http://wii.ign.com/articles/815/815424p1.html

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption Review
Has Retro Studios made Wii's best game? We've journeyed across the
galaxy to find out.
by Matt Casamassina


August 27, 2007 - Five years ago, the first-person adventure Metroid
Prime re-invented Nintendo's famous science-fiction franchise about a
space-traveling female bounty hunter. Now, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
has re-invented the way the series is played, unarguably for the
better. If you were on board Samus Aran's Hunter-Class Gunship for the
critically acclaimed first outing and its sequel, you will be ready
for the third and final act in the trilogy because, at least from a
design standpoint, there haven't been too many major changes. The
heroine still explores exotic alien terrain and fights fearsome alien
creatures, and the re-traversal backbone that has powered Metroid
projects since the NES classic that started it all remains completely
and thankfully intact. So if you've never liked these titles,
Corruption probably isn't going to make you a believer, even with its
enhanced graphics and spectacular new controls. If, on the other hand,
you'd rather play with Samus than, say, Master Chief, Retro's Wii-
overhauled new addition to the Prime family is going to take you on a
great, satisfying ride that you won't soon forget. Indeed, as far as
we're concerned, the Texas-based studio has made Wii's best game.

Corruption is the evolution of the Prime series and a game that is
very highly polished in nearly every respect. It's got better control.
Better pacing. Better visuals. Better cinematics. And better bonuses.
Yet, even with all of these improvements, it still feels and looks
very familiar to its predecessors, which is both a statement of praise
and criticism. You will recognize the blueprint and style of a winning
formula and at the same time time you aren't likely to experience the
downpour of surprises that overwhelmed you upon playing the original
Prime -- an endeavor that brought Samus into the third dimension
without sacrificing the guts of the 2D efforts. There is also no
getting around the fact that 2002's Prime featured cutting-edge
graphics for its time and Corruption instead boasts cutting-edge
graphics on Wii. What Retro has done with Nintendo's underpowered
console is nothing short of amazing, of course, but if you dare to
compare Prime 3's visuals to games beyond Wii, you'll notice a chasm
in technology. The artistry? We'd pit it against anything on the high-
definition-ready consoles with confidence.

If you've never played a Metroid Prime game before, we'll give you the
footnotes now. You jump into the armored shoes of Samus Aran, a stoic-
cool blonde heroine who lets her beams do the talking. As the most
trusted bounty hunter in the business, she's regularly contracted by
the galactic Federation to do battle with Space Pirates, an evil race
of menacing aliens obsessed with life-draining blobs called Metroids
and a toxic substance called Phazon. Metroid games always start Samus
off devoid of any major abilities and challenge you to upgrade her as
you explore atmospheric locales. You'll see places that you cannot
enter or reach along the way and you'll know that, just as soon as you
get the right weapon or item, you'll eventually have to come back to
those areas. This happens to be a very intentional design choice and
also one that you either love or hate. Let's be honest, though: if
you'd rather just shoot stuff, the Metroid franchise has never been
for you and the Prime games are no different. Still, some players have
over the years made a valid point that Samus always starts at zero and
that it's grown tiresome. They've also noted that the re-traversal
nature of the offerings can be tedious because the worlds are so
large. Corruption addresses both complaints and it's a better game for
it. We'll get to that, but permit us to start at the beginning.


Prime 3 kicks off with cinematic flair as Samus awakens from a
cryogenic sleep and lands on the S.S. Olympus. Aran doesn't have
anything to say, but the troops and hunters on the ship do and their
lines are delivered by way of well-acted voice work, a welcomed
surprise given Nintendo's resistance to such audio in the majority of
its titles. The voices continue throughout the game, adding ambience
and an extra layer of realism to situations. A giant-sized organic
super-computer known as the Aurora Unit guides Aran through the
majority of the adventure with helpful instruction, all of it
delivered quite brilliantly via voice. Combined with a bevy of
atmospheric and well-choreographed cut-scenes, the storyline in Prime
3 takes shape and flows much more smoothly and believably than it has
in previous titles. At one moment, you're gliding across a caged
platform in a cinematic designed to mask a level load time and in
another, you're fighting alongside Federation Troopers in a scene that
seems inspired by something out of Halo. We've made an effort to keep
our written review relatively spoiler free so we're going to refrain
from posting more detailed specifics, but Aran's quest will take her
across the galaxy to several planets and ships, she will meet up with
some recognizable hunters, do battle with Dark Samus and strive to
keep from becoming corrupted herself. (To learn and see much more, be
sure to watch our spoiler-filled video review.) The yarn that Retro
has spun is not exceptionally original, nor is it altogether deep, but
it does drive the action and it also gives fans a little more than
they're received before.


