Metroid Prime Federation Force is based in the beloved Metroid Prime universe, but this time, you are not playing as Samus. Instead, this Nintendo 3DS spinoff has you taking the role of one of a Galactic Federation Marine. You can either play through the game by yourself or cooperate with up to three friends.
When it was first announced, many people were not too thrilled, but time has passed now. I was one of the people who didn’t quite know what to think. But today at PAX East, I got my hands on it and played some co-op.
Overall, the game was fun. The graphics are really good on the 3DS, especially the 3D effects. It ran incredibly smooth, and I never noticed any issues.
The controls, however, were a different story. I was moving forward and backward and turning with the Circle Pad. The C-stick was only used to look up and down. I shot my main weapon with the A button, because the R button was used to activate motion controls for aiming (somewhat similar to Splatoon). This was definitely a pain, and I cannot imagine playing the game like this all the time. Luckily, you will be able to customize some of the controls in the final version, but I was not told how much.
Once I finally got a bit used to the controls, I jumped into the game with three others. Each player took a a role, based on what weapons and items he or she chose. I decided to be mostly focused on attack, but I also grabbed the medical gear. This meant I was the one to send out health to others when they needed it. This is very fun, but it is definitely different than a typical Metroid game. You are not alone this time.
Metroid Prime Federation Force will launch on the Nintendo on August 19, 2016, in North America. Stay tuned to NintendoFuse for our continued coverage of the game.
Steve is the Senior Editor of NintendoFuse and co-host of the NintendoFuse Podcast. He’s been a Nintendo gamer since age 6 and has been on staff with NintendoFuse since 2008.