Again, for some reason Backloggd won't let us log each game of Metroid Prime Trilogy separately, so here we go. Played on Wii.
I heard comparisons of Echoes being the Majora's Mask of Metroid series, and in a weird way, it is. The cliches are there: it is darker, it is a bit "weirder," and it is also more difficult than what came before. But it's not just Majora's Mask in its position. What Echoes sets apart from Prime--or any other Metroid--is that it feels decidedly more like a Zelda title than a Metroid title.
The four areas are all connected, but instead of the more organic layout in Super and Prime, Echoes has its central hub, with the three "dungeons" being placed on the edges, circling the hub area. Much of the "dungeons" are distinct in theme and for the most part, you will spend most time there until you clear the area. And to clear the area, you will need to collect three keys to unlock the dark temple, which greets you with a boss battle.
To put a spin on this tried-and-true formula, Echoes incorporates the Link to the Past-esque Light and Dark World, where you move back and forth between the portals to progress, on top of the usual Metroid-like progression of getting new items. This is where Echoes shines: it may (for the most part) opt to have more focused dungeon design, but the integration of Dark Aether is done so well that it is still complex and rewarding to progress through. From the pure level design perspective, it is a step up from its predecessor, a feat not many games to this date even dare to come close.
But the "Zelda-like" design does have its downside. It diminishes the distinct organic exploration found in previous Metroid titles. Instead, the game does feel a bit formulaic in a long run, even though the microspective designs are top notch. It still has backtracking to other areas, but due to how the game's overworld is designed, these feel more like backtracking for the sake of backtracking, instead of something organic. The game also brings the dreaded (pun not intended) "late game artifact hunting" of the previous game, though it is slightly better contextualized in this game.
Then there is the difficulty, especially of the bosses. Despite having more bosses, Echoes sadly does not hit the mark with most of its boss battles. The game relies heavily on cycle-based patterns, but in some boss battles, it becomes ridiculous when the most of the time the boss is completely invulnerable. The window of opportunity is small, both in time and space, and their constant movement means that lock-ons are not usually reliable. Some patterns are excruciatingly difficult to dodge (particularly due it being a first person game with lock-on), which amounts to the frustration. Then there are the absolute horrors of the morph ball bosses, which amplifies the atrocious controls with overdone momentum physics (seriously, why doesn't morph ball have a break button??). The alternate beams requiring limited ammo also forces the player to be even more precise, making getting at least 2 or 3 ammo expansions out of 4 absolutely essential to even have a decent chance at the late game bosses. Of course, this is not to say that the game doesn't have great boss battles--in fact, the highs here are much higher than Prime in my opinion--but there are so, so many lows, unfortunately.
This is still a great game, especially for its time, but I fear that it shows its age more than the predecessor. I feel like Prime's problems from its age was largely ignorable, but Echoes will be much harder to swallow for newcomers this day and age.
I heard comparisons of Echoes being the Majora's Mask of Metroid series, and in a weird way, it is. The cliches are there: it is darker, it is a bit "weirder," and it is also more difficult than what came before. But it's not just Majora's Mask in its position. What Echoes sets apart from Prime--or any other Metroid--is that it feels decidedly more like a Zelda title than a Metroid title.
The four areas are all connected, but instead of the more organic layout in Super and Prime, Echoes has its central hub, with the three "dungeons" being placed on the edges, circling the hub area. Much of the "dungeons" are distinct in theme and for the most part, you will spend most time there until you clear the area. And to clear the area, you will need to collect three keys to unlock the dark temple, which greets you with a boss battle.
To put a spin on this tried-and-true formula, Echoes incorporates the Link to the Past-esque Light and Dark World, where you move back and forth between the portals to progress, on top of the usual Metroid-like progression of getting new items. This is where Echoes shines: it may (for the most part) opt to have more focused dungeon design, but the integration of Dark Aether is done so well that it is still complex and rewarding to progress through. From the pure level design perspective, it is a step up from its predecessor, a feat not many games to this date even dare to come close.
But the "Zelda-like" design does have its downside. It diminishes the distinct organic exploration found in previous Metroid titles. Instead, the game does feel a bit formulaic in a long run, even though the microspective designs are top notch. It still has backtracking to other areas, but due to how the game's overworld is designed, these feel more like backtracking for the sake of backtracking, instead of something organic. The game also brings the dreaded (pun not intended) "late game artifact hunting" of the previous game, though it is slightly better contextualized in this game.
Then there is the difficulty, especially of the bosses. Despite having more bosses, Echoes sadly does not hit the mark with most of its boss battles. The game relies heavily on cycle-based patterns, but in some boss battles, it becomes ridiculous when the most of the time the boss is completely invulnerable. The window of opportunity is small, both in time and space, and their constant movement means that lock-ons are not usually reliable. Some patterns are excruciatingly difficult to dodge (particularly due it being a first person game with lock-on), which amounts to the frustration. Then there are the absolute horrors of the morph ball bosses, which amplifies the atrocious controls with overdone momentum physics (seriously, why doesn't morph ball have a break button??). The alternate beams requiring limited ammo also forces the player to be even more precise, making getting at least 2 or 3 ammo expansions out of 4 absolutely essential to even have a decent chance at the late game bosses. Of course, this is not to say that the game doesn't have great boss battles--in fact, the highs here are much higher than Prime in my opinion--but there are so, so many lows, unfortunately.
This is still a great game, especially for its time, but I fear that it shows its age more than the predecessor. I feel like Prime's problems from its age was largely ignorable, but Echoes will be much harder to swallow for newcomers this day and age.