I just finished Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Graphics
Not much to say here. The graphics are fantastic, as is the art of the game. I didn’t notice any glitches. It looks great and never slows down. Since this game has been in development for a while, I question if it is using the full power of the Wii. If video game graphics were stuck at this level for the next few years, people would have nothing to complain about. The game really shows the system is capable of much more than Wii Sports. On a side note though, I don’t like the new look of Samus’s ship.
Controls
This is really the import thing. The controls take getting used to, but by and large they work very well. This is the kind of control that other games on the console (like Red Steel, which was a major disappointment and had terrible graphics to boot). Aiming is easy, as is moving and such. I would have preferred the visor and hypermode buttons switched, but that’s small. The biggest flop is the motion controls. I’m not sure if this could have been tuned more or is a hardware limitation.
When messing with energy cells, you are asked to push the remote in or out, and twist it like you are screwing it in our out a quarter turn. This doesn’t work very well, your hand in the game seems to shake and doesn’t follow the controller well. In one section or two you are asked to tilt the Wiimote up and down. This suffers from the same problem. Curiously, the access points that you work by turning left and right like a combination lock works fantastically. The interaction of pressing on-screen buttons with Samus’s finger works perfectly thanks to the Wiimote’s positioning. “Tossing” the nun-chuck to use the grapple-beam works very well. Last bit here is jumping in morphball mode. It should have been the B button. Jerking the Wiimote up just feels unnatural and laggy. The only other control comment is that the lock-on system seems looser than it was in the previous games, which is a shame.
Gameplay
This is what matters, and the game if tons of fun. It took me just under 14 hours, not including the time lost the two or three times I died. Things are paced pretty well, and I never had big problems getting lost, you just about always knew where you were going. The story is kind of interesting, and works well. The different areas feel different. The backtracking never seems arduous or pointless, like it did at times in the two GC games.
There are one or two little bits that don’t seem to fit in. Why is Samus (a bounty hunter) working for the military like a soldier? Why are there so many people around (the loneliness of the previous games is gone at times). At one point you fight with a few other soldiers, and that is well done. They don’t feel stupid (although their weapons seem very week, as with most games that do this). The 4 other hunters seem just like they did in Hunters on the DS: a “let’s add more characters” addition that doesn’t seem to fit in with the rest of the game.
Summary
Still a fantastic game. The series is now over, so it will be interesting to see what happens next, but it will probably be quite a while before we see the next game. If you own a Wii and like this kind of game, it really is a must play. If you’re not sure, give it a try. Once you get used to the controls, you’ll love it.
Non-Metroid Stuff
The fact that I’m done with this will give me time to play Final Fantasy: XII
The cake is a lie!
