Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Wii review by Kelvin Tay on 13th December 2007

The Space Pirates just don’t know when to give up. Six months after the events that transpired on Aether, the Galactic Federation is still struggling to keep the power-hungry alien race at bay. But it has recently enlisted several top-notch bounty hunters to help out, including the legendary Samus Aran, heroine of the Metroid series. If the Space Pirates want a war, they’ve got it.

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Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is the final chapter of the Metroid Prime trilogy, and to show that it means business, it begins with a big bang. Dark Samus is back, more powerful than ever before, and within the first hour of the game, she serves up a cold dish of revenge to the real Samus and her fellow bounty hunters. It is a miracle that they manage to survive the assault, or more precisely, a miracle of Phazon. The infamous mutagenic matter exuded by Dark Samus had impregnated itself into each of the bounty hunters during the attack, maintaining their vital systems against all odds, but corrupting their souls to its ill effects. This “corruption” is the major selling point of this closing swansong.

Samus can draw upon the Phazon coursing through her body to enter a state of rage, known as Hyper Mode. In doing so, she becomes impervious to most things and her weapon strength is magnified several times over. She basically turns into the biggest badass you’ve ever seen in a Nintendo Wii game.

“This “corruption” is the major selling point of this closing swansong”If you aren’t familiar with the Metroid Prime games, you have missed much. The series started on the GameCube and was billed as a “First-person Adventure”. It took the exploration elements that made the 2D games so popular, added in some solid first-person shooting, and lathered it with some of the most impressive 3D visuals seen at the time. Corruption isn’t that much different, and aside from the opening sequence that takes much inspiration from Star Wars, it’s still all about Samus going it alone for the most part.

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However, the Wii remote and nunchuk combo affords a much more natural control scheme than the GameCube’s pad, allowing for precision aiming and some rather nifty motion-based gestures. Without automatic lock-on, Corruption becomes a more shooter-focused experience, much like Metroid Prime Hunters for the DS. It is definitely more satisfying knowing that you knocked an airborne Space Pirate out of the air with your pin-point skills, rather than the computer automatically doing so for you.

You can switch between several control types, of which Advanced gives you something akin to a conventional mouse-and-keyboard FPS setup. The turning is still a bit slow, though, but this is how it always was with the Metroid Prime games, and seeing as there isn’t any multiplayer to speak of, this point is moot (I’m not complaining, though, and neither should you; take a look at Metroid Prime 2: Echoes’s free-for-all, or Hunters’s broken balance, if you want to know what I mean). There is a lack of buttons with these new controls (compared to the GameCube pad) meaning that some things, like scanning items, are a more of an inconvenience than before. But overall, the controls are very much serviceable and I really can’t see myself going back to the old setup.

“The controls are very much serviceable and I really can’t see myself going back to the old setup.”Unfortunately, Retro Studios had to simplify a few things to suit the Wii controls better (or I assume it’s because of the new controls). You only have a single charge beam which is upgraded twice. Compared to previous Metroid Primes (with four different beam weapons apiece), this is a major downgrade and as a result, battles have turned into less strategic affairs. As I have said, the emphasis is now more on manual targeting, and so if you’re pretty handy with pointing the Wii remote here and there, you’ll find Corruption to be the easiest game in the trilogy, and that’s without taking into account your ‘uber’ Hyper Mode, too.

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Corruption also happens to be the shortest Metroid Prime game out of the lot clocking in at around 10 hours or so, less if you’re an experienced hunter. This can be attributed in part to the galaxy’s breakdown into several planets and star-ships, all of which house several docking points on which can land your gunship, effectively giving you a heap of warp points and eliminating much of the backtracking seen in the previous games.

The game is also short because most of the time, it’s all about sequentially solving a series of problems one after another; there isn’t as much freedom as before. Find a new weapon at point B, return to point A to use it, go to point C to open the Seed, fight a big boss (which don’t compare to Echoes’s offerings), rinse and repeat. Corruption is perhaps too defined for a Metroid game and although you can turn off hints, this isn’t recommended as you’ll just meet dead-end after dead-end as you search out your next singular goal.

Corruption’s formula is too hackneyed and it never captivated me to keep going. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loved the previous instalments (and I am one of very few who find Echoes to be the superior of the two), but Corruption never once deviated from what we’ve already seen and done (and better, too, in most respects). One example of this is with the screw attack upgrade which is gotten earlier, but still vastly underutilised - why? Sure, it’s neat to rip stuff open with Samus’ interactive grapple beam, but aside from your hand motions, it doesn’t change the way the game is played. There were a lot of missed opportunities here and it doesn’t only apply to the actual gameplay either.

