Topic: (metroid) echoes is one of the best games ever made

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(listens to the sound of forum goers fleeing at the sight of a really long thread)

it baffles me that this game is regarded as the worst in the trilogy. it's hard to say which prime is best, since they're all truly great in their own way, but i think echoes is the closest to perfect. it had the disadvantage of using an engine you'd already seen before; right at the start there is a feeling of 'just another planet to explore', rather than the awe of stepping into a new world that prime left you with (in my opinion this makes you feel a little more like samus, a hardened veteran of hundreds of missions, probably would).

reviewers docked (decimal) points because they said it was too similar to prime, an opinion most of them rescinded after playing all three games in a row on the trilogy; the differences between the two become very clear when you jump directly from one to the other. those differences more than make up for the loss of that 'new game' smell. for starters:

the map system is much cleaner and simpler. prime's map was a maze of snaking tunnels that had no apparent logic to it. it got the job done, but you'd often have to go through one or two worlds to get to the one you wanted to reach and remembering where each of the many, many elevators would take you could be a real task.

echoes has a central hub with an elevator directly going to each of the three worlds in the game and each world itself has a direct elevator to every other world, so that no matter where you are you can get where you want to be with a single elevator ride. it couldn't be simpler to find the right exit to take on your map, and it makes exploration and backtracking that much easier.

the visuals are much better, and not just in a technical sense. most of the hard decisions about gameplay had already been made in prime 1 so they had the luxury of devoting more time to the artwork and world design. the worlds themselves show a little more ingenuity on retro's part; none of the worlds are recreations of super metroid, nor are any of them very earth-like.

the amount of detail is staggering; from glowing, translucent trees to reactors with hundreds of individually moving parts, the environments get progressively more and more elaborate until you finally reach the mind blowingly complicated sanctuary fortress. all of the environments are interesting, and the quality of the art direction stays high throughout. little improvements in lighting effects wind up making huge impacts on the look of the game, giving it a very surreal and dreamy look: http://media.insidegamer.nl/screenshots/public/1942/29547.jpg

of course prime 1 had amazing visuals and top notch art direction, but i don't know if the game ever left you in complete awe at the sheer scope of the world you're in the way echoes does. i'd also consider some areas, like the pirate infested phazon mines, to be dull spots in an otherwise great game, a fault i can't find with echoes. the visuals are also more consistent than corruption, whose bloom lighting overdose worked beautifully for skytown, but could get tiring for other environments.

with the success of prime 1 the pressure to make a FPS feel like classic metroid was off, allowing retro to push the series in new directions rather than constantly look to super metroid for guidance. the light/dark world mechanic occasionally takes the emphasis off of exploration and puts it squarely on survival, giving you a break from traditional metroid gameplay and making the game a fuller and more varied experience overall. and the dark world really does feel like a different dimension, and is often so different from the light that you won't even recognize that you're in the same rooms.

from the light/dark beam and ammo system to boss fights taking place entirely in the morph ball, retro found plenty of other creative ways to surprise you while still using the same basic engine as the first game.

the length and difficulty were doubled, making the game much deeper and more rewarding to complete. rather than jumping from one world to the next, you spend most of your time more thoroughly exploring just 3 environments. this gives you an even better sense of being deep in a terrifying and foreign planet, one of the highest goals of every metroid game. in this area it also beats corruption, since the ability to fly planet to planet whenever you want (as awesome as it is) detracts from that feeling of being trapped.

every boss is an epic challenge. where prime's bosses were memorable for their character, echoes bosses are memorable for the sheer struggle each one will put you through. no matter who you're up against you will be tested, and you will feel like a badass for coming out of it alive.

there's not much that the game gets wrong. the music is the weakest out of the trilogy, but it's still very strong overall; it just lacks a few of the 'right in your face' awesome tracks yamamoto usually pumps out, instead relying on more subtle and ambient sounds. if the dimension jumping mechanic doesn't appeal to you, you'll probably be very tired of it by the end of the game. you also have to be up for a challenge, since echoes is the most complex and difficult metroid game there's ever been; after keeping track of what beam you're using, how much ammo you have, and whether you're still inside of a light bubble while fighting every boss, you may come to appreciate the simpler and more direct gameplay of the other games better.

none of those things are absolute faults with the game, just polarizing elements that might turn some players off while drawing others further in. that is the main reason echoes doesn't get the credit it deserves as being the best of the prime games; it's not as accessible as the other two. i passed on it originally, but after playing through it on the trilogy disc i don't understand why it's not hailed as one of the best games ever made (sanctuary fortress has to be one of the most amazing feats in video game history).

5, 4, 3... you may start your disagreements... now!