Metroid Prime: Federation Force – Blast Ball Demo First Impressions

Metroid Prime Federation Force is a game that has had a lot of naysayers since it was announced. It seems like almost nobody wants this game. With the game coming in August, Nintendo is trying everything they can to get people interested in it. Everything includes releasing a demo of the Blast Ball section of the game, which they did today! I tried out the Blast Ball demo some and now have my first impressions of it. Is Blast Ball any good?

When I heard that Nintendo was releasing a demo of Metroid Prime: Blast Ball today, I got excited. I wasn’t sure at all if the game would be any good but I was really interested to find out. I know when I saw the game at E3 for the first time, I wasn’t impressed at all. Still, this is Nintendo and I always want to give them a chance with new games. So I downloaded the Blast Ball demo and tried it out some. What did I think of the demo? Well…

I actually like the demo a lot! The first thing I tried was, of course, the demo’s tutorial of Blast Ball’s controls. The controls here seemed pretty simple and fun. After trying the controls out, I decided I wanted to check out the game’s online first. I did have one failed connection with a partner but, once I got into the online multiplayer, I had no trouble at all. My first Blast Ball online contest was fast and fun. Blast Ball is pretty much soccer without the kicking. Instead of kicking, you shoot the ball toward the opposite side’s goal. Everyone was really going at it and the competition was fierce. In the end, nobody won at all. We had a tie game! It was still a lot of fun.

I think Blast Ball’s graphics are pretty good too. I did try the game with 3D and I thought it looked good, but the 3D did bother my eyes a little. So I decided that I wouldn’t play Blast Ball with the 3D on. The demo also has a good soundtrack, including voices for the things you can say in battle. Thats pretty neat.

There’s a lot more to like about the demo too. You can customize the face plate of your mech either with in-game customization (some can be unlocked) or by using an amiibo! I decided I wanted to see how the amiibo support worked. I tried my K.K. Slider amiibo and the game gave me a really cool looking skull on my face plate. Maybe that’ll keep my opponents away from me! You can also customize your voice too. And if you think that the demo only has online, you’re wrong!

The Blast Ball demo includes Solo off-line play, download play, local play, versus modes and challenge modes. This Blast Ball demo is pretty much a game on its own (and there are no limits on how many times you can play it). Oh and you can even unlock a training mode in the demo that will give you a taste of what Federation Force mode will look like!

A Federation Force training mode can be unlocked in the demo. At first, this mode just takes you through target practice and then it opens up a bit more and shows you how to walk around. This mode’s controls take a little getting use to. The game initially starts you off with gyro controls for its camera. That means that you’ll have to move your 3DS system to look around in the game. To do this, you have to press the R button for gyro controls, but you also have to press the L button to lock-on to things. Moving around the system and aiming can be a little tricky but its also a neat way to control the game. That said, my hands cramped up after awhile of holding both buttons and moving the system…

There is another control scheme though, if you have a New 3DS. In this control scheme, you can use the tiny control nub to look around. This is much easier than the game’s gyro controls. That said, there is a downside to the New 3DS controls. The tutorial teaches you that the ZL and ZR buttons are used for things here and that can be kind of awkward if you have to use the game’s L button (for sidestepping) or R button (for firing). Though it looks like you can use the A button or B button as alternatives to the L and R so this may not be a problem. I’ll have to play around with this mode more to see how well this works. Both types of controls take some getting use to but I was surprised by how much fun I was having with the game’s training. I think the game’s controls (Blast Ball and Federation Force) are much better than I thought they’d be. That really sums up this demo overall. It is much better than I thought it’d be.

I can’t wait to play more Blast Ball, especially online. I also want to go through the training mode again. I think I may like Blast Ball more then Federation Force at the moment! Though its not really a fair comparison since there is much more to Blast Ball in this demo. I hope I get the chance to play the full game. I’m starting to get really excited for it. That is what Nintendo is hoping of course!

Have you played the Blast Ball demo yet? If so, what did you think of it? Does the demo make you want to buy the full game?