Actually, according to Kensuke Tanabe, who was involved with the Prime series and personally oversaw the development of Prime Hunters, the idea for this game has been floating around for quite a while. Apparently, Tanabe has long had an interest in expanding the Metroid universe by focusing on characters other than Samus. So you can't really pull the slapping-an-established-franchise-onto-new-IP-to-make-it-sell-better card.
Plus according to the interview the controls are going to be just like Prime (or as close as they can get on the DS), so there's that to consider. However, there's no FFA and the only competitive mode is Blast Ball.
Normally, my interest would drop like a hot brick. But it's being made by Next Level Games. Who made
MARIO MOTHER****ING STRIKERS.
Also link to the interview I was reading:
http://kotaku.com/everything-we-could-find-out-about-that-new-metroid-gam-1712003930
EDIT: It is worth mentioning that in the interview Tanabe said that Metroids and Samus would be in the game, but he doesn't discuss any details on that.