According to a report from Gamespot, "Metroid Prime: Federation Force" for the Nintendo 3DS will launch in North America this coming Aug. 19 while Europe will receive the game by Sept. 2. Nintendo confirmed the European schedule via an announcement on Twitter.
The North American release date, meanwhile, was announced during this year's PAX East event along with a press release that informs gamers attend the event that a demo is playable at the "Metroid Prime: Federation Force" booth.
"Also playable at the Nintendo booth is the Metroid Prime: Federation Force game," reads the official press release. "The sci-fi shooter that finds a squad of up to four players working together to combat space pirates launches exclusively for Nintendo 3DS on Aug. 19."
The announcement does not cite that the game is only for the New 3DS, indicating that regular 3DS units will be able to play the game. This will separate it from several titles such as "Xenoblade Chronicles 3D" which was only playable on the New 3DS.
"Metroid Prime: Federation Force" was previously unveiled during E3 2015 and was immediately met with negative response from the fans. The "Metroid" franchise was known as an action-adventure game in an open-world focusing on isolation and a mixture of science fiction and light horror themes but the new 3DS game focused entirely on multiplayer first-person shooting gameplay.
Other points of criticism spawn from the fact that the game does not feature the series' main protagonist, Samus Aran, and because of the chibi-style art design that is a very far cry from the semi-realistic, anime-inspired art of previous games.
Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, explained that the negative response to the game was akin to how fans reacted when "The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker" was first revealed. Fans did not like the cel-shaded artstyle at the time but a decade later and the game is now considered as one of the best entries in the "Zelda" franchise.