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The graphics are a subtle improvement over the GameCube prequels with slightly higher resolution textures and more frequent particle effects, especially noticeable when charging your beam and then letting it go. No complaints on the technical side of things, but the environments are quite lacklustre despite their enhanced visual clarity. For example, Bryyo hints at some HDR lighting, but fails to maintain the high aesthetic quality throughout its locales. And the sky city is rather plain and boring with a couple of towers jutting out from the skies and nothing else; it reminded me of strut layout of Metal Gear Solid 2’s Big Shell Facility which was rather sparse, and that game is five years older, too.

“Corruption’s formula is too hackneyed and it never captivated me to keep going.”Despite an epic beginning, Corruption soon falters under the weight of repetitiveness. As usual, there is a fetch quest to complete before the final battle, but locating the Energy Cells is much easier (and shorter) than the Artifacts and Keys that came before it. This isn’t a good thing as the last hour feels incredibly rushed as a result. The final moments are somewhat underwhelming, too, and one can’t help but feel that everything was slapped together without much thought. Reading all of the Chozo lore doesn’t help much either. A pitifully weak ending to such a great series.

But I still had a good time with Corruption. The backtracking issue from Echoes was addressed and the Wii remote and nunchuk controls were highly intuitive and they made revisiting a familiar formula a somewhat new and exciting experience. Some great atmospheric chants accompany you once again, and I absolutely loved how they slotted in a remix of a very familiar Super Metroid theme in there, too. There is always a sense of achievement as you bolster Samus’ arsenal over time, and despite the lack of weaponry, the ones here still pack a punch. There are also plenty of in-game achievements to accomplish (kill a certain number of enemies, perform a stylish kill, etc.) which will net you some medals used to unlock various artwork, music and ship decorations. It’s nothing on Xbox LIVE’s achievements, but it adds a fair degree of longevity to the otherwise short ride.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is a fine first-person adventure, and it is definitely one of the better Wii titles aimed at mature gamers. However, there is no denying that Corruption lacks the substance that made its prequels so awesome. Despite the near-perfect motion controls, the experience just isn’t as exciting anymore. Perhaps this is due to Metroid Prime burnout - after all, Retro Studios have basically repeated the exact same formula twice over now. Nevertheless, if you’re dying for some more Metroid Prime action-adventuring, this won’t disappoint… much.

Seven out of ten

Pros

Wii Remote pointing controls work well
Graphics maintain the series's excellent reputation
Formula-wise nothing has changed

Cons

Formula-wise nothing has changed
Short main adventure- easy too
It begins with a bang, but soon drifts away into nothing we haven't seen or done before (Wii Remote gimmicks aside)

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About the author

Kelvin Tay is a Staff Writer at Thunderbolt, having joined in May 2007.

Comments

Jacob Roberts
13th July 2008

I have a few qualms with this review, and I feel like I should point them out.

First of all, you first claim that the new Wii controls are superior to the gamecube controls, allowing manual aiming. You state that you can't see yourself going back to the old way. However, soon after saying that, you claim that "if you're pretty handy with pointing the Wii remote here and there, you'll find Corruption to be the easiest game in the trilogy." You make it sound, suddenly, as if the controls are a negative, as many people (I'm sure you know) dismiss a game once reviewers say it is too easy. The reason the old controls made it more difficult in gun fights was because the aiming was limited by the controller. It was hard not because the game challenged the player, but because of the combination of buttons one must press to look up, the inability to choose what spot to aim at (especially frustrating in some boss battles when you were trying to hit his shoulder, and the game kept making you aim at the head), and the inability to change your view quickly. The Wii is simply an evolution and a refinement to the 3D metroid control scheme, not an 'easier' way.

You say the adventure only takes 10 hours to complete. I don't know what version you were playing on, but I assure you this is a mistake or an exaggeration. The game takes a minimum of 15-20 hours if you don't rush. That doesn't mean to stop at every locale and gaze up at the scenery for five minutes, it simply means you aren't trying to speedrun it. Although I have been known to spend hours in this game just walking around and admiring the art direction. You attribute the short time it took you to beat the game to the 'warp points' the ship allows. I honestly think you must be mistaken, as the ship simply replaces the use of elevators in the first two games. There are a few real warp points you can access with the morph ball to cut down backtracking, but again, the ship was an evolution for the series, not a way to make it shorter. Please, go back and look at the areas the docking bays give you access to and tell me it isn't the same distance the elevators sent you in the last game.

I also don't think you are giving the game enough credit as a true Metroid game. Yes, the game usually has some linear portions where you must continue down a predetermined path. But if you'll remember, at the beginning, you can travel to Elysia or Bryyo (even if you can't get very far on Elysia, the game doesn't force you to go to a certain place at any time). Once you unlock the Valhalla, you can go there whenever you want, collecting energy cells and coming and going as you gain new abilities. And you always have the option to backtrack. I already had enough cells by the time the 'fetch quest' came around, because as soon as I gained a new item or finished an objective, I would return to a previous area and try to get through a previously locked door. A great example of this is Norion. You can go back whenever you like, and after you get the plasma gun you can eventually get an energy tank as a reward for defeating the metroid hatcher there. When I partook in the 'sidequest' of Norion, I had the option to go anywhere and didn't even know about the need for energy cells in the future. I wanted to see how the old military base had faired after the pirate assault. Many parts of the game are fueled by the player's own desire to explore or find out what happened.

