KILLZONE

Billed as the Halo-killer prior to launch, Killzone 1 on the PS2 couldn’t even kill a fly. It was a beautiful looking game, but was dragged down by stupid AI, timid shooting, and a bland campaign. A whole lot of people gave in to the enormous hype surrounding it, and a whole lot of people were immensely disappointed with the investment they made in its purchase.

Metal Gear Survive

Picture this, you’re head of a game company and had a huge falling out with the father of one of your biggest franchises, a legendary series that’s famous for political intrigue, deep stories full of subtext with deep commentary on the future of information warfare or how language can destroy culture, all wrapped within a super spy thriller where a solo operative penetrates terrorist cells and save the world? Now that the creator of this series is gone, what do you do with that name?

If you answered lame co-op zombie survival game, Konami already tried that. Nobody bit.

Note: Images/screenshots of games used in this article is for representation purposes only. Their inclusion doesn’t mean they are bad games or were failures. Also, these points are just hints that a game “may” be bad or flop. 

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to GamingBolt as an organization.

Late embargo

There can be many reasons for a game to end up disappointing, but one of the best clues comes when a publisher implements an embargo for the day of launch, or sometimes even later. Exceptions such as DOOM 2016 not withstanding, it’s usually indicative that there’s something to hide.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Half Life 2: Episode 2

We might as well get the big one out of the way. Half-Life 2: Episode 2 saw the resistance creating a rocket that ultimately closed the Combine portal, thus limiting the aliens from calling reinforcements. As Gordon and Alyx are setting out for the Borealis, two Advisors suddenly arrive and kill Eli Vance. Though our heroes are ultimately saved by D0g, the episode ends with a cliff-hanger. All these years and some artwork teasing the Borealis but still no Episode 3, forget Half-Life 3.

The situation was going to be exacerbated if the game turned out to be too bad (in which case said fans would feel vindicated and get even more vocal), or if it turned out to be too good- in which case it would fade away into obscurity thanks to the antipathy of a fanbase that was not willing to give it much of a chance.

In which case, I suppose it is a good thing that Metroid Prime: Federation Force turned out neither too good, nor too bad. It just… is.

"The controls, for movement and aiming – the two areas where you would expect there to have been the most number of issues, given that this game is on the 3DS, a platform that does not necessarily lend itself to shooters – both work surprisingly well."

Developed by Next Level Games, who were also responsible for Luigi’s Mansion Dark Moon, Punch-Out!! Wii, and Mario Strikers Charged, Metroid Prime: Federation Force plays like a perfectly serviceable team based first person shooter. The controls, for movement and aiming – the two areas where you would expect there to have been the most number of issues, given that this game is on the 3DS, a platform that does not necessarily lend itself to shooters – both work surprisingly well. Controls for movement and aiming are great (on the New 3DS, you can aim using the C stick too, to replicate a traditional dual analog control setup), and they facilitate some exciting play, unlike the other Metroid Prime games, which, save for their migration to the Wii, had some obtuse controls that led to slow, tank like controls.

Federation Force makes other concessions to being a shooter, too- the Metroid series is known for starting its players off with just a bunch of basic weapons, tasking them to find other ones in the game world, and using them to reach previously inaccessible places. Federation Force, instead, starts you out with a full fledged arsenal to begin with, and lets you pick and choose your loadout before each mission. Which brings us to the third major change Federation Force makes, which is its mission based structure. The final change, and arguably the biggest one, of course, is that it is designed to be a co-op shooter, designed for parties of four to play together.

Federation Force heavily pushes for co-operative play – at least ostensibly – with its missions, but the game’s design almost does not seem to reflect it. The game lacks any form of voice chat, meaning communication with your team mates is actually impossible, unless deciphering text strings is your idea of coordination. You can not only not chat with players in the middle of a mission, this also means that you can’t even all strategize your loadout choices for maximum efficiency.

"The game lacks any form of voice chat, meaning communication with your team mates is actually impossible, unless deciphering text strings is your idea of coordination."

The missions, too, seem to largely be designed for one player only- while you can definitely come across random difficulty spikes that are best tackled with squad mates, the game is on the whole almost trivialized when you have other team members, so that blind fire can be enough to get you through most of the sticky situations you encounter in the game. Adding to the problems is the fact that the game’s levels lend themselves to very little exploration with four players in the squad, since so much ground can be covered so soon- with just one solo player, there is still an element of exploration to the game. With four players, that’s all but gone.

It’s a shame, because the actual missions are well designed, with loads of branching paths, secondary objectives, stealth sections, and puzzles to add variety to the flow of the game. The trouble is that it is over all too quickly, and its lack of balance breaks any incentive to invest more time in it than is actually necessary. There’s always Blast Ball, which is the soccer like minigame that they’ve included, but I found it too shallow to spend too much time with it.

