Believe it or not, I was all ready to camp out for a Wii when it launched last year. I was prepared to line up at 4AM outside my local Target to do so until a few weeks prior, when news broke that I didn’t have to. The news was that “Metroid Prime 3: Corruption” had been delayed from the launch to sometime in 2007. So I was spared from getting up at some ungodly hour to line up for a system I might not even be able to buy. Flash forward ten months, and not only did I manage to get my hands on a Wii, “Metroid Prime 3” finally shipped.

Was the wait worth it? You’re goddamn right it was.

JASON GLICK

The original “Metroid Prime” was my favorite Gamecube game next to “Resident Evil 4” for a number of reasons. A first-person “Metroid” game in 3D could’ve gone horribly, horribly wrong, but “Prime” not only pulled off the transition to 3D extremely well, it also perfectly captured the essence of the series. “Metroid Prime” never felt like a diversion from the classic 2D entries in the series, but a legitimate continuation and extension of their style in 3D. It also happened to be one of the most beautifully designed games, from an artistic point of view, of its generation.

Its sequel, “Metroid Prime 2: Echoes,” was more of the same, but after doing so many things right in the first game, most people (including me) were more than happy with just that. With “Corruption,” the scope of the game is broadened considerably both in terms of story and controls. Instead of going on a solo mission as in every previously released “Metroid” game, Samus winds up working along with the Galactic Federation and a few other bounty hunters to combat the threefold menace of the Space Pirates, Dark Samus and phazon.

As it turns out Dark Samus has taken over the Space Pirates and is using their technology to further the spread of the mutagenic substance known as phazon throughout the galaxy. The game begins with Samus and the other bounty hunters fighting off a Pirate attack on the planet of Norion. They succeed, but not after being infected with Phazon themselves by Dark Samus. After waking up from a two-month coma, Samus now has the job of finding out what happened to the other bounty hunters who left while she was unconscious, and stopping the Dark Samus/Space Pirate threat.

So yeah, you’d be right in thinking that “Corruption” has more story to it than the previous “Prime” games, and most other “Metroid” games in particular (“Fusion” excluded). This isn’t a cause for concern since the story is there mainly to drive the action and give you a reason for all the planet-hopping you’ll be doing in the game. That’s good because by itself the story isn’t particularly compelling, but it’s delivered solidly enough to keep you interested and motivated to find out what happens next.

But you don’t play a “Metroid” game for the story, you play it for its addictive mix of exploration, character upgrades, and combat. As with the previous two games, “Corruption” nails this perfectly despite changing things up in some big ways. The good news is that most of these changes are for the better.

The biggest, and most obvious, is the use of the Wii-mote and nunchuck attachment for control. Many have said that the Wii’s motion-sensing controls have made it an ideal console for hosting first-person shooters. While the launch title “Red Steel” didn’t really further that idea at all, “Corruption” states with authority that the Wii is perfectly suited for these kinds of games. You control Samus’ field of vision with the Wii-mote and move her with the analog stick on the nunchuck, and while this can take a little getting used to (be sure to set the control scheme to “advanced” for best results), after a while you’ll wonder how you made it through the previous games without such a setup.

Aiming with the Wii-mote is as fast and accurate as you could want, leading to battles that are much more intense than anything in the previous games. The only problem is that the game makes use of all the buttons on the Wii-mote which can be a little confusing when you need to do something other than fire or jump in the heat of battle. It becomes less of a problem the more you play the game, but the new controls make “Corruption” a full-fledged first person shooter, and that gives you much more control during the battles than the previous games ever did.

That said, you won’t be using the Wii-mote just for shooting, as there are also lots of other interactive things that you’ll need to do with it. Most of them are simple, such as entering a code on a keypad, turning a canister in a certain direction to take it out, or priming a pump, but they add to the immersive effect of the game since that’s your hand that you’re doing all that stuff with. However, the most fun motion control part is your use of the grapple beam. After you lock on to something that can be grappled, you throw your hand with the nunchuck forward and the beam lashes out. Then you yank back on it to rip out plating from walls, shields from enemies, or tentacles from metroids. It’s a great concept and when it works, you really feel like you’re a part of the world. When it doesn’t, and it did happen enough to seriously annoy me, you’ll wish the game had been delayed another month or two to smooth it out.

Don’t worry that “Corruption” has become all about the combat thanks to these new controls, there’s still plenty of the exploration and “how do I get to that missile expansion” pondering that’s at the heart of the series. In fact, there’s more of it than before, because this game is bigger than its predecessors. While the previous “Prime” games took place on one planet with multiple sections, this one takes place on multiple planets. Aside from the Federation-occupied Norion, you’ll be visiting the primitive world of Bryyo, the Sky Town of Elysia, the ruins of the G.F.S. flagship Valhalla, and even the sinister Space Pirate homeworld. Each world is fairly large, and you won’t be able to unlock all of their secrets the first time you visit them.

