At first, I wondered how the developers at Nintendo would be able to fit so much game into such a small cartridge. What would be cut back? Would the game shine like it’s Gamecube relatives?

To compare Metroid Prime Hunters to the Gamecube entries in the series would be unfair. They are completely different games. The two Gamecube titles stress exploration and routine puzzle solving, and stress more on finding upgrades of various types and using them to explore further. The gunplay aspect of the Gamecube games is muted due to the inclusion of an auto-targeting system and only four unique beam weapons.

Metroid Prime Hunters - on the other hand - stresses gunplay over all else. The game features eight unique weapons (including the missile launcher), and stresses shooting accuracy over all else. Frequent encounters with the other six bounty hunters of the series require you to duke it out in a battle of whomever can fire best and fastest.

In Hunters, the puzzle element is extremely lacking. The morph ball puzzles of earlier games were almost entirely absent, and any other puzzles merely consisted of finding something and scanning it. Strangely, despite the absence of puzzles and riddles to solve, there were still an incredibly large amount of Logbook Scans. Due to my ineptness at scanning every single object, I have only managed to complete the game with a measly 66% as of this review. As a result, I did not even get to encounter the second phase of the final boss (how embarassing).

One of the other drawbacks of this game is that the expansive overworld has been replaced by five detached planet areas. Due to this change, the setting is less engrossing than the console versions, which - by the end - has such a uniform and cohesive existence that it feels real. Furthermore, the expansive overworld of the console versions provides multiple ways to approach objectives, whereas the worlds in Hunters are disturbingly linear.

Despite several drawbacks, Metroid Prime Hunters has a decent single player with plenty of challenging points. However, the best part of this game is, without a doubt, the multiplayer modes. With a wide variety of maps, seven game types, seven different hunters AND the ability to use bots, Metroid Prime Hunters is easily the greatest multiplayer game for the DS to date.

The seven hunters are each unique, offering different character sizes, styles, and - most importantly, morph ball forms. Trace’s alternate form is a three-legged spider who can cloak if he stops moving. Weavel seperates into two pieces: an autoturret and a sword-wielding torso. Spire becomes a heated ball of magma that is extremely large and devestating.

With the seven diverse hunters come seven diverse weapon types, including some grenade launchers, a weapon that shoots lightning bolts, and my favourite - the sniper rifle known as The Imperialist. Unprecedented levels of fun are sure to follow when you’re playing as Trace and getting headshots on all the “n00bs” with your Imperialist. Unfortunately - to no fault of the game - I am unable to take the multiplayer experience into the online arena. Perhaps, after tweaking the router or buying a Nintendo WiFi DS Adapter, I may be able to truly experience the frenzy of multiplayer Metroid.

If you have not bought this game, but you own a DS, run to a store and fork over the cash or else you will regret it.

RATING: 9.4/10