bit-tech Shopping: Nintendo Metroid Prime Hunters (DS)

• Action/Adventure
• First Person Shooter (FPS)

Rating: 10

Time with product: 1

Strengths: good gameplay, sounds, awesome multiplayer, and fun singleplayer

Weaknesses: boss battles

Summary: Metriod prime hunters is pretty much halo for DS. It has great gameplay and graphics. The surround system on the game is great. Single player is fun and exiting, except the bosses are repeated over and over again.

Rating: 8

Time with product: 3 Weeks

Strengths: graphics, multiplayer

Weaknesses: inability to save whenever you want

Summary: This game is a first person shooter for the Nintendo DS. It has you in the role of a female bounty hunter traveling to different planets. You may wonder how a first person shooter works on the DS - you use a combination of the D-pad, the trigger buttons and the stylus. The stylus is used to change turn left/right, up/down (i.e. aiming). The D-pad is used to move forward/backward. The trigger is used to shoot or activate your scanner. It sounds awkward but it works pretty well.You need to collect 3 artifacts on each planet and fight a boss monster in addition to smaller bad guys. You also find out the locations of additional planets along the way.In order to save, you have to go back to your ship, which means backtracking or waiting until you find and activate a teleporter which takes you back to your ship. So I don't end up saving as often as I would normally.Multiplayer is easy to get into and a lot of fun for quick paced deathmatch action.The games has very nice graphics and is a lot of fun to play. I would recommend this game.

Rating: 10

Time with product: 6 Months

Strengths: Best FPS on a handheld!

Weaknesses: Controls somewhat difficult and hand-cramping

Summary: Metroid Prime Hunters is a showcase game for the DS. Not only does it push the graphical limitations of the DS, it shows that a fully-3D, first person shooter game is not only possible but highly enjoyable on Nintendo's little system. Like any other Metroid game, you are dropped into an alien landscape (or ship) and need to progress through various levels, picking up upgrades to your suit along the way. These, in turn, open up new areas. The twist here is that there are other bounty hunters who are after the same thing you are, and you will have to fight them off in addition to the usual baddies. The control works well, but is still a bit frustrating. This is mostly due to the fact that it will cramp up your hands, thus limiting play to an hour or two at a time. You move with the D-pad, and control you aim with the stylus on the touch screen. The game is also difficult to see (too dark) on the older DS, but probably much better on the brighter DS Lite. The game also has an online (Wi-Fi) multiplayer element but I have not tested that out. The single-player alone makes the game well worth buying.

Rating: 8

Time with product: 3

Strengths: Metroid!

Weaknesses: Controls!

Summary: I love Metroid, but don't particularly like FPS games. So it is a tribute to the designers and the franchise that every Metroid Prime game I've played on the Gamecube or the DS has been great! My one complaint with this game on the DS are the akward controls, but as others have pointed out they can be learned and were most likely necessary to the game's design. It is awesome to play this game with your room mates (assuming they all have a DS like mine).

Rating: 8

Time with product: 3

Strengths: Great graphics, uses the unique features of the DS well, fun game

Weaknesses: Controls, controls, controls

Summary: Metroid Prime Hunters really shows that the Nintendo DS is an incredibly capable system. If you've played the Metroid games on the Gamecube, you will be amazed at just how close the experience comes on the DS-- with the addition of being fully portable! The graphics are great for the DS (no one will confuse it with an Xbox game but I doubt many people thought the DS would be capable of graphics at this level!) and the audio design is very good as well. It makes the game very atmospheric and will suck you in. The game is incredibly polished and really shows off the DS well, in addition to being very fun to play! Of course, there is a downside, and to bring all of the FPS controls you'd expect in a game like this, the controls are a bit tough to master. However, there comes a moment (maybe an hour into playing?) where everything just "clicks". As has been mentioned before it can get a bit tiring to play as you have to hold your DS with your left (or right) hand in order to use the stylus with the other hand. If you have the original DS, the thumbpad that came with it can be quite useful! Definitely take breaks while playing! But it will be hard to once it sucks you in. I'm only giving it 4 stars due to the controls; although I doubt there would've been any way for Nintendo to fix it, it CAN cause some frustration while playing. Which is unfortunate as this is a great game.