Pretty darn good. See the other Prime reviews here: Metroid Prime, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. Echoes was my first review of the series, and took over 9 hours to write (seriously). Bottom line, MP3 retains all of the gameplay of the previous 2, and that's what counts. I wholeheartedly endorse it, and if you like the previous two, there's no need to read this review. I finished it on December 4th, by the way.
Story:
Phazon (a deadly, ominous mutagen with much promise as an energy source) has spread, its usage has increased dramatically, and the Space Pirates have begun employing it in their war machine beyond Phazon mutations, powering ships and going so far as to make a deadly Phazon enhancement suit worn by almost all of their forces. The Galactic Federation has responded in kind with its own version of the Phazon enhancement suit, dubbed the PED: Phazon enhancement device. With these devices, both Pirates and GF marines can enter 'hypermode,' which increases their power exponentially. The GF version is considerably more deadly than the Space Pirate's version (displayed by Federation troops laying waste to Pirates), and poses less risk to the user.
Phazon seems to be transforming technology- and the galaxy- for the worse. The Galactic Federation's Aurora Units- large, organic, sentient supercomputers which can easily replace entire complements of technicians- have suddenly become infected with an incapacitating virus, rendering the majority of them all but useless. This seems to have come about from an attack on a Galactic Federation vessel, the G.F.S. Valhalla, perpetrated by the Space Pirates. The Valhalla's whereabouts are unknown, thought to be drifting in space. An "antidote" is formulated, but it must be hand-delivered to the Aurora Units before they can again become operational. And Dark Samus is back. She's such a drama queen.
Graphics:
I believe Metroid Prime 3 is closer to Prime 1 than Prime 2. Metroid Prime 3 is what I feel Prime 1 should have been- there are organic environments spattered with technology, and there are areas that are very high-tech, but without Prime 1's "unfinished" feel. They're very colorful, and typically I despise "vivid" color, but they're actually quite nice; not sure why. Any more colorful, and I would have turned down my TV color. The prevailing color is blue- the color of Phazon. Samus' visor now has a new look which I really like, as well as her ships' visor; little hint here, there are a few features of the cockpit you are not introduced to and kind of have to stumble upon. Two buttons above the thrusters, and 2 more on the opposite side.
There are some great, atmosphere-inducing spatial phenomena displayed; planets have pretty milky way types surrounding them. You do certainly feel like you're in space (you do NOT fly the ship manually), though the game is a bit lax in determining distance to planets. Travel between them doesn't appear to take long, as Samus uses a type of warp drive. There is a certain planet which has looming storm clouds, but they do not come and storm on you. That would have added a whole lot of atmosphere. Literally.
Also, if you're in a pressurized room, upon opening the door you'll have to walk against the vacuum to get out. Very nice touch. There are also some areas that have light shining through windows, and it appears that the room is dusty. That is, you can see the light on the dust. There is no nighttime-daytime rotation.
Sadly, Samus' appearance is still changing. She looks different in all three games; it is strange...in the first game, she looked really great and realistic; in the second game, she looked toony, but great; and in the third game, she looks really toony, but still great. The pattern here is that she's great! As touching her suit, it looks fine through most of the game...but I wish it was a little less colorful.
Controls:
This is what we all expect to be the best. It's for the Wii, and the Wii is the system that made a Dragon Ball Z game (Budokai Tenkaichi 2) not just tolerable, but fun. In my opinion, that's akin to taking a tunafish sandwich- made with stale bread- and serving it to the Queen of England instead of a 5-course dinner and her not having you killed. I am not alone in this opinion.
However, due to the near-perfection of the previous Prime games' controls and physics, the Wii controls don't add that much. That said, the Wii remote has its own quirks (such as Z-locking then moving the Wii remote out of the screen to make her cannon appear to rest against her body), and it is a lot more comfortable to hold the Wiimote and Nunchuk. Additionally, the boss fights are...now I will use a word I very infrequently use...sweet. I don't feel the controls are a great improvement, but aiming with the Wii remote is fun nonetheless.
