***SPOILERS AHEAD!***
It is a pretty common thing to say, and expect, that sequels are never as good as the originals. That doesn't apply to the Metroid Prime series. Released in 2004, Metroid Prime 2 Echoes masterfully matches the successful quality established by its predecessor and at some times even surpasses it! Echoes is a triumphant return to the Prime series by developer Retro Studios, adding in new enemies, a new world to explore and new weapons and upgrades to discover! Echoes is everything a game can and should be, and then some!
Some time after Metroid Prime, Samus Aran recieves a mission from the Galactic Federation. They have lost contact with a squad of troopers somewhere on the planet Aether and they need Samus to assist the squad. Upon arriving Samus discovers that the planet has also been infected with a Phazon Leviathen. The power of Phazon has created a dark and twisted version of Aether on half the planet, called Dark Aether. The inhabitants of Aether, the intelligent and peaceful Luminoth, were plunged into a bitter war against the inhabitants of Dark Aether, the Ing, over the planet's energy. Samus sets out to aid the surviving Luminoth in retrieving the planet's energy and in destroying the Ing and Dark Aether forever. Her mission is made even more dangerous with the emergence of the very powerful and deadly doppelganger, Dark Samus. The storytelling is relatively sparse in Echoes, just like in the original Prime. While there are some cutscenes with new characters to explain important backstory and major plot points, most of the story in Echoes is once again told by scanning terminals, artifatcs and the like. The story it does tell still does a good job of adding a sense of dream and mystery especially surrounding the nature of Phazon, the Ing and Dark Samus! There is no shortage if intrigue in Echoes!
Samus Aran(Dark Suit)
Luminoth
Dark Samus(booo!)
Ing
Emperor Ing
From a gameplay stand point not much has changed from Metroid Prime to Echoes. Honestly it really didn't need to. You once again play as Samus from a first-person perspective, traveling across diverse and amazing environments collecting upgrades and items and defeating powerful enemies. The big change from Prime to Echoes however is the difficulty level. Echoes was criticized on the GameCube for being VERY difficult, especially with the boss battles and some of the fetch quests. A lot of this difficulty though came from the fact that the challenging nature of the game didn't translate well to the GameCube's control scheme, which was never very good for first-person perspective games. The Wii version however gets a major boost thanks to the new motion control scheme! With much greater ease at moving, aiming and exploring the game is much gentler on gamers and far less frustrating. That isn't to say the game is not challenging. The game is still more difficult than the original Prime, particularly with the epic and awesomely designed boss battles! Most of the major boss fights will go on for a very long time over multiple forms! These forms do a great job of keeping you on your toes, requiring you to use almost every available tool in your arsenal to achieve victory! Don't let the challenge turn you away though. The highs of victory are oh so sweet when you topple Echoes' big bad bosses! ;) The combat for the rest of the game is just as fun and tricky as the previous entry! New creatures and enemies will test your mettle and have you make use of various tools and gear just to beat them all, especially all those tricky variants of the Ing! Combat is once again as smooth as ever thanks to the Wii's motion controls too! Just like in Prime, exploration is a HUGE part of the game. You will be scouring environments all across Aether and Dark Aether looking for upgrades, new equipment and weapons and scanning almost everything to learn about the game's backstory. Once again you will be looking for Energy Tanks to increase your health and Missile Expansions to increase your missile capacity. You will be looking for new suits like the Dark Suit(protects you from poisonous Dark Aether), and new weapons such as the Light Beam(super effective against the dark Ing), and new visors like the Echo Visor(lets you see the sound of hidden objects and enemies). Metroid Prime 2 Echoes also marks the return of the almighty Screw(ehehehe Screw!) Attack to the franchise! The game also makes use of a token theme also used in other Nintendo franchises: Light vs Dark. Having a Light Aether and a Dark Aether to explore adds a greater level of depth and exploration than ever before. traveling on the dark side of the same area of Light Aether takes you to an area with a whole new lay-out, different secrets to uncover and new enemies to battle. Having two layers to the same world doubles the exploration and content that can be put into the game and makes exploring the world of Echoes a total blast! The gameplay in Echoes is simply perfect! :D
Much like the original prime, Echoes also sports an awesome soundtrack! moody themes help build up atmosphere when discovering new areas. Intense tunes signal the start of epic boss fights. The sound of the world itself and the creatures and beings that inhabit it also sound amazing! Echoes is a feast for the ears! The graphics form Echoes are some of the best that was ever seen on the GameCube and they have withstood the test of time! Vibrant and colorful worlds set the tone for the entire game. The vibrant and detailed environments of Light Aether are perfectly complimented by the darkness and mysterious look of Dark Aether. Echoes is a visual treat with amazing detail in architecture, world and creature/enemy design(especially the badass Ing and Dark Samus), and awesome effects from explosions and lighting and so on make Metroid prime 2 Echoes something worth looking at!
Such a beautiful game! :D
Metroid Prime 2 Echoes is such a near perfect game! Amazing gameplay, outstanding visual design, awesome sound effects and soundtrack all combine to create one of the greatest Metroid adventures of all time and the Wii version is the absolute BEST way to experience it! :D Metroid prime 2 Echoes is everything a squeal can and should be! It stands shoulder to shoulder with the original while doing more than enough to give it an identity of its own! a must play for all gamers! :D
Metroid Prime 2 Echoes(Wii) score: 9.5/10
