No matter how good the graphics and sound are, the meat of a game is the gameplay. Such a simple word belies the complexity that many modern games are infused with, and Metroid Prime is no exception. Here we will separately consider the controls, which in every game serve as your tangible connection to the game, as well as the weapon choice and movement characteristics.
The controls: Metroid Prime's controls were somewhat of a question mark in everyone's minds after the 2002 Electronic Entertainment Expo. Game websites and magazines mentioned a custom control scheme with no dual look. It seemed odd at the time, since first person games practically required such a feature to be effective. But once the game was released gamers all around the US could finally appreciate how well the custom control scheme actually worked. They were very well suited to Metroid's style of gameplay, reminding everyone that this was no ordinary first person game.
Nevertheless, there are some things that can be done to improve Metroid Prime's controls. One is so obvious that it hurts: customizable controls. In this age of ultra complex game worlds, immersive 3D graphics and crystal clear sound effects, it's amazing that a game could ship without such a feature as customizable controls. Sure, it's important that the game be experienced as the designers intended, and because Metroid Prime was so unique it's understandable that there were reservations about whether allowing "standard" control schemes would dilute the experience. But allowing people to tweak buttons to their preference is always a good thing. Even if allowing total freedom to choose how we play the game was unacceptable, a compromise could have been reached by permitting users to select from various control schemes. For example, even if the game is not a first person shooter, why couldn't we have an FPS-ish style control scheme? Here's an example that could have worked:
Joypad: Move Samus forward and sideways.
C-stick: Turn and look up and down.
Digital pad: change visors/weapons
R trigger: jump
L trigger: lock-on
Z button: shoot
X button: missiles
Y button: morph ball
B button: map
A button: toggle visor/weapon mode for digital pad.
It's a different control scheme from what was in the game, definitely much closer to standard first person shooters. While many would say that its changes seem superfluous, it has one huge advantage over the default scheme: it allows the player to walk and look around at the same time. In a series that relies on searching for a place to bomb or a wall to shoot this freedom cannot be overstated. Not to mention that it would make taking in the beauty of the game that much more satisfying. Changes to the freelook speed did not have to be made for this feature to work; Samus could remain somewhat hindered and still lookspring. But just having the option is an advantage.
The game never truly suffered for the control scheme. It worked extremely well throughout, and doesn't really need drastic restructuring. However, giving gamers the ability to customize the game experience through the controls to their optimum enjoyment is something you should consider.
The weapons: Another aspect of the series that changed from Super Metroid
to Metroid Prime was the addition of switchable beams. The first two Metroid
games did not allow Samus to have more than one beam type at one time,
but Super Metroid introduced the ability to combine beams into a very
powerful attack that retained the previous beams' functionality. Metroid Prime
strikes a bit of a compromise between the two, allowing Samus to carry four
separate beams but not combine them. The result is a game feature that was
fun, but not as fun as in Super Metroid. The advantages gained from being
able to switch beams were artificial. Each one you obtain is successively more powerful, but the designers tried to balance them somewhat by altering their firing rate and auto-aim properties. For the most part, however, they simply replaced the missiles, super missiles, and power bombs as door opening devices. Their effectiveness as weapons relied on the designers forcing you to use them by making enemies invulnerable to a certain beam type at any one time. If an enemy was affected by all of them chances are you'd use the most powerful one you were carrying at the time, despite the balance tweaks. So in the end what we got was a superficial gameplay alteration. For the sequel the game should go back to Super Metroid's style of combinable beams, and this time use the C-stick to switch between the power beam, missiles, super missiles/power bombs, and the grapple beam. Power bombs can be placed by tapping the appropriate C-stick direction while in morph ball mode. Adding the grapple beam to the C-stick has a distinct advantage, in that it avoids accidental grapple use while trying to lock on to enemies. And finally, placing missiles and super missiles on the C-stick frees up the missile button for another use. There are several moves that could be placed on this now free button, but for several reasons I suggest a crouch.
A crouch button for Samus may seem like a strange suggestion at first. Certainly it would be less useful in 3D than it was in 2D since we can now aim at any angle. However, the same could be said of the crouch function in every other first person game that contains it, and many of them put it to good use, even if it is to duck for cover. While the insanely powerful Samus Aran would rarely have to duck for cover, there are certain situations where a crouch button could add certain strategic elements to the gameplay. Let's look at some situations where it's been used in past Metroid games and how they could be adapted to 3D.
For the first example, let's imagine a 3D version of the first
plant mini-boss in Super Metroid: after jumping up through a
door you find yourself in a small cylindrical room with a
slightly elevated border around its edge. With your entrance
now locked, the only way out appears to be a hole in the
ceiling. As you try to look for a way to reach it, a huge,
hideous, mutated plant with a huge maw slithers out of it and
begins to sway around the room as toxic pollen falls from the
ceiling. Jumping and dodging to avoid the plant's movements
is not effective. Rolling into a morph ball puts you far enough
to avoid the plant, but as a ball you can't destroy or
completely avoid the pollen falling from the ceiling. If you
crouch within the depression, however, you can both shoot at the falling pollen while staying far enough from the plant for it to tire out, open its mouth allowing you to place a few well timed missiles within it. Repeat as necessary.
