Metroid Prime: Federation Force

Genre: First-Person Shooter

Players: 1-4 Co-Op / Competitive (Local Wireless / Online), Download Play Supported

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Review:

Metroid Prime: Federation Force, released on Nintendo 3DS in 2016, was something of a “monkey’s paw wish”. The Metroid series had previously lay dormant for six years, with the last release in the franchise being the highly controversial Metroid: Other M. Fans had been clamoring for a return to the beloved franchise. What they actually got was a handheld spin-off of Metroid Prime that had players taking the roles of nameless mech suit-wearing soldiers in a co-op mission-based First-Person Shooter with a chibi art style. If that last sentence confused you then congratulations: you apparently understand the Metroid franchise better than Nintendo does.

However, I try to make it a point not to judge a game because of what it isn’t, but to look at what it is. Metroid Prime: Federation Force is very clearly not what Metroid series fans wanted, but is it a good game in its own right?

The presentation is mostly great. The 3D visuals here are excellent, with good environment and character details, some nice atmospheric effects, and some imaginative locations to fight through, all with a decent (but somewhat forgettable) atmospheric soundtrack. The problem here is that chibi art style – it’s just hard to take the futuristic setting and foreboding atmosphere seriously when this game’s human characters all look like dwarfs with giant heads. The really unfortunate thing here is that this is a completely unforced error – if the gameplay worked best with squat character designs, they already have an excuse for this with characters wearing mech suits… except not only are those mech suits rounded and cutesy, but the characters wearing those suits are also clearly proportioned like chibi characters.

As for the gameplay, Federation Force largely abandons the Metroidvania elements from the standard Metroid and Metroid Prime games, and in fact all gameplay is broken up into brief 10-20-minute missions. These missions do have a little exploration within them, rewarding players for uncovering hidden secrets, but for the most part these snippets of gameplay are relatively brief and linear.

What the game does within these snippets, however, works pretty well. Players move through the environments, fight off enemies, and must occasionally solve simple environmental puzzles. Interestingly, players are given the opportunity to outfit their character before each mission, using “mods” acquired in earlier missions to customize their suit and enhance their preferred abilities while deciding on the best loadout, all with limits on how much equipment they can carry into their mission. This customization is a nice touch that takes advantage of the fact that this isn’t a typical Metroid game.

The First-Person Shooter controls on Nintendo 3DS take a good amount of getting used to, but they’re pretty good, albeit occasionally awkward. Players have the option of using a default control scheme utilizing a combination of the L button and the circle pad to move and a combination of the R button and gyroscopic motion controls for more subtle aiming. Alternately, players using a New Nintendo 3DS or a Circle Pad Pro can use the second analog input for an approximation of a two-stick interface. Both of these control schemes work okay but also have a few difficulties to get past, and while I find these sufficient, I also find it a bit disappointing that this game doesn’t have a control scheme comparable to what we saw in Metroid Prime Hunters, utilizing the circle pad for movement and the touchscreen for aiming.

Unfortunately, I cannot talk about one of the biggest parts of this game, the multiplayer, as I was unable to adequately test it – the online lobbies are dead, I don’t know anyone else who owns a copy to play co-op with, and the only game mode available in Download Play is apparently the “Blast Ball” minigame.

I suppose that may well be the biggest flaw of Metroid Prime: Federation Force. Even if you can look past the ugly chibi characters, the sometimes awkward controls, and gameplay that flies in the face of the Metroid series this game is derived from, it still feels like you’re getting an incomplete experience because all of those previous issues resulted in the game selling poorly and the game’s multiplayer focus suffers as a result. This is still an enjoyable game in single-player, but its flaws do leave it somewhat wanting.

tl;dr – Metroid Prime: Federation Force is a multiplayer-focused First-Person Shooter that’s only very loosely connected to the mainline Metroid games in its gameplay. A number of highly questionable design choices have been made here, resulting in a game that oddly seems designed to repulse fans of the Metroid franchise. Still, what’s here is enjoyable, although its multiplayer focus is unfortunate given how few people got the game.

Grade: B-

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