Mind if I ask three? The Metroid Prime Trilogy?
never played | want to play | terrible | boring | okay | good | great | a favorite
I LOVE Metroid Prime. It’s arguably my second favorite Metroid game (the obvious favorite being Super Metroid). The world of Tallon IV was so well developed with all of the lore that could be obtained through scanning, the scenery was breathtaking, and the fights were spectacular. It was just such a great game, and I loved the variety of weapons and that they all had different functions, as opposed to just one weapon overriding the others (although Plasma Beam was the most fun, just sayin’). It was definitely one of the best games on the Gamecube, no questions asked. I spent so much time exploring the huge world, scanning everything, finding everything, and just genuinely having a good time.
never played | want to play | terrible | boring | okay | good | great | a favorite
Easily my least favorite of the Metroid Prime trilogy, Metroid Prime 2 sort of borders between okay and good. I mean, many of the strengths of Metroid Prime were still present in Metroid Prime 2. The world was still huge, and there was so much to learn and discover with respect to the lore, and between Dark Samus, Quadraxis, and so on, there were a bunch of great fights. However, it had two big things holding it back in my book. First, the limited ammo for the light and dark beams was just a baffling decision for me. I love nothing more than unloading those beams with reckless abandon, but Metroid Prime 2 necessitated being more conservative. Second, Dark Aether in itself was a problem for me, because with the damaging environment, it really limited exploration until pretty much the very end of the game. It’s not a bad game but it took steps backwards compared to Metroid Prime, IMO.
...Also, no Ridley causes it to lose points for me, because I love Ridley.
never played | want to play | terrible | boring | okay | good | great | a favorite
Another great game, and it ranks only slightly lower than the original Metroid Prime for me. With the emphasis on multiple planets, and having more characters, it really promoted a sense of world-building. I loved the Space Pirate Homeworld, and seeing more of the Federation in action as well. Plus, it really tied the story of the trilogy together with Phaaze and the Leviathans. Also, some of the fights were amazing... most notably the not one, but TWO Ridley fights! Heck, the first fight with Ridley falling down the shaft was one of the most creative boss battles in a Metroid game. In addition, going back to unlimited ammo for Beam weapons was a plus. However, despite all the good points, it has just a few bad points that made it rank lower than the original Prime in my book. The final boss battle was arguably the weakest of the series, as the Aurora Unit just felt comparatively underwhelming. The planets, while nice for world-building, felt comparatively smaller than previous planets as well, given each planet was meant to be about the size of an area of a planet in previous games. As a result, while it diversified the lore, it meant that each specific planet wasn’t really as fleshed out... but there is the basic understanding that this is the trade-off you get for incorporating more, because the game would be needlessly long if the planets were made too long themselves. I also found myself wishing that the different beams didn’t just override each other, because it made the strategies feel pretty consistent, as opposed to having multiple beam options in Prime. Overall, the issues the game had were relatively minor and did not take away from the experience as a whole, but it was enough to make me rank it lower than Prime.