Metroid Prime: Federation Force Review

Metroid Prime: Federation Force never had a chance. Not only have we not seen a Metroid game since 2010’s controversial Metroid: Other M. A large majority of the fans have been longing for a return to form. This didn’t necessarily have to be another Metroid Prime game, mind you, but just something that tapped into that Metroid DNA that we’re so desperate to experience again. Federation Force is a game that, unfortunately, never stands up to the legacy that it’s eponym established. And it’s a damn shame too since there’s so much potential here begging to be unearthed.

The game takes place after the events of the original Metroid Prime trilogy. The planet Phaaze has been destroyed and the space pirates remain a threat to the galaxy. Federation Force puts you in the suit (quite literally) of a marine in a team who has been tasked with exploring and cleaning up intel that the famed bounty hunter herself has collected.

You’ll explore three different planets and several missions in your adventures with the Federation Force. But the story is just so non-existent that it’s hard to care about anything that happens in the game. Similarly, the one thing most Metroid fans will care about is so half assed, such a slap in the face, that it’s hard to not be come away feeling anything but bitter disappointment.

From a control perspective, Federation Force offers two control schemes for players who chose to upgrade to the New 3DS XL. Those who didn’t are just left with one. Both control schemes can be also be paired with gyroscopic aiming to allow more finer aiming. Whether you’re using the more traditional first person control scheme with the C-Stick on a New 3DS or the more Metroid Prime like control scheme, neither quite feels as tight as it should be. There’s no way to truly move the camera around quickly. And even though despite its flaws that you’ll get used to Federation Force’s control scheme, there’s something totally off about the game’s charge beam in particular. It’s just so damn slow and it commonly leads to a poor pacing of battles.

These controls work well for a little bit but then an unfortunate issue with the hardware itself greatly hinders the Federation Force experience. During battles you’ll be locking onto enemies, dashing around them while switching between different kinds of ammo. This sounds fast paced and frenetic, but it’s not a good fit for the 3DS hardware. More often than not our entire team would have to take a break due to cramping and having to rapidly switch between different abilities to take down an enemy.

While it might appear to be a multiplayer orientated game at first, Federation Force does have a rather lengthy campaign filled with missions to complete. The maps are large, but the paths you take through them aren’t anywhere near as ambitious. There’s little reason to move off the beaten path as there’s rarely anything to find. The missions themselves are interesting for short bursts, designed clearly around being a handheld experience. But none of them feel like their namesake. They don’t feel like a Metroid Prime game. Heck, they don’t even feel like a Metroid game in any capacity.  There’s no exploration. There’s no great worlds and there’s no great abilities.

Before each mission you’ll be briefed on your (usually simple) objectives and eventually be given the choice of which items to take into battle with you. This system is bizarrely restrictive and once again highlights a disappointing aspect of Federation Force – that you really can’t play it unless you play with other people. On the other side of things – we played with a full party for a majority of the game and this forced us to specialize – some would take healing objects with us while others would take ammo specific to that level. But even when we did this, we more often than not ran out of ammo due to how restrictive the game was with how much gear we could take with us.

It’s even more disappointing to find that the entire game is balanced around multiplayer solely with no specific scaling that makes it easier for those choosing to tackle the mode solo. It gets so bad, that we’d wager it almost impossible to complete the final missions of the game without teaming up with a full squad. The harshest of critics would respond to this with “maybe get better” but when a game needs you to take down a certain number of enemies within a time limit – sometimes there is no physical way to do so without a second set of hands.

As the game grew closer to release I was excited to try out different missions and explore the three major planets that the game features hoping that it’d scratch the itch that previous games like Corruption did. Unfortunately, the problem with Federation Force is that the planets themselves, while visually quite different, still play out almost exactly the same as each other. The objectives rarely vary and the game as a whole features score attack gimmicks that are one note and get old really quickly. There’s just a distinct lack of meaningful content to play through and as such little compelling reasons to keep playing.

In our merry group of four, we were surprised to find that we enjoyed Blast Ball a whole lot more than the main game of Federation Force itself. Blast Ball is a three on three side mode which introduces players to some mechanics that’ll feature in the main game too, but also that functions as a sort of Metroid-meets-Rocket League diversion.  It’s a fun distraction that we dare say outshines the main game.

From a visuals standpoint, Federation Force feels like it could be better. While there are different planets and different environments to search and pillage, many just feel like colour swapped versions of each other. There’s no elaborate architecture or grand designs here – just green or blue or yellowy orange elements smushed together into a drab mélange. The game does run fairly well, and perhaps this is because the environments look so drab, but it’s a dying shame to see the same series that gave us Maridia, Phendrana Drifts and Norfair serving up these uninspired locales.

Metroid Prime: Federation Force is a disappointing execution of an otherwise promising concept. There’s little ties to the Metroid universe and as a result the key pillars that have held this franchise up for decades now are blatantly absent from Federation Force. While we were fortunate enough to play through the game with a full squad of four, we have sympathy for those who attempt to tackle the game by themselves as there’s little to no balance or scaling in place.

But whether you’re playing Metroid Prime: Federation Force by yourself or with friends, it’s design issues are still incredibly glaring. The worlds are barren and uninteresting, inspiring zero motivation to explore. The combat system is fast but poorly designed for the hardware it’s running on. And more importantly, it’s just not a fun game you can sink your teeth into. As a Metroid game, Federation Force fails absolutely. As a standalone title, there’s a glimmering yet fading sign of a decent concept here. It’s just executed exceptionally poorly.

Rating: 2/5