It wasn't supposed to be like this, was it? Some three years after being first announced, Metroid Prime has arrived on the shores of the United Kingdom, blazing an intense trail of reverence behind it as it comes. As Link once returned home to save the failing Nintendo 64, it is now Samus - another of Nintendo's wondrous creations - who has returned to take the GameCube and lift it from its slightly sorry state. It is not quite that simple though; such things never are. At one time it looked like Metroid Prime could very well turn out to be nothing more than an averagely entertaining first-person shooter. The transition that took it from that stage to where it has ended up is quite a story in itself, so let us quickly dive back into the recent past.

Picture the scene at Spaceworld 2001. The assorted press fervently filed into Nintendo's own exhibition to finally catch a glimpse of Metroid Prime, a game which had been vaunted as a heroic homecoming for everybody's favourite space vigilante. What they saw, however, left them cold and confused. It was Metroid all right, but as a first-person-shooter? Seasoned experts took in a sharp breath or two. Heads were shaken as the game displayed sparse environments and excruciating frame-rate problems. Metroid's heroic homecoming had turned out to be a bit of a damp squib, and Sony and Microsoft employees looked on with barely-concealed grins. Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto decided he had seen enough, and proclaimed that he would send in the guys from Nintendo to sort things out in conjunction with developers Retro Studios.

Almost two years on, the result is here for all to see. Metroid Prime is a true masterpiece, a game that takes a well-used genre and puts a different spin on it. Yes, it may have lost its two-dimensional platform roots, but the move into the third dimension has been less painful than anyone could have ever imagined. Enemies lurk around corners, waiting to leap at Samus the moment she sets foot in their vicinity. Huge, bubbling pools of lava wait like a venus flytrap for your space-suited heroine to fail to make the next big leap. It all works super-smoothly, reinventing the Metroid franchise as an invigorating, challenging first-person adventure. The reasons that it manages to pull it off so well are so numerous it would be impossible for me to point out every single one, for Prime is truly a game that oozes class from every pore. Right from the word go you will realise that you are playing something very special indeed, and the main reasons for that feeling start making themselves apparent the moment Samus first steps off her ship.
What concerned many Metroid fans worldwide was how Samus would fit into a first-person world. The transition from her two-dimensional platforming roots could have been a painful one, and was quite a hurdle for Retro and Nintendo to jump. Many thought that maintaining the 'Metroid feel' would be impossible, and that the charm of the series would be gone, yet from your very first moments with Samus the game resonates that feeling almost to perfection. You will smile as you encounter former foes, be they Space Pirates, Ridley or the Metroids themselves. The comforting familiarity soon extends to your locations as well, and you will soon come to realise that Prime is indeed as true a Metroid game as ever there was one. The fact that it is a first-person shooter really does mask what the game is at its core: a proper three-dimensional platform title. Puzzles populate the areas you encounter, meaning that shooting enemies soon becomes merely one of the tasks necessary to play the game and never more than that.

Yes, there are times when you will need to dish out a hefty dose of pain to your adversaries, but of equal - if not slightly more - concern will be such matters as exactly how you are going to reach the door on a platform high above your head, or where the controls for security screens are hidden. The fact that Prime is like this prevents comparisons with such titles as Half Life and Halo, and almost categorises it in a genre of its own. The series bastions such as different missile types and upgrading Samus's suit with new abilities quickly make themselves known, and with them continues the feeling that Prime is closer to its series' original premise than anyone could have foreseen.

Of course, there are new innovations in the game that will keep you on your toes. Making full use of the games new perspective, Samus has a variety of visors she can use to help her solve problems and track previously tricky enemies. Flick on the scanner, for example, and you will be able to get a quick description of any crucial objects that are in the room. The more you scan, the more percentage points you get towards your end completion total, so exploration and a keen eye are well rewarded. And what a world you are presented with to explore. Tallon IV reverberates sorrow and loss, with crumbling rock structures and decrepit, decaying statues looming overhead. Enemies cry and screech in agony, almost seeming as terrified to be meeting you as you are of them. Every part of the game - be it a sun-filled chamber or a mucky, darkened mine - portrays a tortured, lonely face; one which will both intrigue and haunt the player as he or she battles through it. You'll always remember exactly how you felt whilst jumping from pillar to pillar whilst dishing out a beating to one of the game's many tormented monsters in the pain-filled settings that you are placed within.

