Finally a Game That Does the wii Justice

Let me start off by saying that I have owned a wii since a week after launch, and going on a year with the system on the market, I have yet to find and be impressed by a game utilizing the play control opportunities offered by the wiimote. I don't know if Nintendo rushed the system launch so much that it had no games to put out, or if they were hoping 3rd party developers would showcase they system's abilities for them. In any case, all my doubts were cleared when Nintendo delivered Metriod Prime 3: Corruption (MP3).

Story Line
This is of course the 3rd and final installment of the Metriod Prime series. If you are someone who has not played the previous two GameCube games, you might find yourself asking if you should start with #3. That is an answer I'm not qualified to give. I can tell you the game does continue a story line started in the first two (mostly the 2nd), and to fully appreciate what is going on it does help to know the background. However, the game easily stands on its own, and anyone who wished to simply jump into the trilogy in this the 3rd installment, would still be able to follow the story and enjoy it. Here is all you need to know: VERY MILD SPOILER WARNING you are a bounty hunter named Samus Aran. The space pirates are exactly what their name says they are (bad guys). A metriod is a mysterious semi-intelligent creature which can drain the life energy from other life forms and many attempts have been made to harness its power in the past. Oh and you have an evil twin, Dark Samus, who split off from you previously in the trilogy. END SPOILER WARNING
If you decide you want to play the first two first, the good news is that the wii is fully backward compatible with GameCube games.

Play Control, Play Control, Play Control
I can't believe it's taken me so long to get to it. To say that I enjoy first-person shooter style video games would be a bit of an understatement, so I didn't know how I was going to feel about using the pointer to turn and aim. Ten minutes was all it took to convince me that this is the future of the genre. MP3 takes advantage of the wii's pointing ability and motion sensing more then most games out have attempted, especially in this genre. The player uses the wiimote to aim and turn the character and the joystick on the nunchuck to move forward and strafe. You can use the Z-button to lock the view from turning or onto enemies. Note that even when locked onto an enemy, it is only your view that is locked onto them. You are still required to point your cursor to fire. I enjoyed the way the developers mixed convenience and required skill like this.

In addition to the main method of play described above, a good deal of thought seems to have been given to the layout of the buttons on the nunchuck and wiimote. I especially like that the same button (minus button) enables all three visors, and you simply flick your wrist in one of 3 directions to select which one you want.

Weapons
One thing that Nintendo recognized as an issue with the previous Metriod Prime game was that people were confused by the ability to toggle between which blaster they used at any given time. Because of this, the blaster upgrades are more linear, in that you'll never have to go back and use an older blaster after getting an upgrade. There is however one thing which you can toggle on and off. Early in the story line, Samus is "corrupted" with phazon allowing her to enter into a hypermode in which her blaster is extremely powerful. Hypermode does use life energy, so it's needs to be used sparingly.

Ship Control
This is the first installment of the Metriod series which lets you fly the ship! Kinda. MP3 allows the player to enter the ship, and choose destinations (either different planets or multiple docks on the same planet). Also, you can remotely control the ship and have it bomb some targets for you.

Hints
Another issue Nintendo tried to remedy with this installment was that people found themselves asking what to do next or confused by puzzles in specific rooms in previous games. The story line of MP3 does an excellent job of letting know you on your map which room you should be headed to next, and there is a hint button on the controller that you can press at any time if you find yourself confused in any one given place. Personally, I try to use the hint button as little as possible.

Conclusions
This game delivers everything we have come to expect from a Metriod Prime, but at the same time it has a couple new twists and an amazing new method of play control. If you are a fan of the Metriod series, I think it's safe to say this is the best yet and a great sendoff. If you are new to Metriod, you won't have any problem playing this game and enjoying it as well.