The final round of the World Cup Shooter is here, seeing the classic style of GoldenEye 007 square off against the sci-fi sheen of Metroid Prime. It’s been a pitched battle so far, with classic games like Duck Hunt, Perfect Dark and Red Steel performing admirably, but ultimately falling by the wayside. Take a look for yourself at rounds one, two and three.

Here are WiiWii Towers we think that things were too close to call, and if we argued any more about it we’d probably come to blows. So, in the spirit of reconciliation, we’ve decided to put it to a public vote. Will the suave sophistication of James Bond triumph over the steel-ball shenanigans of Samus Aran? Who wins? Who loses? You decide!

Metroid Prime (GameCube)

Broadening the FPS genre. Metroid Prime isn’t just about maiming and killing; it’s about puzzling and exploring. Action junkies still got their fix, however, as the plethora of end-of-level bosses adequately proved. Nintendo had struck the right balance between engaging the brain and engaging the gut.

From 2-D to 3-D. Metroid Prime is a textbook example of how a long-running franchise can be modernised whilst still retaining the core characteristics of the Metroid universe. Nintendo hedged their bets by offering 2-D versions on the GBA, but as it turns out, it was completely unnecessary.

First female icon in videogame history. Lara Croft and Johanna Dark have their place, but their skimpy clothing and plummy accents threaten to relegate them to pin-up status for adolescent boys. Samus Aran is a more complex character whose personal storyline is fraught with conflict. She’s more than a sex symbol, she’s a human being.

BUT… You can’t satisfy everyone. Exploring and puzzling has its place, but to dedicated fans of the FPS genre, Metroid Prime is a ridiculous abberation. Elsewhere, longtime fans of the series don’t accept the 3-D games as canon.

GoldenEye 007 (N64)

A sophisticated masterpiece. Regarded as one of the finest games ever made, it’s delicate stealth elements and varied objectives contrasted quite remarkably with the steroid-pumped action of Doom and Quake.

A film license that worked. GoldenEye 007 wasn’t just faithful to the one Bond film, it was faithful to the entire series, with several playable characters based on previous Bonds and villains. There was also a light-hearted playfulness that affectionately sent up the Bond universe, like the infamous “balloon head” cheat.

Brilliant multiplayer. The split-screen multiplayer offered variety of modes, some of them riffing on famous Bond film titles like “You Only Live Twice” and “The Man with the Golden Gun”. But most significantly of all, GoldenEye 007 is credited with popularising the use of the sniper rifle, thereby giving rise to a healthy new pastime in modern gaming; camping.

BUT… There were many features in the game that were never implemented or left half-finished. These buggy bits of random code can occasionally be found in the game, i.e. locked rooms that were supposed to be inaccessible.

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This entry was posted on Monday, September 24th, 2007 at 8:48 pm by Bulent Yusuf
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