Galactic Federation

Retrospective – Metroid Prime 2

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Continuing our look at the fabled Metroid Prime series, we now delve into Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. It’s a common occurrence in the video game medium that a franchise peaked early in its life time. When a game is as stellar as the first Metroid Prime, it’s going to be very hard to create something better. And this is an apt description of Echoes. It’s definitely a good game, but sadly, with nothing new to show, and a few problems introduced, Echoes doesn’t live up to expectations.

In this installment, Samus has accepted a request to find a missing Galactic Federation starship that was last heard from while hunting down a Space Pirate frigate above the planet Aether. All communications with the GF starship have been lost since then. Not one to pass up easy money, Samus accepts the mission and travels to Aether, but as she enters the atmosphere, a virulent electrical storm damages her gunship, leaving her stranded on Aether until her ship repairs itself. →  Read the rest

Metroid == Aliens

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Many people may not know this, but the Metroid franchise is basically the video game version of the Alien movies. There are many subtle similarities between the two that only the trained eye would notice. I’ve seen a few tidbits of info on the Internets, but most are incomplete, or haven’t been updated since Super Metroid. So, in order to right this wrong, I’ve compiled a short list of all the major ties between the two franchises. This is some real investigative journalism here people. This kind of stuff doesn’t come around too often, so pay attention.

1. The names of the alien creatures’ homes. In Metroid, the home world is SR-388. In Aliens, it’s LV-426. Two letters followed by 3 numbers.

2. Main character is a female lead. Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley character is one of the first strong female characters in action movie history. →  Read the rest

The Month of Metroid has begun with new preview channel

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Starting off the Month of Metroid, Nintendo has sent us Wii owners a little gift this past Friday in the form of a Metroid Prime 3:Corruption Preview Channel. It’s a free downloadable WiiWare channel that gives users a sneak peek into Metroid Prime 3: Corruption for the Wii, which is due August 27th. After watching the two supplied videos (with two more being released the 13th), I have gone into Metroid overdrive, frothing at the mouth for any and all things Metroid.

The first video is a graphically-impressive look into what’s going to happen to Aran on her newest adventure. At the beginning, you see Aran in a skyscraper, with a voice-over telling you that she’s been infected with the infamous Phazon, the same radioactive material that has plagued the universe since the first Metroid Prime game. →  Read the rest