Dark_Link142

The Good

• Lots of high speed thrills
• Good graphics and nice effects
• Some decent music which gives off the Arabian feel
• Good controls
• New RPG element adds a nice amount of depth
• Lots of unlockables and extras
• Decent voice acting
  

The Bad

• Some unnecessary and sudden slow downs
• Awkward music
• Some control issues
• Unlockable skills are essentially game settings, which creates an frustrating difficulty level
  
• Bland party mode
• Some poorly designed extra missions

The Review

It was 1991 when the world first said hello to Sonic and since then, many great sequels have spawned. Although recently Sonic has been in a rut of sorts. It seems Sega has had quite a bit of trouble taking 2D Sonic and letting him roam in the free 3D world, unlike Nintendo mascots. It seems that Sonic was outrun by everybody else. Now, finally, it seems by making it an on-rails game Sonic has finally picked himself up and is ready to run again.

The point of the game is to zip through various levels getting the fastest time whilst avoiding enemies and various obstacles. Although this is the main story, there are 100 missions for you to complete. They are indeed not all basic concepts as getting to the end of the level as fast as you can. There are many things for Sonic to be doing. Some missions ask you to collect a certain amount of rings in the fastest time possible or finish the course without collecting a single ring! Some ask you to race against a spirit, and others want you to defeat a certain number of enemies.

If a mission is finished in a good time, you will be rewarded a medal. A gold medal automatically unlocks one of the massive amount of unlockables, silver medals need to be collected before unlocking something, and same goes for bronze although you can only unlock only a limited amount of things with a bronze or silver medal. Which medal you get is determined how fast you completed the mission objective.

Sega and Sonic team have also introduced a new element to Sonic and the Secret Rings. They have added a certain RPG element. How well you do in a mission determines how many experience points you get. These experience points, like any RPG, level Sonic up. As Sonic levels up, he learns new abilities. There are about 100 or so of them. Some examples of what these abilities allow Sonic to do are:

• Go faster
• Brake faster
• Turn quicker
  
• Gain more experience
  
• Increase pearl collecting ability

And many more. These skills are quite helpful along the adventure as they can make many missions quite a bit easier. One skill called the splash jump allows Sonic to flip over walls if he collides into one in midair. This is extremely useful in saving Sonic from falling into pits and making jumps as he can just splash jump along the edge to climb over a particularly large wall or obstacle.

Although there are many skills, not all of them can be used at the same time. To maintain which ones Sonic will use, you can organize them in one of four rings Sonic has. These can be customized before missions. This adds a much needed amount of depth to the Sonic series and it's truly a welcome addition. Unfortunately, some of these skills seem like they should be game settings and essentially only provide control settings. This creates a problem with the difficulty level as well as with the controls.

There is a mutiplayer mode included to complete the package, although it is a minigame collection. It invites you and your friends to pick up a Wii remote and start playing games with Sonic and other characters from the Sonic universe. These minigames are fairly shallow and don't have much replayability. You and your friends will get fairly bored of them within a short while. Although these games are a nice thought, there are already plenty of minigame collections for the Wii on the market which are much better than this one.

Overall, the on-rails gameplay is fairly well done and fixes many problems that previous 3D Sonic games failed to accomplish, mainly being the lack of speed. It also fixes up the camera issues for the most part. Backing up is not only a control problem, but a camera problem as well since it doesn't allow you to see back properly.

Also, some missions are designed poorly and make it impossible to attempt at your first time unless you get around the problem by a fluke.These problems are things like enemy spawn spots and some level build problems. As well, most just require luck (dinosaur eggs!) and are frustrating to complete. The game's rewards are great, though, so completing these missions is satisfying, especially if the level was quite difficult.

The graphics are also a strong-point in this game. With lots of detail to enemies, backgrounds, and environments, this is one of the better looking games you can find on the Wii.  Some textures are a little washed out but since you'll be going so fast, you won't be able to notice it unless you stop and bother to examine them. As well, explosions look a little grainy and 2D.

