Developed by: Retro Studios | Published by: Nintendo

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If there is any way to translate a side-scrolling gun-shooting game from 2D to 3D, this is it. Mega Man Legends failed miserably, but this one surpasses all expectations. It takes a few minutes to get used to, but after awhile it actually feels like you are playing a metroid game.

Top notch graphical quality. So many environmental effects it would take a lifetime to count them all.

The levels have many highs, lows, and diversity of landscaping. There are fire, ice, earth, overworld, science research facilities, sunken ships, and more, all themed with extreme attention to detail.

Huge and seamless variety of game play. You can walk around and shoot stuff, aim at things in the air, jump across platforms, use thermal vision, curl up into a ball on go into hidden passage way obstacle courses, grapple swing, unlock doors in special ways, use the right beam on the door, and so on.

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Although the translation from 2D to 3D was great, beyond that not much has changed. Almost all of the special power-ups have been seen in a previous game and are used in the same way. The activities done in previous metroid games are the same activities that you do in this game. Conceptually, there is not much new except the move from 2D to 3D, and the levels are different.

Not being able to use the C stick to look around, which has now pretty much become standard for console FPSs, is a big minus.

The storyline wasn't deep enough, and didn't become part of the game enough. This is still wandering through dungeons and killing monsters, mostly.

Sometimes the visuals are so immense it's difficult to tell what's going on.

There is the occational dying and going back too far.