Retro's new game is a visual stunner. In fact, it's the best looking
title on Nintendo's system to date, a feat made possible through truly
awesome art design and a profound knowledge of Wii's technology. Prime
3 comes alive thanks to an updated 3D engine that draws larger, more
detailed environments, more particle effects, crisper textures, and
layered backgrounds such as rooms with crisscrossing piping systems
beneath half-broken tiled walkways. So many first-person shooters on
more powerful consoles feature very high-resolution textures, but do
nothing with level geometry. Prime 3's levels curve and are drowned in
jutting architecture that seems different at every turn. In addition,
the title does more with bloom lighting than most games we've seen,
save for efforts like Ico. As Samus runs through a mixture of high-
tech space stations and organic earthly locales, everything from fire
and lava to gunfire, explosions and display panels are illuminated
with a neon-like hue that looks fantastic and moody. Adding to the
ambience are screen shakes, motion blur and more pronounced
reflections, like Aran's face in her visor. The game also runs in
progressive-scan and, for the first time, in 16:9 widescreen mode. The
widescreen resolution is not exactly 854x480, but something closer to
825x470, which means that it may show some thin black borders on your
screen. We suspect most people won't notice the difference. Perhaps
most impressive is that the adventure jams along at 60 frames per
second through 99.9 percent of Aran's quest. This simple truth makes a
huge difference -- it's much easier on the eyes and the hands. The
musical score by Kenji Yamamoto fits the atmosphere very well. It's
more grandiose than it's been in previous Prime titles and yet there
are some throwbacks that fans will like. For instance, when Samus
enters a beautiful snow-filled scene, a remix of the song that
originally played at the Phendrana Drifts chimes in the background.


The upgraded visuals may have come at a small price, though, because
the load times between some doorways have increased over the original
Prime and its sequel. The majority of the time -- say 95 percent --
the doorways will seamlessly open to reveal the next area, but every
so often you'll be forced to wait as long as 10 seconds for a door to
open, which breaks the momentum of the action. Worse, sometimes you
might have no choice but to fend off attacks from enemies like
Metroids while you wait.

In Corruption, Samus never loses her trademark abilities, which is a
relief. She begins with an arsenal of suit upgrades -- morphball,
double-jump, bombs, and a power beam -- and keeps them through the end
of the adventure. About 10 minutes in, she gains missiles, and then an
original suit, which facilitates the biggest new gameplay mechanic to
the series. The Phazon Enhancement Device or PED Suit enables Samus to
harness Phazon to jump into Hyper Mode, transforming her into a much
more powerful fighter, but at a cost. If you're not careful, you may
overload Samus with Phazon and she'll need to continually discharge
her weapon or she could die. Knowing when to jump in and out of Hyper
Mode is a skill and a necessary component to successfully advancing.
It's also fun. Simply, we dreaded traveling to the purple Dark World
in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, but in contrast, using Hyper Mode in
Corruption is incredibly satisfying because Aran's weapons do so much
damage and also because you can jump back out at any time.

Samus takes a lift across SkyTown in this quickie cut-scene, designed
to mask loads.
Aran doesn't pick up as many different weapons and visors as she does
in Echoes, but the ones she does acquire are more meaningful. For
example, Samus can now command her Gunship to attack certain points in
the worlds, to pick up some items, or merely to land nearby so that
you can save your progress. Rather than selecting between different
beams, your weapon takes on new functionality -- all of it used via a
single blast -- as you upgrade. The Nova Beam can shoot through walls,
but it can also burn ice, like the previous beam. It's a simplified
design probably developed as a workaround to the limited buttons on
the Wii remote, and yet it functions very well. To be fair, though, we
also liked the freedom of manually switching between beams in original
entry and its sequel.


You'll still explore and travel across epic environments, but re-
traversing the locations is made just a little easier thanks to
several additions. The first is that you can fly between planets or
even to different locales on a single body using Aran's Gunship. This
inclusion alone eliminates so much of the excessive cross-world back-
tracking and as a bonus it's very pretty on the eyes because the
flying cinematics are downright gorgeous. Retro has also included
shortcuts within maps so that you can, for instance, take an
underground railway to quickly jump completely across a world.
Moreover, it's much easier to traverse the lands because there is now
an on-screen 3D map in the upper-right-hand corner of the screen -- in
preceding games, you had to load a map screen. You can still do the
latter and you're also able to bookmark specific locations so that
they change color, making them easier to spot. We couldn't be happier
with the aforementioned changes. One addition we'd have liked that
isn't included, however, is on-screen arrow guidance. Even with the
visible map, you may sometimes need to enlarge it to figure out
exactly where to go and given that Retro has included a bookmarking
option, we don't see why it couldn't have also featured one for arrow
guidance for the directionally challenged, us among them.


