Since its release, Metroid Prime has sparked arguments over its control scheme, its proper genre, its faithfulness to the series, and of course, whether its any good.

The correct answers are as follows:

1. Metroid Prime's control scheme is unusual, but very well done, and just right for the game.

2. Even though Prime is played in first-person view and involves shooting, it is still an Adventure game, just like every other Metroid game (except Metris and Pinball).

3. Prime is very faithful to the Metroid series.  Changes and sacrifices were made to bring the game into 3D, but at heart it still feels right.

4. Prime is very, very good.  It's roughly the 12th best videogame ever made.  Roughly.

On that note, here's a bit about the game, and why it's so good:

Firstly, Prime is beautiful.  Here's video (30 MB) of the game's opening (rendered in realtime, it's not CG) for proof.

Prime has possibly the best art direction and level construction of any game up to its time, and beyond.  Prime's world is not built of cookie-cutter parts 'assembled' into levels like most games, but meticulously, one piece at a time.  Every wall is unique, every tree is used only once, every rock was built in place to make the world believable and astoundingly detailed.  And BEAUTIFUL.  Like so (click to enlarge):

Those are some of the larger 'rooms' in the game.  In between them are smaller 'hallways'.  Even the hallways are gorgeous, and unique.  Here are a few examples:.

And here are a few videos of some in-game "fly by" sequences that show off the world.  Click for video:

Of course, a beautiful world does not a great game make.  Luckily, the art team is not the only talented part of Retro.  Prime is as solid a game as there is.  It has great pacing, a decent story, plenty of action, even more exploration, cool abilities and puzzles to attain them, killer boss fights, and a challenging learning curve.

Metroid Prime uses an adventure game system that's been around since Zelda 1; it has a large, open world that you're free to explore as far as your abilities will let you.  And this is key: as you gain abilities, you gain access to more of the world, and also the ability to survive new challenges and enemies.  In Metroid, most of the items you find are enhancements to Samus' suit, allowing her to 

It even has a few humorous moments, though usually it has a serious tone.  Like these:

This made us laugh out loud.

And so did this below; click for video of why NOT to mess with Metroids.

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