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Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Platforms: Wii
Players: 1
Original Release Date(s): Aug 27 2007(US), Oct 26 2007(EU), Nov 8 2007(AU), Mar 6 2008(JP)
Much like Mario and Link if there is a character synonymous with Nintendo it would have to be Samus Aran, certainly more in western countries than Nintendo's home of Japan, maybe down more to the more sci-fi based theme of the series as a whole, and in more recent years probably solely down to the first person view the Retro Studios chose to go down, which has never been as popular in Nintendo's native country. Not that it takes away from the series in anyway as they are some of the best design and polished games on any system and this concluding Retro Studio's trilogy of games spanning two systems, but does it live up to previous efforts and such high Nintendo standards that goes along with all the big name game series?
Presentation
Much like Retro Studios two previous games in the series Corruption has some of the highest production values around for the Wii, everything from the menu's has been finely tuned from the first game in the series to this one. Not only is everything presented so well but unlike the previous two games this is much more of a cinematic experience and goes all out to be Retro's finest game to date, all the little touches add together and just show how much attention has been shown to make this a good swan song for the trilogy, the first two games were amazing this just goes that one step further and refines it all and adds the one thing that probably wasn't really possible on the Gamecube games likely due to the smaller disc capacity and that is a much more cinematic feel for the story.
Graphics
Unlike the maybe Twilight Princess that was originally design to be for the Gamecube, Corruption has the advantage of being built from the ground up for the Wii so visually this game takes advantage of just about everything it can from greater textures, Twilight Princess suffered slightly up close more than likely due to the fact the lower-res textures were a case of fitting onto a lower capacity Gamecube disc, greater lighting and particle effects, and trust me those particle effect are every where from rain to snow and ashes from debris. That's not to say this is just a tech demo of what the Wii can do graphically as it certainly isn't as environment design is amazing and has a huge level of detail with some truly vast open areas compared to previous games, once again taking advantage of the better tech behind it. Enemy design once again is of a high standard from the previous games with some of the best looking boss characters of any Nintendo game to date in there too, supporting characters are also very well detailed and animated superbly much like all the enemies within the game. All this is top off with the support for 480p and 16:9 Widescreen support making best use of everything at it's disposal and the first Nintendo adventure to do so on the Wii and all to great effect, if only other developers took this approach more often then we may see more frequently what the Wii can do when they try and that it's not just about if it's HD it's about the attention to detail that goes into it, as a good looking game is still good regardless of resolution.
One thing that is seems to not be able to shake is the slight comparisons with the Halo series in terms of graphical styling and this game wont shake that in the slightest if anything may strengthen them as I certainly got a similar vibe from certain scenes in the game when you are with the other bounty hunters and from certain enemies but as they are both similar kinds in a way these kinds of things may have been bound to happen, other than a few deja-vu moments it's not like either game went out of it's way to borrow anything from the other.
Sound
This is another area where Retro Studios has really excelled at with its attention to detail maybe great music scores through out and while not able to match the full orchestral score that were delivered in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and the Super Mario Galaxy games it is certainly some of the most atmospheric on the Wii. The use of speech in the game is also pretty good as far as a story telling point of view goes with voice actors for all the human characters and other bounty hunters through out the game delivering a more complete story telling experience than the previous two games in the series.
Once again as Retro normally does they go all out to offer what the hardware is cable of offer Dolby Pro-Logic II support everything sounds amazing and a decent set of headphones will show that with the simulated surround sound effects and the scores that have became synonymous with the Trilogy as a whole.
Gameplay
Possibly the biggest change and improvement over its two predecessors not only was the Wii controller perfectly designed for a game like this it also managed to show many first person games a thing or two about getting the controls spot on for accuracy. If you have played either of the previous two games you will know exactly how the game plays with improved aiming and motion gestures, and they aren't just added on for the sake of it they actually make you feel like you are controlling Samus more by a simple turning and twisting of the Nun-chuck to open mechanisms or making a throwing and pulling motion to use your grappling beam, it is all very well implemented and goes a long way to improving the whole experience.
Lasting Appeal
As a single play though the game can last as long as 40 hours if you fully explore, although unlike previous games the backtracking is both limited and easier to do as there are more points where you can simply just fly to to get there far quicker. Some people see this as bad as it makes the game more linear and much more of an all out shooter than an adventure like the first in the series I am on the fence as each of the three games tries different ways to play and no single one is better in my mind.
Other than just playing through for the story the game does offer other challenges like previous games there are harder difficulties and the challenge of scanning everything there is in the game and even collecting all of the power-ups dotted about, new to the series though is a sort of achievement system that rewards you for completing certain tasks such as beating a boss enemy, collecting a certain item, defeating a number of enemies and so on, with these emblems you can unlock artwork sound tracks and various other bits and pieces such as a Mii bobble head for your cockpit.
So there is certainly plenty to see and do if you want to really get the most out of it.
Overall
One of the big Nintendo games in more ways than one and Retro delivers on their swan song for the trilogy by making the best looking and sounding game of the three and a real testiment to what the Wii can do when someone puts in the effort, it's one of my favourite series and also one of my favourite Wii games I can't recommend this game enough to both Metroid fans and non fans as the whole experience is worth it.
