The answer to the previous post was....
Metroid Prime 3. Did you guess right?
I decided to wrap up some unfinished games before I head off next week to spend Christmas with the family, including the last part of the Metroid Prime Trilogy. I put off playing Corruption for a long time because I remember hearing bad things about it but I can't actually remember what those criticisms were now. They certainly weren't the things I would complain about, like the ghastly new Scan Visor design, the save points being spaced far apart, the significant load times on the doors and how Samus talking to NPCs feels very wrong to me. Not in a purist "in a True Metroid Game™ Samus should never speak or interact with anything in a way that's not shooting or collecting it" way, more how I've imagined her being such a legendary figure in her universe (there's even a log in Prime 2 from a guy who claims she's just a myth) that having her walking around in public and getting dismissive reactions like "I'm busy" when you talk to random people deflates some of the status I imagined she had.
Even though it was made between Zero Mission and Brawl I'm happy to see Prime 3 doesn't push the "hey guys did you know SAMUS IS A CHICK and that means she HAS BOOBS" angle as hard as those two. The Zero Suit is only briefly seen at the beginning and she only removes her helmet once or twice after that. But someone was apparently afraid this might undo the damage done to the series by Zero Slut Samus so other ways were found to keep the standards down, like giving her long thick eyelashes that are perpetually reflected in the Scan Visor or making her moan orgasmically every single time she takes damage.
Now that I've done all three Prime games in three months I'd rank them 1>3>2 overall. The original brought the elements of the old games to 3D so well that there was nowhere for the sequels to go but into new territory. Prime 2 was practically the same game except with a new setting/story completely unconnected to the rest of the series and wonky boss difficulty. It's strange how some of the bosses I remembered being hard on the Gamecube version were much easier in Trilogy (Spider Guardian, Quadraxis) while others suddenly felt a lot harder (Emperor Ing). Prime 3 reconnected with the mythology and does all sorts of clever little things with the motion sensors to keep exploration varied, although using the grapple on bosses mid-fight is still an acquired taste. Even though Prime 3 has the worst individual parts of the trilogy (the very linear opening hour and Skytown) the rest of it more than compensates (the Space Pirate homeworld is every bit as murky and depraved as a fan could hope for).
All three games are still wonderful but I'm happy for the Prime series to end here since the design set down by the first game seems to have been fully explored now. Roll on Other M.
I decided to wrap up some unfinished games before I head off next week to spend Christmas with the family, including the last part of the Metroid Prime Trilogy. I put off playing Corruption for a long time because I remember hearing bad things about it but I can't actually remember what those criticisms were now. They certainly weren't the things I would complain about, like the ghastly new Scan Visor design, the save points being spaced far apart, the significant load times on the doors and how Samus talking to NPCs feels very wrong to me. Not in a purist "in a True Metroid Game™ Samus should never speak or interact with anything in a way that's not shooting or collecting it" way, more how I've imagined her being such a legendary figure in her universe (there's even a log in Prime 2 from a guy who claims she's just a myth) that having her walking around in public and getting dismissive reactions like "I'm busy" when you talk to random people deflates some of the status I imagined she had.
Even though it was made between Zero Mission and Brawl I'm happy to see Prime 3 doesn't push the "hey guys did you know SAMUS IS A CHICK and that means she HAS BOOBS" angle as hard as those two. The Zero Suit is only briefly seen at the beginning and she only removes her helmet once or twice after that. But someone was apparently afraid this might undo the damage done to the series by Zero Slut Samus so other ways were found to keep the standards down, like giving her long thick eyelashes that are perpetually reflected in the Scan Visor or making her moan orgasmically every single time she takes damage.
Now that I've done all three Prime games in three months I'd rank them 1>3>2 overall. The original brought the elements of the old games to 3D so well that there was nowhere for the sequels to go but into new territory. Prime 2 was practically the same game except with a new setting/story completely unconnected to the rest of the series and wonky boss difficulty. It's strange how some of the bosses I remembered being hard on the Gamecube version were much easier in Trilogy (Spider Guardian, Quadraxis) while others suddenly felt a lot harder (Emperor Ing). Prime 3 reconnected with the mythology and does all sorts of clever little things with the motion sensors to keep exploration varied, although using the grapple on bosses mid-fight is still an acquired taste. Even though Prime 3 has the worst individual parts of the trilogy (the very linear opening hour and Skytown) the rest of it more than compensates (the Space Pirate homeworld is every bit as murky and depraved as a fan could hope for).
All three games are still wonderful but I'm happy for the Prime series to end here since the design set down by the first game seems to have been fully explored now. Roll on Other M.