Even so, the frame rate never dips despite a lot of action going on. Explosions, lots of enemies, and intense speeds don't stop the game from keeping a nice and steady frame rate. The games art direction is also well done and creates a perfect melding between Sonic and the Arabian theme.

The music to the game is fairly interesting. It mixes traditional Arabian music and puts a classic rock spin onto it. Some of the songs are flat out awful but others have a nice rhythm and provide a nice atmosphere to the up beat and speedy action in each level.

The voice acting is where the main problem is. The voices fit for each character, but it's all fairly exaggerated and it sounds a little annoying.

Sound effects are well done. Explosions sound a little unreal and some of the effects sound a bit tinny. Other effects, like ring collecting, are still solid. There's nothing exceptional to the sound effects quality but nothing awful either.

There is a lot to do in this game. If you zip through the story, it will probably only take you about 7-10 hours. But with so many missions to do, so much to unlock and collect, and to get all gold medals and fire souls, the game will last you a long, long time. Perhaps roughly 50+ hours. Although it can be sometimes a little discouraging to try some of the harder levels and get gold medals in them, the rewards are satisfying enough. So while there is a lot to do in this game, you might not necessarily not want to pick the Wii remote for a while.

Wii remote controls are easy enough to use and it's very responsive. Turning left and right is as easy as tilting the Wii remote. Using the homing attack requires you to jump and flick the remote toward the screen a bit.

This truly is a good game but with a little more time, the game's difficulty settings and obstacle placing problems could have been fixed. As well, some controls with backing up or turning can be a bit annoying. It's definitely not for everyone as many people will be discouraged by the difficulty but with a lot of unlockables and content, a decent story, and some incredibly high speed thrills, you will want to give this game a try.

The Good

• Amusing characters
• Great campaign
• Good difficulty
• Great artstyle
• Solid multiplayer
• Steady framerate, even in the most intense moments

The Bad

• Performing strategic tactics is difficult due to limited options
• Only 2 players online
• Communication between players is very limited
  

The Review

Battalion Wars 2 (BWii for short) is a war game that has a sort of rock paper's scissors style combat. It's a series spinoff from the acclaimed Advance Wars series which are known for their deep tactical strategy and challenging difficulty. While Battalion Wars 2 isn't as hard or as deep, it's still a great game that's fairly engaging.

The games presentation and how it all starts off is very well done. It's a prologue mission which takes place a few hundred years before the game's actual storyline. It's also a tutorial mission and it makes it very easy to learn the game's basic controls. The overall game's learning curve is almost non-existent because of helpful tutorials that show up when a new unit with unique controls appears, such as a fighter jet.

Once the first campaign is complete (which takes less than an hour to beat), you're pretty much into the meat of the game where all the action takes place. The other five campaigns are lengthier, and more difficult than the first one. The campaign overall is noticeably improved from its Gamecube predecessor but it's also a bit easier. The stylistic charm of the game, fortunately, remains intact in this sequel and the storyline continues from the previous game. If you haven't played Battalion Wars 1, don't sweat it. The story itself isn't very complex and, although you may wonder who a few people are, you'll pick it up in no time. The story, though, isn't very special but it is engaging enough to keep you playing. The funny characters and dialogue are all well done and memorable enough.

One difference from BWii and Battalion Wars 1 is that, in the first one, you were constricted to using one empire. In BWii, you are able to play using several empires that each have their own unique units, but in the end, they all still play pretty much the same.

