Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

[Charlie]

@ Kit, you'll have no problem going from Bioshock to Metroid. They're both gorgeous.

[Kit]

Consider me swayed. Ordered it last night along with Resi Chronicles after seeing it in motion.

Don't laugh, but I actually find Prime 3 nicer to look at than Bioshock.

I can see where you?re coming from, certain parts of Bioshock get a little too Doom 3 for my liking. Actually quite looking forward to playing a shooter with a bit of colour for once.

[MattyD]

Don't laugh, but I actually find Prime 3 nicer to look at than Bioshock. 60fps with no screen tearing goes a long way with me.

Exactly what I thought after coming into it straight from finishing Bioshock.

[Mephistopheles]

Just started this. I found the whole beginning section quite weak, both graphically and gameplay wise. Trying too hard to be Halo and failing spectacularly. I was getting quite worried at that point. But after gaining the PED suit and the ability to explore planets it was back to the same awesome atmospheric territory the Prime games are known for. Thank goodness. I had shivers when I first landed on Bryyo. Amazing, amazing art direction. Outstanding music. Hell yes. I'm loving the game now!

As for the controls - they're great!

[andrewfee]

I've played/completed most of the 2D Metroids, and half way through Prime at the moment (didnt like it originally) Would it matter if I missed out Prime 2 and went straight to prime 3 on the wii?

God I long for a new 2D metroid on DS or Wii =[

Personally, I'd say skip it and just move onto Prime 3. It's my 2nd least favourite game in the series. (the abomination called Hunters takes first place, naturally) I really want to see a new 2D games as well - I'd pick up another DS for one, though I'd rather see it on the Wii.

I've been playing this since Saturday, and I'm absolutely loving it. For the first couple of hours, I hated the controls - really hated them and wanted to see if a classic controller/wavebird would work, but I stuck it out, and once I hit the 3-hour mark I had the hang of it. I did switch A/B though, and I prefer to use the old style of lock-on, but it annoys me that you can't switch targets quickly anymore, and that some enemies, like the

->Open Spoiler<-

Rundas

boss fight, force you to use the new aiming when there's no need. (I can understand them doing it for those grouped enemies near the start of the game though) I've had a little bit of trouble with the spring ball too - it only seems to work maybe 70% of the time, often jumping when I'm bringing the remote down rather than when I flick it up.

The game seems significantly easier than the other Primes so far (I'm playing on the standard difficulty) which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Normally I like games to be challenging, and often play them on hard mode from the start, but it stops things getting tedious here. You do feel a bit overpowered though - about 3 hours in I already had four energy tanks and plenty of other upgrades!

What I've seen of the game so far is gorgeous - fantastic art, as expected, though the environments seem like they're designed around Samus a bit too much, and I feel that they're over-using the waggle. (too many things to pull with the grapple beam, lots of switches/pumps you have to use the remote with etc.) They're also about as reliable as the morph ball jumping, which can get annoying. The bloom lighting is nice, but perhaps a bit over-used in places - some areas near the start almost looked like they were slightly out of focus as there wasn't always a sharp edge in sight. Some aspects of the lighting appear to have been downgraded as well; Samus' beam weapons no longer light up corridors like they used to. (this is something I've noticed about a lot of newer games - energy weapons only seem to light up the area around you as you fire, and the shots don't cast light anymore)

The framerate is fantastic, and I expect it'll remain locked to 60fps throughout, though it was disappointing to see the framerate drop in some of the cutscenes. (it actually looked like one or two might be 30fps videos rather than in-engine?)

Hopefully other developers will see what Retro is doing and try to match them now, as it looks far better than anything else on the system. I'm playing on my 480p native projector, and it looks really nice:


(I have plenty more photos I can post if people that don't have it yet want to see more)

A couple of things I'm not overly keen on though, is the "achievements" that pop up every so often (can you turn them off?) and there seems to be a lot more to scan than you had in previous titles. When you would have a row of screens before that scanned as one item, it now scans as 3/4, for example.

So I'm very glad I decided to pick this one up in the end, and if anyone was put off after Prime 2, or doesn't think they need to bother with a Prime game for the 3rd time, I'd definitely recommend you check it out. It was a pleasant surprise, as most games tend to disappoint a bit these days. Certainly has the potential to be better than the original from what I've played so far.

