The Final Installment In the Metroid Prime Series

Author's Rating:

Pros: Fantastic graphics, great sound track, fluid controls, voice acting..finally!

Cons: Too easy, formulaic bosses, can be confusing at times

The Bottom Line: 
Fans of first person shooters and metroid rejoice, this is an amazing game.

Author's Review
When I first received my Wii in 2007 one of the first games I had my eye one was Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.  I rather enjoyed the first 2 Prime games so naturally I was excited about this one.  What I bought might have been the best Prime yet, and has been argued as the best Metroid game ever.  Developed by Nintendo and Retro studios Metroid Prime 3 completes the fantastic story the first 2 games have set up. 

Taking place sometime between the first Metroid game and Metroid 2 Return of Samus, chronologically this is an old game.  The Metroid Prime games are all first person shooters and might I add that the concept gets pulled of very nicely.  And don't worry, there's morphball too.  This is the first game in the series in which you get an inside look of Samus' starship, not only that but there are periods where you can actually control things with the ship, and use the ship to actually complete plot points and advance in the game.  This is also the first game where you get to see samus' full face without completing the game (excluding Other M which came later).  In fact you see it rather early on which was a surprise to some fans.  There are a lot of new things about this game to be honest, but I wouldn't want to spoil them.  

Metroid Prime 3 also contains voice acting, which most fans have wanted for a while much like Zelda.  The voices are good!  We do not hear Samus speak, she is blissfully mute throughout the game...well except for the grunts whenever she gets hurt by something.  There is a lot of emphasis on cut-scenes and action this time around.  It's a lot more like a movie than it's predecessors were.  But that's not a bad thing, because this game still retains the same great game play and quality, and in fact the game play has improved.

Metroid Primes 1 and 2 all used the Gamecube controller, which for a first person shooter was difficult.  But now with the Wii's motion controls, wherever you point on the tv screen, Samus will aim.  This method of controls is extremely fluid and easy to use, anyone can pick up and play.  And it's even easier with three added sensitivity levels for how fast the gun will move, when you move the controller in real life.  The lowest level is good for beginner players to the Wii, or people who don't want the screen moving to fast.  While on the other hand, the highest level is good for more advanced players who don't mind the quickness and fast pace.  The nunchuck is used for grappling with the Grapple Beam, and both controllers may be used for various puzzles throughout the game.  The grapple function however is a bit buggy, and is WAY over used.  Your wrist may get a little tired after playing this game as you'll be flicking and flicking that nunchuck over and over again.  No more grapple puzzles...my wrist begs you.

There is an extensive amount of game play, I'd say a first run through might get around 15 hours.  But if you want to go for 100% items it's gonna take around 30 hours of game play.  But each hour is worth it, there's really nothing boring about it.  And the good news is that this time around navigation is a lot easier, so there isn't as much backtracking to get items, which is a problem in most metroid games.  The game runs very smooth and simple and game play is great, which is no surprise.

Now let's talk about the graphics.  At the time this was the best looking game on the wii, by far.  Lots of bright vibrant colors and creative environments.  Everything runs at a smooth 60 frames per second, at 420p.  There are a couple problems with the graphics however.  The problem with the graphics itself are that some textures (mainly door textures) when viewed up close can be choppy and very low resolution.  This might be a huff for some players but it doesn't happen everywhere.  The second problem is with loading times.  To cover up loading a new room, the doors wont open until the room is fully loaded, and with this game sometimes loading takes a while.  The highest load time i've counted was 30 seconds, which can really ruin the flow of this game at times.  Character models look great, and enemies are really creepy at times, the game in itself looks like a work of art.  

The soundtrack is stunning, most of the tunes are for atmosphere.  But even those are just top notch.  A full orchestra with dolby digital surround sound completes the musical score, which by the way contains some classic metroid tunes.  Sound effects are crisp and high quality, while the voice acting works with the game as well.  Nothing negative to report about the music except, we could really use a soundtrack here!  Another thing about the music is that you can unlock different tracks to listen to on the main menu by completing objectives during the game.  This goes for concept art as well as some other obtainable goodies.  

Getting everything 100% is a challenge, so there's plenty of replay value, not to mention the addition of hyper mode to have you coming back for more.  And believe me this mode is very difficult.  Which is more than I can say about normal mode which can be confused as easy mode to be honest.  

The game is very easy, which can leave some fans wanting more.  A bit of irony but in fact the easiest part of the game for me was the final boss battle.  The truly difficult part of this game is sometimes the question on where to go next or how to beat this enemy.  But then in hyper mode it's as if things are too hard!  Some bosses being almost impossible to beat 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or even on your 4th try.   

Mini bosses and normal bosses have very strict formulas to them.  Meaning the battle is much of a do this, now do this, okay now to it 3 more times then you win.  Which is very boring sometimes and you just wish the battle would end already.  Some bosses however can be quite enjoyable and there's a certain satisfaction when you beat one.  

The plot line of Metroid Prime 3 is somewhat confusing, but if you really think about the past 2 games, and then the third it all makes sense.  The only thing fans can't seem to comprehend is the cliffhanger ending.  If you beat the game with a certain percentage of items you get a bonus ending which actually hints at a sequel..but everybody knows that a Metroid Prime 4 can't happen, the story makes sure of that.  And since this game is a prequel to some other Metroid titles..this ending makes little sense.  But who knows, maybe sometime in the future it will all make sense but it's been 4 years since this game so..when will we understand?

Unlocking every goody, grabbing every item, and completing hyper mode make this an easy game to replay, and it's even more fun the second time!  There are some unlockables which can only be obtained by getting friend codes, which means that you need a buddy who happens to have this game to give you his code, and you give them yours and then you can earn credits which are used to unlock things.  This is actually a pretty bad idea, Metroid was never the most popular title, meaning that not everyone is going to have a friend to do this with.  So for that person not everything can be unlocked and most of the time the coolest things require friend codes, it's a bit of a let down when you realize you don't have a pal to help you out on this one.

This game contains blood and violence as well as some sequences that might be pretty scary for younger players, which is why this game is rated a solid T for teen.  But I'd say 11 or 12 year olds would be fine with this game, it's not that bad really.  And it's far from childish so adults will have fun too, especially the adults who enjoy blasting aliens with a huge arm cannon!  

This game gets my recommendation and it ranks very high on any reviewers list.   If you have a few bucks and haven't played this yet, go ahead and pick it up it's worth a buy!  But I suggest playing the first 2 games before this one, as the Prime trilogy is somewhat story based, but the good thing about this game is that if you don't care about the story it's still a very fun game that anyone can play.  Good work Nintendo and Retro, mission complete!