Nintendo’s loyal fanbase might have felt abandoned after the Wii moved into a more commercial and family-friendly market, but Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is one to bring the faith back to gamers. After horrible games such as Red Steel, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption really was a light shining brightly in the dark. The controls are incredibly fluid and the new advanced controls, which allow you to freely aim while you are locked on without losing focus, are simply stunning.
The graphics are something that Wii owners have not been able to witness so far, as not only are the graphics far better than the Prime games on the GameCube, but the game now runs with 60 frames per second. I played the game on my HDTV with the component cable on 480p and it looks simply beautiful. The amount of detail that has been put into the game is amazing. The sound comes out great and it features complete voiceovers, even though Samus herself stays quiet - which might sound odd, but it does not matter once you start playing. Which puts The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess into shame for not having any voiceovers, but that’s another review.
Gameplay wise – you are in for a lot of fun playing this game. Despite being made by Japan’s gaming giant, Nintendo, Metroid is made in North America and not really aimed at the Japanese audience. Your first time through the game will take you around 20 hours or so. Of course, the game is not really that long once you know your way around, but there will be the odd point where you just will not know what you are supposed to do and will have to make do with wandering through the game.
The only downside to the game is the difficulty level, although the last Metroid Prime game, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, was torturous at some points, as the puzzles often forced you not to only think outside the box but rather think outside the city that the box has been placed in. You will not have this sort of feeling with Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, which for some people is nice, but I would not have mind if the difficulty level had been set a bit higher. The actual difficulty of the game in terms of fights and everything also seems to have dropped and I can only recommend that, if you have played a Metroid game before, just start playing on Veteran mode and definitely play the Hyper mode difficulty once you have acquired it.
The bonuses inside the game are great, my favourites are the Mii Bobble Head, which you can personalise with your own Mii, and the Bumper Stickers, which are added to your ship depending on which other Nintendo games you have. There are also lots of dioramas, artworks, soundtracks and many more bonuses throughout the game. All in all this is a game that you should definitely not miss and if you do not have it already be sure to get it.