You call the formula the game uses as 'hackneyed.' How did you enjoy the prior installments if by the time you get to the third, you are already tired of the basic gameplay elements? There are plenty of puzzles and interactions with the environment that are utterly fresh. But as I'm sure you know, Nintendo likes to keep it's formulas intact. You say in your bio that you have loved every single Zelda game ever made for consoles. But all of those games essentially use the exact same formula. It's a damn good one, but it is never original. In fact, TP was almost an identical, reworked version of OoT. If you enjoyed those two games on their own merits, how can you complain about Nintendo reusing a brilliant formula in another sequel?

Now I find it baffling that you have an opposite view of me on the graphics. Let me get one thing straight. I could care less about graphics if the gameplay is good. I could completely ignore them, as long as the game is artistic. And the Metroid series is just overflowing with artistic brilliance. To the point that I believe Retro studios is probably the most well-endowed (in terms of artists) in the entire industry. They have accomplished something magnificent in the Metroid Prime games with fewer pixels than anyone else. Look at Halo 3, for example. It has bump mapping, particle effects, accurate physics, but the locales are so uninspired and boring that it's embarrassing. What a waste of processing power. Have you looked at the unlockable art galleries in this game? It astounds me how well they have translated these amazing india ink drawings to a game, while maintaining all of the beauty. I guess it's a matter of taste when it comes to art, but I still don't understand how you can think this game is lackluster. If you could explain that in some detail, it would be greatly appreciated. I mean, there is just so much attention to detail in every wall, ceiling, and character model even if there are not very many pixels.

You then go on to say that the beginning is 'epic.' I agree that it was well choreographed, but when you think about it, it is really the weakest part of the game. It seems to derive everything from another action/sci fi movie or game that has ever been made (like star wars, as you said). It doesn't have any original ideas, and overall it disappointed me when I thought about it after beating the game. I mean, compare that to the sequences at the end on the pirate homeworld, something on a scale never seen in a Nintendo game, if I remember correctly.

At one point you talk about the repetitiveness of the game, without elaborating. Unless you consider it repetitive to walk through a door, solve a new puzzle/fight a new enemy, and walk though another door and repeat. Yes, it's something that happens many times. But that is what the Metroid formula is defined by (in addition to gaining a new ability and solving a previously impossible puzzle, a hallmark of every Nintendo game, pretty much). I just don't think it's fair to fault a game with repetitiveness without explaining it.

You state that the fetch quest at the end is easier and shorter, and makes the game feel rushed at the end. Sure, the fetch quest doesn't make you link up clues that you've gathered from scans, but it also doesn't break up the momentum or act as a way to slap on some more time to the game just for kicks. It maintains the pace, and isn't even a real fetch quest, as many explorative players will already have enough energy cells by the time they need to get into the Valhalla.

You say without qualifying it that the final moments were "slapped together without much thought." I find this hard to buy. Let me have an example, maybe, and then we can debate this. But from what I saw at the end is a game trying it's hardest to wrap up a story, and doing a damn good job of it in a series that generally has almost no story. Did you have any feeling at all when Samus watches herself die? (in the Gandreya battle, one of the finest moments in any metroid game, in my opinion). Or watching the GF troopers dying around you, obviously outmatched and outgunned by the pirates, and you knew you couldn't possibly save all of their lives?

The lore for me is my favorite way to learn about the story, far better than most cinematics (although the battles with the three hunters and the first ridley battle evoke feelings that movies don't get near for me). It allows another look into the Metroid universe, through the eyes of a dead or dying race, a space pirate, or a grunt that has experienced something and passes it on to you. This is one of my favorite parts of the game, and adds depth to an admittedly mediocre story, and fleshes out the universe of the game.

I like a lot of points in your review, and I respect that you are one of the few people who really appreciated Echoes for what it was. But to say that Echoes had better art than Corruption is just incomprehensible to me… It made so much sense at the end when Samus returned to Skytown to reflect on who she had to kill to survive. It was a beautiful vista, and I would return there too if I just wanted to relax. I agree with you that the formula is perhaps getting a little old. But I like to play games without thinking about the fact that I've done it before, probably because I like to replay a game multiple times anyway. I played Prime 1 and 2 a couple times each, and I loved them so much that I didn't mind doing the same things, but slightly refined, in this new game.

