As you may have read before, I’m not a huge fan of the Wii’s control system – I personally find it to be very gimmicky, and more often than not entirely unnecessary. It seems to result in games that are either casual and not very fun, or games that have motion controls for the sake of it. Coupled with tacky trailers of people jumping around like idiots in their coincidentally large, empty rooms, the whole Wii fad usually just bores me.
However, once in a while it can be done well – Metroid Prime 3: Corruption was one of the few games to do so. Whereas Prime 1 and Echoes used more classic FPS-like controls, Corruption used the Wii controls perfectly. The Wiimote was used for most of the game’s Beam Cannon functions – shooting, using rockets etc, whereas the nunchuck was used for controlling movement, locking on and rolling around in morph-ball mode. I think it was partly because the Wii mote felt more like a Beam Cannon than a regular gun that made it work better than other FPS games (such as Red Steel), but whatever the reason, it worked really well, and actually felt more comfortable than the old Prime controls. Combined with a few good motion control moments such as pulling levers, the Wii version of Metroid managed to successfully use the Wii to enhance the overall experience.
Partly due to this, Metroid Prime 3 was actually the first of the trilogy I completed, primarily because it was just too much fun to put down. So recently, I was glad to come across some news that had managed to quietly get past me until now - Nintendo are releasing Metroid Prime Trilogy on the Wii.
Not only does this mean that you can now buy the whole trilogy on a single disc, but they have actually improved upon Prime 1 and 2, and implemented into it the control scheme from Corruption. This means that not only have Nintendo given me an excuse to play Prime and Echoes once more, theyve actually made it better in every way that made Corruption so good.
But that’s not all – as well as this, they have touched up the textures of the first two games, improved some of the visual effects and shortened the load times (this would create a small delay in some doors opening). They have also implemented the credit system from Corruption which will allow you to unlock artwork, music and other goodies with points earned in Prime 1 and 2, as well as 3.
So, if you’re a fan of Metroid and loved Corruption, this sounds like a perfect opportunity. If you’ve never played the Prime series, I’d say this is a perfect opportunity to pick it up! All three games for the price of one, you can’t go too far wrong.
Metroid Prime Trilogy is released on the 4th September in Europe and has recently been released in the US.
-Leon
