Here's a concept o a game I originally posted on my own site (click here for the original) All the images are either screenshots from the game or fan art I found online (all credited for), so enjoy 
PS - I was told that it is okay to post a few of my articles here
Metroid Prime 4 – Desolation
Story
Metroid Prime 4 – Desolation takes place soon after the events of Metroid Fusion. It begins with Samus Aran cruising in a brand new gunship several days after destroying the Biologic Space Laboratories research station, feeling remorseful for destroying the computer that had Adam Malkovich’s personality uploaded to shortly before his death. Suddenly her ship takes on weapon fire from unidentified ships, she tries to escape but her navigation systems become severely damaged. Her ship is then boarded by one of the ships where a GF Trooper drags her away and knocked unconscious.
When she comes to, she is wakes up restrained in the middle of a GF court room where she is eventually convicted for many crimes, such as destroying the research center, stealing precious biological experiments and mass homicide. Though she denies being involved in most of the felonies, Samus is relived from her role and given a life sentence to a maximum security federation prison based on the planet Xar, locate in the FS-176 system. After a few days of being confined to her cell, there is an explosion near the entrance of the complex. After the smoke clears a figure appears who looks a lot like Samus in her Power Suit, though the colouration differs from her usual suit. Guards move to their defensive formation and open fire on the intruder, unfortunately all bullets are deflected by her suit and she uses missiles to release several convicts and killing any guards which get in her way. In a crossfire, Samus’ cell wall is destroyed allowing her to escape the complex via her gunship, which was contained in the complex. She knows that she is unable to confront the intruder as her abilities were stripped, so she sets ff to try to clear her name. Unfortunately her navigation systems are still bust and has limited power so she can only travel a certain distance.
Metroid Prime 2 Screenshot – Crash Site
Samus takes refuge on a distant forest based planet named Salus. at first she believes that the planet is uninhabited, however after some exploration she encounters a civilisation of refugees who were attacked and forced off their home world. According to the locals, there have been various attacks across the FS-176 system, especially on planets with GF Research Facilities. One of the refugees is a GF Technician, named Mira Walsh, who crash landed on Salus just over a cycle ago and mentions that she has been scavenging parts from her ship and other wreckages to survey the proximity of the planet for help or hostiles, as well as sending out signals to those who need somewhere to hide. She also states that she can fix up her ship a bit to allow Samus to travel short distances if she agrees to help scavenge for useful tech. She recommends to check out abandoned research facilities to scavenge any equipment which may be useful.
To Samus’ surprise, every facility seems to have traces of Phazon, even though the source of Phazon was supposedly destroyed during the events of Metroid Prime 3, however this strain looks slightly different, a detailed scan can not be made until her scanners have been fully repaired. After enough equipment has been gathered from nearby planets, Samus can travel further in the FS-176 system. After the range has expanded for the first time, Mira discovers a huge spike in radiation with her satellite on a desert planet in a forbidden sector of the system called Mors and Samus is recommended to check it out. After some exploration, Samus uncovers a cloaked facility which has been abandoned. After further exploration and hacking into the log files of computers, Samus is shocked to find out that it is a Pirate Research Facility. The logs state how some scientists were able to recover caches of concentrated Phazon to continue experimenting with, though the amount they had would only last so long. However, over the last half cycle, a team of scientists were able to retrieve a weak specimen which was drifting around metallic debris. This specimen absorbed with a container of Phazon. After one day, the concentration of the Phazon increased by 500%, it was being duplicated at an alarming rate.
Metroid Prime Screenshot – Phazon Mines
When testing the Phazon on different lifeforms, the results turned out to differ greatly from previous tests, it was fatal to all specimens but was able to clone them soon after death, increasing their hostility. This was a mutated strain of Phazon titled Phaz-X. It was documented that some species, when exposed to the Phaz-X, became extremely unstable and it was important to terminate the test immediately. A quarter of a cycle later, something extraordinary happened. The Phaz-X produced a clone of the deadly hunter, Samus Aran. She was supposed to be used as a weapon for the Pirates, but after several test sessions, the Samus clone turned on the Pirates, destroying the facility in the process.
When Samus reaches the Phaz-X Containment vault, she detects the Samus clone wandering around the pit of Phaz-X, attending to various biological experiments originally created by the Galactic Federation, exposed to the radiation.
What are her plans? How can she be stopped? What caused the Phazon to mutate?
Rick Kohlerfrom Retro Studios – Concept Art
Gameplay
The main feature of Metroid Prime 4 – Desolation is the fact that it is an open world game. This means that Samus has the freedom to go nearly anywhere she wants, including other planets. There will still be slight limitations, though these will be restricted to things like certain sections only being accessible with certain weapons. The biggest limitation is the fact that Samus can only travel certain distances, which extend gradually as you progress, though there are still several locations she can visit at the minimum distance. The player can choose where to go and it can take a while to full explore a planet as most are very vast. The main source of missions comes through Mira Walsh, though these are usually structured as recommendations. Every once in a while you may get a distress call asking for help, but be wary, you can’t win every battle unless you are properly equipped. When exploring the range of environments, you may encounter other groups of species. They will usually ask you to help aid them, such as finding them ingredients for medicine, clearing their shelter from hostiles and more, in return they will give you a reward.
