| RolStoppable said: MP3 > MP2 > MP While all three are great games, I don't like how the progress is managed in the first game. Collect key item at point A, backtrack for another key item to point B, go back to point A. This happens several times and it's a cheap trick to increase the playtime. Don't misunderstand this, I have nothing against backtracking per se, but the way it's done in the first game isn't that much fun in hindsight. |
This is exactly how I view Metroid Prime, and exactly why I rate it signifficantly worse than MP3. MP is the same length as MP3, but the world and variety is much less because MP depends on forcing you to run from one end of the world to the other constantly for its length. MP2 did that as well, but with the shadow world. I consider those two games about equal.
MP3 from a design perspective was much better. Aside from what was basically the tutorial level at the very beginning MP3 was just as much about exploration, platforming, and puzzle solving as MP was. The difference is because MP3 didn't use as much tedious backtracking it was built with more variety and better level design. It's not "more like a shooter" than the other games. It's just faster paced because you aren't spending all your time running back across the world.
Edit: and MP and MP2 were just as linear. Maybe you didn't notice it while you were playing it, but there was never more than one new path available aside from finding pickups... exactly like MP3.