Metroid Prime 3's new Wii-enhanced control scheme is so good and so
responsive that by comparison the original title and its sequel feel
clumsy. In fact, using the nunchuk's analog stick to control Samus
through environments as you point the Wii remote to target with speed
and accuracy obliterates just about every dual-analog control setup
currently available. If there is a game that proves the potential of
the Wii remote for first-person experiences, this is it, and our hat
is off to Retro for stepping up to the challenge when others couldn't
or wouldn't. There are three sensitivity settings available to you:
standard is designed, we think, for stupid people who may not have a
full command of their arms and hands; using it, you drag the screen
Red Steel style and movement is painfully slow. On the other side of
the spectrum is advanced mode, which comes highly recommended because
it's very precise and very responsive, two attributes integral to any
shooter. Turning around is still a little slower than it should be, in
our opinion -- a 180-degree flip takes about two and a half seconds --
and hence Corruption doesn't one-up a mouse and keyboard
configuration, but it is easily the next best thing and certainly the
ideal option for home console owners.

Retro has further capitalized on the Wii remote by identifying its
limitations and working around them. Take, for example, the new visor
selection setup. The developer might have assigned visors to the
controller's D-Pad, which would have been uncomfortable, to say the
least. Instead, you hold down the minus button and simply flick the
Wii remote left, right, or up to select between the different views, a
process that feels great. To go into Hyper Mode, you hold down the
plus button. The only downside is that missiles are mapped to D-Pad
down, which take some getting used to and never quite feels intuitive.


Zelda had fishing, but all around Prime 3 makes better use of the Wii
remote and nunchuk's motion-sensory equipment than any "hardcore" game
to date. As Samus, you will regularly be challenged to pull levers,
twist locking systems into place, press buttons, or charge pump
stations, all with the Wii remote. To twist a lock into place, you'd
pull back with the peripheral, twist left or right, and then push
forward again. Oftentimes, Wii gestures have a way of not working just
as much as they work, which tends to create a gimmicky vibe, but
thankfully this is not so in Corruption. By and large the gestures
work extremely well and are in turn highly satisfying and immersive to
perform. One of our favorites relates to using Aran's Grapple Lasso.
You cast it by first locking onto an enemy or item with the Z button
and then making a throwing motion with the nunchuk. Afterward, you
snap the attachment back to pull panels off walls, tear the tails off
some enemies or drain some stations of electricity. The only gesture
that has proven problematic relates to morphball jumping. Laying bombs
will still propel Samus upward, but you can alternatively motion up
with the Wii remote. When it's working, it's fantastic because you're
able to quickly jump while rolling, but sometimes your gestures aren't
read, which is disappointing.



If you're thinking that the new Wii controls equate to a dumbed-down
or shooter-emphasized Metroid experience, don't worry. Sure, you can
more easily target and dispose of enemies while on the run, but you
gain this benefit without any sacrifices. The bulk of Prime 3 is spent
exploring and trying to discover how to reach specific points that you
can see, as always. There are some spectacular environmental puzzles
that make great use of the the morphball, of the screw attack and of
the spiderball. There are hidden items and locations that can only be
seen with the X-ray Visor and sensor points that can only be shot with
the Nova Beam. There are areas that can only be crossed with the
Grapple Lasso, or blockades that can only be passed in Hyper Mode.
Discovering how to solve these challenges is what makes the Metroid
games fun, and Corruption retains that experience in full. On the
other hand, the action is increased over previous affairs, too.
Certain enemies require precision gunfire and you'll need to be quick
on the trigger with your Wii remote to best them. Meanwhile, the boss
fights in the game come in both mini and major sizes and are
incredibly epic and engaging. Our only complaint about the bosses, in
fact, is that the final one isn't quite as challenging as some of the
others.

Corruption runs about the same length as its predecessors, which is
impressive. It took us in the neighborhood of 20 hours to complete the
experience with a rating of 85% finished. (Your percentage goes up as
you scan more items and find more missile and energy tank pick-ups.)
The game moves at a quicker pace than other Prime outings because of
the new travel system and also because it's just slightly easier, in
our experience. This does not mean Corruption is an easy affair by any
stretch of the imagination, but yes, especially compared to Echoes the
overall difficulty has decreased, which may please or displease you
depending on your preference. You can choose to play the game in
normal or veteran difficulty, and when you complete the quest you will
unlock the gameplay-extending ultra-hard hyper difficulty, which
considerably ramps up the challenge. We're still planning to go back
and scan the remaining items and find the remaining pick-ups to up our
completion rating, which speaks volumes about how much fun it is
simply to travel the planets and look for objects you may have missed.
While we greatly enjoyed the single-player quest, it wasn't completely
perfect. At one point near the end of the game, Samus is sent on a
fetch quest to retrieve some energy cells. The quest itself is no
worse than any of those in the first two affairs, but we spent a day
looking for these cells because the game indicated hints about their
locations could be found in our logbook; as it turns out, they were
hidden away in Aran's inventory. Don't make our mistake and you'll be
much happier.

