Hands on fra GCAdvanced.com:
Samus returns and to put it in the words of Nintendo's PR she's "kicking ass and taking names!"
As an enormous fan of the original Metroid Prime it was my luck to be able to grab an empty single-player terminal just as Nintendo's booth opened to the press in order to see just how Retro Studios have improved on the original.
Personally, I was blown away.
The single-player E3 demo began with a small paragraph describing Samus’ situation. Apparently a distress call sent from a Galactic Federation Special Forces Unit from a Planet called “Aether” (which was coincidentally or not, one of the ‘Phendrana Drifts’ Laboratories names in MP1). Unfortunately, when entering the atmosphere of the planet, Samus’ ship is severely damaged by some sort of strange electrical outburst sending her plummeting to the surface. It is a rough landing, but fortunately, Samus and her ship remain in one piece.
You are told that Aether is a very unusual planet in that there is a “light” and “dark” side to the world. Taking homage from Zelda: A Link to the Past, Samus must traverse both worlds in order to progress through the level. Samus has apparently landed near a Space Pirate facility on the planet and naturally investigates. I did not get too far into the level before the Space Pirates decided to give me a proper greeting.
These weren’t the same Space Pirates that you encountered on Tallon IV either. These were Pirates from an elite brigade that looked different from those we remember (They are the same as the being that attacked Samus in last years E3 teaser). From my impressions these new Pirates were a bit faster than the old pirates, and sometimes they would appear by a “phasing” technique that was very sudden and suprising.
One thing I noticed immediately during my battles were that I had the usual Charge Beam and Missles from Metroid lore. However, I was equipped with some new unusual weapons, a “light” beam, and a “dark” beam. I couldn’t determine how they affected enemies in the limited amount of time I was fighting them, but I noticed the charged Dark Beam would “freeze” enemies in some sort of purplish substance for a bit.
As I explored the environments, I noticed that the Scanning visor was the only other visor shown, and I decided to see how the infamous “scanning” had changed from MP1. I’m happy to report that scanning objects is much much faster than it was in MP1, so your left finger wont get so sore holding down the L button.
From what I could see the environments were just as detailed (if not more so) than the original MP. Some new particle and lighting effects have been added, most notably Fire and explosions. Also, the “Dark” element that you encounter occasionally is very cool to watch as it moves across the floor like a blanket.
About 2/3’rds of the way through the E3 demo, “Dark Samus” (yes, that’s its official name according to the scanner) – the Phazon creation that was shown briefly at the end of Metroid Prime – makes an appearance and you try to chase after it, but are blocked by impassable obstacles. Now, you must journey into the dark world of Aether in order to catch the enemy. In the Dark world, you are quickly told that the environment itself is highly dangerous and simply walking in the darkness will quickly drain your health.
The Dark world is also apparently a very huge repository of the Phazon compound that the Space Pirates so desire, so you will find several dead Pirates as you make your way through the mysterious world. You must use your Light Beam in order to activate certain crystals that will give off a protective aura around a small area that you can be in without taking damage.
There are far more dangerous creatures in this world than Space Pirates. It is here that you quickly become aquainted with the “Ing” which takes the form of a four legged insect looking character, but is made up of a “purple substance” that can dissolve and reform itself at will.
The Ing are very vunerable to the Light Beam, but trying to take them on without any Light Beam ammo is a big mistake as I learned. I barely managed to stay alive after I was forced to rely on the normal beam and missles.
I persevered however and once the Ing were dead, I was shown a portal that leaded back to the “Light” world. I didn’t have too long to celebrate my accomplishments before I ran into Dark Samus who was apparently busy absorbing Phazon. A nice cinematic plays showing the twin Samus’s facing off before Dark Samus quickly reveals its power and comes after the real Samus.
Dark Samus has many tricks up its armor, most notably it has a Phazon shield that makes it invincible, and it also has the ability of levitation, and of course it has a really really powerful gun. I fortunately managed to deal enough damage to it once its Phazon shield was lowered (though I wasn’t clear exactly what made the shield go down) to “defeat” it. Another lovely cinematic played showing Dark Samus’s “death” which in my opinion borrowed some cinematic tricks used in Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes.
Naturally I highly doubt that that was the end of Dark Samus, and I’m sure there will no doubt be plenty of encounters with it throughout the game. It was here that the single-player demo ended. I walked away highly satisfied, and from what I could hear in the terminals next to me, the multiplayer sounded fun as well.
As a bonus, I was pulled aside by Mark Pacini, the Lead Designer of Metroid Prime 2 at Retro Studios who wanted to get my impressions of the game since I was apparently the first one who had finished the demo that he observed; naturally I was singing praises left and right. I noted that the game looked kind of grainy on the TV’s that were setup and he agreed that the TV’s weren’t giving off the sharpest quality of how the game looks.
I’ve come away from Echoes very eagerly awaiting its release this fall. If the MP1 demo two years ago was any indication, this demo of MP2 only scratched the surface of how deep the game will be.
