The Primest of the Primes

Author's Rating:

Pros: New controls, great graphics, still feels like Metroid

Cons: Some of the new controls, loading times.

The Bottom Line: 
If this is indeed Samus Aran's swan song, it ended on the highest note possible.

Author's Review
So I'm playing Metroid Prime 3, thoroughly enjoying myself, but not sure whether it was just a really good game or a great game, when I looked at the clock and realized it was two in the morning. It was at that moment that I had realized that I had been totally sucked in, anxious to finish the battle, and that this is indeed a great game.

Let's start with the basics. I must confess, I've missed a chapter in the Metroid Prime series (Echoes to be precise), so if you want the full story, you'll have to refer to that game. But, in short form, you are Samus Aran, intergalactic bounty hunter, and you've been selected to rid the galaxy of Phazon, a parasitic substance that could choke the whole universe. It's up to you to go to the cores of several planets and destroy it at the source. Like I said, that's short form, and the story isn't stunning, but there's more to it than that, and Metroid fans may get a few surprises here and there.

For the very few people who have never played a Metroid game ever, the gameplay, though moved from side scrolling to FPS, really hasn't changed a great deal. You start off naked, so to speak, with only a beam attached to your arm, and you must fight your way through a planet, or several. You'll find that some areas early on are inaccessible, but as you find more suit enhancements (missiles, morph ball, etc.), more of the world opens up to you. The key point of Metroid games was never about battling enemies (though there were plenty), or about boss battles (though they sometimes bordered on epic), but rather about exploration, backtracking, and leaving no stone unturned, and becoming the best bounty hunter you could be, and of course, riddiing the world of the parasitic Metroid. Metroid Prime 3 has kept these most basic elements intact, but has deviated in a few areas.

The first thing that long time Metroid fans will notice is that there is actual voice acting in this one, and NPC's to communicate with. This alone may chase some of the die hard fans off. I'm not even a die hard fan (though I love old school Metroid), and I was a bit confused.

The game, after a brief intro giving you the basic controls, and your mission, takes you into a very Halo-esque intro. I'm breaking my rules of comparing every FPS to Halo here, but the parallels are striking. You're on a space station being attacked by space pirates, and you have to fight your way off. Granted, you'll solve a lot more puzzles along the way then you would in Halo, but this sequence is meant for adrenaline boosting. Once you're on your first planet, things don't change a great deal in the action department. You'll race against the clock, fight with some space pirates, and even battle with a monster as you both fall down a shaft. It's all fast paced and frenetic, with puzzles meant to be solved quickly.

One review I read said that the game put too much focus on action, and practically ditched the entire Metroid scheme. I don't think said reviewer played very far into the game, because once you get through the opener, the game slows down the pace, and eases you back into old fashioned Metroid theme of exploring and upgrading. Granted this game was made for people new to the series, but there's something for everyone here.

Ok, all that said, let's talk about the controls, which were hyped more than the fact that this is the last game in the Metroid Prime series, and possibly Samus Aran's last hurrah, save for appearances in Super Smash Bros. All speculation aside, Metroid Prime 3, if nothing else, shows that the Wii can handle an FPS, and do a stellar job doing so. The pointer is the best I have ever seen, with almost no problems. No jumping of the cursor, no mysterious "where the hell did the cursor go?" moments. In short, no problems.

In the setup menu, you have options for how sensitive you want the Wii remote to be: basic, standard, and advanced Don't be daunted, go with the advanced setting. I'm no expert, but it's what's worked best for me. The only issue people might have is with the bizarre lock on free aiming. Basically, you can lock on to a target, but still fire at others while locked on to one. This is a give and take thing. If you're facing three enemies that are all standing in a row, and not moving very erratically, it's ideal. If, on the other hand, you're dealing with enemies that move a lot, or even teleport like some do, the free aiming can give you some trouble, as you'll be locked on to one target that won't stay still, while dealing with others that are also on the move. You'll get used to it, but you can also change it if you want to.

Other controls are hit and miss. There are context sensitive switches and doors which will require you to pull the remote back and twist, mimicking unlocking a door. This is done pretty smoothly, but may take a couple of tries on occasion.

Once you get the grapple, you can rip enemy shields from them by "throwing" it with the nunchuk and pulling back. You can also swing from grappling points, and pull certain switches this way. There's even enemies that you defeat by ripping them apart with the grapple. It's all groovy, with only occasional hiccups.

