If you are one of the many who got into the Switch and decided to see what the big deal is in Metroid you would probably look at Dread and Prime. Present both in front of any new player and everybody will initially tell you the same two things. Either
- Dread is better
- Dread is easier
They conclude this because, to a lot of players (especially today) the easier game is the better game and they just do not want to put the time to learn the other one, so it gets thrown under the bus “because it sucks”. But, what if I told you “actually mate, I think you’ll find Dread is significantly harder than Prime. Not Prime 2, but definitely Prime”?
You would look at me as if I was insane. Firstly, why would I even bring up Prime 2 (that is another conversation and not relevant here)? Significantly harder? Am I kidding them? You don’t even know what you are doing here. This is sadly Prime’s biggest problem and it really breaks me that so many of you out there do not at least make it through the first bit before just walking away. You see player: YOU HAVE JUST BEEN SET UP BY ONE OF THE MOST DECEPTIVE TUTORIAL LEVELS IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY!
If you actually beat the first boss and you successfully got to the end you’d see that everything the game just taught you here was meaningless because all your equipment was just destroyed. Only when you land the ship does the real tutorial of the game take place. Straight away I went to the door opposite me. I reached something called the Impact Crater so I carried on, however, a major problem occured before me. “The door cannot be opened with that weapon”. ‘Huh?’ I thought.
This is where the game’s real tutorial takes effect. If the gun you are using does not open that door, what does? So I guessed despite my initial reaction I was not going the right way here so went back to the main room only to eventually find a door on the right. This time I was greeted with a much bigger room, like a canyon, loads of platforms leading higher, going upwards eventually shows you that, yet again, you are greeted with that same door blocking your access. Finally I found another door and going in this one, I noticed the music changed and it contained a huge lift. Upon scanning the lift you end up in a different level this time but something happened when I made it, and this is where it clicks that the game is not as intimidating as you initially suspected. The map and Hint System are your biggest assisstants here.
The map points you to a room labeled ‘Hive Totem’, and just shows a question mark. This is where you have to go. The only question now is “how do you get there?” If you kill enough time the game will bring up a second hint and tell you where the next Save Station is before you reach the Hive Totem (this is also crucial). If you successfully conquer the Hive Totem you will be given a Missile Launcher. Behind it you see the same shielded door, and then I fired. That is it! Its the Missile! When you claim the first Energy Tank in the next room you find a long pipe behind it. Ok, you definitely know what that is for, thats for the ball. ‘But hold on’ I thought, ‘I want to see’. This was the point where I finally learned the game’s real tricks.
- Save EVERY TIME you get a new item.
- Keep opening the map
- Grab a pen and paper
I went all the way back to the Impact Crater. Crazy right? I went all that way just to go back and check what that was all about, but it was here that I finally understood the game. Upon getting through that door with your Missiles, you reach a large temple and collect something called a Chozo Artifact. The game tells you to scan the podiums for clues and this is where the game sucked me in. I had just gone back to check what was there and suddenly I was surrounded by tonnes of scans and clues and it had me asking a hell of a lot of questions. Here came the kicker, while I was trying to figure out what the game was telling me, a new hint came up which was pointing me back to Chozo Ruins. This was where the Morph Ball was.
Because this was a Gamecube game, checkpoints were not really a thing back here, so yes, the game is definitely more UNFORGIVING than Dread, but that doesn’t make it harder. All you need to do is write down the room you are in, write down what is blocking your way, and when you get the next item, come back and hope it works.
Dread’s major problem is the E.M.M.I. Yes, every time it kills you, you end up back at the entrance rather than the last time you saved, but the E.M.M.I. kills you a lot more than stuff in Prime. Prime’s biggest fault is the way it presented the information to you. At the start of the game you are lead to believe this is like Halo, when in reality, it has more in common with Zelda. The key to beating Prime is to always use the map. Write down every blockade no matter how insignificant you think it is. You were overwhelmed and intimidated because of the tutorial level but it turns out that was a red herring and it just jumbled a whole lot of obstacles to explain how your equipment works. That was its only purpose though.
Just ignore what the tutorial stage has told you, carry on with the game, then tell me Dread is easier. Once you get to the second boss and tell me “I just don’t like this game”, I’ll accept it then, because you spent enough time with the game to learn it, but by dismissing it because of how overwhelming the tutorial stage was means you have formed your opinion based on an assumption that the rest of the game will be as overwhelming as the first level, when it wasn’t. You just never chanced it enough to find it out.
An alternative you have if you are really stuck is to use a guide, but this in itself is flawed. Guides take specific routes and the player tends to take them as gospel. Lets go back to that pipe in the Hive Totem. You see player, guides will tend to get that Energy Tank in the Main Plaza after they beat the second boss but, by doing that they have given you a false illusion. You just assume because they got that Energy Tank third, it must be the third one, but this is not true. It is the second one. It turns out the route they never took to get to it was the pipe that I just went through by going all the way back to the Hive Totem. So I had this tank long before I got to the second boss.
All you have to do is finish the first level but ignore what it is telling you. Grab a pen and paper and keep opening the map. You will find out my claim ends up holding true, just remember = SAVE!
haruhisailormars 