Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
September 03, 2007

The coming months are definitely going to be a terror for my both my poor wallet and my utter lack of time. Why's that? Well, there are so many stupendous looking games coming out that I simply won't have time for them all! This week's distraction is brought to you by the letter "M".

Nintendo carries with them a little bit of our childhood. The collective gamer psyche, if you will, has ingrained within it Mario, Zelda and Metroid. These three series provide the major cash-cow that keeps Nintendo Corp. afloat amongst it's 20+ fan-base. If you can tell me that there is not one game in those three that you are not utterly-scarily-guy-in-a-fox-suit in love with - then you are not a gamer - or you're David who missed out on the 8bit and 16bit era.

Super Metroid is quite possibly my favorite video game of all time. It had all the elements that I loved as a kid. There was side-scrolling shootie action, suit upgrades, slight RPG elements and tons of exploration of a gorgeously detailed amazing environment. Everything was beautifully memorable for me - the first time the surveilance eye shone on my new Morph Ball self, the giant lumbering robots in The Wrecked Ship and bursting through the pipe in Maridia... there were so many kick-ass elements that you never wanted to stop.

Fast forward to the era of the GameCube and witness with me Metroid Prime. This, a Metroid game was not. It was interesting, sure. It had character building elements, sure. However, there was absolutely nothing memorable to me. Perhaps I didn't truly "appreciate" the game, but I ended up just playing until I could get to the next save point and getting bored with it. To me, the Metroid series had died at the hands of lulz3dgraphics.

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes was much the same. There was an interesting story, which to this day I wish I had the energy to advance through, but the gameplay was boring. Hugely boring involving lots of fiddly jumping bits with me praying for a save point.

Last week, however, Retro Studios finally released a game that doesn't utterly abuse the Metroid license. While MP3 is not a true Metroid game, only being set in the Metroid universe, it is an astoundingly great game worthy of high praises.

The game opens as you fiddle around inside your ship, with the Wiimote of course, and dock with a giant starship to find a new bounty. Sure enough, big things happen and shit blows up sending you scrambling back to your ship fighting Space Pirates all the way. It isn't until you reach a planet's surface and finally begin exploring that you realize how much of a treat you're in for. Your first mission has you actually teaming up with other bounty hunters in order to accomplish your goal - and after your first Ridley battle (bastard... I killed you five games ago!) you appreciate the help.

Throughout the game you will be constantly reminded of the reason that you purchased the Wii - the beautiful Wiimote. I've never liked the motion sensing on the Wiimote, but the pointer action is definitely where it's at. The feeling of actually moving your arm and watching Samus' waggle around is... surreally awesome. It just feels right. You at least owe it to yourself to play the game, just to see that a First Person Shooter can really be done well on the Wii.

The game itself looks gorgeous and the artwork is beautiful. When you first touch down on Byyron and see the defense golems, you'll be reminded of why the Metroid universe keeps us coming back for more. The architecture is wonderfully designed and the creatures are definitely a treat to engage in battle. Even the user interface looks delicious, right down to Samus staring back at you from the inside of her helmet while you use your scanners. MP3 really does leave you wondering why none of the other Wii games look this good.

While I mentioned before that this is merely a game set in the Metroid universe, I can't help but say that this is a game worthy of being named in Metroid's honor. Good controls, good gameplay and a kick-ass story make this a game to definitely add to your library. What's better? It's your Wii library! That's right kids, there's actually something worth buying for the Wii!

My Verdict: Definitely Buy