12-21-2007, 06:15 AM
Several years ago Metroid Prime was released on the Gamecube as the follow up to the mighty SNES classic Super Metroid. It received much critical acclaim, and allayed all fears that some people had about handing over development to Retro Studios and switching to 3D. It was soon followed up with Metroid Prime 2, which although didn't improve very much on its predecessor, but was still a fine game. Now three years on, we have a conclusion to the Metroid Prime subseries and its whole phazon plotline, plus an added level of control over movement thanks to the Wiimote.
In a first for the Metroid series, the plot isn't restricted to the manual and some log entries. Instead we are treated to proper cutscenes, with dialogue and a story that's surprisingly quite interesting and well developed. Six months have passed since the events of Metroid Prime 2 on Aether. Samus and three other bounty hunters have been summoned to the starship Olympus, where they are briefed on a crisis affecting the whole Galactic Federation. The Space Pirates have stolen the Aurora Unit 313, a computer AI from the starship Valhalla, and the Federation wants it back. Before the hunters can get to work though, the Olympus is attacked by the Pirates, and it turns out their next target is the Federation outpost Norion. Samus must work her way out of the Olympus, get to Norion and stop the Pirates' assualt. At the end of this opening chapter, Samus and the other hunters end up being corrupted by her evil duplicate Dark Samus. Samus awakens a month later, and is told that the other hunters have gone missing and it's her job to track them down, stop Dark Samus and the Space Pirates, and basically save the galaxy.
On top of familiar abilities such as the space jump, and the famous morph ball, Metroid Prime 3 adds a few new abilities to Samus' repertoire. One of the most commonly used is Samus' new grapple attack- by thrusting the Nunchuk forwards you can use your grapple beam like a lasso, allowing you to move objects, pull shields away from enemies, and so on. Also often used is the so-called "hypermode". After her corruption on Norion, Samus' body starts to produce phazon energy, but it turns out it can be put to use. By holding down the + button, you enter hypermode, at the cost of one health bar, making your attacks more powerful. Hold + again to return to normal. Stay in hypermode for too long and you risk being completely corrupted, forcing you to quickly expel your phazon by quickly firing lots of shots. And to make things really interesting, there are some places and enemies in the game where you just have to use hypermode.
Perhaps the biggest change to the gameplay mechanic though is the use of Samus' gunship. No longer stuck where you parked it, the gunship allows you to transport to different zones and planets (essentially acting as a substitute for the lifts between levels in previous games), and can also be used to airstrike certain pre-designated areas using the command visor.
Whereas in the previous Metroid Prime games you could change your beam type at will with a press of the C-stick, Metroid Prime 3 now features a stackable weapon system similar to Super Metroid, where each weapon replaces the previous one, while retaining all its advantages. It makes things a little less tactical, but it might not seem so bad when you're in the middle of a firefight- this game has upped the enemy numbers a fair bit compared to its predecessors to compensate for the quicker and more precise aiming offered by the Wiimote. There's two aiming modes in fact: lock-on and free-aim, the latter of which is a lot better to play. The controls do take some getting used to at first, but once mastered it works brilliantly.
As previously mentioned, there's more enemies to worry about. Not only that, but there's more boss fights than ever, and a whole load of mini-bosses too. There's nothing quite on the scale of the epic multi-stage fights from Metroid Prime 2 where the bosses practically refused to die, but fights are still epic, and can be quite tough. As always with Metroid bosses, it can take quite a while to kill them, so if you're about to take on a boss, you'll probably want to have at least half an hour to spare. This game also sees the welcome return of series regular foe Ridley, who is as cool as ever.
One of the best things about the Metroid franchise is the music. From Super Metroid on, the games in the series have been an example for all in how great video game soundtracks should be done, being memorable and atmospheric. Metroid Prime 3 is no exception. A combination of symphony and techno, the music is brilliantly moody and atmospheric. There's even a few musical references to earlier games in the series.
While it obviously never going to match up to the likes of Halo 3 in terms of graphics, Metroid Prime 3 nonetheless manages to look stunning, easily one of the best lookers on the Wii so far. And besides- Halo 3 may look prettier, but Metroid Prime 3 has more to look at. The environments in this game are full of detail and imagination, and look stunning. One thing that bothers me a little though, is that since worlds are now via your gunship, the levels don't interlock like they did in previous games in the franchise, and as such it's not quite as maze-like as before. That most certainly does not mean the exploration element has been lost completely though. On the contrary, there's plenty of backtracking to be done and tons of secret stuff to find.
The game should last the average gamer roughly around 15-20 hours on your first play, a little longer if you're after 100% completion. It could perhaps have done with a multiplayer mode, but it's not a drastic loss. New to this game are collectible credits that work similarly to Achievements in Xbox 360 games. You gain them for completing certain tasks, defeating bosses and scanning things, and these credits can be exchanged for bonus items such as artwork . There are also friend credits can be mailed to your Wii Friends. It's a somewhat pointless feature, but at least there's no separate Friends list, which is always a plus.
This game makes a fitting conclusion to the Metroid Prime subseries. Not only have Retro given us an actual plot, it's actually well written and really integrates well with the game. The controls, which could so easily have been screwed up by the wrong developer, are sublime in free-aim mode. The game could have done with a little less scanning, most of the gameplay feels rehashed from the first two games, and the lack of multiplayer feels like a wasted opportunity, but overall Metroid Prime 3 looks, sounds, and plays brilliantly and is one of the best games currently available for the Wii.
Graphics: 9/10
Sound: 9/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Lifespan: 7/10
Rating: 9/10