As is standard for the series, once you gain more abilities and powers, you’ll need to return to previously explored areas to find more items that will allow you to progress further in the game. What usually winds up happening, though, is that once you’ve achieved your current objective, you’ll be contacted by someone from the Federation telling you where to go for the next upgrade or boss. On one hand, it helps keep you on track and you don’t have to do what they want right away. On the other, after a while it starts to feel like nagging, especially when you’re exploring an old area to find more items and the game keeps sending you a reminder that you should be somewhere else right now. Too bad that can’t be turned off.

It’s also worth noting that the developers at Retro Studios FINALLY got the end-game item hunt right this time. Everyone pretty much agrees that the “hunt the sacred widget” parts at the ends of “Prime 1 & 2” were the most annoying parts of those games. This time, you don’t have to wait until the end of the end of the game to start it. Without giving too much away, the widgets you need to find are used to unlock areas of a place you’ll need to explore before the end of the game. So once you find them (and you’ll encounter most of them without too much trouble), you can head over to that place, unlock more of it and get some items, and then go back to the main game. Too bad that it took the developers until now to figure it out, because exploring for widgets isn’t anyone’s idea of a good time.

Of course, you will want to explore every area in the game. Not just because of the secrets, but because this is one of the most aesthetically pleasing games out there. The “Prime” series has always been known for its visuals, and while “Corruption” can’t compare on a technological level with games like “Lost Planet” and “Gears of War,” it is every bit their equal (and in some cases their better) when it comes to artistic design. By that I mean every area in the game has its own unique look to it. The developers at Retro didn’t cut any corners by having areas that repeat the same rooms and textures, but instead gave each area its own identity. The end result is a game that will make you simply stop for a while in places just to look around and take in the beauty of the area that you’re in.

After praise like that, you’d think I’d have nothing bad to say about the game; and yeah, you’re pretty much right about that. Most of the complaints I have are annoyances like the aforementioned targeting issues with the grapple beam. The boss battles, while sufficiently challenging, run on for too long and suffer from either a “hit the boss’ blatantly exposed weak point,” or more infuriatingly, “the boss is only vulnerable at a certain time.” There’s also not a whole lot of ingenuity in the new items this time. Most of the power-ups you’ll get are either the old standbys (aforementioned grapple beam, spider ball, charge ball), variations on old standbys (ice missile), or of use only in very specific situations (enhancements for your ship). Things like the X-ray Visor’s ability to see weak points on certain enemies, or the Nova Beam’s extra power in addition to shooting through phazon walls aren’t really on the menu for your arsenal this time. Still, I have to admit that it was nice to finally do away with the “beam swapping” that was so prevalent in the previous “Prime” games.

Also, “Corruption” leaves me with the feeling that this would be a good place to end the series for now. While the Wii-mote functionality adds a lot to the game, the basic formula of the series hasn’t changed at all since the first “Prime.” That’s not necessarily a bad thing, just that because Retro so thoroughly nailed the “Metroid” formula in the first one, there’s really not much they can do with it, short of reinventing the series. Retro has said that they’re taking some (well-deserved) time off from the series, so it seems like they feel the same way as well.

So even if it seems that this will be the last “Metroid” game for a while (maybe, see if you can spot the reference to the reportedly canceled “Metroid Dread” in the game) you can be assured that you’ll be playing it for a while. Depending on how thorough you are, the main game will take between 15-20 hours to complete. Collecting 100% of the items in the game will also net you a secret ending, and there are various “achievements” you can perform that will net you tokens to unlock bonus stuff in the game. You can also get tokens from scanning important things, defeating important enemies, and trading them with friends online. Of course, you WILL have to trade them with friends online if you want to unlock any of these in the first place.

Finding a friend with “Metroid Prime 3: Corruption” probably won’t be much of an issue, though. It’s easily the best game I’ve played on the system yet, and is not only another excellent entry in the “Metroid” franchise, but hopefully a sign (and blueprint) for more first person shooters to follow on the Wii. As for those ten months I had to wait for this, now that it’s here, they don’t even matter anymore. This is a must-buy for any Wii owner.

Pros: Everything you could want from a “Metroid” game and it shows how the Wii’s controls SHOULD be used for first-person shooters.

Cons: Some of the motion-sensitive actions are kinda twitchy.

Overall: 9.5