She thought it was over. Samus had defeated the Space Pirates’ horrible experiment, the Metroid Prime. She had survived Phazon radiation, the deadly metroids, and her arch-nemesis, Ridley. The adventure, of course, does not end there for our intrepid heroine. After a brief rest, Samus receives a job offer. It seems that contact was lost with a group of Galactic Federation commandos on a rogue planet named Aether. Samus, of course, takes the job.
There are a lot of similarities between Echoes and its predecessor. The graphical style, control scheme, and basic gameplay are all back in full force. The most notable difference, however, is the big gimmick of the game. As opposed to being a game of quiet exploration and tacit tension in a large, dangerous planet, Samus must now contend with two worlds. Aether is constantly in flux between light and shadow, resulting in a world in which the Legend of Zelda’s Link would feel right at home.
Travel between the halves is accomplished through portals scattered around Aether. Light Aether is relatively normal. It is an alien world in which 90 per cent of the inhabitants are out to kill Samus – nothing she hasn’t seen before. Dark Aether, however, is an eerie, dark realm in which the very atmosphere is poisonous. Respite can only be found in the small circle of light cast by Luminox crystals.
Samus also has some new toys in this demo. Gone, it appears, are the classic Wave, Plasma, and Ice beams. In their place are the light- and dark beam. Both of these have ammunition, so it is crucial to pay attention to your stores, because in order to progress past certain barriers, one or the other beam is needed.
The light beam seems to have great effect against creatures found in the dark world, but fires too slowly to be of much use in Light Aether. The Dark beam, however, is all but useless (and is indeed detrimental in certain parts) in the dark world, but has devastating effect on light-based enemies. There seems to be a great deal of strategy involved in this game, which is always a bonus.
Control, much like in Prime, is extremely tight and intuitive, despite the somewhat unorthodox control scheme. While it took a little bit of time to acclimatize myself to Echoes’ controls (especially after round after round of HALO and Unreal Championship), I soon found myself well into the swing of the game.
The environments are a gorgeous cocktail of sight and sound. The haunting strains for which the Metroid saga is renowned accompany vast and detailed environments. The character models are all extraordinarily detailed and well-animated, lending a sense of realism that surpasses Prime.
Retro Studios seems to be doing another bang-up job on this game. Echoes could well turn out to be a sequel that far surpasses its predecessor. Look for this one in mid November.