There are other problems with the game too, ones that are bound to annoy Metroid fans in particular- Federation Force is, to start with, a pretty ugly game, made even more so by its bastardization of the brooding and hostile Metroid Prime art style, which this game renders in bizarre chibi style. Given that Metroid Prime Hunters, a previous handheld only multiplayer focused spin off of the Metroid series, managed to recreate the original artstyle pretty well on the DS, there seems to be no actual reason for Federation Force to go with this artstyle- especially because it wrecks any and all sense of atmosphere that the Metroid series is known for.

"Federation Force is, to start with, a pretty ugly game, made even more so by its bastardization of the brooding and hostile Metroid Prime art style, which this game renders in bizarre chibi style."

The other big problem is how the game handles series lore- I personally actually enjoyed how Federation Force ties into the rest of the franchise, and it does make me intrigued for any Metroid games to come, which this game hints at pretty heavily, but I can see some other long time fans not appreciating some liberties this game takes with series canon, too.

In the end, Federation Force is a surprisingly competent shooter, that is definitely not deserving of all the vitriol that as poured upon it upon its reveal. It’s fun to play in parts, and it tries to set up future games in the franchise as well- but its fundamentally unbalanced, which trivializes it entirely, and as a Metroid game, it fails on some very basic levels. Play Federation Force if you must, and you may even enjoy it- just know that while it’s not too bad, it’s not too good, either. And for a game carrying the Metroid label, that, perhaps more than anything else, is the worst crime that this game commits.

This game was reviewed on Nintendo 3DS.

The public showed its anger over the game in some different ways. Fans of the long-running series even lodged their unhappiness by registering 10s of thousands on “dislikes” on YouTube. By the end of 2015, the announcement video had racked up more than 83,000 dislikes. While the absence of Samus Aran was a huge factor in the outrage, the graphics quality of what was shown off at the announcement drew scorn as well. Fans of the series were also reportedly annoyed that the game has a focus on first person shooter combat over exploration. Finally, the lack of any single player story mode enraged traditionalists who had been with the series from the beginning. There were even petitions issued asking Nintendo to cancel the game rather than attempt to change anything to appease the fans.

• 1. Development
• 2. Story
• 3. Gameplay
• 4. Characters

Development

Metroid Prime Federation Force is being worked on by Next Level Games alongside Nintendo. Next Level is best known for working on games like Super Mario Strikers, Mario Strikers Charged, Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon and Punch-Out.

The leading producer of Metroid Prime Federation Force is Kensuke Tanabe, who has worked on and produced all of the previous Metroid Prime titles in the series. Tanabe said during the unveiling of the game that he came up with a title that is centered around the Galactic Federation while working on Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. The producer said he wanted to expand the Metroid Prime universe by showing it from the perspective of the Galactic Federation’s Marines in a military shooter the likes of which fans of the long-running series had not seen before.

The development team has said that they initially talked about making Metroid Prime Federation Force for the Wii U. After a great deal of discussion spanning several months about the game, both Next Level and Nintendo decided it would be better if they published it for the 3DS. Next Level’s familiarity with the handheld device was a significant factor in the final decision. Originally, the game was planned as a launch title for the new version of the 3DS, but the development plan had to be pushed back for the title.

Despite Samus not being in the game at launch, there has been quite a bit of talk from the development team that the Amiibo for the character could have some functionality in the title. The developers have not shed any light on what that functionality is going to be. Nintendo and Next Level have said the game will be playable on all versions of the Nintendo 3DS but will have the best playability on the New 3DS as it will be able to take advantage of the new C button.

The game has been announced as having different launch dates depending on what region it is being launched. Metroid Prime Federation Force will come to North America first, as it is expected to land in late spring. The game will then go live in Japan in June of 2016 and will launch in Europe later in the summer.

Story

Because the game is a multiplayer only title, the Metroid Prime Federation Force does not have a fully flushed out story behind the title. Players are taking on the role of Federation soldiers as they battle in teams of up to four players against alien enemies. These teams will be going through missions that will give them various rewards though it appears this is more like a wave feature than an actual story laid out in front of the players.

Gameplay

The game has two very distinct gameplay modes. There is the first player shooter game that has teams of actual players of up to four people. The game has players go through some different missions that have players go through enemy infested bases. The soldiers will be able to use the most traditional weapons that have been seen in previous versions of the series. There will also be mods and other weapons that can be picked up along the way. While the game takes advantage of the dual sticks, it will also be taking advantage of the Nintendo 3DS gyroscope for aiming shots.

The other mode included in Metroid Prime: Federation Force is a sports game called Blast Ball. Blast Ball is a 3-on-3 contest that plays and feels a bit like soccer that takes place in the Metroid universe. Players in Federation Force can play a pickup game of Blast Ball at various times throughout play. The way to win this sport is to shoot the ball into the opponent’s goal, and this is also a multiplayer feature that allows for real live players to forge a kind of strategy on both offense and defense. You can not only decide the way you want your team to line up as well as how agressive you want your team to be in their playstyle.

Characters

As of March 2016, the development team has not talked about which characters are going to be included in Federation Force. The only character that has been explicitly discussed is Samus, who is not featured in the title.

