There’s been a lot of negative hype around Metroid Prime Federation Force over the past year. A lot.
Since it’s unveiling at E3 2015, fans of the series have been vehemently opposed to the game even being completed, going so far as to create a petition on Change.org in order to halt production on the game. People hated the idea of it that much. Just look at the dislike bar on every video associated with it. That’s a butt load of hate.
With the release date of late spring 2016 quickly approaching the team at Next Level Games has been dosing out more game play footage to tease the play style and the game’s heavy co-op centric system. And to no surprise, fans were less than pleased, seeming to doom this game to an immediate quagmire of failure.
Metroid lovers have been up in arms about almost every aspect of the game. This title was meant to bring Metroid into the next-gen consoles and it seems that it’s not exactly – or at all – what the fans were looking for. Recently, GameXplain released an 18 minute video of game play. That video showcases a full mission in hopes to shed some light on co-op and combat. Feedback was quite mixed.
But let’s remain objective, for all the bad press and negative attention there’s been maybe the game just hasn’t been given a fair shake. After watching the video though, some concerns have been raised. On first glance, it looked a little clunky and confusing. Your first person view is really congested and although the predecessors in the Metroid Prime series used a similar view, it never looked this cramped. The view doesn’t make it unplayable, but it certainly doesn’t make the action any easier.
The movements of the gun arm and the movement of the players themselves seem too slow. Kind of a delay to movement, like you’re wading through water, which seemed frustrating to play and was frustrating to watch. Level design is seemingly underdeveloped but that just may be part of the art style as a very simplified version of what fans are used to seeing from the Metroid Prime series. Everything has a polygonal, simple shape aesthetic and on the one hand it is on the 3DS so some leeway can be afforded, on the other Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate looked pretty great. The saving grace of the game maybe it’s co-op potential, as the footage shown does seem to offer a good range of team work and buddy Robocop action. Teammates being able to work together to fight enemies, solve puzzles or just help each other out certainly seems like it’s the most developed aspect of the game.
The production team has stated there is a single player mode but without any game play footage it’s tough to imagine how it would play. Without the co-op element this game may lose a lot of it’s appeal. Really though Metroid Prime Federation Force fails to leave a lasting impression. It looks like a game that a player would think about buying as a $10 dollar download from the Nintendo e-shop. That’s what fans of Metroid are having a tough time swallowing it’s been a long while since there has been any addition to the Metroid series. Finally there was an answer to their prayers. Unfortunately that answer was Federation Force.
On this footage alone it’s difficult to come to a concise conclusion. Perhaps if the game wasn’t a Metroid installment it wouldn’t have received such a hail storm of hate from the community. But even if it was a standalone game, it just doesn’t look that enticing.
It’s still a ways away from release so only time will tell, but for Metroid Prime Federation Force this game play video may just be another nail in a tightly sealed coffin.
