It's safe to say that Metroid Prime Hunters marks the next-level in gaming on the Nintendo DS. As happens in all new game system lifecycles, NDS games have clearly entered that treasured "second generation," where developers have mastered the new technology at hand and are no longer concentrating on making something good- or novel-enough to make the grade, but something great, something spectacular, something that pushes the heretofore-untested limits of a new system. And who better to usher in the new era than Samus Aran, the armor clad, visor dependant, cannon toting heroine with a penchant for playing human-pinball from time to time in a drop-dead gorgeous sci-fi shooter of impeccable pedigree?

You're her in Hunters, out to collect octolithic baubles dispersed across different worlds, each with its own set of pitfalls, unlockable areas and way too many hidden keys by which to unlock them (can you say "backtrack much"?). All the while with six other bounty hunters on your tail, likewise covetous of those octo-baubles, equal to your prowess and likely to pilfer your booty and then you're off to hunt the hunter and get your gizmo back.

In that way, Metroid Prime Hunters plays wide open; a fairly straight up "collecting all that is collectible" mandate but with no strict order to it all - with lots of shooting, exploring, inventory management, menu juggling, story-snippet reading and the blowing up of stuff in between. It's never quite the same game twice, considering all the variables, skirmish outcomes and the choose-your-own-itinerary options. And that's a perplexingly good thing. Quick fix gaming this isn't.

Though first-person shooters (FPS) don't usually work too well in the itty bitty button-lite portable format, the unique duality of the DS lets your stylus be a mouse and the lower, touch-sensitive screen a mouse pad for some fairly faithful FPS-centricities - even if you're a lefty (which also means you're bright, attractive and charming). Takes some getting used to, mind you, and you need to put the thing on your knee or a tabletop when the tap-and-stroke firefights get intense, but the d-pad control configuration suffices nicely at any rate, so you can skip the scribble-aim option altogether.

Hunters also boasts a big fat online multiplayer component for up to four players locally or free online over Nintendo WiFi Connection. Not just add-on, throwaway online modes either; fully fleshed-out deathmatch, capture-the-bauble and king-of-the-hill components that could stand alone yet are just a part of the whole package - the part that screams "longevity," too, making Metriod Prime Hunters the Halo of portable systems.

TIPS: You can unlock and then play as any of the other hunters in Metroid Prime Hunters by defeating each one in single player mode or, in multiplayer, defeat someone playing as one of them.

Simply playing multiplayer Hunters on a local network will unlock more arenas. E.g., 4 local games opens the Compression Chamber, 16 the Council Chamber and twenty-two unlocks Fault Line arena.