On top of your completion ranking, you can earn various medals for
successfully performing specific tasks. For instance, you'll get one
when you amass 500 kills and another for defeating certain bosses, or
for scanning lore. You can take these medals to a special extras menu
to purchase welcomed additions like a screenshot tool that enables you
to snap in-game photos and send them to friends over WiiConnect24, a
bobblehead for Aran's cockpit, new bumper stickers, or concept art and
music. This is the closest thing Prime 3 has to a full-blown
achievements system and these bonuses really do offer incentive to
play the game to the best of your ability.



Closing Comments
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption was originally set to launch with Wii, but
the year-long delay has been very much worth the wait. Call it a
first- person shooter or a first-person adventure -- doesn't matter. I
call it the best game on Nintendo's console. It is clear from the
moment you pick up the controller that Prime 3 was developed
exclusively for Wii. Not only do the new controls respond quicker and
with more precision than any dual-analog-helmed FPS ever created, but
the gesture system works brilliantly, too. Meanwhile, the title
delivers everything a Metroid fan could hope for, including
spectacular environmental puzzles, epic boss fights and intense
combat, all wrapped up in a package that spans multiple worlds and is
filled with re-traversal exploration. A cinematic storyline made
possible by beautiful art and graphics rounds out the experience,
which is complemented by a medal system and WiiConnect24
compatibility.

There are a couple of minor quibbles that keep Prime 3 from a higher
score. The first and most obvious is that the game is a sequel and
thus inherently feels familiar. While Corruption features more variety
than any of its predecessors, it's not the design revolution that the
original game was. Also, as you explore the world, you will
occasionally encounter doorways that take longer than they should to
open, as they are loading the next area. Thankfully, this is a rare
occurrence, but it does occur. And finally, while the majority of the
20-hour experience flows, there's one fetch quest that interrupts the
pace.

We rated the original Metroid Prime a 9.8 on GameCube and had
Corruption been the first game in the series it'd have been worthy of
the same score. As it stands, Samus Aran's latest adventure is a
spectacular must-own experience and one of Wii's defining games. Stop
reading and buy it.


Another Take
from Mark Bozon
For whatever reason, I was a late bloomer to the Prime series. Being a
huge 2D Metroid fan, I never really got into Prime and Echoes until
about a year back, after a brief session with Corruption hooked me.
It's now a year later, and Corruption proved it not only has what it
takes to capture the more shooter-oriented crowd, but also has enough
legs to deliver more than 20 of the most entertaining hours of
gameplay I've experienced in years. Corruption is a shooter design at
times, an adventure at others, but throughout the entire experience it
remains the number one reason to own a Wii. The presentation is simply
beautiful, the gameplay is more responsive and precise than any
console experience to date, and the final product is the best on the
system, period. If this really is the final chapter of the Prime saga,
Retro went out with one hell of a bang, as Corruption is an absolute
must-have on Wii, and the best of the series.

IGN Ratings for Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii)

out of 10

10 	Presentation
The best yet in the Prime series, Corruption comes to life with
atmoshperic cinemas and voice acting. Meanwhile, a medal system and
WiiConnect24 support offer great incentive to keep playing.

9.5 	Graphics
Currently, Wii's best looking game. Retro's artistic sense is second
to none. Prime 3 includes a welcomed variety of gorgeous planets to
explore and runs in 480p / 16:9 at 60 frames per second.

10 	Sound
The score by Kenji Yamamoto is as moody as ever, even featuring
throwbacks to some previous games. The sound effects are punchy and
the voice acting is well implemented.

9.5 	Gameplay
Spectacular. Controls better than any console first-person game before
it, features great pacing and a fun mix of puzzles and shooting. In
contrast, there's a tedious fetch quest and some door loads.

9.0 	Lasting Appeal
At 20-plus hours, it stands tall next to the other Prime games. The
single-player affair is a little easier, but you can extend replay by
scanning everything or playing again in Hyper Mode.