Control-wise, it's all well done and easy to use. There's nothing overly complicated about the controls so there's nothing you'll have much trouble with. You use the Wii remote to point and aim, the B button to fire, the nunchuk to move, the Z button to lock on, and the A button to change unit commands. The only motion sensitive controls there are relate to the nunchuk. For grunts and footsoldiers, you can tilt the control stick to one side and motion with the nunchuk towards the same side to perform a combat roll. You can also flick the remote upward, when you're not tilting the control stick to the side, to jump. It's easy enough to learn and in no time, it'll become pretty much second nature. The C button changes the camera to three different zoom settings which can help out when you're controlling a large tank or battleship that takes up most of the camera space. As for the 1 and 2 buttons, they are only usable in online mode. They are used for very simple communications with your online partner. The 1 button generally asks for help or requests and the 2 button is basically just acknowledging the request. This feature can sometimes be useful but in the end, it could have been done without. It would have been better if these buttons were used for deeper unit control.

 The ability to command units to "go to" an area and stay there has been taken out from BWii but was present in its predecessor. This makes the overall strategy portion of the game much more cumbersome and difficult. You have to take control of a unit and have every other unit follow you to a location. Then you must tell them to wait and then switch to another unit to move another part of your battalion elsewhere. This creates a hazardous moment for your battalion in which an enemy could destroy you in the time it takes for all this to happen. By not being able to fully control your units like this, pulling off different strategies becomes much more of a hassle, with such a simple feature gone.

Combat is done easily by pressing the B button to fire your weapons. The Z-lock on is very helpful and allows you to command your troops to interact with a lot of things. Enemies can be attacked by ordering your troops which is done by locking to the enemy, pressing the A button on whichever troops you choose, and taking part in, or watching, your enemy fall. Certain troops are effective against other certain troops so this makes a rock-paper-scissors combat. Anti-air troops are used against, you guessed it, aerial units. Bazooka vets are used against tanks and enemy armoured units. Grunts and Flame Vets are best used against footsoldiers like Bazooka Vets and other Grunts. There are several other units you can use that all come into play with this rock-paper-scissors combat.

Objectives in campaign mode usually require you to capture a flag or destroy something. Capturing a flag can only be done with footsoldiers so make sure they don't get killed. It's simple on how you order your troops to capture a flag and it's the same as ordering them to attack an enemy. You simply lock on to the flag with the Z button and you command your troops you capture the flag with the A button. Simple enough. You can also help to capture the flag by going up to it and flicking the nunchuk (the same way you jump). The maximum number of troops that can capture one flag is five or so. The more units you have capturing the flag, the faster it will go.

Multiplayer is fairly well done and is among one of the better done jobs of Nintendo's limited online service and yes, friend codes are used. It's not really a big deal though. You are also able to play with anybody which is similar to other online games such as Mario Strikers Charged which lets Nintendo pair you up with someone looking for a game to play. But in BWii, it's noticeably more accessible in a way. There are three types of modes you are able to play online. Skirmish, Assault, and Co-op. You are able to choose one of these modes to play and you are also able to choose a map you want to play on as well as your empire of choice. Then, Nintendo pairs you up with someone wanting to play the same game as you. If you don't care for choosing a map, you can pick the "any" choice. If you also don't feel like choosing between these three modes, you can also use the "any" choice which chooses a random mode with a random map. One thing is also assured with online: there's practically no lag. Everything runs smoothly and reacts fluidly.

Even with this great online, it feels like it could have much more potential. If it were 4 player battles instead of 2, this would have made a huge difference to the overall feel and intensity to the game. Of course, there's always lots of chaos even with 2 people, but it still feels like it could have been done much better had it been 4 or so.

As well, the communication between players is limited. It can only be done in Co-op missions meaning that this simple feature eliminates the use of 2 buttons, which could have been used to add better control of your battalion. You can tell your partner to eliminate a target, defend an objective, or watch your back, but it's difficult to properly create deerp strategies with your partner.

Graphics are also a step up from Battalion Wars 1. Lighting and Bloom effects are more noticeable and it's been smoothed out as well. There's rarely a frame rate drop and it all flows together. Textures and environments are a bit drab and some parts look rough and washed out but that's all made up for by the vibrant colours and smooth character models.

