Beware, this be a long read.
Since Metroid Prime was released I was a stalwart naysayer of the game. I played it when it came out, hated it and pretty much labeled it as an "FPS" and sneered at those who tried to convince me otherwise. To me, the Metroid franchise on a console seemed dead with only shadows of the series' former glory available on the GBA.
Well, I come before you a humbled man. I hold the case of my Metroid Prime w/ Echoes demo disk like it was a newborn babe. And here is why:
For a short while I've been on an FPS marathon as this genre ranks up there in what I enjoy playing. I was tunneling my way through Tron 2.0 on the PC. Awesome game at first. Then things started to seem repetitious. I figured it may have been the level I was on so I soldiered forth. Nope- same enemies, similar levels and useless jumping puzzles. Needless to say I used a level skip cheat to get past the more mundane parts and finally a god mode because the game play was starting to grate on me. Finished it and was thankful I did cheat: the ending sucked. One thing that seemed to be a thorn in my side was the objective I was going for required a few levels to get to. "Are we there yet?" kept popping in my mind as derezzed enemies in my path.
Next up: Far Cry Instincts on Xbox. Heard it was good, heard the online was better. Played up to the "dead zone" before I turned the thing off. Everything just seemed a bit "wrong": stealth wasn't overly great (worked well in the PC demo), feral powers didn't "do it" for me and too similar enemies. First it was mercenaries, then little raptor like things, then "mutated" solidiers, then mutated soliders with guns and finally (before I turned the game off) mutated soliders that, when shot, explode. Yawn. Online gaming was pretty much a "check out my home made level" situation. I played a lot of bad to decent player levels but most of the time people weren't playing: they were sight seeing. Groan.
Next attempt: Battlefield 2: Modern Combat for Xbox (as my PC doesn't have the oomph to play this game properly). Single player didn't grab me so I jumped online, the real meat of this game. Turned it off after a Saturday of screechy early-puberty teens arguing over why so-and-so grenaded a helicopter that was full of teamates (and then going on a rampage when they couldn't resolve anything).
I was disenchanted. Am I just running into games that aren't that great or is it me? I decided to trade in my Far Cry game for something else. EB didn't give me a great offer for what I had so I went to Blockbuster. They still had their 25% off deal going on so I figured I might find something there. Got $27 in credit for Far Cry and started shopping. On the shelf, side by side, were copies of Metroid Prime and MP2: Echoes. For some strange reason I snagged those titles. Maybe it was desparation but I figured what the heck. If anything they might make decent trade bait.
After bringing the games home (after realizing they were way less than marked: $6.99 and $14.99) I fired up MP. As the saying goes, third time is a charm and the game hooked me. I changed my approach and began to immerse myself more, reading the logs and taking the time to scan. I found the effort fullfilling. When touching down on the planet I absorbed the beauty, amazed at what this so-called "dead console" could crank out visually.
So I humbly apologize to the Metroid Prime fans that reside on the board. I should have looked at the game with a more open mind but instead the then FPS fanboy in me couldn't comprehend what Nintendo and Retro delivered to gamers. I'm taking my time with Prime and if things keep going the way they are I think I enjoy Echoes even more.
Let this be a lesson: really try before you diss. I've come to accept that you can't judge a game by a few moments of play, like we could in the old days.