Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

This is the first Metroid Prime I actually beat.  I got 2/3s of the way into the first Metroid Prime, I got the final boss in Metroid Prime 2, and I gave up after about 2 weeks with Metroid Prime Hunters.  

The first Metroid Prime was amazing for the time, but in retrospect, the controls are a bit clunky, and the scanning sucks.  Metroid Prime 2 fixed all the problems of the first game, but it didn't advance much beyond that.  It was basically the same game.

Metroid Prime 3 feels like a new game.  They added storyline to this one.  While not a great storyline, it's still nice to know whats actually happening.  I love the addition of separate planets, rather than one giant one.  The ability to use your ship for puzzles and battle is cool too.  

The controls, especially how easy it is to switch visors, are perfect.  All the subtle Wiimote stuff added to this game really imerses yourself into the world.  I love the lock on / strafing.  The camera works just as you want it to.  Shooting is fun.  They really didn't skip a beat with this game.  


----------Battle System----------
Metroid Prime 3 is a hybrid First Person Shooter, Platformer and Adventurey game.  While the previous games had a lock on feature that pretty much hit your target no matter what.  In Metroid Prime 3 (and Metroid Prime Hunters), it's more of a skill based First Person Shooter.  You can still lock on to your enemies, but it's only useful for strafing.  Locking on will only lock onto the general direction of the enemy.  This means, if you want to shoot that enemy, then you need to point directly at it.  

Like the previous Metroid games, or Zelda or Castlevania, you start off with a few basic skills, then you slowly but surely progress through the world.  You'll encounter locked off areas or unreachable items that you'll need to skill until you have the power to reach or unlock them.  

You get most of the same weapons from the previous.  Actually, they start you off with plenty of the basic stuff you had to learn in the previous games, and they don't take them away either.  The biggest change in this game is the Phazon ability.  This changes Samus' suit and weapon style into a light attack.  Each time you turn into a Phazon suit, you lose health, so you have to do it wisely.  The Phazon suit has a number of uses though.

Boss fights in this game are not as fun as the previous Metroid Prime games though.  Mostly because they have a HUGE amount of HP, and you can only attack them during certain periods.  They're always invulnerable to your attacks until a certain spot.  This means, you have to wait for them to attack you in a pattern, then attack when it's the right time.  However, that window is usually short and if you screw up or don't do enough damage, then you have to wait through the entire pattern again.  The boss battles seem way to long for all the wrong reasons.  However, the very first boss you fight was good, and the final boss was good too, and neither ran into the problems I mentioned earlier.

The Wiimote functions are used to a bare minimum and that's a good thing.  Like most FPS on the Wii, you can point at the screen and shoot. Duh.  There are only a few waggle bits in the game though.  The most notable is the grapple.  To use the grapple, you need to shake your Nunchuck, while locked on to a monster or grappling hook.  This can be interesting while in battle though.  Some monsters will carry shields, some monsters have weak points that require the grapple to expose them.  It's a simple thing but it works.

There's a minigame that requires you to weld by pointing your gun at a circuit board, while you weld it together.  A couple enemies require you to shake them off by shaking the Wiimote and Nunchuck together.  My favorite motion in the game is using the Wiimote to press buttons on computers (yeah its simple) and pulling levers or pulling objects.  The little things like that really suck you in.  


----------Characters / Story----------
The story is not what you play a Metroid Prime game for.  Basically, you're Samus again, and your team of Bounty Hunters are sent to various planets to investigate various alien activity.  Samus was even taken down by Dark Samus (not sure if it's the same Dark Samus from MP2) and injected with some Phazon disease.

This is the most story I've seen in a Metroid Prime game.  While it's not bad, it's hard effects the game.  It's just there.


----------Graphics----------
The graphics are extremely impressive.  I espcially love the open areas where you can view long distances.  Not only is this a very artistically good looking game, but a technical one too.  The NPCs move a bit stiffly though, but otherwise, the graphics hold up really freaking well.


----------Sound----------
Like the previous Metroid Prime games, the music is outstanding.  Unlike the previous Metroid Prime games, there's actually voice acting in the game.  Well, there was some made up moon language stuff in Metroid Prime 2, but this game has full voice work with human NPCs.  So that's a nice step up.


----------World Map----------
The world map is alot like Metroid Prime Hunters. Instead of one large planet like in the first Metroid Prime or traversing through dimensions in Metroid Prime II, this time you're traveling to planet to planet.  

Your ship comes into play more often in this game too.  Each planet as multiple landing spots.  You can actually use your ship to call in airstrikes against enemies (or even puzzles) and you can use your ship to lift up large objects.  

Since the game is segregated into planets, the game feels a little more linear than the previous Metroid Primes.  This could be a good or a bad thing, depending on your perspective.  I liked this change actually.  It made the game a little more bearable and easier to "pick up and play" than the previous Metroid Primes.  


----------Time to Complete Game---------
Total Time: 22:31
Mission Complete: 97%

The ending was a bit cheesy and short.  Oh well.  After you beat the game, you unlock "Hyper Difficulty" mode.  If you get 100% then you'll get a bonus ending.