The real problem comes in morph balling. Again, for those unitiated with the series, the morph ball is an enhancement which allows you to roll into a ball, allowing you access to tight spaces. In the past, this has been something you had to find. In MP3, you start off with it, as well as the ability to drop bombs while in morph ball state, which allow you to jump while morph balling, blast your way into a hidden area, or fight bosses. Jumping can now be done by either dropping morph bombs, or by flicking the Wii remote up. Stick with the bombs. The flicking is way too hit and miss, sometimes not working at all.

Once it's all said and done, the control scheme as a whole is great, and certainly a new way to play first person shooters. Whether or not it's a revolution in gaming is yet to be seen.

So let's talk about suit enhancements. As in previous MP games, you still have your scan visor, which allows you to scan enemies, learn a bit about their biology, and find their weaknesses, so you can blast that biology into oblivion. It's also used to scan objects that give you a bit of the history of the planet you're visiting, or can be used to help you solve puzzles. New to the series is the command visor, which gives Samus' ship a new starring role in the series. You can command the ship to bomb certain areas, touch down on a landing pad, or grab heavy objects and move them to new locations. Instead of scrolling through visors like in previous games, you simply hold down the minus button, and move the remote to the visor you want to use.

Your ship is also your new go between for planets. Instead being dropped into one area as in previous games, and uncovering all the secrets of the planets yourself. You'll travel to multiple planets, which gives you a little flying cinema (loading time) as you move from planet to planet. It's just another interesting, different take on a series that has long stayed the same, and a welcome one at that.

As for beam enhancements, you can say goodbye to switching beam types. Each time you get a new type of beam or missile, it keeps the characteristics of the previous one, and adds whatever enhancement you just got. So you no longer have to cycle between beam and missile types.

The newest, and most interesting addition, is hypermode. You see, throughout the course of her journey, Samus will be "corrupted" with Phazon, at first a blessing, but soon a curse. Hypermode makes your attacks more powerful, but where there's give, there's take. Going into hypermode takes some of your life energy, and if you're in hypermode too long, you'll become fully corrputed, and it's game over. So you have to decide when hypermode is necessary, and if it's worth the energy you have. Every boss requires you to go into hypermode at least briefly, so you'll have to fight well.

Graphically, Metroid Prime 3 is a bit misleading. At first, I didn't find it any more graphically impressive than the first Metroid Prime, and certainly not as groundbreaking, but it's all in the details. Samus' eyes reflected in her visor is much more apparent here, the enemies look better, and the planets themselves are much more to behold. The city in the sky is the best example. At first, it just looks like a bunch of buildings sitting in the sky. Then you look around, and realize that you'll explore all of those buildings, each with its own inner workings and details. The planets here seem much more like living, breathing planets than could be accomplished on the Gamecube, but I have had some issues.

The most apparent, and annoying, is when I shoot the seal off a door to open it, only to find it won't open. I can hear the Wii working overtime to load whatever lies beyond that door, but I have to sit there and wait like an idiot until it decides it's ready to open. This happened to me frequently during the game, and while it beats a loading time between every door, it still slows down the pace.

However, the imagination behind the visuals is what matters, and man, there is some cool stuff in this game. There's even a sequence that actually kind of gave me the creeps. You find an abandoned Federation ship, and then you find the corpses of Federation soldiers, some frozen in combat states, and you're left to wonder what happened to them, and what's coming to get you.

The sound is top notch as well. The score is the best to hit the Wii yet, and the most notable piece of sound in the game. Still, all the sound effects are definitely well done, and bring new life into old Metroid sounds.

I'd be amiss if I didn't note the Wii version of Xbox's achievements. Throughout the game, you'll get tokens for various things (scanning an enemy, scanning lore in your logbook, defeating bosses, finding shortcuts, etc.), which are used for unlockables. Yes, I know it's snide to compare it to the Xbox's system, but it definitely shares a resemblance, but that's a not a bad thing in the least. You'll also get friend vouchers that you can use on Wii Connect24, so you can swap stuff with friends, like trading cards.

So now we're coming to an end, and I haven't quite covered everything, but I'll leave you to discover the rest.

Here's the Deal: Retro Studios went all out here, adding all sorts of new things to do, while retaining the old Metroid style. Yes, the feeling of being all alone on a distant planet is lost, but this was the best way I could think of to end the series. For those of you who are worried that Metroid might have been ruined, fear not. You'll still have all the chances you want to backtrack and explore. For everyone who owns a Wii, whether newcomers to the series or old fans, this is a definite must have.

Parent's Note: Metroid Prime 3 is rated T, a rating it earns, but there's nothing shocking here. Some very mild language, and some sci-fi violence, but your kids won't be warped.