Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

[JaySevenZero]

Here's where you can contribute your thoughts and opinions for Metroid Prime 3: Corruption for potential inclusion in the forthcoming podcast.

A friendly reminder that where the feedback for the podcast is concerned, we love it - but keeping it brief is appreciated. We do want to include a breadth of opinions where appropriate, but no-one wants a discussion podcast that’s mostly reading out essays. Better to save yourself time and cut to the chase if you can.

[seansthomas]

In a lot of ways, Corruption is probably the worst game in the Prime series. It's the most linear, it throws in an ensemble cast around Samus Aran that breaks the solitary atmosphere and - whilst I am a huge fan of them normally - the motion controls here add little.

But equally, I feel like there are some moments in it that hint at how MP4 might evolve the series, if it ever releases.

Firstly, when I picture it, the game feels wonderfully colourful and joyful. The sequences in the sky in particular stick in the mind. After the grim environments and challenge of Echoes, that's highly welcome.

Secondly, the choice of being able to tackle the various worlds in any order did make you feel like a real adventurer, travelling the galaxy. Getting to return there with new abilities late game was also rewarding.

Lastly, I loved the relationship Samus had with her gunship. The way you use it as a companion to clear debris, lift objects and guide your path forward was really clever. It gave the ship a real sense of importance, and it's the one idea from Corruption that Retro Studios should retain and develop.

I probably prefer Corruption to Echoes personally because it's just less crushingly oppressive to play. And it's by no means a bad game. I played all 3 Prime games back to back when they released as a Trilogy, and was still enjoying the formula after 100+ hours.

But it's hard to argue that the series was slightly diminishing returns after the original.

I really hope 4 can recapture that sense of isolation and alien wonder from the Trilogy; if it can, it would see the series return to the heady heights it deserves.

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As an aside, I'd love to know if the sequences in the sky on those rails were in development at the same time as Bioshock Infinite, or whether they inspired them? Those areas seem too close to be a coincidence!

[Buskalilly]

I played this game to completion as an excited Wii owner. I was 17, the Wii was my only home console. It was a first-person sci-fi adventure and it had good music and played nicely. I'm sure I convinced myself it was just as good as the Halo games my friends were playing.

Since then, I don't think I've ever thought about it again. As every other Metroid has tempted me around multiple times, including this game's two predecessors, I'm intrigued what I would find if I ever returned. Will I be pleasantly surprised, or will it turn out there's a reason I don't remember anything?

[Wuqinglong]

As I'm sure I mentioned on one of the previous Metroid Prime shows, Metroid Prime 3 was my first entry in the trilogy that I played. Now 17 years later it is the final Prime title to be finally completed. I was 1 energy cell short of finishing the game on my first playthrough and I didn't have the patience to search it out back then. The irony that this is the entry of the Prime trilogy to have the least MacGuffin hunting required is not lost on me in hindsight. I'll be honest, I don't feel I missed much by not tackling the final boss back then. All of your health upgrades were rendered moot by having the hypermode bar replace them and the fight itself is the easiest in the trilogy by a wide margin. This led to a very anticlimactic final battle for the big bad of the entire trilogy and the source of all Phazon.

I'm getting ahead of myself though. This is my favorite entry in the Prime trilogy in spite of its flaws, mainly for its brevity, but I can see why fans of the earlier entries might view it as a lesser experience. Exploration is severely scaled back with areas being relatively more linear and the hint on where to go popping up much quicker than the previous 2 games. As a fan of more "linear" search action games this is a benefit in my book as I spend less time trudging slowly through 3D environments and can be confident I'm heading in the right general direction. Combat is also made extra perfunctory with hypermode. This is fine by me as in the Prime trilogy fighting enemies usually felt like a punishment or drain on resources rather than the main attraction personally. The motion control gimmick emphasis is novel at times and inoffensive for the most part thanks to minimal waggling. The sound design, music, and atmosphere were top-notch as usual and are what makes the game worth experiencing in my opinion. Bosses remain a low point although they are the best the trilogy manages here, final boss excluded.

Looking back at the entire Metroid Prime Trilogy after playing it over the past year I can now confidently be certain that 3D search action titles are just not really a presentation of the genre I click with. I much prefer them in their original 2D form with easier navigation, movement that doesn't feel so plodding to me whether that's actually true or not, and combat I feel is much more enjoyable. Glad to have experienced them once(twice in 3's case) and that is enough for me. Subjectively the title with Metroid Prime in the name I've enjoyed the most remains Metroid Prime Hunters.

3 word review: Shorter and better