Audio sounds as it should. Since the game is a light-hearted game with more of a cartoon-like artstyle, it just sounds, like I said, as it should. The Wii-mote speaker also works well and provides some nice reloading and shooting sounds that don't sound bad at all unless you turn up the volume. The soldiers chatter is amusing and gunfire, explosions, and all that sort of stuff sound great. The dialogue and voice acting in the game fits the games style and, while some might find it a tad annoying, it's done properly.

Overall, Battalion Wars 2 is a great war game with a healthy difficulty, a great campaign, and fun multiplayer. It radiates with charm and is loaded with style. This game is not for everyone but it's quirky humour can make anyone smile. The gameplay and strategy is a little too simple for those looking for a deeper strategy experience but satisfies anyone looking for fun, light-hearted battles with lots of chaos.

The Good

• Subspace Emissary mode is a great single-player and multiplayer adventure
• Tons of replay value (packed with extras and unlockables)
• Lots of unique characters from all over Nintendo
  
• Very balanced combat system
• Great graphics, both technically and artistically
• Incredible audio and soundtrack
• Online multiplayer
• Stage builder
• The ability to send screenshots, replay data, and custom stages to friends and even to Nintendo
• Great production values
  

The Bad

• Online multiplayer is limited and fairly broken

The Review

Super Smash Bros. Brawl is the successor to the hit Gamecube game, Super Smash Bros. Melee. That, in turn, is a successor to the N64 hit original, Super Smash Bros. Over the ages, this chaotic series has evolved a fair amount. The original had a small cast of 12 characters and a handful of stages. Super Smash Bros. Melee expanded on that game with a larger roster of 25 characters, several more stages, tons more unlockables, and an enhanced fighting system. Essentially, it was still that 4 player mayhem that people had grown to like so much. Now, with Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the game has improved and evolved further in so many great ways. This review will discuss the game's improvements, faults, and other subjects of the game.

The core fighting mechanic is still the same, but it's rebalanced so that every character and player has a fair chance at winning. The items and stage hazards help in making the game insane and fair for everyone to play. Even so, you still have the choice of turning all items off and having a flat stage where nothing happens so that players are able to show off their skills in a 1 on 1 match. The rebalanced gameplay is a vast improvement over Super Smash Bros. Melee. No longer do a couple of characters reign supreme as the top characters. Every character is given their own unique strengths and weaknesses and it's padded out so that the weaknesses don't have to mean your doom.

The audiovisuals part of the game are a major improvement and it's clear that a lot of work went it them. The graphics are colourful and bright, with lots of detail to characters and environments. Even with a massive load of mayhem happening, the frame rate refuses to budge at it's solid 60 FPS. The game is so successful, graphically, because of its masterful collaboration of so many different art styles. Hundreds of familiar tunes come together from different game universes and many are remixed or all new. You could buy this game simply as a soundtrack CD and you wouldn't be disappointed. This part of the game is so incredibly done, and not surprisingly so because of the several different game composers who have come together to make songs for this game.

The Super Smash Bros. series has always been best known for its incredible multiplayer. Super Smash Bros. Brawl introduces online gameplay, for the first time in the series. Even so, the online is also the weakest part of the game. "Basic Brawl", which randomly pairs you up with three others so that you can have a blast playing, doesn't work as it should. Due to issues of overcrowding with new players, this feature almost becomes non-functional and broken. When it does work, however, it's a blast to play. But the Wi-Fi service is also a step down from other Wi-Fi games. There are no leader boards, you can't add people from basic brawl to your friends list, and accessibility issues plague the online. Despite these flaws, playing with friends is well done. The options are very customizable. Playing with friends who don't live close to you, however, can cause lag problems. There's also no voice chat with friends. Overall, it's still a fun mode that makes the lasting appeal of this game even longer, even with it's problems.

