• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Metroid Prime: Federation Force Review Thread

So most review scores are in the 7's & 8's while a few are in the low 4's & 5's and one high 9?

Wow, its like Next Level Games CAN make a great game guys! Its not like they made many great Nintendo games in the past or anything ;).

Your definition of great is weird.
 

pringles

Member
There's no reason real they used Metroid for this, either.
I don't get this line of thinking. Creating a multiplayer shooter from the ground up as a new IP would take a lot more resources when it comes to building the visual design, lore, setting, story etc., they wouldn't be able to use the same (functional) control scheme without being called a Metroid Prime ripoff, and while I'm aware Metroid fans are generally not happy with this game it at least provides some fanservice and provides some depth to the Metroid universe.

I think the game looks solid, but more than anything I kinda hope they can use this kind of formula for a multiplayer mode in the next mainline Metroid game. Heck give me Metroid Prime 4 on NX with HD Federation Force/Blastball included and I'd be very happy.
 

RK128

Member
Your definition of great is weird.

Okay, so I guess we can ignore Punch Out Wii & Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon, as they are clearly bad games in that regard.....come on man, you know what I meant :l.

Next Level Games does great work with Nintendo and critical reception for their Nintendo games proves this.

I'm likely not going to be posting much in here, more so from now owning Federation Force, so will just leave saying that I feel Federation Force, based on footage I saw thus far, impressed me. Have a good day.
 
Okay, so I guess we can ignore Punch Out Wii & Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon, as they are clearly bad games in that regard.....come on man, you know what I meant.

You listed the review scores of Federation Force and then said Next Level can make great games. How else are we supposed to interpret that?
 

RK128

Member
Looks like the better scores are from Nintendo fan sites. Can't say I put much faith in those.

My impressions on Nintendo reviews mostly line-up nicely with GameXplain, so hearing that they enjoyed the game was nice to hear. They can be critical very easily; they gave a lower score to Twilight Princess HD compared to other outlets.
 

RK128

Member
You listed the review scores of Federation Force and then said Next Level can make great games. How else are we supposed to interpret that?

I guess I should have said 'Good' game in stead of 'Great' in my post then :l. Sorry for the confusion guys.

But point still stands, at the very least, Federation Force appears to be a solid title despite its issues.
 

Yukinari

Member
My impressions on Nintendo reviews mostly line-up nicely with GameXplain, so hearing that they enjoyed the game was nice to hear. They can be critical very easily; they gave a lower score to Twilight Princess HD compared to other outlets.

Andre has never liked Twilight Princess and the review was very honest on his behalf.
 
They just make one of the most popular game called Luigi Mansion 2 lol. Where is this narrative where Nintendo don't know what to do with NLG come from? M:FF suddenly makes Nintendo and NLG relation bad?

No not that. Just that they were doing well with console games, then suddenly are making 3DS games that are odd sequels. I just found it odd, not really that their relationship was bad.
 
No not that. Just that they were doing well with console games, then suddenly are making 3DS games that are odd sequels. I just found it odd, not really that their relationship was bad.

Well Wii U tanked badly, and there was that rumor they were making a Wii U game too but it got moved to NX.
 

RK128

Member
No not that. Just that they were doing well with console games, then suddenly are making 3DS games that are odd sequels. I just found it odd, not really that their relationship was bad.

The Wii U is selling badly and Nintendo wants sure-fire success stories, so Next Level mainly making 3DS games now until their rumored NX project releases isn't very shocking to hear.
 
The Wii U is selling badly and Nintendo wants sure-fire success stories, so Next Level mainly making 3DS games now until their rumored NX project releases isn't very shocking to hear.

If they wanted a sure-fire success, they did absolutely everything wrong with Federation Force.
 

Ridley327

Member
Yeah, there's a better case to be made about Monster Games being unhappy with their arrangement, as they've been a porting studio since Excite Bots crashed and burned. Now, they're on their own and working on a NASCAR game that's not hitting Nintendo systems.

Luigi's Mansion 2 being on the 3DS has everything to do with when the project started and nothing to do with Nintendo purposefully keeping NLG away from console hardware.
 

KingBroly

Banned
Well Wii U tanked badly, and there was that rumor they were making a Wii U game too but it got moved to NX.

Offering a spin-off 6 years after the last mainline entry is the worst way to go about it. Especially since it shares so many similarities to Triforce Heroes. And don't say they're pushing all mainline stuff to NX, as Kirby's Triple Deluxe released on 3DS this year.

Federation Force was a sure-fire failure the instant it was greenlit.
 

RK128

Member
Yeah, there's a better case to be made about Monster Games being unhappy with their arrangement, as they've been a porting studio since Excite Bots crashed and burned. Now, they're on their own and working on a NASCAR game that's not hitting Nintendo systems.

