	Metroid Prime Hunters
	Developer: Nintendo Publisher: Nintendo Release Date: Out Now Players: 1-4	Words By:
Just in case you didn’t know, Samus is the galaxy's top bounty hunter, utilising her shiny-metallic advanced Varia suit to give her special powers, and using her arm-mounted weapons to blast her way past any enemies or doors that bar her way (that’s you that is). Hired by the Galactic Federation to recover powerful alien artefacts before deadly bounty hunters get to them, you have to go to various planets and hunt these artefacts down, finding your way through the various planets labyrinthine, winding tunnels and corridors. You’ll be on familiar ground as soon as you start playing if you played either Metroid Prime game on the GameCube, although thankfully the stupid lock-on aiming system has gone. The gameplay is virtually identical to the GC games too; explore, scan everything to identify what it is/what it does, and shoot things (either to kill them or to unlock them – for some reason Samus always shoots doors to open them), and then check the clever-but-confusing 3D map to find out where to go/how to get there. As always Samus can also transform into her Morph Ball and roll around; this adds a few interesting puzzle elements to the game and is always a handy way of escaping at speed if you’re in a tight spot. From the off Hunters is quite a wow to look at, of course nowhere near the resolution of its GameCube big sister, but still manages to look almost as good. Some cracking, dramatic and well animated cutscenes also add the atmosphere. The top DS displays the action while a map and radar showing enemy locations is visible on the touch pad. The control system works quite well, movement controlled with the D-pad and aiming with the stylus on an associated grid/sight on the touch pad. The ‘L’ button is the trigger and you double-tap the screen to jump, It works surprisingly well and the stylus gives pinpoint aiming. There are a few alternate control methods (you can change only when you get back to your ship though, which is a bit daft), the main alternate being to ‘look’ using the buttons, which again works surprisingly well. It’s of course all a matter of personal choice but the attraction of the added speed and accuracy of the stylus was soon lost on me as I played so long I got DS-related hand cramps, using the buttons felt a lot more comfortable for prolonged play. And there in lies one of this little Metroid's big problems. It’s a DS game that demands a great deal of time, and is just about good enough to command it too. Once you’re in to a map the only place you can save is back at you ship (which again, is daft) so I envisage a lot of replaying of levels due to interruptions, missed bus/train stops or or DSs being left on. I also soon came to the conclusion that although it plays well and looks great, the gameplay isn’t really suited to the DS and neither is the dramatic nature of the game, and I’d probably have enjoyed playing the GameCube Metroids through again more than this, but of course you can’t play them and sit on the bus/train/plane/loo… Even though I wasn’t expecting much, Metroid Prime: Hunters multiplayer mode was a bit of a disappointment. It’s bog standard deathmatch shooter with a lot of smallish maps and a few massive, over-complex ones that 4 players can wander around in for ages without seeing hide nor hair of each other. You get the same weapon set as you get in the story mode and it’s all run ‘n gun, circle-strafe type combat. And I’m afraid that once the novelty has worn off it gets old very quickly. It’s difficult to seek and play against random players so friends/relatives with DSs are the only likely option, and let’s face it, if you’re gonna do that you may as well shoot them on one of the myriad of home console games designed with that sort of thing in mind. Once I finally managed to get a game with 4 players together I was flabbergasted to find that characters and levels must be unlocked by playing the story mode or through time spent playing on Wi-Fi, neither of which makes it easy to jump in and be competitive. Innovative but maybe not in the right places, Hunters is something a bit different for the DS, and (in more ways than one) feels rather an alien type of game to the teeny console. The gameplay is tried and tested, and although some of the maps will have you twisting and turning the map to try and figure out where the heck you want to be/how to get there, and some of the boss battles may test your skills harshly and get on your nerves, it has something that will keep drawing you back – just don’t miss your stop.

Best Bits
- It’s Metroid on the dinky-DS!
- Impressive visuals and sound
- A large story mode and multiplayer too

Worst Bits
- Not really what the DS was designed for
- Maps can get too confusing
- Annoying save system
- Multiplayer requires unlocks
- Same old gameplay


by: 'Big Tony' Bolognese