Keeping that in mind, there are loads of unlockables and collectable items in this game that further increase the lasting appeal. Trophies and stickers are the collectable items in this game and they are fun to collect. As well, there is a "Challenges" window which gives you certain objectives to complete. These objectives can range from completing classic mode with all characters to playing 30 hours of Brawl. These challenges keep the game fresh and exciting. The rewards are usually rare trophies or rare stickers. It's also possible to unlock new levels and music from the challenges.

Along with that, you can create your own stages using the all new stage builder tool. You use preset items to make your own stages. You can set the size of your stage, the background, and what music plays there. You can also send these custom stages to friends or even submit them to Nintendo for mass distribution using the "Smash Service", which can be turned on or off when you log into Nintendo Wi-Fi.  Along with sending these stages, you can also send replay data and screenshots you have taken to friends or Nintendo. Replay data can be recorded after every game you play, as long as it's 3 minutes or less.

One of the bigger additions to this game is the "Subspace Emissary" mode. This is an epic and cinematic adventure platforming game which has an original plot. The cut-scenes are very well done and many can be amusing. Others can be very epic and intense. All of this is achieved without any bit of dialogue! The platforming in the game is done quite well. It's reminiscent to "Kirby Super Star" on the SNES. This is probably due to the fact that Super Smash Bros. Brawl was made by the same creator who worked on that game, Masahiro Sakurai. The Subspace Emissary has you traveling to different levels and getting you to reach the end of it, as well as getting any secrets and hidden items. There are some clever puzzles and many difficult battles that await you in this mode. You can set the difficulty as well, so if you're new to the game, you can set it on easy mode. If you want a really difficult challenge, you can set it to intense. This game mode, overall, is well done and a fun and lengthy platforming game on its own right.

The control scheme(s) are all done well. There are four different methods of control. These are: Wii Remote and Nunchuk, Wii Remote sideways, Gamecube controller, and the Classic controller. These methods take little time to get used to and don't have much learning curve to them. It's all fairly simple and well done. In the end, though, most players seem to have a tendency to play using the Gamecube controller as it's the control method that's most familiar to Super Smash Bros. Melee veterans.

Overall, Super Smash Bros. Brawl does not disappoint. It's a fast-paced and hectic game that forces split second decisions on you. The platforming game, "Subspace Emissary", is a great adventure mode and is a lot of fun. Online multiplayer is a blast, but not without flaws. There are also some loading times in this game but they aren't much of an issue. With that all being said, Brawl is a fabulous game with 35 unique characters to play as, 41 stages (including past Melee stages), and well over a thousand unlockables.

The Good

• Genius platforming and puzzles
  
• Astounding graphics and artstyle
  
• Good controls
  
• Great new powerups
  
• Fairly lengthy
  
• "Storybook" is kind of nice

The Bad

• Some awkward underwater moments with camera and controls
• Some tedious "Purple Coin" missions

The Review

Super Mario Galaxy is Nintendo's big Mario game for the Wii and it's definitely a massive game. It practically leaks with sheer brilliance and quality. Wii owners, this is the must get game.

The game starts off with a sort of storybook opening that's fairly happy and slow. A few minutes later, Bowser's attacking the castle once again and kidnapping Peach. This time though, he takes the whole castle with him, similar to what he did in Paper Mario 64, only he takes everything to space, along with Mario as well. Mario finds himself trying to rescue Peach as usual and bounds through several galaxies and planets in search for power stars. This whole scene is so well done and just incredibly cinematic that you can't help but just stare in amazement at it.

When Mario wakes up, an odd bunny creature is watching him. This bunny tells Mario that if he can catch him and his friends, then he will tell him where he is. Here you have to catch this rabbit and his two other friends on a spherical planetoid that introduces you to what you will later see in the game. Super Mario Galaxy takes you upside down and all around from the beginning. Once you find and catch these rabbits, you find out you're on a passing ship of sorts where several luma's (star creatures that you find out that the rabbits actually are) live along with their "mother" Princess Rosalina. She tells you that Bowser has stolen the power stars that powered her ship and that she is stuck. As Mario, it's pretty much your duty to help her.

