Metroid Prime Trilogy Review (PART 3: CORRUPTION AND CASUALIZATION)
xandermartin98 METROID PRIME TRILOGY REVIEW (PART 3: CASUALIZATION)Honestly, as underrated as Metroid Prime 2 may have been by non-diehard Metroid fans, Metroid Prime 3 is incredibly underrated by pretty much EVERYONE and is without a doubt one of the greatest Wii games of all time. So without further ado, let's dive into it! (Seriously, I could go for a Phazon bath right about now...)
STORY: Boasting easily the darkest overall premise of any game in the Metroid series (even though Prime 2 technically still EXECUTED it in a much darker fashion), MP3 sees the entire universe being slowly but surely taken over (more accurately, eaten alive) by the now-rampantly-spreading Phazon disease, which has become so terrifyingly huge and major of a threat that Samus ends up having to join forces with both the entire Galactic Federation AND several other legendary bounty hunters (Rundas, Ghor and Gandrayda) in order to stop it once and for all. And of course, the Space Pirates have once again foolishly allied themselves with it.
Technically, this game has by far the simplest storyline of the Primes, but what really makes it stand out from the rest is how deeply its storyline is ACTUALLY INTEGRATED into the game itself. Basically, the universe in this game is becoming so horribly consumed by Phazon that both Samus and the rest of the Galactic Federation alike end up having to fight it back using MORE Phazon (as steroids, of course, which was a use for the substance that was ironically invented by the Space Pirates). Now that Samus has been infected with Phazon and acquired her iconic new PED suit, she now not only absorbs Phazon to restore health but also uses it to enhance her abilities in ways that, although extremely gimmicky, are just a plain joy to watch.
SOUND: Top-notch as always. Really not much more to say here, as most of the music is extremely forgettable compared to that of the previous Primes, but my GOD, the boss themes are SO ridiculously good. Also, the Bryyo Cliffside music is pretty great as well. That's about all I can really remember, honestly.
GRAPHICS: While technically the highest-resolution of the Prime series, MP3's graphics never really sat very well with me, in all honesty. In short, the game's weirdly ethereal color palette and lighting are generally something that players either love or hate, but really, I just thought it was really cool but could have been executed a lot better. The graphical texture detail of MP3, however, definitely has not been cutting any slack since the previous games, believe you me.
GAMEPLAY: While admittedly being a rather weak installment to a series with the general quality level of the Metroid Prime trilogy, MP3 is still an admirable addition to the Metroid saga in its own ways.
While it does largely miss the point of the Metroid series not actually being about combat (despite how insanely powerful Samus is in it), MP3 not only has excellently designed and fluid combat mechanics thanks to the new Wii Remote pointer controls but also boasts much of the same commendably nifty environmental puzzle design that players have hopefully come to expect from the trilogy at thise point, while also adding quite a few clever new gimmicks of its own.
First and foremost of all, the fact that Samus' ship is actually MOBILE in this game for once; yes, that's right, rather than being confined specifically to ONE particular planet, you now get to freely explore a whole galactic multitude of different planets! Granted, this does ultimately end up meaning that greatly less time and thought was put into the overall designs and layouts of each planet (and ship), but in my opinion, it's an astoundingly well-executed new feature.
(Seriously, the Command Visor is hands-down one of my favorite things about this game.)
More importantly (and controversially), the recent Phazon infection's influence on Samus has unlocked a brand-new (although technically not, since she already used it against the final bosses of BOTH of the first two games) ability known as Hypermode, which, at the cost of her absurdly easily-replenishable Energy Tanks, allows her to just outright steamroll everything in sight with her Arm Cannon (that, and you don't even have to actually use the full Energy Tank for it unless you leave it on for too long and end up going into overdrive, so there's that too). Unbelievably game-breaking (unless you're playing on the ACTUAL Hypermode difficulty setting that it was designed for, that is), but still an unbelievably fun mechanic to use regardless.
Just to make Samus even MORE hilariously overpowered, the beam-stacking mechanic from Super Metroid is also utilized in this game (the Plasma Beam outright replaces the Power Beam, with the Nova Beam later being stacked on top of it once you acquire THAT), and my GOD is it satisfying. Yeah, needless to say, Missiles are pretty much useless now outside of specific puzzles (that exist mostly because this game decided to go the Fusion route and make its Missiles the Ice variety).
And while the constant Wii Remote motion-control minigames that the game constantly forces you to perform in order to accomplish often-comically mundane tasks (as was gloriously made fun of in the Some Call Me Johnny review of this game, migh I add) do get pretty cumbersome after a while, the addition of flicking the Wii Remote upward to make the Morph Ball jump is just so undeniably brilliant that it honestly makes up for it.
(Okay, I'll admit that the Energy Cell fetch quest is pretty boring, but it's really not a big deal.)
OVERALL: While it's not exactly the greatest as a traditional METROID game, per se, Metroid Prime 3 is absolutely amazing as an action game (no, not just good like Other M, absolutely AMAZING), is an almost tear-jerkingly perfect conclusion to the Metroid Prime Trilogy storyline, makes exceptionally good usage of the Wii's gimmicks (for the most part) and is simply a must-have for any self-respecting Wii owner's collection. While it's definitely not quite as good as the predecessors overall, I will still gladly give it a solid 9.3/10