Luigi's Mansion 2 being on the 3DS has everything to do with when the project started and nothing to do with Nintendo purposefully keeping NLG away from console hardware.

Reportedly, Monster Games co-developed Tropical Freeze with Retro Studios and there are rumors of them making a Diddy Kong Racing 2 (though after this long, I wonder if that even exists anymore).

Didn't Xenoblade Chronicles 3D sell well, as it was one of the most impressive ports the 3DS gotten so far (massive JRPG ported to the New 3DS with little issues outside of muddled character models)?

Offering a spin-off 6 years after the last mainline entry is the worst way to go about it. Especially since it shares so many similarities to Triforce Heroes. And don't say they're pushing all mainline stuff to NX, as Kirby's Triple Deluxe released on 3DS this year.

Federation Force was a sure-fire failure the instant it was greenlit.

They aren't axing the 3DS, so of course Kirby Planet Robobot was going to release on it. More so with Hal Laboratories being very familiar with 3DS tech at this point. I think it was an odd move that Federation Force was the game it is now, considering Next Level Games original Metroid pitch before work on Dark Moon started was a 2.5D Metroid title using 3D a lot.

Not going in that direction was the strange move honestly.
 

yllekz

Banned
There’s little overlap in content or gameplay between Metroid Prime Federation Force and another recent release, the PS4 and PC game No Man’s Sky.

Fuck you Kotaku. Why even make that comparison?
 

DpadD

Banned
This game looks like so much fun.

Hopefully a lot of those people that bought 3DSs with Monster Hunter last month will get this for some extra multiplayer co-op goodness.
 
zRxjkpe.jpg
 
This game is a disgrace to the Metroid legacy. I don't know what's more upsetting, seeing Nintendo shoving the franchise off like this, (same as Star Fox) or Next Level Games doing their best to salvage an awful concept.

Best wishes.
 

DpadD

Banned
This game is a disgrace to the Metroid legacy. I don't know what's more upsetting, (A.) seeing Nintendo shoving the franchise off like this, (same as Star Fox) or (B.) Next Level Games doing their best to salvage an awful concept.

Best wishes.

Hmm I'd probably have to go with (C.) Seeing people get legitimately offended and upset by the development of a seemingly decent-to-great video game.
 
The Punch Out reboot was fantastic. I wish Nintendo would give some of their more established western devs a little bit more of a leash when it comes to new IPs. Nintendo seems to struggle most with the western console/core demo, but maybe a team like Retro or NLG would be able to craft something that appeals to that group.
 

Sami+

Member
In a way I'm glad to see it ended up being as whatever as it looked. So tired of this "PLAY. THE GAME." nonsense from PR whenever there's any fan criticism. Aesthetic matters. Narrative matters. Hell, I'd go so far as to say that even context matters.

It was immediately apparent last year that Federation Force fails spectacularly on all these fronts. Merely passable gameplay on top of that definitely makes it easier to ignore this game as the out of touch bargain bin schlock it is.
 
The Punch Out reboot was fantastic. I wish Nintendo would give some of their more established western devs a little bit more of a leash when it comes to new IPs. Nintendo seems to struggle most with the western console/core demo, but maybe a team like Retro or NLG would be able to craft something that appeals to that group.

Exactly. They absolutely nailed Punch Out.

I don't blame NLG for this at all.
 
I wasn't saying those games are bad at all! They are fantastic games that do a lot right. Sorry if my post was confused man :(.

I wouldn't apologize for your posts at all. I completely agree with everything you've said up until your apologies. This game may not be what I was expecting but it still looks fun.

Because of how much outrage people have shown towards this game, it's made me even more curious to try the game. I'll probably buy it soon and give it a chance since I like the developer's past games.

With that said, I'm not the typical bandwagon Metroid fan. I have all of them and played all of them. I enjoyed Hunters. I even enjoyed Other M immensely when I skipped the story and just explored the game world with an awesome albeit simplified combat system.

So I hope other fans keep an open mind and give the game a chance someday. Maybe it'll surprise them. Maybe this game will disappoint me. Who knows. But I'm willing to give it a shot.
 

Nia

Member
The reviews are about what I expected. I'll never buy the game, but I do plan to watch someone play it so I can judge it better and see his thoughts on it.
 

Shiggy

Member
That's not actually what I said. I did say that it did turn out good/alright since it looked really bad when the reveal trailer came out. I've read enough text of these official reviews to see that this will be a good game for some people. It has had 3 really negative reviews total, and one of them is from IGN which shouldn't be taken seriously whether they praise or slam a game.

Yup, better to just ignore sites you personally don't like. Makes sense. Just ignore Nintendo Life, Nintendo Enthusiast, Kotaku, and all others too. Better trust none of them.


Don't take it too personal, but your reading comprehension has been off in this thread. You basically put words in my mouth, and that kind of annoyed me.

