Metroid Prime: Samus Returns, Signed by Cube!

Il Hero's Journey has always been a universal framework, suitable for any kind of narrative, whether it is a novel, a film, or a video game, and in Metroid, which is about to turn forty and celebrate with yet another incarnation on modern consoles, all of this is well represented. But if I had to name one of the titles in the saga that truly changed the game, well, I would have no doubt: Metroid Prime.

Released in 2003 in our parts and immediately becoming a must-have for every self-respecting gamer, Prime brings back to the screens Samus Aran in grand style: I'll start right away by telling you that no, it was never really a mystery who hides behind the helmet of the Energy Suit: already in the very first chapter it is possible to understand that it is a young woman and not yet another burly male soldier, typical of shooters of the time: Samus is elegant, fascinating, but above all lethal!

Dopo years in which, joypad in hand, we have worn the role of the quintessential huntress through two-dimensional architectures, somersaults and jumping shots thanks to the cannon mounted on Samus's arm, Retro Studios present us with a completely 3D world, which thanks to the technical power of the Game Cube, never praised enough over the decades in my opinion, manages to fully exploit the complexity of the levels of a Metroid game: in a strictly first-person view, with an arsenal of exceptional sci-fi weapons and a palette of unlockable power-ups, as tradition dictates, as the main story progresses, the game unfolds through varied and inspired areas of what is a living, dangerous world, but also inseparably tied to its origins.

The great merit of Prime, on a narrative level, is to dismantle piece by piece the aura of Samus as an invincible heroine and bring her back to her origins, precisely, fighting step by step to reclaim her weapons and regenerate her almost supernatural abilities, as a prophesied heroine by… But here I’ll stop; play it if you haven’t done so yet.

Considered the ideal starting point for younger players who are approaching the series for the first time, Metroid Prime made me sweat blood when I played it for the first time, on a GameCube I had just won in a PES tournament, a bedtime story I’ll save for another time: what matters is the fun it radiates, folks!

Grafically impeccable, a driving soundtrack that galvanizes the player at every moment of the mission, with a steadily increasing but manageable level of difficulty that does justice to the previous 2D arcade versions from which it derives,

Prime also justifies the title it bears on a conceptual level. Prime, as in primary, or even better fundamental: the succession of new generations of players, as well as ever more cutting-edge technologies at the service of consoles, is metaphorically transposed into Metroid Prime, which stands not only as a watershed between the Metroid that has been and the one that will be, but also as the zero point of the saga, a return to the origins projected toward a bright future, phazon-colored phazon!