That's the question that's been on most Metroid fan's minds since the game's story was first announced. After many delays, and much anticipation Nintendo's monster franchise, Metroid, makes it's official debut on the Nintendo DS. But can Samus still hold on to everything that made Metroid what it is today when it moves to the small screen?

We first start off with the story. As usual, Samus is getting orders from her buddies at the Galactic Federation. This time they have her investigating the Tetra Galaxy, a region of space that's just outside of the Federation's control. A strange message was received by them claiming "The secret of the ultimate power lies within the Alimbic Cluster." Whatever could that mean?

Well we know one thing's for sure, Samus is on the case. Her mission is to investigate the secret behind the Alimbics' strange message and to make sure the "Ultimate Power" doesn't fall into the wrong hands.

However this time she's not alone...

In the game itself, there's a little competition besides the normal creatures and defense mechanisms plastered throughout the many tunnels of the game. There's also five deadly bounty hunters that are aiming to take the power for themselves. Spire, Weavel, Sylux, Trace and Kanden. Each hunter has his own special abilities, and each one wants to take Samus out. They'll appear at points of the game to challenge Samus.

The game consists of planets which you will travel around to get the many upgrades and artifacts that'll progress the story. Each planet has it's own unique environment. The puzzles are quite fun, but there's so many of them you'll probably find yourself more frustrated as the game goes on. The graphics aren't too bad for a DS game, and the cinema scenes are pretty well done. There's alot of story behind this game and the bosses are still bigger than ever, and about as hard as battles inMetroid Prime.

Multiplayer is where the game truly shines though. You can play with four other people using one cart, multiple carts, or over Nintendo's WiFi network. You can choose between Samus, and the other six hunters, each with their own unique abilities. For example, Spire's weapon burns the target for a short amount of time after a charged shot hits.

There's seven game types to choose from:

Battle: Basically the one with the most kills wins.

Survival: The last one standing wins.

Bounty: It's almost like capture the flag, you take this object known as the Octolith to a certain point and earn points. Most points wins.

Defender: Defend a certain spot for a set amount of time.

Prime Hunter: The first person to kill someone gets the title Prime Hunter, then players will have to kill that player to receive the title. Whoever has the title at the end of the round, or who ever held the title the longest wins.

Capture: Attack the enemy's base and take their Octoliths and rush back to your own base. Most points wins again.

Nodes: Fight over Nodes placed in the stage. You stand on one for ten seconds and capture it. Whoever has the most nodes wins.

The game controls are rather flaky, and possibly the one thing I really hate and love about the game. They take some getting used to, but once you get the hang of it(using the stylus to look around, while you move and shoot with the D-Pad and L button) it almost feels natural. The controls are user friendly no matter what hand they use to write with, but I'd recommend not going into the multiplayer mode without first being used to the controls.

Overall, the game's pretty decent for a portable FPS. It still has the shaky controls from First Hunt, but it's vastly improved. The game's worth it for it's multiplayer alone. The single player is rather lengthy for a DS game, but is lacking when compared to the multiplayer. Overall Hunters has snagged it's bounty and gets a whopping recommendation from me.