First Impression: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

We got our hands on a copy of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption last night, and thus far my experience can be summed up in three words:

Best ... Metroid ... Ever!

I played long enough to get to the third level last night, which is actually only the beginning of the main story line (at least, I think ... there could be more twists and turns ahead, and in fact that's usually a given in the Metroid Prime series). However, what I've seen so far has completely blown me away.

I'll admit, I wasn't exactly hopeful for this title. The screenshots and trailers I had seen left me with the impression that it was just more of the same. There didn't appear to be any major improvement in the graphics from the previous Gamecube versions, and I had found the earlier titles just a bit repetitive. They were good games when first playing them, but then they just seemed to get bogged down in the same tasks over and over.

Thus far, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption appears to have left the other two in the dust, as far as charting new ground. The first three levels have not only been fun to play, but fascinating just to see what else is going to happen. My son Paul had the honors of playing the game first, and I was having just as much fun watching him as he was playing.

I've also had pleasure of squaring off against the first two bosses, neither of which was a cakewalk. The first, in hindsight, seems easier now that I've faced the second, though. That first boss, though, requires a good couple minutes of on-target blasting before you even begin causing it damage. The good news, however, is that once you are able to reveal its weakness, it is fairly easy to dispatch of with a few well-placed missles or charge beams.

The second boss, however, beats all I have seen in the Metroid series. Basically, Samus is in freefall inside some huge pit, avoiding the walls, because they too cause damage, and fighting against a huge dragon who is blasting back with all sorts of nasty beams and fireballs. The trick to this one is, again, finding those brief and tiny instances of weakness, but with the added bonus that not only do you have to kill the dragon before it kills you, you also have to kill it before crashing to the bottom of the pit. I tried and failed twice before finally defeating this baddie seemingly inches from the bottom.

The only problem I've had so far is getting a handle of the Wii controls. Aiming with the remote does definitely add a great new wrinkle to the game, but if you're like me and frequently forget to keep it aimed at the screen the entire time, you find yourself looking in some completely useless direction or spinning around like a top, which is totally embarrassing in front of the other bounty hunters.

That's just a minor quibble, though, and probably due more to my shoddy gameplay than a problem with the game. For now, I would have to give Metroid Prime 3: Corruption a "buy" recommendation.

However, do yourself a favor and spring the extra few bucks for the guidebook to go along with it. I didn't and found myself completely lost at a couple of points.

-- posted by Dad, age 38