E3: Updated Metroid Prime 2: Echoes Multiplayer Impressions

**Tommy Tallarico** · 12 May 2004, 10:10 PM

Omfgninjas? and I got our perfectly manicured hands on Metroid Prime 2: Echoes today to try out the multiplayer and it?s exactly what you?d expect. It?s really, really good.

There isn?t any character creation or any of that nonsense, so you start out as one of 4 different colored Samus? (a la Halo, but minus the Master Chief), pick a match type (Bounty Hunter and Deathmatch are available in the E3 build, we chose deathmatch) and pick a map. The map we chose was a giant bakery. Actually, it was a space station, but I think a bakery would be cute.

Unlike most FPS (yes, it is an FPS) multiplayer games, Prime 2 is all about strategy. Simply blasting away won?t get you anywhere, unless being owned by omfgninjas is in your travel plans. Since every function of the main game carries over to the multiplayer, your enemies will be able to lock onto you and you?ll be able to lock onto them, so being able to move is even more important than being able to shoot. Single shots only take away one unit of health (everyone starts with 99), so charge shots and Morph Ball bombs are your best friends. Your first instinct with most shooters is to come out tapping the fire button as fast as humanly possible, but doing so in Prime 2 will get your ass handed to you by a small Asian man.

As counterintuitive as everything about Prime 2 is you come to realize that it?s the only way to play, much like you probably did with the first game. Learning to use cover, learning to jump, and learning to use every weapon that you have available to you is the name of the game. Reading that might give you the impression that Prime 2 plays something like Unreal Tournament, but that couldn?t be further from reality. It?s less about head shots (there aren?t any) and bounding up to high places and more about trying to get the best of someone with your missiles in a tight space. Interpret that however you will.

The demo featured at least two new weapons, the Light Beam and the Dark Beam. The other beams are presumably around too, you just have to find them. Like your mama told you, Ice Beams aren't given, they're earned. Luckily, maps are strewn with power ups that give you those other beams as well as unlimited missile ammo, health, or higher sexual prowess. Aside from that, fun distractions like Spider Ball tracks and Morph Ball points that blast you to different parts of the map are here and there to bail you out of bad situations.

Retro again seems to be taking the Metroid franchise in a good direction with Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, and the next 6 months are going to be a long wait for anyone with a GameCube and an ounce of taste. Until then, keep your browser to TNL and LAN capabilities in your prayers.

Update: Later in the show, I had a chance to try out Bounty Hunter mode. It's similar to Deathmatch, but whenever one of the players dies, they leave behind several icons of varying value. The icons are totaled up at the end of the game and the player with the most wins. However, since anyone can pick them up, it isn't always the person with the most kills who wins, so it leaves a lot of room to find clever ways to sneak in and take an unsuspecting player's bounty.