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r/Metroid•
ADistantImage

How do you feel about Prime 2? (Spoilers)

SpoilerDiscussion

I just beat it yesterday and while I really enjoyed 95% of what the game had to offer I found a few things very frustrating.

1 - The lack of depth shading in the map. If locations beneath other locations grew darker that thing would be so much easier to look at but as it is everything just blends together. This makes navigation extremely tedious on your first playthrough as you have no idea where you're going and often where you've been. This game might overstay it's welcome because of this issue but I suppose subsequent playthroughs would go a bit breezier.

2 - The screw attack requires too much precision to execute but is required to access many areas. I feel like this is too forgiving a way to put it so I'll just say this, the control sucks. At a couple points the devs require you to screw attack across a chasm and into very small spaces, once right at the very end while a timer is counting down even. To boot, once you begin your volley you have no directional control so you have to line up your initial jump with the target precisely. That's bad design.

3 - Nuisance enemies. Not much to say here except that many of the enemies in this game are designed to simply impede your progress while traversing the map. They don't offer any challenge but are just there to snipe you out of the sky when you're trying to navigate the terrain or suck you up when you're trying to complete a morph ball puzzle. This could have been mitigated by simply timing their respawns to every 3 or 4 passes through a room instead of every time.

That's about it. It may seem like I'm being one sided against Prime 2 but I really did enjoy the game. It's just that those few glaring flaws really hold it back from being as great as it could have been.

How do you feel about Prime 2?

Posted Jun 28, 2021, 3:15 PM UTC

1325
benjeepers•

None of these took away from my enjoyment of the gameplay. As far as the screw attack control, like any other game, using it take a bit of finesse or skill to use. Prime 2 is awesome

12
laurrants•

Screw attack in Prime is nowhere near the absolute wonky controls of super metroid's space jump, so I have very little to say about it in that regard. And like someone else said, none of these things detracted from my overall enjoyment of Metroid Prime 2. Imo, Prime 2 is the best in the entire trilogy, and one of my absolute favorite games in terms of atmosphere, music, combat, and 'show-don't-tell' storytelling. Prime itself was amazing, but Prime 2 really showed what Retro Studios could DO on a gamecube. Really spooky, really great story, incredible bosses; if it wasn't for the lackluster multiplayer (which I did play back in the day with my cousins on holiday) and near-ridiculous difficulty spike (plus some weird back tracking, but every metroid has that, no quick travel allowed lol), I think it'd have been a perfect game.

11
Babo__•

My only real complaint with it is beam ammo. I really don’t like needing ammo. But other than that I love Prime 2

8
justdamascus:spazeram2r:•

echoes is the best. it's runs on the same engine as prime but improved almost everything with that game. it's what all the 3d games wish they were

6
SqeeSqee•

What I love about the game is that Samus completes her mission within the first 15 minutes. The rest of the game is literally her just killing time until her ship is repaired.

6
neoslith•

Well, she also needs the storm to pass in order to exit, but the storm won't pass until you restore The Light.

2
ShikiTohno6•

I love it. But it's the metroid I have the hardest time revisiting, it's daunting and tense the whole time. Bosses are actually intimidating, everything feels like a threat, and in that way, Prime 2 is the perfection of the isolation and atmosphere Metroid is known for. I think it's the kind of game you really need to be in the mood for, and one that's also the best on the first playthrough. I love all the areas not in the same way I love Prime 1's areas, I love them because they all feel so desolate and oppressive. Prime 2 abandons the beauty of places like Phendrana Drifts to hammer in how much Aether has been corrupted by the Ing. Some of the bosses are annoying, but others are pretty great, and it's nice to have a really challenging Metroid game for once.

5
PokecheckHozu•

If you've played Prime 2 via Trilogy, the screw attack box for Samus is larger than the original version, where it was the size of being a morph ball. The change was made because one could clip out of bounds in a crazy amount of places, but that made it harder to get into places that you were intended to go, such as that lens puzzle thing in Agon Wastes.

Various enemies can be dispatched by charged dark beam + missile, most notably the pesky Dark Pirate Commando.

5
ADistantImageOP•

Oh, that explains it!

1
Vrooother:lightsuit:•

Favorite Prime game to date, probably the most polished and refined for me atleast.

I never had your problems and really thought the 3rd issue was a vital one that made me hate Metroid Prime 1. All the enemies in Prime 1 were beefy and never really did anything to change up the combat formula. These also didn't hurt you at all.

Prime 2 gives you so much variety when versing enemies that you're sometimes overwhelmed. My favorite example is the Golems in the Sanctuary Fortress that give you a legitimate challenge and can easily kill you if you aren't careful. They utilize all beams and platforming mechanics to have you kill them.

Your screw attack issue was also never an issue that occurred in the slightest to me, the screw attack was never finicky and I can't remember a single instance where I was needed to use the screw attack and had fell. I don't think you should call something quote 'bad design' when you aren't using it to it's full potential. I don't think I ever use the full 5 jumps of the screw attack ever, probably once to get a power-up but I probably just wanted to use the full 5

3
dogman_35:judicator:•

Best game hands down

The atmosphere is just insanely good, and it doubles down on those light horror elements more than any other game in the series. Even Fusion, which ironically has a lot of similarities.

