Get Ready, it's Prime Time... - 10/10

Honestly, I've never considered myself a "fan" of Metroid. I've followed it from the beginning on the NES, and enjoyed most of them, it just never grabbed me as much as something like "Zelda", but since the announcing of Corruption for the Wii, my fanboy-ism took charge and I was corrupted with hype. Being so excited, I went down to the pet store, and you'll never guess what I found...


I call him "Snuggles".
___

Yep, the woman in red Chozo armor is back and this time she's packing more of a punch in this conclusion to the Prime series. Let me tell you, this isn't your daddy's FPS, or your brothers, really. Sure, I haven't beat it yet, but at this point I can without a doubt believe it simply can't be compared to any other FPS out there, and I'll soon show you, and any "Halo" fans out there, why.
Here it is...


*Cue dramatic music.
___

Story: 9/10

You guessed it, the space pirates are at it again. This time they managed to steal one of the Galactic Federation's (GF) powerful Aurora Units (AU). These are super computers organically built, meaning they're more like life forms than machines. Sounds much better than the hunk of junk I'm typing this review on. So, after raiding the GF ship "Valhalla" and getting their dirty pirate hands on the AU, they were able to create a virus to unleash upon all AUs in the Federation. This is bad, AUs are mainly used for military purposes. Luckily, scientists created a vaccine to fix the mess, but it is up to Samus, and three other hired hunters to deliver the cure. Gandrayda, a mischievous shape shifter, Rundas, a confident ice creature looking a lot like Noxus from the DS, and Ghor, a rather rude, yet frail cyborg.


The clan with the plan, Gandrayda, Rundas, and Ghor.
___

Suddenly, BAM! Before they can even begin, a massive pirate armada attacks the GF fleet the team is in. Time to strike back! Fight through the ship, saving GF troopers along the way, then get down to the planet Norion, where the pirate invasion is focusing it's power. Fight along side your fellow hunters, and exchange blows with an old friend... Ridley?

Yep, I can tell you within 45 minutes of playing you'll already engage in an epic battle with Meta Ridley. Things still aren't looking up, as some sort of meteor begins a crash course to the planet. Get the planet's defense generators online, and activate the weapon to blast it out of the sky! Doing so isn't a problem, the problem is Dark Samus makes an unwelcoming entry, and infects Samus, and the other hunters with dangerous amounts of Phazon, and then takes off into the sky. The good news is the GF equips Samus with a new Phazon Enhancement Device (PED), enabling her to unleash utter devastation to enemies.


Samus' sleek new get-up, with Phazon and all.
___

So, here's the new problem: Samus has been in a coma for a month, and many other planets have fallen to pirate invasions. The "meteor" that was about to impact Norion was called a "Leviathan", and these have struck a number of other worlds. They embed themselves into planets and infect them with phazon! Nasty stuff, right? The GF sent out the other hunters to the planets to clean up and find the pirate stronghold, but have not returned... Samus is on the case! Finish off the Leviathans and find out just what happend to your new friends... Maybe you'll meet some old ones while you're at it?

Gameplay: 10/10

This is where the game shines! On the back of the disc case it calls the controls "...the best first person controls ever made", and I can't argue with that. Corruption has done what games like Red Steel and Far Cry failed to do, create an intense, flexible, and easy playing scheme for the Wii. Veterans of the DS Hunters might feel right at home with the controls, but newbies wouldn't have to worry either, the learning curve is very simple, and you'll feel like you're truly behind the helmet in no time.


Look out below! Slaughter Meta Ridley before you hit the bottem of the pit!
___

Looking for action? Corruption will keep you busy! The free-aiming, the jumping around, and the lassoing with the nunchuck make every battle one for the history books. The lock-on feature was a good idea, it's much like "Z-targeting" in the Zelda series, only it's really easy to lose the lock with certain swift or teleporting enemies. This can be frustrating, but the beauty of it is while you're locked on, you can still freely aim anywhere on your enemy, so you're always in control.


The ease of it all will keep you wanting to explore. All hands on deck!
___

Here's something fun: Active your PED to enter "Hyper Mode", it can be done while holding the "+" button. In hyper mode, you can fire beams of incredible power and be invincible, but these skills come at a price... Stay in this mode too long and the phazon will corrupt you. Quickly drain all your phazon by firing rapidly to escape the corruption, if you fail, it will over-come Samus, and it's game over. On a lighter note, little things such as pressing buttons, pulling levers, twisting switches and more take simple advantage of the Wii-mote other than just aiming. Whip the nunchuck to rip off parts of the environment with the lasso, or play around with the controls in your ship, it all gives you a stronger feeling of being behind that helmet.