Har hevet ut litt småtteri!
Samus returns and to put it in the words of Nintendo's PR she's "kicking ass and taking names!"
As an enormous fan of the original Metroid Prime it was my luck to be able to grab an empty single-player terminal just as Nintendo's booth opened to the press in order to see just how Retro Studios have improved on the original.
Personally, I was blown away.
The single-player E3 demo began with a small paragraph describing Samus’ situation. Apparently a distress call sent from a Galactic Federation Special Forces Unit from a Planet called “Aether” (which was coincidentally or not, one of the ‘Phendrana Drifts’ Laboratories names in MP1). Unfortunately, when entering the atmosphere of the planet, Samus’ ship is severely damaged by some sort of strange electrical outburst sending her plummeting to the surface. It is a rough landing, but fortunately, Samus and her ship remain in one piece.
You are told that Aether is a very unusual planet in that there is a “light” and “dark” side to the world. Taking homage from Zelda: A Link to the Past, Samus must traverse both worlds in order to progress through the level. Samus has apparently landed near a Space Pirate facility on the planet and naturally investigates. I did not get too far into the level before the Space Pirates decided to give me a proper greeting.
These weren’t the same Space Pirates that you encountered on Tallon IV either. These were Pirates from an elite brigade that looked different from those we remember (They are the same as the being that attacked Samus in last years E3 teaser). From my impressions these new Pirates were a bit faster than the old pirates, and sometimes they would appear by a “phasing” technique that was very sudden and suprising.
One thing I noticed immediately during my battles were that I had the usual Charge Beam and Missles from Metroid lore. However, I was equipped with some new unusual weapons, a “light” beam, and a “dark” beam. I couldn’t determine how they affected enemies in the limited amount of time I was fighting them, but I noticed the charged Dark Beam would “freeze” enemies in some sort of purplish substance for a bit.
As I explored the environments, I noticed that the Scanning visor was the only other visor shown, and I decided to see how the infamous “scanning” had changed from MP1. I’m happy to report that scanning objects is much much faster than it was in MP1, so your left finger wont get so sore holding down the L button.
From what I could see the environments were just as detailed (if not more so) than the original MP. Some new particle and lighting effects have been added, most notably Fire and explosions. Also, the “Dark” element that you encounter occasionally is very cool to watch as it moves across the floor like a blanket.
About 2/3’rds of the way through the E3 demo, “Dark Samus” (yes, that’s its official name according to the scanner) – the Phazon creation that was shown briefly at the end of Metroid Prime – makes an appearance and you try to chase after it, but are blocked by impassable obstacles. Now, you must journey into the dark world of Aether in order to catch the enemy. In the Dark world, you are quickly told that the environment itself is highly dangerous and simply walking in the darkness will quickly drain your health.
The Dark world is also apparently a very huge repository of the Phazon compound that the Space Pirates so desire, so you will find several dead Pirates as you make your way through the mysterious world. You must use your Light Beam in order to activate certain crystals that will give off a protective aura around a small area that you can be in without taking damage.
There are far more dangerous creatures in this world than Space Pirates. It is here that you quickly become aquainted with the “Ing” which takes the form of a four legged insect looking character, but is made up of a “purple substance” that can dissolve and reform itself at will.
The Ing are very vunerable to the Light Beam, but trying to take them on without any Light Beam ammo is a big mistake as I learned. I barely managed to stay alive after I was forced to rely on the normal beam and missles.
I persevered however and once the Ing were dead, I was shown a portal that leaded back to the “Light” world. I didn’t have too long to celebrate my accomplishments before I ran into Dark Samus who was apparently busy absorbing Phazon. A nice cinematic plays showing the twin Samus’s facing off before Dark Samus quickly reveals its power and comes after the real Samus.
Dark Samus has many tricks up its armor, most notably it has a Phazon shield that makes it invincible, and it also has the ability of levitation, and of course it has a really really powerful gun. I fortunately managed to deal enough damage to it once its Phazon shield was lowered (though I wasn’t clear exactly what made the shield go down) to “defeat” it. Another lovely cinematic played showing Dark Samus’s “death” which in my opinion borrowed some cinematic tricks used in Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes.
Naturally I highly doubt that that was the end of Dark Samus, and I’m sure there will no doubt be plenty of encounters with it throughout the game. It was here that the single-player demo ended. I walked away highly satisfied, and from what I could hear in the terminals next to me, the multiplayer sounded fun as well.
As a bonus, I was pulled aside by Mark Pacini, the Lead Designer of Metroid Prime 2 at Retro Studios who wanted to get my impressions of the game since I was apparently the first one who had finished the demo that he observed; naturally I was singing praises left and right. I noted that the game looked kind of grainy on the TV’s that were setup and he agreed that the TV’s weren’t giving off the sharpest quality of how the game looks.
I’ve come away from Echoes very eagerly awaiting its release this fall. If the MP1 demo two years ago was any indication, this demo of MP2 only scratched the surface of how deep the game will be.
Har hevet ut litt småtteri!