The first few levels introduce you to the game and the controls. It's all very easy to learn and such because the controls really aren't that hard to learn. By shaking the Wii-mote, you can make Mario spin (you can also do this with the Nunchuk but it might feel a bit uncomfortable compared to the Wii-mote). As for the camera, you're able to control it the D-pad to a decent amount of settings. Some areas limit your camera controlling abilities because the situation you're in might be made worse if you were to control the camera manually. Most of the time though, the game works the camera for you and you don't need to worry about it. The only annoying instances of both the camera and controls are with swimming underwater. You can get used to it after a while but it still feels a bit odd trying to reach an object when the camera messes with your depth perception.

The platforming itself is pure brilliance. It takes the original Mario platforming and puts a radical twist on it with the factor of gravity and space. Some areas of the game have distorted gravity and arrows point to which way the gravity goes. Running and jumping are what Mario platformers are known for…but upside down? It's crazy but it works so well.

The graphics are easily the best seen on the Wii. It's definitely technically proficient and show what the Wii can do. It's not entirely the technical aspect of it, but the artstyle of it. The rich colours and backgrounds are gorgeous and are great eye candy. Mario hasn't looked so good. Mario Galaxy isn't afraid to use such bright colours. It makes the game feel alive.

The audio aspect is also on par with the rest of the game's quality. Orchestrated masterpieces inhabit the game's levels so that each tune fits with the level's environments. There are some remixes as well that will definitely spark a part of your memory. Overall though, the songs aren't the most memorable but they sound great and fit in properly. Sound effects are reminiscent of some past Mario games (such as the famous mushroom sound and such) but the majority of them are new.

Overall, Super Mario Galaxy is a stunning game that revives the platforming genre and makes itself known as the first definitive Wii game. This is the quality that should be seen in other Wii games. The care and detail that went into making the game is clearly shown. The only reason you shouldn't get this game is because you don't like to have fun and play games or that you don't own a Wii, in which you should try and find one.

The Good

• Epic boss fights
• Fabulous controls
• Great graphics artistically and technically
• Great story
• Some nice extra features and bonuses
• Backtracking is less of a pain
• Great puzzles

The Bad

• Door load times

The Review

The Metroid Prime trilogy is a first person adventure (FPA) series that deals with exploration and puzzle solving as well as combat. Some have classified the game as straight First Person Shooter (FPS) but it's really so much more.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is the third and final entry into the Metroid Prime Trilogy and it's no disappointment. It starts off with a short but cinematic opening. Dark Samus is back and causing more havoc and corruption then ever. The game then takes you behind the visor of bounty hunter, Samus Aran in her familiar space ship, and soon enough it leads you through a tutorial level of sorts, although it's well integrated as part of the story.

The game's learning curve is extremely well done. By the end of the first area, you'll be completely comfortable with all the controls. This first area has two boss fights. The first one is with the colossal arch-rival Ridley. He ambushes you and you both fall through a very long tunnel. Your aerial distance with the ground is shown at the top of the screen and you must defeat Ridley before you reach the bottom. This time Samus isn't the only bounty hunter. Three other hunters are put up with the same task as you are. They act as friends and protect you and help you several times. These new bounty hunters are Rundas, Gandrayda, and Ghor. These three hunters each have a special ability. Rundas is able to ride on ice in mid-air and summon ice attacks, Gandrayda is able to turn shapeshift to appear as someone else, and Ghor is just a massive powerhouse. These three aren't playable characters but take a key role in the story.

This all seems a bit different than the other two Metroid Prime games. They both put you on an isolated planet and immerse you into a world that's fairly eerie. Metroid Prime 3 starts off differently but still stays true to the series. After the first area, you are sent to a planet where you must stop corruption from a large space object called a Leviathon that crashed into this planet. Your mission as Samus is to stop this corruption and learn the secrets behind it all. The plot is very well done and also fairly straightforward with some mild twists here and there.

