[Wii] Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

[Blaze 12]

E3 06: Hands-On Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

What do we think of Samus’s latest adventure? Our hands-on report with the Wii’s premiere Metroid.

Going into E3, Metroid Prime 3 –- now called Corruption –- was probably my most wanted and anticipated Wii title. I even had dreams of playing the game prior to the big show. Well, maybe not, but if I were to dream of playing any Wii games before E3, I would have dreamt of Metroid Prime 3. Simply put, I am in love with the franchise. Super Metroid and Metroid Prime are both easily two of my favorite games of all time, thus naturally, I always look forward to both new 2D and 3D entries in the Metroid franchise.

When you first pick up the Wii controller to play Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, a few things hit you pretty hard. First off, the game doesn’t look amazing. It looks notably sharper than both Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. But I think it’s safe to say that Prime 3 isn’t going to win any Best of Graphics awards. It doesn’t really look all that next-gen. It looks good enough to get the job done. But that’s about it.

The second thing you’ll notice is that Retro has kept the familiar HUD from past Prime games. It’s basically the familiar Retro-developed HUD we all know and love. That said, there’s one big change – the reticule is different, which is because of the Wii control scheme. Speaking of controls, this obviously the big thing that many would agree will make or break Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. Now having played it, I feel both a little reassured and slightly concerned about the game in this regard. But I’ll get to all that in a moment.

The E3 Prime 3 demo opens up with a cut-scene showing Samus Aran’s ship landing on a new planet. She jumps out of her ship, lands and the camera swings into the familiar-and-loved first-person view. And you take control. This is Metroid –- Retro Studios style. But before you can start playing as Samus, another cut-scene shows a Federation Trooper telling Samus they need her help clearing the space station of the bad guys. The quick dialogue is voice acted and is pretty solid.

After it, you get control of Ms. Aran. As you’d assume, you control Samus with the analog stick on the nunchaku controller and can press the B trigger to jump and even double jump by pressing it twice. Samus can also morph into her morphball by pressing the C trigger on the nunchuku as well. All this is pretty familiar, and as it did in the past, it works just fine now. While you handle all movement-type mechanics with the nunchuku controller, the free-hand controller is the heart of Metroid Prime 3, and it works pretty well.

You can look around the screen, controlling the reticule, by pointing at the sensor bar under or on top of the TV. Want to look up? You can do it by gesturing the controller in that direction. What to look left? Right? Same thing. It’s just as you imagine it, although admittedly the whole thing is a little sensitive. Also, sometimes it feels a little weird because you’re essentially pointing at a sensor bar, not your TV, and while it sounds like there’s no difference, in reality there is.

At the beginning of the demo, when a Federation Trooper tells Samus that she needs to exterminate aliens, I started to worry a bit. After all, at Nintendo’s press briefing this week, Reggie Fils-Aime told attendees that Samus is back in an all-new first-person shooter, not first-person adventure. I think I’m not the only one that didn’t like the sound of that. Metroid is all about adventure and exploration. Shooting is a side experience. It’s not the theme and shouldn’t be. But there’s some great news here. Metroid Prime 3 doesn’t play like much a first-person shooter. There’s still a lot of exploration and puzzle-solving, and I’m sure these things will only grow in number as the game goes on.

The Prime 3 demo is full of surprises too. For instance, it’s not just the free-hand controller that offers totally new kind of gameplay. The nunchuku, for example, is used a pretty unique fashion. By motioning throwing the controller forward, Samus will throw her grapple beam. This feature is pretty damn awesome. Prime 3 seems full of little innovations, and it’s a big turn on. For instance, in my playtime with the game, I had to use the free-hand controller to open a new kind of door. Using the free-hand controller, Samus pulls out a handle, twists it counter-clock-wise and pushes it back in. This unlocks and opens any locked doors that are guarded by these new kinds of locks.

In another area of the E3 demo Nintendo walked us through this week, Samus fights against what seems like space pirates, but these bad boys are packing shields. Using your grapple beam –- tossing the controller forward –- you can steal the energy shields away from them, allowing a few fast shots in or a power shot.

Just like all Metroid Prime games before it, Prime 3: Corruption still features a lot of familiar things: shooting doors to open them, stationary turrets that try to gun you down, space pirates that fly through the air and even scanning is back again. Just like before, by scanning things you come across, you’ll gain new information about the game’s storyline. Retro has actually drastically lowered the amount of time it takes to scan objects, though, which is only a good thing, in my opinion.

On great thing about the free-hand controller and Metroid Prime 3 is how much more fun it makes enemy encounters. Before, it was lock-on and press A. Now, you have to aim for yourself, and it adds a lot of depth and reward to the game. Another nice thing is that you can actually lock onto objects and enemies if you don’t want to aim for yourself. I found myself switching doing a bit of both, as they both have their advantages. And to any dual-analog haters, be happy to hear that platforming is as easy as ever with Retro’s new scheme. And this is coming from somebody who swore up and down that the old-school Metroid Prime control scheme was spot-on.

