Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

Of course, the one game we all want the most, the one game we're all waiting for, the one game that haunts our thoughts day and night...is the one game Nintendo has absolutely nothing to say about. Sorry, no solid info on the sequel to Retro Studios' brilliant first-person shooter/adventure Metroid Prime. Yet. What can we tell from these few screens? Obviously, the big new feature is splitscreen multiplayer. Question is, how well would death-match work with the original Prime's e-z lock-on targeting and "unique" control setup? We've got our fingers crossed that the option for a more conventional dual analog stick control scheme will be added this time around, but from these screens, it looks like the old crossshaped menus for the different scanners and guns will return instead. Please, Nintendo?

This game's greatest weakness is that it's in many ways very similar to Metroid Prime. However, that said, it delivers even more enjoyable gameplay than its predecessor. This time around, Samus Aran finds herself crashed on the planet Aether after pursuing a ship piloted by her sworn enemies, the Space Pirates. Besieged by a dark copy of herself, and tasked with the restoration of the planetary energy system, Samus has an even bigger challenge this time around.

Deprived of many of her powerful weapons from Metroid Prime, Samus this time finds power in the divided nature of the very planet, Aether itself. Struck long ago by a strange weapon, the planet itself was split in twain, divided between a light and dark dimension. The gameplay takes place between these two dimensions, with Samus hopping back and forth, even using new weaponry based on the dimensions.

Unfortunately, the new weapons are nothing more than essentially renamed versions of some of the old beams. However, with a strongly polar element in the light and dark enemies that you'll fight, they're important more to both fighting and use of the environment

We should now address how Metroid Prime 2: Echos breaks down. Graphics? The same. That said, it seems to pack in some nicely complex designs, and while it does reuse some character styles, it presents them in new ways. Audio is just as good as ever, this time blending new soundtrack into the old soundtrack.

Although this game is improved in both character and stage design, it is in many ways the same old Metroid Prime again. It's a good game, however, just like the original Metroid Prime, and if anything, it's only true weakness is the fact that it's too much like the old game, and doesn't feature quite enough innovation. Still, I'm happy that Metroid Prime has had such a good sequel.