like it.

12

Darn edit time-out. Just wanted to add that Samus Aran is far and away the coolest female lead hero in a video game series (also the first iirc, unless you count Ms. Pac-Man).

Oops, didn’t realize you and pedescribe were talking about Ratchet and Clank. :smack:

13

No, it is not a first-person shooter. It’s a first-person adventure. Have you played it? Not an awful lot of shooting besides the boss fights. It is NOT the style of gameplay from Quake/Half-Life/Halo/etc etc.

14

I love the Zelda series I was just as immersed in Metroid Prime 1 & 2.

The feel of the game environment is quite different, that’s perhaps a bigger shift in gameplay than the mechanics. Zelda, even in the dungeons, was always quite a bright and airy game, Metroid Prime can feel dark and a tad claustraphobic in contrast. In other regards though its all about exploration and puzzles, like one big dungeon from the Zelda series in a way.

However, even though you’re operating on an FPS basis, the combat is made easy. You lock onto enemies and circle and fire (as opposed to circling and jabbing with Link.) You won’t need the sort of skill that would get you through games like Halo and other FPS games.

Good fun to play though, I’m stuck on a ridiculously hard boss in Prime 2, but Prime 1 had nicely balanced gameplay, I’d recommend it to you.

15

Looks very platformy to me; just, platformy with a gun.

16

No, Zelda features little to no character building and the results of actions are based on the player’s abilities rather than the character’s. Definitely not an RPG. It’s an action game with puzzle elements. Just like the Metroid Prime series.

17

You and your wife have good taste. I remember thinking that Metroid Prime was the best game on the gamecube when I played it, but I haven’t played it for years.

18

M:P is really in its own category; it blends elements of FPS, puzzle, platform and RPG games.

If I had to compare it to anything, it would be Half-Life/HL2, but even that isn’t really much of a comparison; HL/HL2 are FPS games with occasional puzzles; the ability to kill things is central to the game.

In M:P, the ability to kill things is just what allows you to get to the next puzzle; I wouldn’t call it incidental, but it definitely isn’t the main thing. In order of importance, IMHO, the elements of M:P are weighted like this:

  1. Jumping puzzles (ie., “Hey, I need to get to that platform. How do I get to there from here?”)

  2. Puzzley puzzles - “Hey, look, a door. I wonder how to open it.”

  3. Combat puzzles - “Aaargh! Giant Sloth! It’s immune to my energy beam! How do I kill it?”

  4. Actual combat “skills” - The combat is odd in that way; the hard part isn’t defeating the enemies, since the game does the aiming for you; it’s staying alive long enough to figure out how to kill them, since usually you’ll have to switch weapons and stuff.

  5. Patience, patience, patience. There is a lot of game to explore- and a whole hell of a lot if you want 100% completion (which involves inspecting every type of enemy, among other things).

IMHO, the appeal of the game is universal; it’s got elements of Mario, elements of Zelda, and elements of Half-Life, which are probably the three best game franchises ever. I’d say it’s the best game I’ve ever played, although it’s been a long time (5+ years). It is to my ultimate shame that I’ve never played Echoes or Hunters.

Oh, and the boss battles are amazing.