Towards the end of the demo at E3, Samus must morph into her ball and navigate her way through a Metroid Prime-esque morphball puzzle. This puzzle didn’t involve much use of the free-hand controller. The analog stick and the A button were used to bomb jump and make your way through the obstacle course. Nevertheless, the whole thing was as enjoyable as always.

My playtime with Metroid Prime 3: Corruption wrapped-up with a sweet, challenging boss fight with none other than Ridley. The fight took place in a tunnel and Samus fell and fought against the famous villain. The fight was complete with a time limit, keeping things intense. By shooting Ridley in glowing spots, you could damage him. As the fight progressed, he begins to throw more and more

Video inédito e maravilhoso de Metroid Prime 3

O site GameInformer divulgou um novo vídeo espetacular de Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. Aparentemente o vídeo estava disponível na E3, aparecendo quando o menu do jogo ficasse parado por algum tempo. O estranho é que só agora ele foi divulgado, sendo que milhares de publicações devem ter filmado o estande do jogo.

Clique AQUI (save as) ou AQUI para ver o vídeo. Cortesia da GameInformer.

A filmagem mostra muitos cenários novos, além de inimigos e personagens inéditos e o retorno da Dark Samus. Nota-se novas habilidades para a morphball, além do retorno do ScrewAttack. O jogo parece estar muito bonito, apresentando cenários bem vastos e cenas com bastante inimigos na tela. O vídeo mostra também como a Samus pode acionar a sua nave para bombardear um lugar e abrir caminho para a personagem, habilidade que a Retro Studios havia comentado como sendo função de um novo visor.

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Hands-on Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Retro Studios becomes the first developer to prove the potential of the Wii-mote with first-person titles.

September 14, 2006 - Readers have almost certainly heard the news: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption has been delayed into next year. Not exactly the development we were all waiting to hear. However, we do have some spectacular news to report, too, which is that Retro Studios has become the first developer to prove the potential of the Wii-mote with first-person titles. Corruption was sometimes-clumsily controlled at E3 2006, but thanks to a new control method designed specifically for pros, that's no longer the case.

As we played a new single-level demo of the Prime 3 at Nintendo's Wii event in New York City, the game's designers came upon and told us that we absolutely needed to try the new "expert" control mode. They explained that they hoped it would satisfy our cravings for first-person maneuverability similar to a mouse and keyboard configuration in FPSs on the PC platform.

We started up a new level where heroine Samus Aran explores a vast space station and immediately switched to expert mode. We're happy to report that it simulates the accuracy of PC first-person shooters almost perfectly, and we found ourselves soaring through levels, zipping around corners, pulling quick turns and zapping down enemies with pinpoint precision without seconds. Simply put, Retro has nailed it - and it makes the wait to 2007 for the game that much more difficult. We're not kidding when we write that Prime 3 feels like a brand new game with this control.

The latest level looks quite a bit more gorgeous than the two missions on display at E3 2006, both of which were also present again in addition to the third. In it, Samus treks through another futuristic station as it floats through the galaxy. She encounters a variety of old and new space pirates, must user her morph into ball form in order to navigate in-wall passageways, use bombs to blow away barriers, and more. Again, players will use the Wii-mote as an extension of Aran's hand to open some doors. Hit the A button and near some locks and the option to thrust Aran's arm forward and into the object, which can then be twisted and turned with a gesture, feels as responsive as ever.

Some of the game's in-game cinemas are very atmospheric and impressive. In one scene, Samus must go into morphball mode and drop a bomb to propel herself into a nearby airlock. When she triggers the airlock, a cut-scene ensues that shows the character jettisoned into space, where she floats underneath a gigantic ship and eventually grabs onto a protruding lever and pulls herself back in through a gap in the structure. It looks absolutely fabulous - and you'll be able to see it for yourself in some of our movies coming soon.

Samus is controlled with the analog stick on the nunchuck attachment; its Z button makes her jump and double-jump and the C button rolls her into morphball form. The Wii-mote, meanwhile, is simply aimed at the screen for near-perfect accuracy. The process of turning - an issue in previous builds - is no longer problematic with the inclusion of expert control. Pressing the A button fires her weapon and the B trigger is still used for locking onto enemies.

The game is not yet running in 16:9 widescreen mode, but Retro is still looking into it. It does, however, support progressive-scan. We have to say, the new level looks great. Texture resolutions have been bumped up, bloom lighting complements areas, and the particle effects system is better than ever. Really, watch our latest videos and we think you'll be pretty impressed. The game runs for the most part at 60 frames per second, but we did notice a few spots where the fluidity dipped.

After E3 2006, our optimistic outlook on Metroid Prime 3: Corruption transformed purely into hope that Retro would not overlook the controls. But our optimism is back and stronger than ever. There is no doubt in our mind now that Prime 3 is going to play and look great when it finally arrives next year. Samus officially joins Galaxy and Brawl on 2007's must-have list.

E os videos com o novo controlo...

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption this Winter?

It looks like it, if we are to believe Nintendo Power. Here is a blown up portion from the most recent Nintendo Power issue. This comes from their MP3:C article.

Winter 2007…sounds good to me!