9.5 Incredible 	OVERALL
(out of 10 / not an average)

Gametrailers Review

 http://www.gametrailers.com/gamereview.php?id=1979



Trilogies don't always end well. Often times the concept loses steam
long before the third installment or the producers simply run out of
creative juice. This appeared to be the case with the Metroid Prime
franchise. While the first was a groundbreaking achievement, the
second lacked the spark that separates the elite games from the good
ones. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is finally here, but does it
continue the downward slope or ascend?

Story

If you completed the prior two Prime games, then it's no secret that
Samus was infected with Phazon. This is what Metroid Prime 3 is all
about. At the game's outset there's a setup involving several super
computers that have been infected with a virus, and it's up to Samus
to provide the cure. But this is really just a superficial front, as
the crux of the prose is really about Samus' struggle to control the
phazon running through her veins.

Prime 3 includes a ton of voice acting and plenty of cinemas,
certainly giving it a more commercial appeal. At the same time, these
elements do not completely invade the experience and rip away the
feeling of desolation that has always pervaded the series. There's a
lot of exposition off the top, the middle of the game settles into a
nice, Metroid-esc groove, and then at the end things are tied together
in a mind-ripping conclusion. While the bump in production values is
nice, a lot of the dialogue is rather trite. There are a few slight
twists and turns, but for the most part, the story is typical Metroid
fare. Meaning, you'll get a much more meaningful experience out of
scanning and reading logs than watching the movies.

Design

The biggest design change is in how you start the game. Instead of
Samus losing all her powers, she's adequately equipped out of the
gate. But that doesn't mean that she doesn't finish the game with a
plethora of upgrades. Nothing could be farther from the truth. We
don't want to ruin anything, but suffice to say that all of her
classic abilities, and some brand new ones, are front and center and
executed flawlessly.

In prior Prime games Samus would end up collecting a number of
different beam types. Here they all basically function the same, minus
a color swap and the ability to open new areas for passage. To remedy
this, an old standby, the ice beam, has been converted to a missile
attack. Once you've collected a new beam, it inherits all the
abilities of the prior beams, and therefore there's no need, or
ability, to go back to the older armaments.

Corruption is a much more neatly arranged package than the prior two
games. Instead of there being one huge, confusing world, there's a
handful of planets that the bounty hunter must visit along her quest.
The areas on each planet are much more compact--and much easier to
understand--especially when you're looking at the wireframe map.
Samus' ship is used to get from planet to planet-with multiple landing
points on each one--and a number of other things. More on that later.

Backtracking was something that received a good deal of criticism in
Prime 2, and to a lesser extent, in the first game. It's definitely
present in Corruption, and it wouldn't be a Metroid game without it,
but with succinct levels and maps, it's struck a near-perfect balance.

Where objectives are concerned, they run the gamut from investigating
energy spikes, defeating certain enemies, defending allies, and more.
There's a checkpoint system that's used, allowing you to continue your
game from the last significant event instead of starting from the last
save point, which helps curb the frustration. The game moves at a
breakneck pace the majority of the time, but then at the end you're
forced to go on a pointless scavenger hunt that grinds things to a
halt. It's a shame because the four or five hours leading up to this
are some of the greatest moments in gaming ever burned onto a disc.

There's little doubt that Metroid Prime 3 has been designed to make it
more approachable for the average player. The backtracking has been
streamlined, mission objectives are clear, upgrades to weapons and
powerups come at a fast and furious pace, and it's all the better for
it. Clocking in at a good 20 hours of play time, it gives you plenty
of value for your money as well.

Gameplay

The first Metroid Prime was revolutionary for its lock-on system, and
Prime 3 should be viewed in the same light for its targeting. All the
promises of sublime first-person controls on the Wii come to fruition
here, and simply put, it proves that there's no better control option
on any console.

You can still lock onto enemies, but you can also fine tune your aim.
The default sensitivity is perfect. You'll be picking off the smallest
of enemies from a distance with pinpoint accuracy after just a few
minutes of play, and you'll never want to play a shooter with dual
analog sticks ever again. It's that good. The one issue is the aiming
reticle. Because the game is so colorful and frenetic, it can
sometimes blend into the background, making it difficult to line up
shots. This aside, the projectile combat is simply incredible.

The other Wii-specific controls don't fare quite as well. You'll be
doing everything from flipping switches to shaking off enemies, but
like a lot of other Wii games, it has problems picking up when the
controller is getting closer to or farther away from the screen. It
can be annoying, but thankfully it's not a huge part of the gameplay,
and you're never under duress when trying to make it work. It wouldn't
be a Metroid game without the morph ball, and Corruption gives you
just enough of Samus' spherical form without going overboard.

