When i first heard the move to first person with Metroid Prime, i was worried. Whats said here is pleasing to say the least, i have high hopes that this will be an excellent game. But weather it really can retain the feeling of past 2D metroid games i'm not entirely certain. I think i'm going to have to get this game to find out for myself. The visor really sounds like a good idea, here's a screen shot which demonstrates the visor (not sure if anyone else has seen this, it was in my nintendo gamecube newsletter i get emailed):
and the talk of exploration is also a good thing, this will certainly help keep the feel of metroid. More information about the 3rd person mode would help give me a clearer picture of weather this will feel like a metroid game. But either way, i still think this will be a very good game which i will buy.