Scores
Presentation 10
Graphics 9.5
Sound 9.5
Gameplay 9.5
Lasting Appeal 9.0
Overall 9.5
Players: 1
Original Release Date(s): Aug 27 2007(US), Oct 26 2007(EU), Nov 8 2007(AU), Mar 6 2008(JP)
Much like Mario and Link if there is a character synonymous with Nintendo it would have to be Samus Aran, certainly more in western countries than Nintendo's home of Japan, maybe down more to the more sci-fi based theme of the series as a whole, and in more recent years probably solely down to the first person view the Retro Studios chose to go down, which has never been as popular in Nintendo's native country. Not that it takes away from the series in anyway as they are some of the best design and polished games on any system and this concluding Retro Studio's trilogy of games spanning two systems, but does it live up to previous efforts and such high Nintendo standards that goes along with all the big name game series?
Presentation
Much like Retro Studios two previous games in the series Corruption has some of the highest production values around for the Wii, everything from the menu's has been finely tuned from the first game in the series to this one. Not only is everything presented so well but unlike the previous two games this is much more of a cinematic experience and goes all out to be Retro's finest game to date, all the little touches add together and just show how much attention has been shown to make this a good swan song for the trilogy, the first two games were amazing this just goes that one step further and refines it all and adds the one thing that probably wasn't really possible on the Gamecube games likely due to the smaller disc capacity and that is a much more cinematic feel for the story.
Graphics
Unlike the maybe Twilight Princess that was originally design to be for the Gamecube, Corruption has the advantage of being built from the ground up for the Wii so visually this game takes advantage of just about everything it can from greater textures, Twilight Princess suffered slightly up close more than likely due to the fact the lower-res textures were a case of fitting onto a lower capacity Gamecube disc, greater lighting and particle effects, and trust me those particle effect are every where from rain to snow and ashes from debris. That's not to say this is just a tech demo of what the Wii can do graphically as it certainly isn't as environment design is amazing and has a huge level of detail with some truly vast open areas compared to previous games, once again taking advantage of the better tech behind it. Enemy design once again is of a high standard from the previous games with some of the best looking boss characters of any Nintendo game to date in there too, supporting characters are also very well detailed and animated superbly much like all the enemies within the game. All this is top off with the support for 480p and 16:9 Widescreen support making best use of everything at it's disposal and the first Nintendo adventure to do so on the Wii and all to great effect, if only other developers took this approach more often then we may see more frequently what the Wii can do when they try and that it's not just about if it's HD it's about the attention to detail that goes into it, as a good looking game is still good regardless of resolution.
One thing that is seems to not be able to shake is the slight comparisons with the Halo series in terms of graphical styling and this game wont shake that in the slightest if anything may strengthen them as I certainly got a similar vibe from certain scenes in the game when you are with the other bounty hunters and from certain enemies but as they are both similar kinds in a way these kinds of things may have been bound to happen, other than a few deja-vu moments it's not like either game went out of it's way to borrow anything from the other.
Sound
This is another area where Retro Studios has really excelled at with its attention to detail maybe great music scores through out and while not able to match the full orchestral score that were delivered in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and the Super Mario Galaxy games it is certainly some of the most atmospheric on the Wii. The use of speech in the game is also pretty good as far as a story telling point of view goes with voice actors for all the human characters and other bounty hunters through out the game delivering a more complete story telling experience than the previous two games in the series.
Once again as Retro normally does they go all out to offer what the hardware is cable of offer Dolby Pro-Logic II support everything sounds amazing and a decent set of headphones will show that with the simulated surround sound effects and the scores that have became synonymous with the Trilogy as a whole.
Gameplay
Possibly the biggest change and improvement over its two predecessors not only was the Wii controller perfectly designed for a game like this it also managed to show many first person games a thing or two about getting the controls spot on for accuracy. If you have played either of the previous two games you will know exactly how the game plays with improved aiming and motion gestures, and they aren't just added on for the sake of it they actually make you feel like you are controlling Samus more by a simple turning and twisting of the Nun-chuck to open mechanisms or making a throwing and pulling motion to use your grappling beam, it is all very well implemented and goes a long way to improving the whole experience.
Lasting Appeal
As a single play though the game can last as long as 40 hours if you fully explore, although unlike previous games the backtracking is both limited and easier to do as there are more points where you can simply just fly to to get there far quicker. Some people see this as bad as it makes the game more linear and much more of an all out shooter than an adventure like the first in the series I am on the fence as each of the three games tries different ways to play and no single one is better in my mind.
Other than just playing through for the story the game does offer other challenges like previous games there are harder difficulties and the challenge of scanning everything there is in the game and even collecting all of the power-ups dotted about, new to the series though is a sort of achievement system that rewards you for completing certain tasks such as beating a boss enemy, collecting a certain item, defeating a number of enemies and so on, with these emblems you can unlock artwork sound tracks and various other bits and pieces such as a Mii bobble head for your cockpit.
So there is certainly plenty to see and do if you want to really get the most out of it.
Overall
One of the big Nintendo games in more ways than one and Retro delivers on their swan song for the trilogy by making the best looking and sounding game of the three and a real testiment to what the Wii can do when someone puts in the effort, it's one of my favourite series and also one of my favourite Wii games I can't recommend this game enough to both Metroid fans and non fans as the whole experience is worth it.
Scores
Presentation 10
Graphics 9.5
Sound 9.5
Gameplay 9.5
Lasting Appeal 9.0
Overall 9.5