There are four different visors in the game, and you get the typical
combat and scan shields, but there's also an X-ray visor, and most
importantly, the command visor. This allows you to control Samus' ship
and you'll be surprised at just how versatile it can be. Not only can
you call it in for bombing runs, but you can also use it as a portable
save point if you find a landing pad, as a platform to reach new
areas, and much more. You'll find yourself building a bond with the
ship throughout the course of the game, which is something you rarely
see in games. Swapping visors is a snap, and overall, the way
Corruption handles so many commands with just a few buttons is worthy
of commendation.

In another nod to commercial viability, on its default setting,
Metroid Prime 3 doesn't present much of a challenge. Most bosses can
be defeated in the first try, and you'll rarely die from combat-
related injuries. This is because of the brand new hyper mode. By
holding down the plus button, you can send phazon coursing through
Samus' body, sending her into a vicious rage. The game's most feared
enemies can be decimated with just a few blasts, and it quickly
becomes a crutch to lean on anytime the chips are down.

Quibbling issues aside, playing Metroid Prime 3 can be a near-
religious experience. This is one of those games where everything
comes together and just clicks. The learning curve is slight, the
targeting is razor sharp, and the action is practically non-stop.

Presentation

It's almost assumed that more polygons, shaders, and particle effects
make a better looking game, but Metroid Prime 3 proves that art trumps
all. Easily the most visually impressive Wii game, it can hold its own
against any title on any other platform. It runs like greased
lighting, never pausing or stuttering, despite whipping the poor
little Wii's processor into a tizzy. Not to say it's not technically
impressive, though. It's pushing loads of geometry, all while
displaying incredible particles, transparencies, bloom, and much more.
It's one of those games that looks better and better the farther you
go, motivating you to turn that next corner to view the next
breathtaking vista. After a couple hours with Corruption, Nintendo's
theory of gameplay over graphics will start to make a whole lot of
sense.

Conclusion

The original Metroid Prime is one of the highest-rated games in
existence, but Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is easily superior. It's
far less frustrating, and more action packed, while managing to
redefine console shooting controls in the process. Hardcore Metroid
purists may cry foul, but for everyone else, this is the Metroid we've
been waiting for with literally dozens of set piece moments that will
grip you up, shake you around, and leave you begging for more. It has
it all, and while no game is perfect, this one comes darned close.

Scores
Story: 8.5
Design: 9.3
Gameplay: 9.8
Overall: 9.6


_____________________________________________________________________________


1Up Review




 Reviews: Metroid Prime 3

By Mark MacDonald  08/26/2007


"It's (as if) the best title from five years in the future fell
through a time warp."

That was me, reviewing the original Metroid Prime on its release in
the fall of 2002. The funny thing is, playing Metroid Prime 3:
Corruption almost five years later, it often does feel like the same
game. Fortunately, that's a compliment: the franchise may have lost
its spot on the bleeding-edge of modern gaming, but the changes
Corruption makes to the series' rock-solid core still add up to
something special.

Before we launch into the details, a quick Prime primer: the self-
proclaimed "first-person adventure" trilogy puts you in the helmet of
galactic bounty-hunter hottie Samus Aran for a mission in the Zelda/
Castlevania mold -- explore an area, fight a few enemies, gain a skill
to open up a new section, explore that area, etc. Sprinkle in simple
lock-and-key-style puzzles and epic boss battles and you've got Prime
in a nutshell.

But as with any first-party Wii game, Corruption shakes up (or waggles
side-to-side) this tried-and-true formula a bit, mostly in terms of
control. Here's how it works: The Wii remote is used both to aim and
turn your view (by "pushing" the crosshair against any edge of the
screen); the nunchuk's analog stick moves your character (forward,
back, strafe left and right). Imagine your standard PC shooter mouse-
and-keyboard setup, plus a view lock-on system (Z button), and
crosshair that doesn't always stay in the middle of the screen.

Confused? Don't worry, it probably won't click until you try it
yourself, and even then, the first couple hours are disorienting. But
given time (and a couple menu tweaks -- the "advanced" sensitivity
option helps a lot), frustration melts into appreciation for what this
new setup makes possible: kick-ass combat.

By separating your view lock-on and aiming crosshair for the first
time, Corruption lets you exercise deeper shooting skills. As always,
enemies and the excellent bosses require all of Samus' different
abilities (props for creative use of the grapple beam this time), but
now you also need steady nerves and quick reflexes to aim your shots.
A few novel puzzles even test your trigger finger. It's like an
intense light-gun shooter made sweet, sweaty love to the old Prime
scheme, but even better (and far less bizarre) than that sounds. And
if it's all too much, you can always opt for the old, simpler setup
(though maybe you should just stick to Wii Play...wuss.)