Here's what you said:
So basically, this game turned out good. 3DS gains yet another solid title to its library. The initial showings looked poor, but it's nice that Next Level Games pleasantly surprised us.

Based on the reviews we got, that's not what we can infer. Perhaps it's an issue with how you are writing, maybe English isn't your first language. You could have provided some context to make a reasonable statement. Now that this did not happen, and other posters as well as me question your statement, you become passive aggressive. But well, if you just wish to ignore negative reviews for the game (as indicated by your comment on ignoring IGN already), the statement does make sense. You could have said for example:

So basically, ignoring the negative reviews, this game turned out good. 3DS gains yet another solid title to its library. The initial showings looked poor, but it's nice that Next Level Games pleasantly surprised us.

Small change, but now it makes more sense.


Also, people liked Nier enough in order for Taro Yako to create Nier Automata. Negative praise toward Nier and God Hand is in the minority. I admit that those titles may not have been the best comparison, but Code Name S.T.E.A.M is a game that I like a lot and it has a high user review average.

You're still just referencing "people"/"people that played" - without any kind of measurement that's a pretty bold statement. That's why people use review averages to have an indication of the general feeling about a game's quality. That's at least more specific that the pretty vague statements you are making here.

And I also liked Code Name STEAM, but I see where the review scores are coming from and definitely wouldn't give it a much higher rating. There was simply too much wrong with the game.
 

bumpkin

Member
well if Nintendo Life and Nintendo World Report think it's great then it has to be
That's my takeaway from the summaries in the OP, but I won't pretend that the criticisms of the not-so-glowing reviews aren't concerning to me. For me the Prime series is about exploration, collecting upgrades/new equipment, interesting locales, challenging encounters, problem solving and atmosphere. It doesn't sound like FF delivers on all of these things, but different isn't necessarily bad.
 

Makonero

Member
That's my takeaway from the summaries in the OP, but I won't pretend that the criticisms of the not-so-glowing reviews aren't concerning to me. For me the Prime series is about exploration, collecting upgrades/new equipment, interesting locales, challenging encounters, problem solving and atmosphere. It doesn't sound like FF delivers on all of these things, but different isn't necessarily bad.

Mixed reviews seem fair to me. The Kotaku review mentioned that playing it single player is very different from playing with friends, so that likely played a role too.
 

Xaero Gravity

NEXT LEVEL lame™
The art style is a massive turn off for me so I'll more than likely never play it unless it drops to $10 like Codename STEAM did, but the fact that the majority of high scores are coming from Nintendo enthusiast sites I don't trust at all is a bit worrying. Is there a demo that I'm not aware of that I can try?
 
Interesting. The scores are not glowing, but considering the environment into which this game was released, it could be worse. I can only wonder what the thoughts are at NLG and Nintendo, and what's felt about the quality perceptions on the outside at this point.
 

Makonero

Member
The art style is a massive turn off for me so I'll more than likely never play it unless it drops to $10 like Codename STEAM did, but the fact that the majority of high scores are coming from Nintendo enthusiast sites I don't trust at all is a bit worrying. Is there a demo that I'm not aware of that I can try?

Yes, they released Blast Ball and you could play some of the campaign apparently.
 

Vena

Member
The Punch Out reboot was fantastic. I wish Nintendo would give some of their more established western devs a little bit more of a leash when it comes to new IPs. Nintendo seems to struggle most with the western console/core demo, but maybe a team like Retro or NLG would be able to craft something that appeals to that group.

Retro is off the leash as far as we're aware, problem is they don't seem to want to do Metroid (which shouldn't be too surprising, the guys behind Metroid at the top are no longer at Retro). All rumors point to Retro doing something they wanted to do... its just not Metroid.

NLG, though, I think they are where Retro was a few years ago. That said, we don't actually know what NLG is doing since they started, iirc, a console project some time ago and we've not heard a word on that one either.
 

Sami+

Member
My interpretation of the Nintendo enthusiast sites isn't that they're disingenuous, but more that they and their userbase do all their gaming on Nintendo platforms. From that lens, a mediocre-to-decent multiplayer coop campaign shooter could feasibly get a better score because there's literally zero competition and to someone who doesn't game on other platforms, it might seem like a novel idea that hasn't already been done vastly better dozens of times over the past decade.
 
I wasn't saying those games are bad at all! They are fantastic games that do a lot right. Sorry if my post was confused man :(.

The point is that those two titles reviewed far better than this game has, so pointing to them doesn't really do anything.
 
Every once great japanese video game franchise needs a mediocre co-op action spinoff, it seems. Resident Evil has Umbrella Corps, Metroid's got Freedom Force, Metal Gear will soon have Survive.

Cant wait for Final Fantasy's
 
Top Bottom