User blog comment:Vommack/M:OM low point? I beg to differ.../@comment-408551-20111017042021

The story is unlike any other Metroid game story prior. It's not plot dependent on the Chozo, Space Pirates and/or Metroids. Despite its name, it also is not dependent on Phazon as a plot device. While I've heard a lot of bashing on Hunters due to not following the rest of the series, it is the only one that comes off as a fresh story in comparison. The one-line scans to me set up a player's imagination perfectly. I've come away from MPH's lore feeling more stimulated by the story than I do with any other Metroid Prime game do to that. While the game has plenty of one-line lore and scans, they are very interconnected to one another or events in the game. For instance, "No weapon could defeat Gorea" (Sealing Gorea 01) creates a handful of plot twists associated with the game's final boss encounter against Gorea 2. There is a ton of depth to the lore via their connections to other parts of the game. Like with the lore, the limited detail associated with the background of each hunter has sparked my imagination. I mean, considering Kanden is made up of multiple predatory insects, one could wonder how he's able to control his consciousness. Look at his "mouth" area in his intro and you can see what looks like a snake-like singular eye ball. Personally, I think it's something like the Emperor Brug used to ensure Kanden's control over the multiple thought patterns he likely picked up from being made of so many insects. Looking at the naming of Kanden's alt form, Stinglarva, it's also suggestive that Kanden could evolve and may just be in an infant stage of its life cycle. The fact that Metroid Prime Hunters only has six main upgrades, of which were all weapons, made the game feel unique. No other Metroid game is like this, and so like its story, the game feels fresh in comparison. The formula is still in there as well, it's just no longer including abilities. You can't just one shot Alinos, as the Judicator on Arcterra must be obtained and the player then must travel back. If there were save areas beyond Samus's ship, this game would be far too easy. The portal system provides quick access from area to ship and vice versa. There are no hunter ambushes that apply to the second visit routes of each area, and there is no hunters ambush for the first visit route on V.D.O. 5 out of the 8 visits therefore do not have you being ambushed by a hunter encounter prior to a portal. The escape sequences are a security system, likely within the Octolith, obviously with the intent of killing the taker of the Octolith. The Alimbics never wanted anyone to collect the Octoliths and release Gorea, so an easy explanation is that they installed a security system in the Octoliths to kill the taker. If anything is left unexplained, it's the security system shutting down when Samus enters her ship.