Other minor control issues sadly have no easy fix -- the Wii-mote's
directional pad (down launches missiles) and minus button (used to
switch visors -- more on those later) were not designed for use in the
heat of fast action like Corruption's combat. Retro made a brave
attempt to minimize the impact of the Wii's low button count by doing
away with weapon swapping (missiles gain ice power, your beam adds new
properties on top of old), and again, the scheme works better with
practice, but you'll finish the game still wishing it had a couple
more buttons to work with.

Enough of the quibbles -- let's get into Corruption's major
accomplishment: the graphics. Or should I say, the artwork. After a
few relatively simple early areas, Corruption blooms into colorful and
elaborate designs that are thick with atmosphere. The veiny organic
walls of a living spaceship pulse and blink at Samus' squishy
footsteps; strobe lights and giant steaming tubes give a
claustrophobic enemy stronghold a foreboding you feel in your gut;
rusty machines creak and whir to life, their intricate clockwork
mechanics telling the story of an ancient alien culture better than
text or a voiceover ever could.

Amazing as it is to say about a Wii game, Corruption contains some of
the best visuals in gaming, period. It can't always mask the
hardware's technical limitations (pixelation every time you're up
close waiting for a door to open, for example), but in most cases the
lighting, attention to detail, and wonderfully cohesive and
imaginative art direction more than make up for the Wii's lack of raw
horsepower. Put it this way: I found myself wandering through rooms
two or three times just to look at them. How many games on any system
can you say that about?

Speaking of seeing rooms multiple times, fans will be happy to hear
that backtracking is generally improved, with a couple exceptions: a
confusing system of identical-looking bridges on one planet, and a
major fetch-quest errand tacked on near the end of the game (no one
got the memo about Prime 2's infamously lame key-gathering?). Overall,
though, you'll run far fewer laps through the same areas, and find
better payoffs when you do.

Finally, a quick word (OK, paragraph...maybe two) on scanning. The
visor system -- a set of graphic filters that bring out hidden level
elements -- returns in Corruption, for better and for worse. On the
one hand, a few seconds scanning an object can offer help when you get
stuck, and gives more "fastidious" gamers (i.e. anal-retentive
achievement whores) a completist itch to scratch. Also, Corruption
adds the best reason to scan yet -- certain items give bonus tokens
you can redeem to unlock goodies like music tracks, concept art, and
other cool items like a screenshot tool and Mii bobblehead.


On the other hand, making scans more valuable encourages players to
miss out on that art I was gushing about. If you're like me, you'll
waste a good chunk of time wandering through Corruption with its
breathtaking environments reduced to a gray-and-black mishmash,
searching for big blue or red objects to scan. Walking into any new
enemy or room your first thought is not to appreciate it, but, again,
to scan everything. Also, being forced to analyze anything just to use
it (like a door, so you can then open it), is just plain weak.
Thankfully that's rare, as are my other complaints with ship-travel
delays and the lag when jumping in morph ball mode.

On the whole, Corruption takes advantage of the Wii's biggest strength
(with its unique controls), and minimizes its greatest weakness
(through astounding art direction), while otherwise maintaining or
improving upon the high standards and overall polish the series is
known for. No predictions for five years down the road this time, just
one for this fall: load a fresh pair of batteries into the controller,
dust off the Wii, and surrender a week of your life to Corruption --
you won't be sorry.

AirRaid wrote:
> http://wii.ign.com/articles/815/815424p1.html
> 
> Metroid Prime 3: Corruption Review
> Has Retro Studios made Wii's best game? We've journeyed across the
> galaxy to find out.
> by Matt Casamassina
> 

I'm sure it's good, I liked the first in the Prime series. But I don't 
trust reviews anymore. Not since I got burnt with Bioshock. 10/10 across 
the board? What a load of rubbish.

"Bion"  wrote in message 
news:HY6dnYzCAqSvrU7bnZ2dnUVZ8sKlnZ2d@pipex.net...
> AirRaid wrote:
>> http://wii.ign.com/articles/815/815424p1.html
>>
>> Metroid Prime 3: Corruption Review
>> Has Retro Studios made Wii's best game? We've journeyed across the
>> galaxy to find out.
>> by Matt Casamassina
>>
>
> I'm sure it's good, I liked the first in the Prime series. But I don't 
> trust reviews anymore. Not since I got burnt with Bioshock. 10/10 across 
> the board? What a load of rubbish.

Some people don't like french fries, either.

