I’m a proud member of the Federation Force. Together with my team of marines, I scan distant planets in search of dangers and resources. My platoon is limited to do research on three planets only but we’ve met with an unpredictable faith. We ran into some notorious Space Pirates and called in the help of the legendary bounty hunter Samus Aran. I wish I was more like her but instead; I’m just a little piece of everything that made her that good.
Federation Force
It’s no secret that Metroid Prime: Federation Force wasn’t well received when first revealed. Instead of bringing back a true Metroid Prime game, Next Level Games decided to create a spin-off instead. This wasn’t something the fans asked for and the original revealing resulted in the most disliked video on Nintendo’ YouTube channel. Now, months have passed and we’ve finally spent enough time with the game to see if it’s really as bad as we all feared. Is Federation Force worthy of the famous Metroid Prime name? Let’s take a look.
First of all, you’re not controlling Samus Aran in this game. This is perhaps the biggest change of them all, instead, you control a nameless marine that serves the Galactic Federation. If you played Metroid before, you’ll have heard of this law-enforcing organization that sends its platoons on planetary missions. This is exactly what you’ll be doing in Federation Force. It all starts with your training where you’ll learn the ropes of the game and its controls.
Talking about the controls, Next Level Games added two pre-sets. The first one lets you aim by moving your 3DS system, using the gyro sensor to make this happen. Although it works surprisingly well, I switched to option B rather fast, enabling me to aim with the extra camera stick on the New Nintendo 3DS. This is of course only possible if you own a New Nintendo 3DS system but it’s the best way to play if you ask me, it feels closer to the original Metroid Prime games. If you don’t own a New Nintendo 3DS however, you can still use the Circle Pad Pro to give you the same experience.
Not a traditional Metroid game
With that out of the way, you can truly start experimenting what control scheme suits you best during the training days. After you finish your training, it’s time to start your adventures on the icy planet called Excelcion. Besides Excelcion, you’ll also be visiting Bion and Talvania, meaning there are only three planets to visit. But how does the game actually play? Time to delve into the gameplay.
Time to discover the secrets
The story of why you need to investigate these planets is rather light. Don’t expect the same kind of story you’ve seen in the Metroid Prime Trilogy that released on GameCube and Wii. Federation Force doesn’t bother to come up with an interesting story, instead, you get a small briefing before the start of each mission, telling you what is expected of you. Most objectives revolve around opening certain doors to a boss you need to defeat at the end. It’s nothing groundbreaking and the lack of a better story is something a lot of Metroid Prime fans won’t like but it’s possibly the best way to handle a mission-based game like this.
To make up for its rather light story, the missions do offer enough variation to keep things fresh. First of all, the environments look great on the handheld and not one single mission looks like the other. Sure, the climate of the planets sets a certain tone to the mission, for example, the warm and sunny Bion planet looks very different from the icy Excelcion planet, but aside of that, the missions are set in a different part of the planet most of the times.
Besides the aesthetics of the missions, the objectives offer the needed variation as well. You’ll be hunting down and caging Ice Titans in one mission while you’ll be leaving your mech behind to infiltrate a Space Pirate’s base in another mission. It’s a good thing Next Level Games included this amount of variation since Federation Force is a game that desperately needs those small changes in objectives and environments. All of the missions are more action orientated and drop the scanning mechanism of the original Metroid Prime games. Instead of scanning everything in order to know what you need to do, you’ll be gunning down the enemies using different types of ammo in order to advance. If you’re looking for that first person adventure game that Metroid Prime once was, you don’t need to pick up Federation Force since this portable version is all about the action.
Different types of ammo
This doesn’t mean that Federation Force is just a first person shooter, the deeper layer comes in the form of different ammo for your mech. Sure, this isn’t new in the Metroid universe but it’s great to see it return in Federation Force. The ammo is used to defeat the enemies more easily or to discover secrets in your environment. For example, if you use fire-type ammo on ice, it will melt away, opening up hidden rooms. It’s advised to keep a close eye on your environment since these hidden rooms are most likely concealing a MOD for your mech. These mods form a huge part of the strategy in the game. Before you enter a mission, you can alter you mech with mods, giving it some advantages like reviving it when it’s down. You can carry up to three mods nearing the end of the game but you’ll definitely need to think what combination works best for you, which mod will give you that edge to clear the mission? It’s an interesting mechanism and great to have.
Invite over your friends
The core of Federation Force is multiplayer however. You can play with three friends in local multiplayer or search for teammates online. At the time of writing this review, the online matches weren’t active but we did test the local multiplayer. In here, you’ll need to work together with the others in order to reach your goal. Unlike, Metroid Prime Hunters, you don’t need to take each other down, you’ll need to work together to bring the enemies down. Playing together feels a little easier since there’s a lot of extra firepower if you play with others. Federation Force offers a great multiplayer experience and is perhaps even one of the best co-op games on the handheld.
Don’t like to play with others? That’s nothing to worry about since you can complete the entire game on your own. To make things a little easier, you can activate a MOD that reduces damage taken and increases your power. Without this MOD, you won’t make it out alive. In order to make up for the loss of three teammates, you can even activate three small drones that will follow you around and aid you with backup fire. Playing on your own therefore isn’t that bad and you’ll enjoy your time until the very last boss fight at the end of sixtyish missions.
Conclusion:
Metroid Prime: Federation Force isn’t a true Metroid game due to the lack of exploration and Samus Aran. Sure, you’ll meet her from time to time and can even use an inflatable version of her to distract the Space Pirates; but without her being the hero, it doesn’t really feel like a Metroid game. Federation Force is a good game, especially when you play it with friends but it misses that kind of magic that made Metroid Prime big. It’s not as worse as everybody was expecting but it’s not on the same level as a true Metroid Prime game. If you’re able to lower your expectations and are open for a more mission-based first person shooter that’s great to play with your friends, than you should give Federation Force a shot. It’s nothing like the Blast Ball game you’ll find in the eShop for free. Federation Force is a good game filled with great bosses and enough variation to keep you going; but it shouldn’t be called a Metroid Prime game.