The only thing that keeps the Wii controls from being better than the GC controls is...that it seems as if they take a smidgen of consecration from it; it's...somehow, not as controlled. Perhaps I just have the "Samus is a deadly killing machine who commits genocide" legalistic mentality and feel that she should always move in a certain way.
You travel around to diver's planets (sic, that's an inside joke) like in Metroid Prime: Hunters, however...you do NOT die when you fall off of something. I hated that. I hated that. I hated that. The system for changing planets is better with better cutscenes. It takes longer, but you can see a lot more and have several landing zones to choose from; it's fluid, and is more becoming.
Gameplay:
Well, it's a Prime game. The third in the series. The gameplay is more or less the same as the gameplay in the previous two, not surprisingly. There is a return to the basic, 1-beam weapon system akin to Metroid: Zero Mission. Everything is fine, except that I wish missiles traveled faster...I always wish that, though. Despite not traveling faster, and despite the lack of a burst-fire mode, they are very cool in this game...literally. You technically have two beams, but mainly you only have one.
I felt that MP3 had enough bosses. Some were very imaginative, and many are memorable ("Steam Lord.") Also, as I mentioned, the Wii remote makes the boss battles...sweet. As for the enemies, I disliked the generic Shriek Bats; there were several varieties, all attacked the same, but they had different names and looked different. The cheapest enemies since the Beam-flavored enemies in MP1- to add shame to embarrassment, they completely miss 95% of the time. Losers.
The Space Pirates play a larger role this time around. They're improved greatly, and look cooler. The Flying Pirates are a particular nuisance. The Inglets make a comeback, but they are not called Inglets (they're called "Phazon Ing!" Eugh!)- I would rather the Ing either come back full force, or not come back at all.
There is a new system which awards special tokens to "stylish" moves. The first I discovered was "Bowling for Bots," which entails smashing into a bunch of robots with a Morph Ball Boost. Sometimes these cause short, special cutscenes (a bridge blowing up behind Samus as she walks away). They're cool. I have absolutely no idea how many there are, but it would seem likely that there are many, and if you're the type to use a guide, I'd probably check them all out. They appear to be one-time. I am unsure.
Sound:
Metroid tends to have very good, memorable music. This installment has grand, high female singing (words are not audible; it's sort of "Ahhhh, ah-ooh-ah-uh, ahhh, ah, ah ouahh"). It's very memorable and evokes a lot of emotion. Filled with an agonizing dread, an "I can't believe the day has come" lump in my throat,
Voice acting ranges from alright to "that-must-be-a-publicity-stunt" bad (they have a gay man with attitude voice one character); Samus does NOT talk. I really, really dreaded her talking, so I'm relieved. She's perhaps the only truly silent protagonist I know. All the others I know of attempt to talk at times but are cut off (maybe not Link; I am unsure).
Now I will borrow a line from my Metroid Prime review:
One thing with Metroid Prime which wasn't fixed in Prime 2 (or even Prime 3, as far as I can tell), is that enemies do not recoil in pain. I dislike that. I figure you would lose the use of an arm for at least a few seconds if you got shot in the shoulder by an energy weapon. Now, I'm not saying they have to explode and shoot blood and gore 40 feet in each direction. Just...be hurt for a second. Oh, also, I did not see breasts on any of the creatures that I killed (I did not look too closely...), so I can assume I did not kill any females. Never mind how "stunning" limb-wounding would be with the Wii remote (stun humor! Laugh, man!). Also, I did not see breasts on any enemies, so I can assume I did not slaughter any females.
In ending, I give the game a 9.7, along with You're a Moron (Must Have) and Unique Gameplay awards. I will revisit and whittle this review at a later date (complete, Dec. 23; review has currently taken 5.5-6 hours, but I did no whittling!). Samus is not revealed any more than she is in Metroid Prime 2 (that is, she is shown in her zero suit, which is a pretty, blue full-body "jumpsuit"); I am therefore of good cheer. Next up is...The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Oh, baby. I also just finished ALttP on DS; I may or may not review it.
Note that the review was posted at 3:33 PM originally.
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