Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (1st completion)
I beat Metroid Prime 3: Corruption for the Nintendo Wii last night on “Normal” difficulty with 100% completion and a final time of 17 hours and 41 minutes. I’ve been meaning to play this game for over 2 years when I got it as a birthday present from my sister and now brother-in-law. It is the final game in the Metroid Prime trilogy and as of this writing, there are no plans for a 4th game.
The events in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption take place six months after Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. The series’ protagonist, Samus Aran, is a bounty hunter hired to assist the Galactic Federation during its ongoing conflict with the alien Space Pirates. After facing initial defeat on the planet Zebes during the events of the first Metroid title, the Space Pirates sought to gain power by using a newly discovered mutagen called Phazon. However, Samus managed to disrupt their operations throughout the Primetrilogy and ultimately allowed the Galactic Federation to confiscate and replicate their Phazon armaments. The Space Pirates' operation was left in disarray following defeat in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. In their desperation, they turned to Dark Samus, Samus' sinister doppelgänger, for aid. Dark Samus strengthened the Space Pirates' forces, while also slowly indoctrinating them into mindless servants. Their combined forces seek to corrupt the universe with Phazon by first executing a series of methodical attacks on three Federation planets: Norion, Bryyo, and Elysia.
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption begins with a meeting between Samus, three other bounty hunters, and Admiral Dane, leader of the Galactic Federation fleet. The bounty hunters, including Samus, receive orders to clear a computer virus from several supercomputers, called Aurora Units, located throughout the galaxy, but the meeting ends abruptly when Space Pirates attack several Federation ships. Samus and the other bounty hunters are deployed to the planet Norion, where the Space Pirates are concentrating an attack on a Federation naval base. While suppressing the attack, Samus learns that a Phazon asteroid, called a Leviathan Seed, will soon collide into Norion. Samus and the other bounty hunters attempt to activate the base's defense systems, when they are suddenly attacked by a newly armoured Dark Samus. With the other bounty hunters unconscious, a severely wounded Samus manages to activate the system just in time to destroy the Leviathan Seed before she is incapacitated.
A month later, Samus awakens aboard a Galactic Federation star ship, where she learns that Dark Samus' Phazon-based attacks have corrupted her. The Federation equips her with a Phazon Enhancement Device (PED) that enables her to harness the Phazon energy within herself. She is informed that her fellow bounty hunters, also equipped with PED's due to the same condition as Samus, who had been sent to investigate several planets embedded with Leviathan Seeds, have vanished. Samus is first sent to the planet Bryyo and later Elysia to determine what happened to her missing comrades. She soon discovers that both planets and their inhabitants are slowly being corrupted by the Leviathan Seeds, and she must destroy the seeds to stop corruption. Her selfless actions come at a price, the Phazon inside her is growing and she must quickly stop Dark Samus to free herself of the corruption.
To watch the beginning of the game go here or just below.
Click to view+ Near HD quality, extremely impressive for the Wii.
+ Good level design. The different alien worlds are beautiful and varied.
+ The game runs at 60fps with virtually no slowdown. Everything runs smoothly.
+ Character models look great, especially Samus. Impressive bosses!
Sound/Music-9
+ Some worlds have great music and there are some remixed tracks from previous games in the series.
+ Classic themes and sound effects have returned again.
Music samples:
Title Screen
Skytown
Berserker Lord Battle
Control-8
+ The new Wiimote and Nunchuck controls are quite good. Lots of precision shots.
+ Innovative use of both controllers to pull off special moves both in and out of combat. For example, you flick the Nunchuck forward to use Samus’ Grappling Beam (when the icon appears) and flick it back to pull or rip off something.
+ Controls aren’t too complicated though there is a learning curve in the beginning. It does become second nature and it can be debatable if the controls surpass the previous GameCube-controlled games.
- The use of the Wiimote can be clunky with Samus looking all over the place or looks in a direction that you don’t want her to look in. It can be frustrating and dangerous in certain battles. I recommend players be planted right in front of their TVs - right in the middle and the TV centered just right. Any angling is asking for trouble.
Gameplay-10
+ Besides the new controls, the gameplay is the same as the previous two games.
+ Like the previous two games, you have to scan every object and enemy to learn more. It can be repetitive but it helps bring out the game's story.
+ You earn different credits for achievements you do which amounts to purchasing artwork and music. I cannot comment on the whole “Friend Vouchers”thing because no one on my Friends List has played the game and so I cannot utilize it.
+ Rolling around in Morphball mode is still a lot of fun!
+ Once Samus becomes corrupted at an early point in the game, you can enter “Hypermode” by pressing the “+” button on the Wiimote. It uses up an energy tank but for a small amount of time, you can fire Phazon shots at enemies and kill them easily. The rub is that you cannot exit out of it after around the first 10 seconds and you must continue being in Hypermode until Samus’ suit auto vents and bring you back to normal. There is a meter on top of Samus’ visor and you must keep it from being filled up. If it fills up, you have to quickly fire shots of Phazon to release tension or you’ll die from corruption! If you go too low, you’ll exit out of Hypermode early.
+ Samus’ gunship plays a role in this mission. There are certain spots you can call it down to save your game, fly to different areas of a planet, leave a planet and explore a different one, bomb areas to kill enemies or open pathways, move structures, solve puzzles, etc.
Fun/Story/Misc-9
+ Besides the cinemas, the game’s story is best explained through scanning and reading different Lore entries throughout the planets and space stations.
+ While I still prefer the first Metroid Prime, this one is certainly better than the second game and is one of the best games on the Wii.
+ The game doesn't start Samus off with nothing this time which was a surprise! You have some basic stuff but as usual, you have to find all upgrades and expansions - about 100 of them!
Total: 46/50 (Grade: A)
For some more gameplay videos go here, here, here, andhere.
The main Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is no longer around but you can check out the Metroid Prime Trilogy website here. The Wikipedia article is here and the Gametrailers.com video review is here.
Next Game: Assassin’s Creed (PS3)
Currently playing: Final Fantasy IV (DS)
