The Freeze Gun is the newest technology utilized by Galactic Federation Army soldiers in Metroid: Other M. It is first seen during the battle with the Brug Mass, where Commander Adam Malkovich authorizes the use of Freeze Guns during the battle to attack the massive beast's tentacles, freezing them and allowing Samus Aran to blast them with her Missiles. After the battle, Adam authorizes each member of the team to carry one during their exploration. It seems to be the Federation Army equivalent of Samus' Chozo-made Ice Beam.
The Freeze Guns seem to have varying levels of effectiveness depending on the organisms they are used on. For instance Maurice Favreau, a human, is killed by being frozen to death. The specific Infant Metroid found at the entrance to Sector Zero meets its demise from a single shot of Adam's Freeze Gun. Curiously, he is also capable of disabling Samus' Power Suit with the same weapon. However, it is important to note that keeping her suit active requires superhuman levels of concentration and mental determination, a state her mind is not in due to a recent resurgence of memories involving the baby. Near the end of the game, MB points a Freeze Gun at Samus and Madeline Bergman, eventually giving it to Madeline who later uses it on the android. Though MB is entirely frozen, she remains alive; several Federation soldiers are required to open fire with their rifles at her while she is encased in ice, piercing her body and destroying her.
Madeline prepares to stop MB using James' Freeze Gun.
The existence of this weapon may be more evidence that the Galactic Federation is already developing technology similar to Samus's, or reverse-engineering her gear, prior to Metroid Fusion. However, Freeze Guns appear to operate in a largely different manner to the Chozo's Ice Beam, namely by shooting some form of chemical freezing agent stored in a tank in front of the weapon's trigger.
Trivia[]
- The Freeze Gun is carried in a holster on the right leg similar to Samus's own Paralyzer.
- The sequence that allows MB to be killed is similar to the method required to kill a Metroid larva, in which both are first frozen prior to inflicting the finishing blow with a different weapon.
- The effect of the Freeze Gun seems to be stronger than that of Samus's Ice Beam, as a single shot is able to freeze a Magdollite solid, while it requires a fully charged shot of the Ice Beam just to freeze over a Magdollite's mouth. However, this could be gameplay physics, as the Power Beam in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is much stronger in cutscenes than it is in actual gameplay.
- Although they are capable of freezing their opponents solid, anyone that is frozen solid from the Freeze Guns do not actually shatter when shot by weapons, which is demonstrated with MB's death, where her body remains largely intact despite the manner in which she dies.