Newcomers to the original Prime will find one of the most fun and satisfying game experiences of all time – the title is incredibly pure. You spend equal amounts of time exploring the incredible alien scenery, shooting the crap out of space bugs and the fearsome Space Pirates, and blasting through simple (though occasionally tricky) environmental puzzles and obstacles. Every now and then, you get thrown in to an epic boss fight – each of which is challenging and distinctly old school in approach (patterns are the rule here). In true Metroid fashion, you collect weapons and suit upgrades along the way, making more terrain (in the form of the interconnected areas and stages) available to you.

What really brings it all to the next level is the atmosphere. Everything from the music, the organic art style (every place feels like a living, breathing alien entity) and the interplay between cramped, claustrophobic corridors (just like Alien) and wide-open spaces (especially in the Phendrana Drifts) is inspired.

Echoes, the second in the series, is a leaner, tougher piece of work – it takes everything from the first game and refines it to a sharpened point. It’s much harder – energy tanks are scarcer, enemies are smarter and faster, and the world’s design is infinitely more intricate, but it’s an incredible game and a worthy sequel.

Everything about the atmosphere and level design is as equally brilliant as Prime’s – perhaps more so. It also takes the excellent storytelling approach from the first game to the next level – in both titles, there are no long cutscenes, relying instead on environmental clues and player-dictated “scans” to convey story details. The cutscenes that do exist are short and sweet – revealing important characters or story ideas without interrupting play for long.

Echoes’ narrative is also more interesting. It all begins with your answering a distress signal on the planet of Aether, where you quickly discover that the entire crew of a Marine vessel has been decimated by a lethal alternate-dimensional species. Not long after, you have a very strange encounter with Dark Samus.

In fact, the entire planet exists in a light and dark state (sounds kind of like Zelda, no?), in which you need to return the light – and kick your evil doppleganger’s butt. It’s a cool, classic game story that fits well within the tense atmosphere.