The controls are one of the key points of this game. Your Wii remote acts as Samus' arm cannon. All you do is point and look around. You move by using the nunchuk control stick and you fire with the A button. The B button allows you to jump, the Z button on the nunchuk allow you to lock on to targets, and the C button lets you turn into the morph ball. Once you obtain the grapple hook, you are able to flick the nunchuk and use it to rip enemies shields off, break certain objects, and swing from certain areas. This is quite useful and is also used for puzzle solving as well.

  As you progress, you gain the ability to go into Hyper mode. Byu holding the plus (+) button on the Wii remote, you enter this state which allows you to deal heavy damage to enemies, but at a price. It requires a full tank of health to activate but how much of this tank you use is up to how much "Phazon" you fire.

Metroid games in general are noted for their epic and difficult boss fights. Metroid Prime 3 is no exception. The only difference is that there is a lot more boss fights (some of them are mini bosses). You'll fight giant monsters and creatures that aren't all about blasting away at them. They require you to think about what to do and how to go about doing it.

The audio part of this game is on-par with the rest of fabulous quality of this game. Some great music immerses you into the worlds you're wandering through and some more upbeat tunes are played when in combat with a room of enemies or a boss of some sort. The sounds like shooting or grapple beam use sound as it should, which is futuristic and sci-fi'ish. It's very well done.

After you have completed the game, you are rewarded with the ability to replay the game but on a new difficulty setting: Hyper mode. Obviously this mode is much more difficult which means enemies are stronger, take longer to kill, and hyper mode itself must be used much more often then in the other two difficulty settings. Expect to die a lot more in this setting and have a harder time taking care of simple enemies.

During the course of the adventure, you are awarded tokens for completing special events or tasks. This is similar to Microsoft's "achievement system". There are 4 different types of tokens and each are earned differently. One type of token can be earned by defeating boss monsters (mini bosses included) on different difficulty settings. So if you beat the game once on, say, normal difficulty, you cannot earn this type of token anymore. You must switch to hard or hyper mode. The second type of token is awarded for clearing special events. These vary and are hard to explain. You can also get this type of token by scanning lore across the worlds. The third type of token is earned by scanning items and enemies. The fourth type of token is earned by receiving it from friends via Wiiconnect24. You can also send "friend vouchers" as they are called to friends and when they reach your friends system, they are converted in tokens. These tokens can be used to purchase extra content such as artwork, music, and special in-game tools like the screen shot taker. This allows you to take screen shots during the game by simply pressing the up button the D-pad. These get posted onto your Wii message board and you can then send these to friends and share epic moments you had.

Visuals in Metroid Prime 3 are incredible. Textures are smooth and well done, the frame rate never dips, and the art style of this game is unbelievable. The main improvement though from the other two Metroid Primes, on a technical level, is the lighting and bloom effect. Metroid Prime 3 looks great but it's not as big a difference that it could be compared to the first two Metroid Prime games.

Also, a major problem is the door loading. Metroid Prime games are known to not have any loading screens. The first two Metroid Primes disguised their loading screens with doors. When you shoot doors to open them, it takes a moment to load the next area and it was never a major problem as it went quick and about 95% of the time was never noticeable. Unfortunately Metroid Prime 3 has some bad door loading times. It can take up to 10 seconds for a door to open. This is especially annoying when being shot at so you can't always make a quick escape. This game does have loading screens although they don't say "Loading" or show any progress bar. Instead it shows a short clip of, for example, your ship entering into a planets atmosphere. These disguised load screens are really no problem unlike the door loading times.

There's a lot to see in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. It might be familiar to some but it really isn't a problem. Overall, Metroid Prime 3 is a great game with lots of action, ingenious puzzles, and a great story and cinematic scenes to boot.