Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Everyone's favourite bounty hunter since Boba Fett returns...

By Matt Kelly

The final episode of the Prime trilogy hits Australian shores tomorrow and if you're not convinced that you're in for one hell of a galactic ride, read on.

For those not up to date with the Metroid Prime saga, let's jump back to 2002. Retro Studios dropped one hell of a game on us then, a 3D update to the classic and highly praised 2D Metroid saga featured on the Super Nintendo, Gameboy and of course, the Nintendo Entertainment System where the Metroid adventure began. The update to a fully realised 3D Metroid game was highly praised. This was mainly due to the fact that while it had shiny graphics and excellent gun play, it still stayed true to the beloved Metroid formula of puzzles, non linear gameplay and exploration.

Since then we've seen a direct sequel in the form of Metroid Prime 2: Echos which again was met with good critical reaction. What did come under fire though was that the game hadn't mixed up the 3D formula on it's second outing, instead feeling like an additional scenario with very few surprises in the gameplay.

If you've been waiting for a Metroid game that will give you that giddy feeling of enjoyment that the first Prime did, Corruption is going to be your game of the year.

No doubt one of the questions on everyone's mind - does Nintendo and Retro keep it's promise to give us "the best first person shoot controls on any console, period."?
The answer is yes, they have. After you're done with this you'll have a lot of trouble enjoying any kind of dual analog thumb stick system again.

Your movement controls are a combination of Wii remote pointing for aim and turning and use of the nunchuck control stick for moving around. While yes, it's a system that we've been seeing since the Wii hit shelves last year, it's never been this refined before. Pointing and shooting is sensitive enough for quick reactions without sending you spinning in circles. Target locking is back in Corruption, this time around with a bit more freedom. You can hold Z to lock on to an enemy and track them, but where you actually shoot is no longer tied to your target. Instead you can continue to shoot whatever you want within your view field while tracking the target.

The only thing we can really criticize about the control scheme is turn speed, which is quite slow when compared to a mouse and keyboard set up. While it doesn't feel like Samus' legs have been broken, it's slower than we'd like. Beyond running and gunning, motion controls are for a large part kept out of the game. You'll be using the Wii remote to mimic turning lock devices and pumping pistons, and added to the morph ball is a control where you can flick the remote upwards to perform a jump, instead of the traditional bomb jump (which is still an option).

While we're not going to blow the story for you, we will say that like all the other Metroid games, you won't find the most intense plot of all time woven in here. Corruption does what it does well, and that is give you a fascinating journey across lush worlds with enough plot to give you a reason to keep going. That being said you will also find that the back story fiction has been fleshed out, and there's plenty of reading to do for the die hard Metroid story fans. Funnily enough, Phazon corruption does play a big part in the story, both in Samus and on a galactic level. Friends turn foes, dying worlds, corrupt AI systems and all that fun stuff.

Gameplay in Corruption is a bit of a 'win some lose some' situation. What you have gained and lost is very little on either side. For Samus' outing this time around you'll find a much more streamlined adventure. While it hasn't lost enough to reduce to the games genre to 'first person shooter', you will find this title feeling slightly more action based with a bit less exploration. Part of this is due to the Wii control system, travel is now a lot less of a methodical and clumsy process of getting from A to B, and along with that the Prime sagas trademarks of object scanning and thorough exploration of the environments has been down played. For the careful explorers among you, there's still a lot to be found but it's not as 'in your face' as before. Add that the overall decreased difficulty of combat and you'll find yourself moving through the vibrant worlds at a much higher pace. Arguably the greatest part of combat in the game is the boss battles, which you'll find intense, nerve racking and satisfying, using combinations of all of Samus' abilities. While they do use the cliche 'find the weak point' way of dealing with them, finding the strategy for each unique boss is enjoyable.

The biggest addition to gameplay is Hypermode, which allows Samus to use the power of Phazon to deal incredible damage to enemies. It's not an easy street though, as the raw power of hypermode has been balanced against health loss to enter the mode. Along with that after a period of time Samus will start to be corrupted by the Phazon, where her Phazon ammo gauge will reverse and fill up. While this can be used in a tactical manner, it will eventually kill her unless you fire off all your Phazon power in a button mashing frenzy.

