Launched in the back half of the Gamecube's life, under the shadow of Halo 2, and wedged as the second game in a trilogy between one of Nintendo's most innovative and greatest games of all time and one of the earliest demonstrations of the Wii's revolutionary control scheme - is one of the greatest games I have ever played....
Today, I barely see discussions of this game on it's own merits. Typically, it's only brought up when the entire trilogy is discussed - mostly with comments that can be summed up as "it was good, but not as good as the first one," "the dark world all looks the same," or "the key hunt at the end was tedious." Nothing really scathing, but also, sadly, nothing about what this game gets so right in my opinion. Metroid is my favorite franchise, and there are a lot of traits that define a Metroid game in my eyes. I firmly believe Prime 2 still houses the best excecution of some of these traits, or at least one of the best. So, I'll go in depth on two or three of them first....
1. The Sense of Progression. One of the greatest feelings in a Metroid game is building up Samus' arsenal to where you can just blast through enemies at the end game. Prime 2 takes that to the
next level because, at the beginning of the game, the very atmosphere of the dark world can hurt her, draining her energy by the second until she finds the next safe zone. Over time, her immunity to this builds up. At the start of the game, her weapons are weak, limited and the atmosphere drains her energy. At the end, she's a full arsenal that can switch between the light and dark worlds with ease.
2. Atmosphere. Ok, Prime 1 has a fantastic atmosphere too, but Prime 2's is amazing in a completely different way. Never before have I played in a world that felt so desolate, lonely, and sad. And that's on the LIGHT version... Dark Aether elicits a sense of unease and dread like no other in the series. Echoes is an insanely depressing and dreary game, and not in a bad way. It beautifully captures the feeling of a people in hiding, on the verge of extinction as they watch their civilization crumble. The world design and music both aid in conveying this atmosphere so well.
3. Bosses. Prime 2 simply has the most spectacular, epic, and involved bosses in the series. They are improved in every way from Prime 1, and are complex, multiple-phased affairs that are so satisfying to beat. With Quadraxis being my all time favorite in the whole series. I was happy to see Samus Returns take inspiration from the Prime games for it's Diggernaut boss.
I also think Prime 2 has two of the best environments in the series, Torvus Bog and Sanctuary Fortress, with Sanctuary Fortress ties with Phendrana Drifts as my favorite. I've looked online and can't find any pictures that do these two environments justice, but those who know the game know what I'm talking about.
Also, Prime 2 has the best title theme in the series, and one of the greatest of all time
Anyway I wanted to get this out there before I go to bed, but I'll probably edit it some more reasons I love this game tomorrow, including the beam ammo system. But in the wake of Prime 4, I wanted to get some appreciation for this game going!
Today, I barely see discussions of this game on it's own merits. Typically, it's only brought up when the entire trilogy is discussed - mostly with comments that can be summed up as "it was good, but not as good as the first one," "the dark world all looks the same," or "the key hunt at the end was tedious." Nothing really scathing, but also, sadly, nothing about what this game gets so right in my opinion. Metroid is my favorite franchise, and there are a lot of traits that define a Metroid game in my eyes. I firmly believe Prime 2 still houses the best excecution of some of these traits, or at least one of the best. So, I'll go in depth on two or three of them first....
1. The Sense of Progression. One of the greatest feelings in a Metroid game is building up Samus' arsenal to where you can just blast through enemies at the end game. Prime 2 takes that to the
next level because, at the beginning of the game, the very atmosphere of the dark world can hurt her, draining her energy by the second until she finds the next safe zone. Over time, her immunity to this builds up. At the start of the game, her weapons are weak, limited and the atmosphere drains her energy. At the end, she's a full arsenal that can switch between the light and dark worlds with ease.
2. Atmosphere. Ok, Prime 1 has a fantastic atmosphere too, but Prime 2's is amazing in a completely different way. Never before have I played in a world that felt so desolate, lonely, and sad. And that's on the LIGHT version... Dark Aether elicits a sense of unease and dread like no other in the series. Echoes is an insanely depressing and dreary game, and not in a bad way. It beautifully captures the feeling of a people in hiding, on the verge of extinction as they watch their civilization crumble. The world design and music both aid in conveying this atmosphere so well.
3. Bosses. Prime 2 simply has the most spectacular, epic, and involved bosses in the series. They are improved in every way from Prime 1, and are complex, multiple-phased affairs that are so satisfying to beat. With Quadraxis being my all time favorite in the whole series. I was happy to see Samus Returns take inspiration from the Prime games for it's Diggernaut boss.
I also think Prime 2 has two of the best environments in the series, Torvus Bog and Sanctuary Fortress, with Sanctuary Fortress ties with Phendrana Drifts as my favorite. I've looked online and can't find any pictures that do these two environments justice, but those who know the game know what I'm talking about.
Also, Prime 2 has the best title theme in the series, and one of the greatest of all time
Anyway I wanted to get this out there before I go to bed, but I'll probably edit it some more reasons I love this game tomorrow, including the beam ammo system. But in the wake of Prime 4, I wanted to get some appreciation for this game going!
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