ah ha ha.. i knew my little brother would have purchased this game by thanksgiving..
first off, lemme say that i didn't like this first game.. i thought it was based too much on throwing nintendo's 2D characters into a 3D envirorment as its done with almost everyone of its character franchises now, and hardly enough based on building these characters, or even coming up with a story to put them in. samus walking around shooting things is not a video game, but apparently some people thought so.
some positive points about metroid prime was definately the music. extremely alien.. it really built the enivorment you were in.
anyways...
Metroid Prime 2 is the exact same game.. EXACTLY. The graphics have not been enhanced. The gameplay has not been changed. The only difference is the music, which now sucks. The music hardly creates an envirorment.. it hardly compliments the enviroment. its quite boring.
Another change is the high requirement of scanning everything you come across. There are so many rooms you have to pass through that require you to simply scan a panel over here, then move back over to this side of the room and scan that computer, now scan this and the door opens. Collect all the scans and win prizes!
Now.. the whole idea behind Metriod Prime 2 makes Metriod Prime look good. hell, while playing the game my opinion of Metriod Prime went up a couple notches. I guess thats because i find the idea of putting all the metriod villians and enemies into the game was a bit more romantic than just throwing it all away and making the main villian a dark samus. sounds like Adventures of Link, and reminds me of Majora's Mask.
To restate, Instead of remaking a 3D Metriod game or expanding on that good 'ol concept, they began anew keeping the engine and making the game a battle between the dark world and the light world. hmm.. reminds me of a Link to the Past.
In additon, Instead of exploring an enviroment in search of clues and delving deeper in a world, in Metriod Prime 2, there are 3 temples in the dark world that you need to change into light temples using 3 keys you must search for and use. kinda sounds like the concept to every Legend of Zelda there.
well.. in the end, Metriod Prime 2 was a pretty big let down for my low expectations. There were some good things about the first one, but good lord, if you want to expand on a franchise, you must make a new game, not an expansion. With Metriod Prime, i could at least say the music was pretty slick, and that title screen was gorgeous. and Metriod Prime 2 took both those away. though, to be fair i'm only about half of the way through the game.
anyways.. those are my thoughts on the subject. its unfortunate that this is kinda.. it... as far as christmas goes for nintendo.