Corruption has also done away with weapon selection, instead opting for a stacking system with weapon upgrades. For example you'll acquire a metal melting plasma beam, but later on when you find the shoot-through-walls nova beam, you'll still retain the plasmas raw melting firepower. While there is a little bit of depth lost in this system, it cuts out having to switch weapons in puzzle situations.

Motion controls, as we touched on before, play a context sensitive role mainly to manipulate objects. During these situations you'll have to mimic the motion required to operate a device, such as turning a lock and flipping a switch. Most of the time these do quite well, and aid the game in not losing pace when the action stops and the thinking begins. The grapple beam is also back, this time with the ability to rip objects out of your way using the nunchuck, performed by doing a flinging motion backwards so as to fling them over your head behind you.

Graphically, Corruption could be put up against a lot of games on the higher powered Xbox 360 and PS3. What the game loses on Nintendo's under powered hardware, it makes up for in art direction. You're not going to find hyper realistic people and locations, but you are going to find worlds that have their own unique detailed look and culture. Architecture varies from the bureaucratic guts and 'built to cost' look of the Federation starships to the beautiful and impossible Skytown, a network of platforms floating miles above the ground in golden hazy clouds that looks like something straight out of Riven.

Moving past environments and into special effects, you'll find a lot of additions to Corruption's arsenal. Air will warp from the heat blast of your arm cannon, the camera will lose focus when your ship screams past, and the environments take damage in cinematic style. Retro has pulled out a lot of graphical goodies for you to enjoy.

One thing where Corruption did lose out was the cut scenes. For a game that has been talking about it's 'cinematic voice acting' for months, Corruption seems to have a lot of issues sticking to one cinematic style. You'll find everything from your Halo style big sci-fi epic cut scenes, to the loose style of CGI used in Firefly and Battlestar Galactica and finally the old 'make a camera follow an object' type style which has been happening since the N64 days of 3D cutscenes. While it doesn't ruin the game, it does rip down a bit of Corruptions cinematic presentation.

On the sound side of things, Corruption keeps on doing what Metroid does best. Sound effects are great and the musical score continues to have that slight Super Nintendo feel to it while keeping up with modern game music. Cut scenes again are where we lose, which are big, beautiful and explosive but the sound doesn't quite have the same impact as what you're seeing. During one of the major battle sequences on a planet surface, there is A LOT going on visually, buildings are exploding, ships are being shot down, troops are firing from the ground, yet when you listen to it the action seems like it's happening a million miles away. Like cutscene styles, it's a cosmetic issue which doesn't take away from the game play, but does add to losing the feeling of a big epic sci-fi adventure.

Summary:

While hard core Metroid Prime players may have lost a bit in challenge, the title has made up for it in great controls, intense battles and cinematic presentation. You'll feel like you're on an adventure, moving between planets across the galaxy as you see fit, exploring and back tracking when new gear is acquired. For the intense explorer you'll find enough to satisfy your Metroid fiction needs and for anyone who hates that stuff, it's not going to be forced down your throat like previous Prime games. Gameplay mechanics have changed enough for players to have to learn a few new tricks, and environments are bigger, better and more alive.

Gameplay - 9.5

Nintendo has delivered on their promise and given us the best first person controls ever. Gameplay is engaging, from combat to puzzles, and creative use of the motion controls for manipulating objects is probably as close as we're going to get to touching the game world without having a brain implant.

Graphics - 9.5

Best looking game on the Wii to date, using solid art direction instead of raw graphics power to create vivid and interesting worlds, with eye candy special effects to boot.

Sound - 9

Solid sound effects and varied music score make this a real aural treat. If it hadn't been for the cinematic let down, sound could have got a 10.

Value - 9

There's a lot to come back for, both in that a second adventure is going to be enjoyed but also with the downloadable content as a reward for careful explorers of the Metroid universe.

Overall - 9.4

Need I say more?

Submitted by Robtot 06/11/2007 1187 33

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More Info:

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Other Reviews:

• CallMeRoy Review 10/10 by CallMeRoy
• RedvsBlue8 Review 10/10 by RedvsBlue8
• K-Man Review 10/10 by K-Man
• Robtot Review 9.4/10 by Robtot
• Azza123 Review 9/10 by Azza123

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