[Charlie]

Just started this. I found the whole beginning section quite weak, both graphically and gameplay wise. Trying too hard to be Halo and failing spectacularly. I was getting quite worried at that point. But after gaining the PED suit and the ability to explore planets it was back to the same awesome atmospheric territory the Prime games are known for. Thank goodness. I had shivers when I first landed on Bryyo. Amazing, amazing art direction. Outstanding music. Hell yes. I'm loving the game now!

I felt exactly the same way and breathed a mighty sigh of relief upon landing on Bryyo, and thankfully the game never sinks to quite the same lows again.

[Keith]

A couple of things I'm not overly keen on though, is the "achievements" that pop up every so often (can you turn them off?)

You can't turn off the actual tokens, but you can turn off the notifications in the option menu (the "1" button) mate.

[MattyD]

Wish I could afford a monster projecter like Andrewfee's

Did anyone else notice there's an option to use Wii aiming for boost ball mode? It's too different from the norm for me to get used to for general use but it's very handy for getting one of the secret friends tokens...

[briareos_kerensky]

The game seems significantly easier than the other Primes so far (I'm playing on the standard difficulty) [...]

It is. I'll write my final thoughts on this matter when I'll nail the last boss in hyper mode.

[andrewfee]

Wish I could afford a monster projecter like Andrewfee's

The funny thing is that it only cost me ?300 as Dabs were clearing out their stock, and it's easily the best value display I've ever bought. I'm not sure what, if anything, is available at that kind of price now, but for a 480p projector, the most it'll probably cost is about ?500. It's crazy how much better value they are than buying televisions. (but the obvious downside is that the bulb has a limited lifetime, and you need to be using them in a darkened room)

Thanks for the tip about the notifications Keith, I must've missed it.

[MattyD]

Just finished this, 100&#37; items in a shade under 18 hours. I got both the extra scenes in the ending - you get one for getting > 75% items, and another after the end credits if you get 100%. Scans don't make any difference to your % or the ending.

Something I thought was cool and don't think has been mentioned is that the game posts a screenshot of the final stats screen to your Wii message board for posterity

It felt a lot shorter than the previous Prime games but I'm not sure it is in real terms. I was thinking about it the other day and the best answer I can come up with is that the way it's been cut up into manageable, more structured chunks makes it seem a lot smaller than it actually is. Being able to fly from one landing zone to another instead of walking helps a lot I think.

Anyway I've unlocked HYPERMODE difficulty so I'll probably start playing through it again on that. Normal mode was far too easy. I only died a handful of times and all because of phazon corruption rather than enemy attacks / loss of life.

Replaying it doesn't seem as intimidating as with the other Prime games due to the structure, and because the Wii controls are damn good fun Also I've got the carrot of unlocking the rest of the bonus items, which is achieveable to a mere mortal (unlike those in Zero Mission).

The only things I didn't like that much were the poor character design for the Federation personell at the start of the game (far too generic) and the addition of 'characters' in general, which I just don't think sits very well with the game at all. Having people on the radio telling you where to go and what to do was especially distasteful to my Metroid fanboy sensibilities. I know it's no different in the abstract than having your suit tell you s'trange readings are being detected here' like in the previous two games, but the missions and hints in this were just far too explicit.

Also, the return to the stackable weapons system means I didn't get to change beams, which has my favourite sound effect / animation ever

Overall though it's a superb game. It bears repeating others that the graphics are simply phenomenal, too. There's no excuse for games having PS2-style graphics on the Wii after this.

[Keith]

Quick question for those who've finished it:

->Open Spoiler<-

So, I've just been told to go meet the head honcho Federation guy to "Finish the fight" on the Pirate Homeworld; am I right in thinking that I should be tying up loose ends now? On the Valhalla etc?

[Mayhem]

->Open Spoiler<-

Nope, the pirate homeworld is another brazen kill fest time... the Valhalla will be the LAST thing you do... you need all nine energy cells to fully complete it and some of them are on the pirate homeworld...

[Keith]

->Open Spoiler<-

Cheers man - wasn't sure because the Valhalla was opened up so early, I thought it may just have been a big side-quest.

Thanks again.

[MattyD]

I got worried about that too but when you finally reach it you do get a very clear and unambiguous warning before you cross the point of no return.