3
kfordHT392-96•

I'm on my first play through of it, coming off of beating Prime 1 (GCN games, emu'd). Just got the boost ball! I have the Trilogy version as well..but will need to learn the Wiimotes better so Samus isn't staggering around like a drunk LOL..(which I'm gonna have to use for Corruption..which I haven't played yet either.

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I love it, but am not exactly loving the light/dark worlds..but dig it otherwise! I've had to lean on the guides more than the 1st one just so I wasn't wasting time..Don't get me wrong..I think it's a cool concept..I just think I prefer the singular (and maybe larger) single dimensions better.

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And also find myself hugging the Luminoth light crystals to recharge A LOT. That kinda kills the pace somewhat..but nice that you can actually gain energy at least.

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I absolutely LOVE that they used the original NES Motif in areas (Hydrodynamo chamber I think..the classic beep bop boop beep thing LOL), and Super Metroid music too! Digging that Torvus Bog sounds like a remix of Tallon Overworld at times and has that chill whistle synth theme going on.

3
SaibaAisu•

Torvus Bog theme is a banger, no doubt about that

2
kfordHT392-96•

For sure...so smoooooth!

1
KeplerElectronics•

Prime 2’s locations are my favorite in the entire series. Torvus’ rainy and gloomy atmosphere, Sanctuary Fortress’ crazy views, it’s awesome.

However, the dark world backtracking was a bit cumbersome. If you could just enter anywhere, that would be awesome, but having to trek to a portal made that a bit difficult.

But, the dark world versions of the levels are pretty awesome, and this didn’t prevent me from collecting everything.

Overall, it’s my favorite Metroid game.

Probably.

My opinions on this change all the time, and next month it might be Prime, or Corruption, who knows.

3
POWRranger•

Played Prime 2 a long time ago, but don't recall any issues with screw attack except being happy it made it into a 3D Metroid game (after it was missing in Prime 1)

My issues with the game were the Final boss (Dark Samus, not Ing Emperor) and not liking the dark/light world concept

2
SaibaAisu•

It’s a great game. Metroid Prime 1 to me is superior because it was the first entry and thus broke so much ground with the transition to 3D. But if Prime 2 had come first, I think I would’ve called it superior, especially considering the quality of life changes that they added (being able to shoot while using the Grapple Beam, combining Spider Ball+Boost Ball in new ways for puzzles, Screw Attack+Wall Jumps)…

2
Vrooother:lightsuit:•

I don't think that's a good way to look at it, your saying that if either one came first then that is you're solid choice for the best and not the subjective better aside from what came before it.

Just because it came first doesn't make it superior, just like saying Mario 1985 is better than Super Mario World because it came first.

1
SaibaAisu•

It’s actually a fairly common opinion. If you look at reviews of MP2 by sites like IGN, they state something very similar…

I love both Prime and Prime 2. I think Prime was the perfect way to introduce us to Samus’ battle against Phazon in 3D. In regards to difficulty, I think Prime 2 (especially on Hard Mode) is more in line with what I consider to be an appropriate level of difficulty for a video game. The cutscenes in Prime 2 felt more cinematic, as well. However, I prefer the soundtrack of Prime 1 by far—so many bangers!

Sorry for rambling lol

2
Tarvould•

Oh my most recent play through, I came out of it...kind of hating it. It was not fun, it felt like a slog, and a slow painful torture most of the time. The areas just overstay their welcome WAY TOO MUCH. Among other problems, I'll just say I wish I loved it more than I do.

1
thewinneroflife•

It's my least favourite of the Prime trilogy, but it's the only one I've only played once and that was many years ago. I'm still hoping for a Switch release before I play it again. I just remember not really liking the beam ammo and not finding the world design (early on, at least) as interesting as the planet(s) of Prime 1 and 3.

1
Volt-Ikazuchi•

Definitely one of my favorites. Game is just good and tough without being stupid.

1
tufifdesiks•

Me playing Prime 2: Enter a room. Kill the enemies. Find a light bubble to camp in. Go do something else for half an hour while my health slowly refills. Repeat.

I also played the whole game with the regular beam since the better guns had limited ammo, and were needed for opening doors. Overall, I think I had more fun playing Other M.

-4
Brownondorf•

if you played the game with only the power beam then you played the game wrong.

Sure it's weird to have ammo in a metroid game but what you need to realise is that the dark, light and annihiliator beam are EXTREMELY powerfull. Those beams inflict insane damage if you them on the right ennemies! So much damage that they make ther Super missile absolutely useless.

Those Elite commando pirate that takes 10 minutes to die with the power beam? a couple charged shots with the right beam and they are done for.

Ammo is also very easy to replenish. And you can open doors even if you run out of ammo by charging the beam.

8
SaibaAisu•

Yeah it sounds like this person didn’t master restocking beam ammo. The game gives you many chances to do this. Similarly, if you’re actively spending time in a light bubble to heal after you got the Dark Suit, you’re playing the game wrong (taking too much damage or not enough energy tanks)

5