Suskie's Metroid Prime 3: Corruption review

I agree with the Echoes bashing, individual parts of that game were really good but it's less than the sum of its parts. the dark world thing got fucking old, especially because of the little healing bubbles. I'd have been happier if they only provided safety, not healing. or if they did, making it go by quick when enemies aren't around. fond memories of letting Samus sit in one of them and then going out for lunch, coming back, and finding my 10+ energy tanks almost but not quite full.

still didn't like this one though. one of the things I hated about Echoes was that it felt so segmented, which obviously carried over into this one. and Retro trying to shoehorn a real story in rather than "hey, explore this deserted world" was dumb. SOON YOU TOO WILL BE CORRUPTED, HAHAHA. good read, though.

this post took an ungodly amount of time to write and spellcheck. I'm going to go pass out, full of rage due to somebody I thought had good taste liking Prime 3. thanks a lot! >:0

My original plan was to review all three at once but I quickly gave up on that. Echoes would have been so much better if they'd just dropped the whole Dark Aether thing altogether, and it sucked that most of the boss battles were set there. Corruption just struck me as a more consistent game. You're right about it being segmented, but like I said, but I don't mind that as long as it doesn't get in the way of the game's pace. Prime went one way and Corruption went the other, and Echoes tried to do both at once and failed. Also: Ammo limits on beams? Heresy.

Anyway, thanks for the comments, though this review suffers the dual problem of being too long and still not covering everything I wanted to talk about, like the lame story. Why the hell does Retro insist on making Samus a silent protagonist, anyway? She's talked in other games! I figured the reason she never spoke in the first two was because there was nobody to talk to.

"Hey Samus, we're ready to launch a Federation attack on Dark Samus's home planet now, so let's end this! Except, wait, we don't have the Leviathan codes. Shoot. Well, you're just gonna have to find those, aren't you? Say, have you explored the Valhalla yet? Thoroughly? You might want to check up on that. Because, you know, it might have some valuable secrets and stuff. Yeah, look into that. Oh, and if the ship's running low on power and you need some extra energy cells, you can probably find a few if you just retrace your steps back through the entire fucking game. Thanks buddy."

yep, I have reviews come out long but still feeling unfinished sometimes. like with DMC4.

I didn't mind the idea of the dark world, it was just too forgiving and too harsh at the same time. as I said, thanks to those stupid bubbles. go one way or the other, don't make sitting in one of them for 15 minutes an attractive option. ammo limits were shit, too, especially since you got so much ammo they didn't matter at all. it added nothing to the gameplay.

and haha the backtracking gets ridiculous, yeah, I thought the first Metroid Prime was by far the most fluid about revisiting old areas. and I like the silent protagonist thing, it's not like in Half-Life Dos where people are talking to you and you're just standing there like a mute.

because there shouldn't be people to talk to in Metroid in the first place.

I didn't like Corruption for the simple reason that I missed the explorative quality of the previous Metroid titles. I felt the worlds were too small and linear to really give me that classic "there's a door I'll come back to" metroid feel. I really did enjoy both the Skyworld and Iceworlds, but that's two out of... what, five worlds? I thought the Pirate base was one of the worst locations ever to befoul a Metroid title, and dammit, if you're going to throw in a plot, especially one with nods to the legacy of the Mother Brain, than go ahead and DO it. Don't willy nilly around with undeveloped side characters and cliche encounters.

You're right. Echoes is an extremely obtuse game that's hard to enjoy, but Corruption felt like a flash in the pan on the opposite side of the scale. Really, the first Prime was the best. Corruption tightens the formula a bit but loses the intense level design.

I like that no one seems to argue that the first Prime was awesome. This is how it should be.

Yeah, Corruption's plot was dumb and the cutscenes were totally static and completely lacking in theatricality. I agree with Boo, the series is better when it's just Samus versus the planet.

Well agreed, Suskie. I'd say well said, but boo said it first.

I might buy Metroid Prime Trilogy just to be able to finally play the original in true widescreen.

hahaha me too. actually I'd probably replay Echoes too, it was enjoyable. just nothing special. I liked how much they focused on the morph ball.