I decided to do a long term review of Metroid Prime 3 as I play through it a second time on hyper mode difficulty, search for all the items, and all the scans, without the use of the cheap trick some of you may know about. Call me a show off, but I just want to see what I can do. I will be including all sorts of plot, gameplay, and gaming elements. Just so we're clear, there will be spoilers as this is a review, so I suggest playing the game before reading. Let's get this going!
This game starts off big, and that is probably an understatement. First thing I thought when starting out was how far this series has come in the sci-fi genre than the black-backgrounded arcade environments of Metroid 1. The details make for an extremely interactive adventure. You wake up from a "nap" in your ship and you are ready to go, on orders of the Galactic Federation. Meanwhile, in some unknown location of the galaxy, Dark Samus makes her appearance. Blasting out of a pod in an electrical storm, she is ready to wreck havoc. From the moment you take control of Samus, you know this game will be packed with much more user interfaces and interaction than any of the previous Metroids. Despite how unnecessary the communication console and the thrusters are the rest of the game, I can easily understand their need to introduce the controls. I even read about some easter eggs where you type a certain string into the communications and you can hear some of the comments of the Japanese leaders of Nintendo.
You step off your ship in the all-to-familiar fashion and your eager to get to the next mission. Now you are immersed in the daily routines of a GF Capital Ship Olympia. I was surprised at the atmosphere; so much activity, people, and business going on. You feel almost shot down when told by the workers that they are too busy to talk. Controls aren't the only thing new around here. Just for kicks, there's also a target practice where you shoot a small device into the air consecutively; maybe earn a few tokens. I was only able to get 41; I'm sure several others have gotten 100 or more, but I don't have that much time.
Continuing onward, you have your introductions to the other bounty hunters, the captain of Olympia, and the AU on the ship. Going through all this includes the usual beginner's practice, various logs and information essential to the plot, and more atmosphere of the complex federation (and this is the outer edge the federation too). Let's not forget that bio-scan, it's genius the way they confirm you with your DNA and the other test that you know will change relatively soon. (corruption!!) I'll spare the details of the mission: basically free other AUs of a virus and see what the Space Pirates are up to. As if on cue, there is a Space Pirate attack the fleet. I don't think they could have done any better with this. You run down the hallway and you are met with an earthquake shock wave of an adjacent blast as the lights dim and spark eject from running conduits. Death litters the arena as corridors get shot open and pirates board Olympia for attack. They can't stop you though, but in hyper difficulty, you may actually need to take cover sometimes. You can even watch the Fed troopers and other hunters make waste of the pirates themselves a few times. In the end, you find yourself faced with a Berserker Lord. This elite pirate mock-up may give you a little more trouble than the parasite queen did. Off to Noria we go, those planetary defenses need saving... and not for the reasons the commander thinks.
The intro is just that; an intro. The events and situations of action were quite impressive and leave you wanting more. I'm guessing from here on out, it'll get a lot harder on this difficulty. I hope I don't die too many times, but in another way, I hope I do, because I was extremely disappointed at how easy the game and its bosses were the last time. Well, off to studies.
Labels: Metroid Prime 3, review
