Metroid Prime/Space Pirate Frigate

Welcome To Metroid Prime. Following the exposition which gives us why Samus is touring the space around Tallon IV, Samus descends onto the deck of a desolate and abandoned cruiser.

As with all Metroid games, this initial level is actually an introductory level, which is designed to familiate you with the controls, the methods, and the basics of gameplay in the metroid world.

You'll notice that there is a lot of junk on your HUD, which needs explaining.

Upper Left- Radar- It's self explanatory. Since Metroid Prime has a unique combat style, you'll be using it mostly to scope out enemies, not to really get a bearing on them. All enemies, unless cloaked or in a transdimensional state, do not appear on the radar as orange dots.

Upper Right. You'll notice a bar with a number. This is your missle count. It does not have a ratio, so you are unable to tell just how many missles you've accumulated until you fill up. A message and orange lights appear when you're low on missles, which is never a good thing.

Lower Right-Weapon selection-Samus does a pretty cool thing to change her weapons-she simply changes the shape of her hand. well that's not important, when you use the C-STICK, you can alter your weapon. Initially you start out with the charge, and power beams. The charge is a simple power up that allows you to do it's titular function. Charge. The power beam, represented as an orange, funky hand, can be fired rapidly, when charged does decent damage, and is a good pot shot weapon. Think of it as your basic engagement tool-you can never go wrong with this weapon.

You'll notice there's these weird funky lines running along the HUD. These lines light up when you take damage, otherwise they're just supposed to be lines that interlace to make a complete HUD.

Lower Left-Visor Selection-You'll notice you have two visors to begin with-combat, and scan. Combat is what you'll use about 70 percent of the time. The HUD as I explain it is combat mode, so there's no need to get into it. Scan mode- When in scan mode, you get a telescopic view of things, you drop your weapon, but are able to scan things that have orange or red squares on them. I can't make out the insignia. Use Left on the D-PAD to switch over. Using the L button, and holding it down, you can scan objects. This is pretty essential, unless of course you're using a guide. By scanning, you can check for structural integrity, find weaknesses, interface with equipment, hack into computers, and unlock pretty sweet art galleries. By pressing A or Up on the D-PAD you can return to combat mode.

Sometimes, a bar on the left center portion of the HUD will raise a bar and give an exclamation point. This is a threat warning-essentially, it warns you of environmental damage, such as fire, acid, poison, phazon, electrical output, or proximity to enemies.

Well that about covers it for your HUD. But where are the controls? You'll notice you cannot alter controls beyond non-inversion of the Y-axis and a rumble or not. Metroid Prime is not a first-person shooter, it is an exploration and adventure game with action sequences. You must use everything at your disposal because the reality is you are not built like a tank. You are a mobile, agile hunter who must outwit your often overpowering and towering foes.

Controls Control Stick- Basic Movement. Samus is pretty responsive, but a bit on the slow side. Obviously tilting it gently invokes slow movement, tilting it foward causes you to run.

D-PAD-Visor selction. Enough said.

C-Stick-Weapon selection. Cardinal Directions.

A-Button-Press to fire. Hold to charge, release to fire when you have the charge beam equiped. The A button can also cancel out your missle launcher, return you to combat visor if in scan mode, and lay bombs in morph ball mode.

B-button. Jump. When you have the space jump boots attached, you can do a double jump. An important feature of B is when in morph ball mode, and the proper equipment is attached, you may charge up your ball form, and boost. A super jolt of acceleration. Useful for getting out of harms way.

Y-Button-Fire missles. Missles do good damage, and home when you lock on. When you get charge combos, press Y to release the demons. When in morph ball mode, use it to unleash a powerbomb.

X-Button-Go into morph ball mode. Nobody else can do this, one of the many reasons Samus is just that sweet. When in morph ball mode, you are a metallic sphere composed of your same armor approximately 1 meter in diameter. Where do you fit? Well I assume you transmoglify your body using Chozo technology into a sphere of energy. You can roll around freely, so it is critical to learn the precision of the morph ball. You also will turn into third person view. When hitting X, you are vulnerable for about a second, when you revert to your normal walking state you are again vulnerable for about a second.

Z-Button-Map. Turn it on, turn it off.

Shoulder buttons. Both have important combat applications.

R-Free look. Hold it down ever so slightly to look around, while Samus grips her gun.If you depress it all the way, a targeting recticle will appear. Not totally necessary, but you can sometimes get things from afar with it.

L- Lock on. The most important function in the game- scanning, combat, and your survival depends upon it. By holding it down in combat mode, you can lock onto things. Once locked, you can move in an orbit around the said object which means you will never go far from your target. Use it to scan. When an enemy or item is locked on, a rotating targeting recticle appears on it. By tapping it or "triggering" it, you can switch targets. Absolutely neccessary.

Start-Diagnostics, Data, and Options. Diagnostics checks the status of the items you've obtained and equipped. Data-Gives you the information you've scanned-whether it be Chozo Lore, Creatures, Pirate data, etc... Options-enough said.

Now that we are familiar with the controls, lets begin!