Oh yeah! I can really get into it sometimes...
___

That's another thing, Samus' ship. It got itself a make-over, and it's truly a prize vassal in the galaxy. I love the thing, when playing it's like I truly own it. Not only can you land it on secure landing sites for a portable save, but also a little friendly air support can be called in.


One thing a hunter should never leave home without...
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Graphics: 10/10

It's obvious, isn't it? They're amazing, you won't find better anywhere else on the Wii. Before, maybe Twilight Princess would be considered the graphics gem of the Wii, but that started out on the Game Cube. Corruption is a pure-born Wii title, taking advantage of what the machine can dish-out. You'll start to notice the big things, such as the breath-taking space scenes, then you'll notice the little things...


Is that Samus' face reflection? Oh yeah, look at those big blues.
___

When activating the scan visor, things dim enough to see Samus' face, or during bright flashes, and her eyes follow the pointer. I just thought that was the coolest. The animation within the game is great as well. I've played a share of FPS that may look good, but the animation is just ridicules. Not here, the cinematics are great, well choreographed, and keep you on your toes. This is the eye candy of the Wii.

Sound: 8/10

The music should sound familiar, but that doesn't mean it's still not good. It keeps the battles fueled with adrenaline! Although, it may be a bit hard to enjoy all of it when you're blasting that loud cannon. Basically, it doesn't sound much different from the past Prime games, but it does the job right.


Ridely's battle wouldn't feel right without his song. Eat beam!
___

The sounds were alright, I do have some problems with it. With all the action going on, I'd like to hear more, and much louder explosions. When a fighter crashes I expect: KA-BOOOOOOM!!
Instead, I got a: Bam.
Not really a big deal, but I was hoping for more of a punch when it came to the battle sounds. The rest are great, shooting beams, missles, and I swear, at some points I could hear Samus breathing from under the helmet... Too cool. The one thing concerning sound that really got this game points, was voice acting. They did a great job, it only makes the cinematics better. Anytime the thought of Nintendo putting voice acting in their games, I'd never expect so much, but corruption keeps it coming, it's great! Of course, Samus never talks, that would be taking it too far, but it makes me wonder about the future of voice acting and Nintendo... In Zelda maybe? Who knows.

Replay Value: 9/10

Yeah, when I heard there was no multi-player, I was a bit disappointed, but if you want VS Metroid action, get Hunters on the DS. Corruption is more about an epic adventure, but dispite only having single player, I believe the replay value is still high up there. You won't find any other game in the Wii library that can deliver straight-forward action such as this. If you're ever craving just a quick shoot-'em-up battle, consider picking up Corruption for another go. The battles keep coming, so you won't be kept bored. It's a blast with the motion and pointing controls, I know I'll keep going back.


It may have a deep story, but it's always good to play for a quick fight.
___

Some people may think the Metroid series is too hard, maybe people get lost, confused, and are left just not knowing what to do next. The hint-calling system will keep you on the right track and out of the dark, so you can jump from battle to battle with ease, but you should still expect to figure things out your self from time to time.

Now, this game wouldn't be complete without bonuses. Through-out the game, be sure to scan as many things into your logbook as you can, you'll earn colored medals. Red ones can be gained through scanning creature data, and blue for history data. Yellow medals are earned after major boss battles, and the rarest of all are green. Earn green medals by exchanging vouchers with friends over Wi-Fi. So, yes, there is a Wi-Fi feature, but nothing special. Use all your collected medals to purchase things in the bonus gallery, such as art and the sound track. Conquer the planets, scan everything, and aim towards filling that gallery.


Overall: 9.5/10 (Or you could just round up)

Is it a buy? Of course. Even if you're not a Metroid fan, or maybe you've never played a Metroid game in your life, you should consider this. When I first got Red Steel I lost all hope for a good FPS system on the Wii. Now here it is! Anyone who likes action, shooting, jumping, and adventure should at least give it a try. I see this game as one of those must-haves for any Wii collection, just as Twilight Princess is. If only it had multi-player I can see it rivaling Halo very closely, but right now, I'm just happy to have an adventure like this. I give you my personal guarantee, you've never played anything like this.


Woops...
___

Oh, and if anyone's seen Snuggles around, let me know. Um, and cover you're face, he's a biter, alright? Ok, thanks.

Submitted by CallMeRoy 30/08/2007 77 16

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More Info:

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

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• CallMeRoy Review 10/10 by CallMeRoy
• RedvsBlue8 Review 10/10 by RedvsBlue8
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