Metroid Prime: Federation Force

see deal Metroid Prime Federation Force - Nintendo 3DS $21.97 on Gamestop

The riding-around-inside-of-mechs concept of Federation Force is the same, but this a much better game. Each soldier takes a seat inside of a power suit, but don’t underestimate these chibi-fied troops. The suits pack some interesting features that help them stand on a par with Samus. Even on the 3DS, Federation Force has a snappy control setup of the Metroid Prime games.

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Players can use charge shots to dispatch Space Pirates or hold the B button to hover and reach higher platforms. Every hit you score takes off multiple units of health from an enemy, just like in Destiny or Borderlands, with headshots awarding the best damage possible. New 3DS owners can adjust controls and use the system’s right analog nub the way they would in a dual stick first-person shooter. You can pick auxiliary ammo at the start of a mission and can choose between equipping Missiles, Super Missiles, an electrifying Shock Shot, Heal Packs, and Freeze Shot,

My brief tour through Federation Force’s campaign started with the third mission, called Smokestack. Our drop ship left us on an abandoned space station and the ambient environment evoked similar memories of landing on Orpheon -- the silent space frigate at the start of Metroid Prime on GameCube. We were sent to investigate a mysterious interference. Within minutes of exploring, my squadmates and I fought off turrets and robot defenses. Using the L-trigger to lock on, it was easy to strafe and shoot at incoming targets. Combat continued to unfold in small doses until we reached the sentient Generator responsible for the disturbance, and it set off a boss fight where we had to alternate between shooting an exposed core, fighting off enemy support units, and taking refuge on elevated platforms to escape hazardous poison gas.

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My second sortie for the Federation started off with a much bigger bang, as our dropship was annihilated within minutes of landing in the magma-filled canyons of Bayion. Our object was to take out a Space Pirate Warship floating ahead of us in 10 minutes or die trying. Our weapon? We needed to roll orb-like bombs several feet to catapults and fire the explosive ammunition at the enemy’s warship. As more and more space pirates descended, it quickly escalated into a heated battle with return fire from the Warship vaporizing sections of our platform. The holes became trouble spots where we could accidentally drop orbs bombs or even fall through the floor to our deaths.

Our two man squad was quickly overwhelmed by the enemy since the encounter was balanced for four players. Nintendo plans to polish that up in the coming months, but the ferocious last stand showed potential. Yes, we were wiped out by the warship once we ran out of time, but I didn’t leave disappointed since the two missions I played presented some good variety. I can only hope the final game will harness those ideas into a proper campaign.

Eight months out from its disastrous E3 debut, Metroid Prime Federation Force looks like a much better game. The environments resonated with a Metroid-like sheen that works well even on the smaller screen of the 3DS. And the diversity of the two campaign missions I played gave me hope that, while this isn’t a Metroid Prime game in the traditional style, it will tide fans over until the next adventure starring Samus comes along.

Jose Otero is an Editor at IGN and host of Nintendo Voice Chat . You can follow him on Twitter