Learning the controls that enable you to do such ass-kicking antics is remarkably easy, and done in a clever manner. At the beginning of the game Samus will have the majority of her abilities, and you will get one level to get accustomed to them before they are lost, many not appearing again until well into the game. The net result of being drip-fed different abilities, allied to the level design of the game and increasingly difficult enemies, means that the learning curve of Prime is almost perfect. There will be times when you get a twinge of frustration; a few puzzles may outfox you, or an enemy might prove very tricky. However, just at the moment when the infamous phrase 'but that's not fair..' begins to ferment in your vocal chords you will find a new technique that sets you on an equal footing, or opens up a new path. Such moments are truly exhilarating, pushing you to continue deeper into the game.
And a big game is certainly what Metroid is. There are over fifteen hours of gameplay to be had, and that is if you rush your way through. Fully exploring all areas to find every last energy tank or missile upgrade becomes an addictive task, and you will happily find yourself wandering around areas you ran through earlier in the game to see if any of your new abilities will reveal anything new. The areas themselves are huge and diverse, ranging from the bubbling lava of the Magmoor caves to the icy frost of the Phendrana Drifts. Each area has unique features and different puzzles that relate to the landscape. Areas will tantalisingly fall just out of your reach, meaning that a return trip through will be necessary. To some that may appear like a cheap way of extending the length of the game, but it never seems like that. Every time you return to an area you have a new ability or two, and it means it is almost as if you are entering a completely different series of challenges. It is game design at its very best, and nothing less than you would expect from a Nintendo title.



By bringing so much to the party gameplay-wise, it would have thus been understandable if Metroid Prime had been slightly less than graphically outstanding. Of course, it would have been a little disappointing, but thankfully Prime manages to distil such stomach churning worries from the very moment your retinas gaze upon the game's short introduction. Light reflects off your suit, heat hazes shimmer around missiles, and water drips from your visor. Different landscapes display vastly differing styles, and each present their own unique graphical nuances. Walk through a steaming geyser in the Magmoor Caves for example, and your visor will mist with condensation. Get hit with a bolt of ice when fighting a particularly large enemy in Phendrana, and your visor will ice up and you will be frozen. The mines far below the surface of Tallon IV are suitably dark and dusty affairs, and the resplendent Tallon Overworld sections practically sweat various shades of green, brown, red and blue at every turn. With so many neat touches on show, such as the differing styles presented by each type of visor on offer, Metroid Prime is a treat for your eyes. It is certainly a match for such other luminaries as Halo, and is most certainly a reason for all GameCube owners to justifiably feel pretty excited about the capabilities of their console. Yes, there are a few glitches you will notice; for instance an enemy slightly falling through the edge of a wall. Such examples are mere nitpicking however, and for as long as you stay wrapped up in the game you will hardly ever notice them.

Completing Prime's triangular-shaped base of excellence is the sound aspect. Musically, the game has more in common with Halo than other such titles, and this is mainly due to the operatic feeling that it generates. Walking around dark rooms becomes even tenser when the music changes, and the tightening and increased tension of the background sounds will genuinely fill you with an impending sense of dread. Of course, there are occasions when the game does play a nice trick on you, so don't always go expecting a frantic gun-slinging encounter each and every time. On the sound-effect front, all is present and pleasingly authentic. Monsters gurgle and scream at you, and missiles and gunfire fizz and crackle around your head. Everything sounds like you would image it would and - more than that - it all sounds like a bigger, crisper version of Metroid games past.

On the most simplistic level, Metroid Prime is a brilliant game. It has the looks, the sounds and gameplay to die for. If you delve deeper and peel off the individual layers that make the game so good, you will become very aware that Prime is a complicated mixture of contrasting ingredients. Each complements the other perfectly to concoct a distinctly unique flavour, which in this day and age is certainly no mean feat. What is certain, however, is that the GameCube badly needed Metroid so it could relaunch itself in Europe. It may be too late - a fact that over the upcoming months that will be confirmed or denied by the millions of punters with cash in their pockets. What no one can claim is that Metroid Prime is too little too late, for it is undoubtedly its platforms flagship title, and may even continue to co-habit that role with a certain green-clad elf well into 2003. Such a game deserves the credit of saving its console from an early death, and although the GameCube is currently flagging in Europe, Prime certainly stands a chance of being remembered for doing such a thing. It deserves nothing less.