Bion  wrote in news:HY6dnYzCAqSvrU7bnZ2dnUVZ8sKlnZ2d@pipex.net:

 
> I'm sure it's good, I liked the first in the Prime series. But I don't 
> trust reviews anymore. Not since I got burnt with Bioshock. 10/10 across 
> the board? What a load of rubbish.

Huh ? Bioshock clearly deserved 10/10, it's an awesome game, best FPS yet 
on the 360! I guess you're right to avoid Metroid Prime as well based on 
your "logic" :P

The only game i have ever been "burned on" was Metroid Hunters for the
DS.  IGN gave it a really good review and I just couldn't stand the
controls and the linear format of the game.  For MP3 though, I am
almost certain that I will not be disappointed, I will find out
tomorrow.

On a side note,  Many places online show the release date of MP3 to be
today, the 27th, however not one store around me was selling it.  Even
one store i went to, the guy opened up a full case of them to check i
they had them, and then told me he wasn't allowed to sell me one,
which is ok, I can wait.  He even seemed to rub it in by saying he
couldn't even let me see the game.  Anyone buy the game today?

Paul C. wrote:
> Bion  wrote in news:HY6dnYzCAqSvrU7bnZ2dnUVZ8sKlnZ2d@pipex.net:
> 
>  
>> I'm sure it's good, I liked the first in the Prime series. But I don't 
>> trust reviews anymore. Not since I got burnt with Bioshock. 10/10 across 
>> the board? What a load of rubbish.
> 
> Huh ? Bioshock clearly deserved 10/10, it's an awesome game, best FPS yet 
> on the 360! I guess you're right to avoid Metroid Prime as well based on 
> your "logic" :P

Logic? All I said was that I don't trust reviews anymore! I'll try 
before I buy next time.

I haven't played Bioshock on the 360. Possibly it's an FPS which plays 
better on a console.

On the PC, I found the combat unsatisfying, the hacking tedious, the 
sound repetitive, and the graphics poor in many respects.

I loved the artistic style, but for some reason the developers have 
placed a layer of cartoon on top of this original style. The cartoon 
blood, the glowing characters and environment completely destroys the 
mood of the game. It’s not that I don’t like cartoon, (Wind Waker is one 
my favourite games), but Bioshock to me is a mish mash of styles, and 
not a convincing game world at all.

The cartoon effect extends to the character animations. Enemies running, 
or more accurately, gliding around in circles. There’s no solidity. I 
understand the enemies are mostly crazed people, but even Resident Evil 
4 feels more solid and believable.

I dunno, it’s a strange game. Normally I'm in tune with reviews, but imo 
this game has received a lot of undeserved hype and praise. The scores 
suggests it’s an all-time classic, but once everyone has calmed down I 
don’t think it’ll ever be seen in the same light as say, Half-life or Zelda.

"Bion"  wrote in message 
news:nO2dnZZwifc8ZU7bnZ2dnUVZ8qminZ2d@pipex.net...
>
> I loved the artistic style, but for some reason the developers have placed 
> a layer of cartoon on top of this original style. The cartoon blood, the 
> glowing characters and environment completely destroys the mood of the 
> game. It’s not that I don’t like cartoon, (Wind Waker is one my favourite 
> games), but Bioshock to me is a mish mash of styles, and not a convincing 
> game world at all.

It struck me as being a very convincing 'Alice in Wonderland' type world.

Bion wrote:
> AirRaid wrote:
> 
>> http://wii.ign.com/articles/815/815424p1.html
>>
>> Metroid Prime 3: Corruption Review
>> Has Retro Studios made Wii's best game? We've journeyed across the
>> galaxy to find out.
>> by Matt Casamassina
>>
> 
> I'm sure it's good, I liked the first in the Prime series. But I don't 
> trust reviews anymore. Not since I got burnt with Bioshock. 10/10 across 
> the board? What a load of rubbish.

Edge gave it am 8/10. Their criticisms were accurate - basically: 
Portions of the game are mundane, the killing of the little sisters has 
almost no effect etc. Said theat the whole game was dissapointing, the 
good bits were so good the rest of it had a hard time living up to it.

On Aug 27, 4:12 pm, Bion  wrote:
> AirRaid wrote:
> >http://wii.ign.com/articles/815/815424p1.html
>
> > Metroid Prime 3: Corruption Review
> > Has Retro Studios made Wii's best game? We've journeyed across the
> > galaxy to find out.
> > by Matt Casamassina
>
> I'm sure it's good, I liked the first in the Prime series. But I don't
> trust reviews anymore. Not since I got burnt with Bioshock. 10/10 across
> the board? What a load of rubbish.

I would agree that Bioshock was overhyped some, but I personally
consider it a Game of the Year nominee.

- Rich