Besides the recent “Metroid Dread” I have never played a single Metroid game prior to the remastered edition of “Prime.” I was vaguely familiar with the series through the likes of the “Super Smash Brothers” series and other crossovers, but when it came to the actual games I was basically an alien. I heard about the stellar reviews and high praise about this game but I never got around to playing it. Mainly because this game was landlocked to the Nintendo GameCube for nearly two decades and the high prices of used games from that era of gaming. Luckily, Nintendo and Retro Studios decided to go back and polish this gem up for a new generation. 

This game doesn’t really have a plot, the few story beats act as thrusts in order to get to the next gameplay section. The story can be summed up in essentially one sentence; Samus, the protagonist of the game, crash lands on a planet and has to get her powers back in order to defeat the bad guy. It doesn’t really go any deeper than that but I don’t think it needs to. “Metroid Prime” is about the atmosphere and placing you in Samus’ shoes as you explore the foreign planet. The exploration in this game is top tier and I don’t think I saw everything this game has to offer. The map and world is so sprawling that it is easy to get lost and forget the main objective. I definitely took a slower gameplay approach as it took me around 15 hours to complete but depending on your pacing you will either finish it more quickly or more slowly. That’s the beauty of this game. You can either speedrun it or play it at a snail’s pace and you are going to get a great game both ways.

While the exploration is fantastic in this game, the gameplay itself is my favorite aspect of it. From the start of the game to the end,  “Prime” introduces mechanic upon mechanic effortlessly. No mechanic is wasted and every one has time to shine.

Really my only problem with this game is that it is relatively easy. Even though I played it on the hardest difficulty, I barely struggled. This could be a good thing to first time players and newcomers to video games as a whole because the low difficulty allows for the gameplay to shine through. However, as a more experienced video game player this game was a cakewalk and I would’ve enjoyed the challenge.

I would highly recommend this to everybody. If you are either a seasoned gamer or looking to get into it, this game is for you.