Review: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

[Adam LaMosca]

Review: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Corruption is a great game, as likely to please longtime Metroid fans as it is to convert those new to the series. Though it falls slightly short in a few areas, it more than makes good on the promise of its heritage. It also sets the standard for motion control-enabled shooting, and establishes the Wii as a valid platform for future FPS titles. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is a terrific addition to the Wii's library, and a fitting conclusion to the Prime trilogy.

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[jemann]

Stop using 'compliment' when you mean 'complement'! Gah!

 

[Andraste]

Stop using 'compliment' when you mean 'complement'! Gah!

Thanks for that - all fixed. I guess I'll stop trying to proof things in a loud office while under pressure to run out the door to get someone to the airport. le sigh

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Metroid prime 3 shows what keeping and fostering dev houses in a intact state is a good thing,in MP1 we had a solid unique game,2 a bit less so and now 3 is a watered down version of it by changes the chefs you change the flavor of the project...publishers and dev house owners need to udnerstand that and try and keep dev houses intact as to not the next project to "in name only "

If they make a new Metroid game I hope they re evaluate what the project needs and try and polish the lil things more because the current retro is not the retro that made Metriod Prime "Metriod Prime" .

 

[Bongo Bill]

The first Metroid Prime was the only one in the series which compensated for the fact that the only talent Retro Studios seems to lack is creating a better narrative than a twelve-year-old can. Prime 2 was a much more serious offender in this regard, but some elements of that camp come through here as well.

Metroid Prime 3 is the entry into this series that convinced me that Metroid and Metroid Prime are not the same series. I don't mean this as an insult to either of them; quite the opposite, in fact, as it means that Prime can be judged without feeling as if it is somehow deficient for its divergence from its ancestor. To do otherwise would be like complaining that Paper Mario's action fails to challenge, or that World of Warcraft's strategic elements focus entirely too much on the "hero" units.

There's much more combat in this than the previous ones. I am okay with that. I much prefer a steady stream of shootouts to Metroid Prime 2's boss battles that brought out the masochist in all of us. The game may be easier overall, but I can't help wondering if it just feels easier due to the better controls. I can't help wondering whether its predecessors might have had more action, if Samus could fight like this in them. It is a testament to how well the controls work that nobody is talking about how they were holding the Wiimote, the way they did for Twilight Princess or Super Paper Mario. To [mis]quote Douglas Adams, "People notice things that don't work. They don't notice things that do."

Metroid Prime was an act of dedication - Retro Studios tried (and succeeded) to make a worthy follow-up to Super Metroid. Since then, however, they've tested new waters. And if games like Metroid Prime 3 are the result, then I fully support them.

Can't wait to see what they'd do with original IP.

 

[Alex Karls]

Stop using 'compliment' when you mean 'complement'! Gah!

Thanks for that - all fixed. I guess I'll stop trying to proof things in a loud office while under pressure to run out the door to get someone to the airport. le sigh

I'm crying now. That's the most beautiful thing I've ever heard an editor say. Thank you, thank you very much.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Bongo Bill
Dose metroid really need a narrative?

Look at 1 or mission zero or even Metroid 3, its a simple concept that dose not need extra story telling to somehow make it "better".

Anyway from what I have played its cute but I would rather have "normal" FPS aiming as a option.....


BTW MP and metroid is for the most part alternative worlds,the fact was clear in MP1 when you could not rapid fire missiles and other weapon setups are not normal metroid suits/systems.

Still on the whole its a great addition to the series, I would not mind seeing a metroid fusion "retelling" in 3D.

and I would still be willing to pay 70$ for MP1 and 2 ported to the WII to use its controls ^^

 

[Chinster]

Can't wait to play this, but as I live in the UK I guess I don't have much choice.

 

[Bongo Bill]

Bongo Bill
Dose metroid really need a narrative?

Look at 1 or mission zero or even Metroid 3, its a simple concept that dose not need extra story telling to somehow make it "better".

Metroid has a very distinctive narrative: "You've been hired wipe out a Space Pirate installation and kill their leader, Mother Brain. In the process of getting to her, you'll have to kill Kraid and Ridley." That's a story that not only justifies the gameplay, but is expressed by the gameplay and coincides thematically with it.

Metroid Prime 2 is full of such varied tropes as the ol' Light-World-Dark-World Dichotomy, the Evil Doppelgänger, the Peaceful Civilization Beset by an Uncompromisingly Belligerent and Demon-like Evil.... It's full of fantasy epic clichés, which just aren't an appropriate justification for a science fiction mystery.

Had they been applied to the right game, the elements of Metroid Prime 2's narratives could have shone. But the game itself, minus the narrative, expressed the usual themes of exploration and isolation. The story provides motivation for the game, but thematically they don't match.

The gameplay was similar enough to Metroid that a Metroid-style narrative would have been better: a restrained, minimalist story, relying on no outside information, and providing no specific directions.

I'm agreeing with you, by the way, but I think you thought you were disagreeing with me.

 

[trenton9]

Metroid has a very distinctive narrative: "You've been hired wipe out a Space Pirate installation and kill their leader, Mother Brain. In the process of getting to her, you'll have to kill Kraid and Ridley." That's a story that not only justifies the gameplay, but is expressed by the gameplay and coincides thematically with it.

Metroid Prime 2 is full of such varied tropes as the ol' Light-World-Dark-World Dichotomy, the Evil Doppelgänger, the Peaceful Civilization Beset by an Uncompromisingly Belligerent and Demon-like Evil.... It's full of fantasy epic clichés, which just aren't an appropriate justification for a science fiction mystery.

Had they been applied to the right game, the elements of Metroid Prime 2's narratives could have shone. But the game itself, minus the narrative, expressed the usual themes of exploration and isolation. The story provides motivation for the game, but thematically they don't match.

The gameplay was similar enough to Metroid that a Metroid-style narrative would have been better: a restrained, minimalist story, relying on no outside information, and providing no specific directions.

I'm agreeing with you, by the way, but I think you thought you were disagreeing with me.[/quote]


I disagree - a little bit. While the elements of MP2's story were a bit fantastical, I think we should be careful not to compartmentalize fantasy and sci-fi elements. Cliches should be steered clear of but restricting fantasy and sci-fi apart from each other may restrict creativity in storytelling.

Also, MP3 is the supposed end of the trilogy but the storytelling still has strong potential.
It may be some years, but I'm anxious to see how the next iteration Metroid deals with story.