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game

Metroid Prime: Federation Force hasn’t been getting the best reception among all the 3DS reveals from E3 2015. In fact, petitions have made rejecting the game outright with thousands of signatures gained. But series producer Kensuke Tanabe feels that players should get their hands on it first.

In conversation with Canadian Gaming Magazine, Tanabe said, “What I see happening is once the players actually have hands-on experience with the game, they’ll be able to understand and experience for themselves how the game actually feels and that the Metroid Prime universe atmosphere is there.

“They’ll definitely understand the different perspective that we’re taking here and it’ll certainly make a difference once you get some experience with the game.”

Metroid Prime: Federation Force is releasing in 2016 for the 3DS. Do you agree with Tanabe’s views? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below and stay tuned for more information on the co-op shooter.

There has been a lot of backlash and disappointment expressed towards the newest revealed Metroid game- Metroid Prime: Federation Force, a multiplayer arena shooter that was revealed exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS at E3 this year. One part of the disappointment stems from the fact that the game will not star series heroine Samus Aran, and will instead on other characters.

However, speaking to Eurogamer, Metroid Prime series boss Kensuke Tanabe defended the decision.

“[Metroid Prime: Federation Force] is an attempt to expand the Metroid universe,” Tanabe told Eurogamer during an interview conducted at E3. “As you can play with up to four players it wouldn’t make sense to play as four Samus characters!

“The game will be focused on co-op, working together as a team with up to four players. And obviously it is available as a single-player experience as well.”

It’s not just narrative reasons, either- he also pointed out that it will have gameplay advantages as well.

“You have the option to choose load-outs for you to bring to the battle,” Tanabe continued. “However, you have to consider that there will be limitation for how much can carry as a character.

“If you carry the Super Missile then you’re classed as a Warrior type. If you have lots of Repair Capsules you could focus on being a Healer type.”

All of this makes sense! Really, it does. But does he not think that it might have been best to just label it as a new IP? The bulk of the negative reaction could have definitely been avoided that way.

“I’ve always been thinking about having a battle between the Galactic Federation and Space Pirates,” he continued.

“The Metroid Prime series fits between Metroid 2 and Super Metroid, as you may be aware. So it falls under that same timeline, but looking at it from a different perspective. [And]- you may be able to see Samus in the game…” Tanabe teased.

He’s not the only one defending the game from the vitriolic backlash, either. Nintendo of America head honcho Reggie Fils-Aime has said that a lot of the backlash against the game is misguided.

“What the fan at home saw was something in the Metroid Prime universe that they weren’t expecting. The reaction has been negative. There’s no sugar coating it,” Fils-Amie said previously.

“This is an example where fans who aren’t able to get their hands on the game may be at a bit of a competitive disadvantage. Everyone who has played what we are showing regarding Metroid Prime, they’ve come across really pleased,” he continued. “My ask is that fans trust us.”

Metroid Prime: Federation Force launches on Nintendo 3DS.

Not all announcements set well with a few people. Fans of the Metroid series were annoyed when they heard that a  Metroid spin-off games was announced instead of a proper sequel. In fact they were so annoyed they started a petition to have it scrapped.

In a interview with Mashable, Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo President in the United States, acknowledged the negative reaction. “What the fan at home saw was something in the Metroid Prime universe that they weren’t expecting. The reaction has been negative. There’s no sugar coating it.”

He further stated, “We’re taking our great IP and transforming them and making them new again — making them fresh and appealing for the fan who feels they know the franchise, We believe that in order to propel the franchises forward, we have to be the ones to constantly challenge the paradigms, challenge the conventional wisdom, challenge what we thought was the essence of the particular franchise, and a particular form of gameplay.”

Nintendo messed up big time at this year’s E3 with no major announcements and the last thing they wanted is to annoy gamers with a half ass spin off. Do you think a proper sequel of Metroid should be made? Let us know by the comments below.

Nintendo’s Metroid Prime: Federation Force was first revealed during the company’s digital E3 event for the Nintendo 3DS but suffice to say, the reception wasn’t that good. Blame the game’s severe departure from Metroid’s gameplay and art style but several fans just weren’t buying into it.

Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aime spoke to Kotaku about the same and revealed that it “will also push the envelope in developing something that we know is high-quality and that we know will deliver in the marketplace.”

Fils-Aime related recent protests to those against the art style for The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker when it was first revealed for the GameCube. “Remember when that art style was first shown. The uproar from the Zelda community was intensely negative. If there had been social media then, there probably would have been a petition to make that game go away.”

Nonetheless, Fils-Aime says the company knows that fans want a traditional Metroid title. “Look, we know that the fans want a straight Samus Aran game,” he said. “We also know that the best way to launch a game like that is to surprise and delight them, to give them a launch date, in an environment like this let them play it versus what other companies do, which is to announce a project that you may not see for five, six years. It’s just not the way we do things.”

“We know the community wants to see a straight-up Metroid game. We know it.”

Of course, the question then arises – if it’s known, then why not develop and showcase that alongside Federation Force? It’s not like the Wii U has just come out or that it isn’t in need of top-tier exclusives.

Thoughts on Metroid Prime: Federation Force? Let us know in the comments.