Gamer Jason Moll
Platform Nintendo DS
For an avid console gamer, a good game would mean silky smooth textures, complex physics engines, ragdoll physics, and whatnots. Playing the Nintendo DS game Metroid Prime: Hunters throws all those out the window. Given the DS's capabilities, MPH's graphics don't look much, but it successfully takes the bare essentials of what made its previous titles a hit and weaved it into a benchmark for quality FPS titles for the DS.
MPH is a multiplayer at heart, but it also successfully delivers an engrossing single-player experience spanning several worlds, each being surprisingly huge and intricately detailed that it may as well be one of the best, if not, the best-looking DS game out in the market today.
Beneath its obvious implementation as being a complement to the multiplayer aspect (e.g. getting more stages, unlocking characters), the level of depth this game holds will last you at least more than a dozen hours of gameplay. The abundance of puzzles and a completion rating that keeps tabs on how much you've explored the worlds and uncovered their secrets are enough to keep completists busy for quite a while.
MPH very effectively uses the DS's touch screen. With either a stylus or thumb-pad, you can use the touch screen to change your weapon, switch to your character's alternative form, and move the target-cursor of the bounty-hunting heroine Samus Aran like you would with a mouse. This makes aiming much easier and smoother unlike having to rely on the D-pad where it's almost impossible to move the cursor diagonally.
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For full stories, grab a copy of Speed's SEPTEMBER 2006 issue in bookstores and newsstands near you.
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