Discovery and destruction in Metroid Prime

destructoid.com:

In some ways, Metroid has always been a series about the tension between discovery and destruction. Nearly every tool in Samus’ ever-growing arsenal serves two purposes: it helps her find something new, and it helps her tear it to shreds. Sometimes unearthing secrets is wrecking shop, as in the case of the series’ iconic-but-divisive destructible walls. But Metroid is most interested in finding the line between investigation and annihilation in Metroid Prime.

Most would agree that the most dramatic difference between Metroid Prime and earlier games is the jump to the third dimension. This opens the door for all kinds of structural shakeups, but my personal favorite is the Scan Visor. With the Scan Visor, Samus can learn details about nearly every element of her environment. And it changes things considerably.

I’ve long held that games are chiefly defined by their limitations. Every game is a set of restrictions, a series of things you aren’t allowed to do. In Metroid Prime, for example, you may scan enemies and you may shoot them. There are no other points of interaction between the player and the characters classified as “enemies.” You’re not going to sit down and reason out your differences with the Space Pirates. That’s just not the game you’re playing.

This is not an especially novel observation. While there’s something vaguely melancholic about studying a creature before you destroy it, Samus has always been a killer. The game knows this: using the Scan Visor is mechanically identical to locking onto enemies to shoot. What’s truly heartbreaking about Metroid Prime is the fact that Tallon IV once played host to creatures that Samus actually would talk with: the Chozo.

Scattered around Tallon IV are ancient Chozo