Later in the game, you discover that the Phazon actually absorbed the Core-X released from SA-X and escaped during the events of Metroid Fusion. Thanks to the radiation of the Phazon, the X-Parasite was able to become stronger and mutated the Phazon to Phaz-X allowing it to duplicate and create a potentially unlimited supply of it. It also was able to create a clone of SA-X, though it seems her DNA was fused with another creature.
Official Art – Metroid Fusion
You will get new weapons, visors and expansions in the same way as previous games, though if you are lucky, you could find a friend from your past to aid you on your mission. There is also an upgrade system in place. When scavenging for tech, you may find certain materials and other technology which can be traded in to make your weapons more powerful. This can be done by visiting a Space Pirate Engineer who becomes an ally and takes refugee on Salus after you save him from being attacked by SA-X, initially he tries to escape from Samus, and when she attack him he reveals himself as a coward and offers to help Samus if she hides him from the other Pirates as he would be executed for being cowardly. You can also use spoils that some creatures drop upon defeat for upgrades. This works quite similarly to the upgrade from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.
When travelling between planets, you will have full control of your gunship, which can also be upgraded by the Space Pirate. There are three speeds for your ship, though be careful of space debris which could damage your ship. Sometimes your stealth will be tested as the Galactic Federation would have found out that you have escaped and they would have sent troops out to hunt you… though this time they have ben ordered to kill on sight after the incident at Xar. Lucky for you, Salus is completely undetectable by the Galactic Federation, or any hostile, thanks to Mira cloaking it with her equipment. The quickest way to avoid GF troopers is by activating the cloaking device, once it has been installed. Be warned, using it can drain your systems very quickly and it can take a while to recharge. If cloaking isn’t available, you could always find a nice spot in the middle of space and turn off all your systems until the coast is clear… enjoy the silence of the depths of space. Doing so will also boost the regeneration of your power slightly. A map of the space quadrant will appear on the GamePad, along with various controls for the entire ship. The TV shows a first person view from Samus in the ship’s cockpit. The GF troops don’t just restrict themselves to space, you may run into them on the planets you explore so watch your step. Luckily of you though, you may run into Anthony Higgs who knows you are innocent, he could give you a piece of technology to help detect nearby GF Ships and troops, making it easier to stay out of sight.
Metroid Prime 3 Screenshot – Ship Cockpit
You can only land at certain locations of the planets meaning that you will have to explore the area to find the research facilities. There are also several GF ships which you can board, some of them may contain vital resources for your mission.
Controls
Metroid Prime 4 – Desolation controls are similar to Prime 1 and 2 on the Gamecube, it uses the GamePad with the sticks to move and change your view, you can also choose to use the gyroscope to aim too. The ZR button is used to shoot, ZL to lock on, L brings up your scanner , R lets you shoot missiles and let off a power bomb, A is to jump, B is to set a morph ball bomb, Y is to zoom in and X is your action button (speak, use etc.). The GamePad screen displays your map of the planet which you can pan and zoom in and out with your finger. On the right, there is an icon which, if you touch, you can choose which beam to use and on the left is an icon for your visors, you can change these on the go or pause and switch. There are also other buttons which control other features of your suit such as turning into your morph ball to interact with certain devices. The controls are very similar for controlling your gunship.
MP2 Map Screen plus Wii U GamePad
Environments
There are many different environments which you encounter throughout the game. There are abandoned ruins, thick forests, frozen lakes, scorching mountains and much more, each one being quite vast and beautiful… you could easily get distracted for an hour by just exploring the beauty and trying to uncover secrets. You can also access research facilities which can change the pace of the game, these can be found both on planets and in space as ships. There is one planet which you can revisit, can you guess which one it is?
Artwork created by LightningArts from DeviantArt!
Link included in footnotes.
Atmosphere
Similar to the first game, exploration plays a heavy factor in Metroid Prime 4, though this time the atmosphere is very foreboding. The fact that the Galactic Federation have turned on Samus means that she has become hopeless, but she need to stay strong to finally clear her name. There is a strong sense of community building as you take refuge on Salus. Though the game may be dark in atmosphere, there is just as much beauty in it too.
Well, it seems I may have gotten carried away a bit, but either way I think this would be the ideal Metroid Prime game for me.
What do you think? What’s your favourite part? What would you change?
Footnotes:
http://lightningarts.deviantart.com/art/Metroid-Metal-Where-It-All-Begins-393272172
Edited by triforceguy1, 30 October 2014 - 04:58 AM.