For the second example, let's imagine any Metroid game where you come across a small hole in a wall adequate for rolling through. After only a couple of meters you're blocked by a wall. Bombing indicates that the wall can only be destroyed by a super missile. Without a crouch move you'd assume that that passage was only accessible from elsewhere. With a crouch move you simply crouch, shoot the Super Missile in the hole, and continue exploring.
For the third example, let's take a boss from Metroid Prime, the fire spewing security drone from which you obtain the bombs. After your first successful attack on it, the drone changes its rotation pattern. One of its flame jets rises as the other descends. In Prime you had to jump to avoid the lower one, but the higher one simply passed harmlessly over your head. With a crouch move, a bit of tweaking could have forced you to crouch over the high jet, adding a slight but effective element of challenge to the boss.
In addition, let's not forget the moves that can be added. The shine spark is the most obvious example, but the screw attack could also work as a crouch jump. How and why is elaborated in the Classic Moves section of the site. A crouch function would only be as limited as the designers choose to make it.
The visors: These were, for the most part, very good and logical additions
to the Metroid formula. The default 'combat' visor was one we're all familiar
with, but the scan visor is one of the more interesting additions to the
game. As a way to reveal the story, analyze the creatures of the game,
and reveal boss information it works very well. As a way to reveal many of
the game's 'secrets', however, it does not. More often than not activating
the scan visor upon entering a new room revealed the obects of
importance, areas that could be destroyed, and what you needed to do to
proceed, a stark contrast to the previous games where most passages
and secrets were discovered by actively shooting or bombing rather than
just looking. The scan visor was simply too powerful for its own good. Similarly, the X-ray visor was underutilized because of it. In Super Metroid it served as a way to discover many secret paths, but in Prime, because most paths were obvious or revealed simply by scanning, and because secrets made a characteristic noise that eliminated your need to actually see them, the X-ray visor served merely to find a few hidden platforms and defeat a couple of bosses that could somehow disappear. The heat visor was interesting, but it seemed somehow forced. Perhaps a different choice is in effect for the sequel.
The bombs and beams as exploratory devices: Sadly, this was one of the biggest disappointments in Metroid Prime. Because Samus now had a near-omniscient scan visor at her disposal, the classic method of discovering destructable areas or secret paths, bombing, fell to the wayside. In the game this once powerful and versatile power up was little more than a way to break obstacles in morph ball mode, almost never opening the way to new areas. There were certainly places where bombing was necessary to open an all-too-obvious path or to propel yourself over something, but what I really missed was that nudging urge that past Metroid games gave you to bomb walls and floors for no good reason. You just felt like you should, and because the games were so well designed, this many times revealed secrets and power ups whose satisfaction at obtaining could not be matched.
Initially while playing Prime I would find myself bombing walls that felt like they
could hide something, even though the scan visor revealed nothing. Of course,
bombing also revealed nothing, so that this once fun game mechanic was lost.
If Super Metroid's icons were considered too unrealistic to be displayed after
bombing the required wall, why not an alternate method? Maybe bombing
could reveal traces of green or orange ore in the wall or floor's structure,
revealing its cordite or bendezium core. All I know is that having nearly every
secret be revealed by the scan visor is not fun. At least once in the next
Metroid game I want to enter an area and not know how to proceed, with the visor yielding no information to help me. I want to see a strange wall or texture that doesn't immediately flash an icon at me when the scan visor is placed on it, but that feels odd, like I should bomb it. And I want the bomb to reveal something, the very secret itself, or the way to access it. Similarly, beams often served as a way to discover weak areas of a wall. Few things could match the excitement in past Metroid games of practically serendipitously discovering the secret way to proceed by shooting areas around the room. Don't tell us everything we need to do, let us discover it for ourselves. That is what Metroid is all about.
The small things: Metroid Prime contained a huge seamless world filled with power ups, interesting creatures and huge cleverly designed bosses, all extremely important elements of a Metroid game. A few of the smaller things, however, managed to slip through the cracks. Why were there no classic stone Chozo statues holding our power ups? Why didn't blast doors require five missiles? Why did metroids break with only one missile blast after being frozen? I already opened that white door once, why didn't it turn blue? Why are there no super missile or power bomb blast shields? As insignificant as they may seem, many fans were looking forward to seeing these elements reproduced in 3D, along with the return of a few more of those classic creatures we all love. The nostalgia factor that would be gained from seeing these things make a faithful return to the Metroid series would please many an old school gamer without detracting from the experience for the new generation.
Samus' movement: Finally, the designers should try to remember just how much the controls served to define Samus' character. We always knew her as a fast, agile hunter who could jump tall obstacles and turn almost instantly on a dime. The Samus we saw in Prime was a heavier, slower version of herself; certainly powerful, but less sleek than we hoped for. While we can accept that these were all design choices to either accomodate engine limitations or make the game somewhat easier to control, slight increases in running and turning speed, jump height, and the addition of a quick turn move would help enhance the character of Samus Aran greatly. The latter move could be added as a quick back tap on the joypad or, if the map is relegated to the start menu, it could be placed on the Z-button.
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