Power Beam melts faces

[Super Buu]

Metroid Prime: Hunters. First impressions: OMFG.

For those who don't know, I'm kind of ... a Metroid addict. I just got the US import of this game, and I love it. Since I've been OMFGing everyone on AIM about it, I thought I may as well start a topic where I can rant about the game to whoever will listen.

They somehow managed to pack a load of CGI cutscenes onto the game, which punctuate the action from time to time, like at the start of boss battles. That's good for sheer wow factor, but of course, it means nothing if the game is crap. Luckily, it's not.

My favourite thing is that, whilst there are only 7 characters, each one is totally unique. Every character has an 'alt form', like Samus' Morph Ball. Spire, for example, can turn into a rock-thing that can climb around on walls. Weavel (who's kind of an android) drops his lower half which turns into a stationary turret - you control the top half as his 'morph ball', which runs around and stabs people with laser sword arm things.

In addition, each character has an 'affinity weapon', that they get bonuses for when they're using. Trace, for example, turns invisible when he's standing still holding an Imperialist (read: red laser sniper rifle thing). He can also turn invisible when he's stationary in his alt form, but that's something else entirely

And somehow, it's all pretty balanced. Having played First Hunt (the demo of MP:H issued with every DS) manically as preparation, I did pretty well when venturing online. There's nothing quite like killing someone 7-0 over and over on your first day. And whilst (as the people who heard my crazed laughter pointed out) those people could very well be 5-year olds, it still won't put a dent in my nerdish glee.

Anyone with a DS here, you need to get it so we can play online 8)

[Super Buu]

Get a DS. Best machine ever. I actually think it has more potential than any of the home consoles I own.

[Super Buu]

Yeah, that seems to be the major gripe most people have at first - it does take a while to get to grips with the control system. It's very similar to PC FPS's, because the stylus works as a mouse. Good for precision shooting I didn't really notice any awkwardness because I'd been playing the demo a lot, but it would probably put off some people. All I can say is persevere

The major difference with getting the full game (other than the full single-player) is you get 6 more hunters to play as, all with very different playing styles. There's also 7 different modes, one of my favourite being a 'territory control' thing, very similar to the resources battleground in WoW. And of course, you can test your skills against the master on the internet 8)

[Krillin]

Funny that everyone was blasting Nintendo for being too innovative for their own good, and proclaiming the PSP as the handheld of the future.

Then, quite a few incredibly fun and definitely innovative games later, the DS reigns supreme, while the PSP is lost in the background of tech nerds and really expensive and lame commercials. I predict a similar occurrence with the PS3 and the Nintendo Revolution.

[Super Buu]

Whilst I agree with you 100%, let's not turn this into a PSP-blasting topic. Seems like every game-related topic turns a console war nowadays Let's keep it solely DS.

I'm going to have a 3-hour car journey today up to my dad's house (I'll be there for a week or so, activity may suffer >_>), so thank god I bought this game. So far I'm kind of a Noxus fan, though waiting invisible in a corridor on all fours (as Trace) then lunging at people is also fun.

Oh, and if you have no idea which name correllates to which hunter, http://www.metroidhunters.com because I said so

[Krillin]

Hey, I'm not blasting any console. I haven't really played enough of DS or PSP to make a real stance for one or the other. I'm just pointing out a few things, and slipping in my natural pro-Nintendo-ness.