Finally, the easiness factor- I hope you were playing with advanced controls. They are excellent, as you say, and help make aiming more intuitive and also allow for better maneuvering. I also hope you played your first time through on veteran difficulty. It is far superior to the laughably easy normal difficulty setting, although veteran still presents only a slight challenge.

I suggest you play the game again on Hyper Mode. You'll be forced to think of new tactics, utilizing cover, the aiming, and even abusing hyper mode as a temporary shield when a boss is doing an unavoidable attack. Precision in jumping and rate of fire is necessitated on this difficulty, and the game is better for it. Just be ready to throw your controller to the ground in frustration when Mogenar recharges his orbs for the tenth time, a boss battle that lasts easily 20 plus minutes (if you're lucky). On Hyper Mode, the game is completely different. You'll have to rethink the way you approach the fights, and I only wish I could have played it on this setting when I first booted it up. So if you found the puzzles amazing but the gunplay slightly below par, hyper mode fixes that and then some.

I had more fun playing this game than almost anything I've played before. Admittedly, it may have partially been due to me projecting a false reality onto it, creating an image in my mind of Samus' character and the environments that not everyone will see. But I don't care. I loved it, and I hope you can replay it, answer my questions, and someday enjoy it as much as I did. Everyone deserves that kind of game experience.

Also, you put "Click" as one of your favorite movies. I just want you to know that that alone makes me lose respect for you. Please make it up my responding to this comment.
Jacob Roberts
13th July 2008

I just want to point out that my last comment DID HAVE PARAGRAPH SPACING when I typed it. This comment posting system must have mutilated it or something, so I apologize for how difficult it must be to read. If you want a spaced version of it, please allow me to email it to you. I would hate for a formatting error to ruin my response.
Bart
13th July 2008

Jacob, not to be a prat or anything, but is this honestly necessary? Seven out of ten is hardly a bad score, and if someone doesn't appreciate the Metroid mythos as much as you then, well, so be it. Not everyone in the industry puts as much stock into the Metroid backstory as you clearly do, and while that's perfectly fine, I don't think it's fair to rip on someone else's taste and assume the higher platform just because they like a movie you don't. Your opinion is valid, but try to be a little more mature about it.
Tel Gage
13th July 2008

I tried reading all that but my eyes fell out. Jacob, you're clearly a huge Metroid fan but I feel you've perhaps been a little too pedantic with this review. Saying that, we do appreciate everyone's opinion, so why not come into the forum and we can all discuss the Metroid Prime series in a more comfortable setting?
Jacob Roberts
14th July 2008

Was I really being immature? (and again, sorry about the lack of paragraphs). All I was attempting to do was point out a few oversights in the review. I believe I made a decent case, addressing specific points and then trying to rectify them by giving examples. It just seems to me that the reviewer glossed over or exaggerated in areas he didn't have to, and it made the game sound all the worse for it.

I already stated in my last comment that I realize a lot of what I appreciate about the game, the mythos and whatnot, is what drives me to be so involved in the atmosphere.

However, I also do not care about score or numbers. Not once in my comment did I say "OMG teh review suxors! it totaly deserves a 10/10 not a 7! 7 is the worst score evar!!!"

It's not the number that bugged me, but the content. And I think I addressed each issue I had with it duly. If you had backed up your score with the words a little better, then I believe I wouldn't have had the initiative to write such a long comment.

Do you really think "Click" was a decent movie? Jesus, what is America coming to? Anyway, that was more of joke than anything else, but look at how to Onion rips on it: http://www.theonion.com/content/news/sequel_hungry_nation_demands

I thought that was pretty funny, anyway. And I admit I never saw Click myself. Thanks for responding, though.
Bart
14th July 2008

It wasn't your content that's immature, it's your attitude. It's a prime case of poisoning the well when you come into a debate saying "Also, you put "Click" as one of your favorite movies. I just want you to know that that alone makes me lose respect for you." Secondly, I didn't write this review, although I do hold the opinion that Prime 3 is the worst of the trilogy. Many of your complaints stem from the writer's personal taste - he didn't like the art as much, the control as much, etc. Perfectly fine and encouraged to disagree with this. It's just that your pedantic attitude puts a barrier up. Does it matter that the author put a crappy movie as one of his favorites? Do you know in what context it is his "favorite"? Some things are so bad they're good. Anyway, "Do you really think "Click" was a decent movie? Jesus, what is America coming to?" just exemplifies how rude you're being, even if it's unintentional. You can clearly hold a debate, but you need to come in with your hands in your pockets, not with boxing gloves and a molotov.

And yes, I think the Onion is hilarious. Moot point. :P
Matt Wadleigh
14th July 2008

I have no opinion, but one thing that I find ironic is that Kelvin isn't even an American, so the "what is America coming to" comment is even more absurd.
Ben
14th July 2008

I liked Click, it was a good film. I liked Metroid Prime 3, it was a good game. Hmmm…