Metroid Prime 2: Echoes -- Final Opinion.

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes took me 27:37 to finish, with it being 96% complete. It's clearly a well made game. I mean, it's gorgeous. The sound design is exceptional in both sound use and music. The puzzle aspect is rather cool. They range from simple to deviously clever to insanely hard. The boss battles are monumental struggles. A lot of thought went into them all. The story is great. It's well thought out and well executed. So the game gets a ten right? Not quite. There are real problems and not so tangible ones. First off, having to scan every last thing in the game to advance, and get the story is quite a pain in the ass. I didn't like it in Metroid Prime, and I don't like it here. Secondly, the level layout leaves a lot to be desired. There is just a serious problem in having to backtrack back and forth across the areas. It's compounded by most of the major rooms locking with no way out until you defeat all the creatures therein. Creatures you've killed twenty or even thirty times over. It really detracts from what's great in the game. You want the most bang for your buck, but in this case, it's just too much. It's essentially overdose. I also have issues with the locking on to enemies. It's the same problem I had with Metroid Prime. It is just so spotty. It seemingly works whenever it wants. It makes the boss battles much harder than they needed to be. The boost ball control in morph ball mode is another area that it's spotty. You have to jump from spider track to spider track using boost ball. It should be relatively automated. But for inexplicable reasons the ball would shoot out at varying angles. It's not like it's obvious from the angle or anything. The ball is seemingly in the same place, as is the control stick. You let go of the button, and you'll shoot off at a different angle each time. It's just frustrating. I described in the last entry how this game isn't even remotely Nintendo user friendly as most of their offerings. It's for the determined and those who are looking for a challenge only. I wouldn't casually suggest this game to anyone who didn't know what they were getting into. Weighing all that's good and all that's bad, I'm going to give it an 8.