Metroid Prime 3: Corruption


Platform: Wii
Multiplayer: No
Online play: No
Developed by: Retro Studios/Nintendo
Published by: Nintendo
Genre: First Person shooter
Controls: Wiimote and Nunchuk

Pros and cons
+ Some of the best graphics on the Wii
+ Ultimate FPS controls
+ Great Puzzles
+ Less confusing
- Wifi features are stupid
- I wish it lasted a bit longer

I never really liked the previous Prime games to be honest, well I thought Metroid Prime Hunters was pretty good but that wasn't really a Prime game was it? It didnt follow the prime storyline at all, it had no metroids, no space pirates, no Dark Samus. This is a true Prime game and it does follow the storyline, but this time I actually like it.
This is supposedly the last Prime game in the metroid series, hopefully not the last 3D one. Anyway I should go through what I didnt like about previous Prime games. Metroid Prime: graphics are good, sound is good, good storyline. Pretty good so far but then play the actually game... look at that, you have to stop moving to aim your gun... theres so many platforms that this is some kind of Platform/FPS hybrid that escaped from the lab. You lose all your items near the start except the power beam, and the stuff you can do is very restricted, gaining the items again is very slow. Not that, that was a bad thing, it was just a bit annoying. Metroid Prime 2: graphics are even better, the music is even better, again good storyline. Dodgy controls are still there. Still annoyling difficult and now a new (guess what) annoying ammo system.
But enough about that, this is the future. There are robots that can run now, theres windows vista, and Microsoft have made an Xbox that doesnt break down, no wait thats not right. Well anyway things have changed now and Nintendo have learnt the error of its ways. The Wiimote and Nunchuk make for the possibly the best FPS controls i've ever used. It gives you so much freedom, you point and shoot, its quite as simple as that. Dont think its that simple though, every button on the Wiimote and Nunchuk is used and used well it is. The motion sensor is used as well as the pointer so you can cast out the grapple beam with the nunchuk and then pull it back to do some damage, you would the grapple beam to pull away debris and shields most of the time. You twist the wii remote left and right on some switches and flick the wiimote upwards to make the morph ball jump.
So this is the third and last game of the Prime triology, the phazon corruption has caused the destruction of one planet and split another one into two, it's up to Samus to end the corruption once in for all. A big difference you will notice at the start of the game is that you can actually interact with Samus's ship interior. There's a corruption scanner, a communications thingy, thrusters (which you only use once in the game), etc. Its pretty cool. Unlike the other games you can interact with people like federation troopers. Theres voice-overs in this game but sadly Samus still doesnt have a voice. This adds alot more to the story and gives missions more depth as you receive messages from the federation about your mission. At the start of the game after you've landed the ship you navigate your way to the Admiral Danes room where your informed about your mission, you meet three other hunters (who are on your side this time) and Aurora Unit 214 which is the ships main computer. The ship is suddenly attacked by space pirates (surprise) and then your on your way. You meet your first enemys a little later on but with the Wiimote you'll dispatch of them pretty easily. Just point (Z-target if you must) and press A to shoot. You press B to jump and again to space jump in any directions. Unlike other metroid games you start off well equiped with the basic gear. You press the C button to turn into the morph ball and flick the Wiimote up to jump whilst A drops bombs. The morph-ball is mainly used to go through small spaces as it's not that good in open-warfare. The missles are here too and they pack a punch.
As I've said before the controls are very good and make shooting things extra fun and easier. The weopens system has changed too, new beams upgrade previous beams like in the Super Metroid. So instead of a magma beam and Ice beam theres the magma beam upgrade and ice missles that freeze enemys. Like in Metroid Prime Hunters there are several different planets to visit each with there own unique style and like before you will need to look in every nook and cranny to find all the secrets and complete your logbook. The basic goal on each planet is too destroy the leviathan seed to stop the scourge of phazon but first you must lower the shield. Theres different ways to do this on each planet but after doing so you face a boss. The boss's can be pretty difficult and take strategic tactics. Normal weopons wont do much damage against these enemies but with Hypermode you'll be chipping away there health. Hypermode is a state where Samus's weopons become phazon weapons and do much more damage, however it drains your health and if you stay in it for too long you become corrupted and Samus will die. So use it carefully punk.
Remember when I mentioned those hunters earlier? Well on a mission you and the hunters encounter Dark Samus, who isn't dead after the incident on Aether in Metroid Prime 2. She owns you all which a huge phazon blast and you all get infected with phazon. You wake up back on the space station wearing a different suit, a suit that uses hypermode. You find out that all the other Hunters have been equipted with these suits aswell and have went to different planets. The problem is though that they've gone missing and its up to you to find them. I think you know where this is heading as you end up having to fight them. Looks like they've been corrupted. Each hunter has there own unique ability when defeating them, you gain that ability. Sadly you dont gain Gandrayda's morphing ability. Who's Gandrayda? I think I've revealed a bit too much about the game in detail so I'll keep the Hunter's secret.
If you liked the first two prime games then I still think you'll like this one as it's absoloutly amazing. The graphics look great with a next gen shene. It's one of the best looking games on the Wii (second to Super Mario Galaxy). The music is...well ok. The gameplay has been dramatically improved with the controls and a lot less confusing and infuriating like in previous prime's. There's a good few hour's of gaming here too and even though it's a bit short you'll end up playing it again again to fully complete it. So there you go, dont waste your money on Spiderman 3 get Metroid Prime 3, the best FPS on the Wii.
James Routledge

Overall Score: 95%
Graphics: 10/10
Sound: 8/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Intuitive: 9/10
Value: 8/10

Posted on 07 Oct 2008 by KrikenKing 0 comments.