Blog / Random thoughts and musings.

Game Review: Metroid Prime: Corruption

When Metroid Prime came out for the GameCube at the end of 2002, it quickly became my favorite game. In fact, the only time I stopped playing it was when Jen stole the disc and hid it from me! It technically was her game, but still, how could she??

Two years later, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes was released. It was an excellent sequel, and in some ways was even better than the first. It was a longer game, with more puzzles and a clever “alternate universe” to switch back and forth from to finish the game.

Then there was a long, three-year wait for the final game in the series, Metroid Prime: Corruption, to be released, this time for the Wii. I finished the game last week, and have to say I’m a bit disappointed. The game was much simpler than either of its predecessors, with no puzzles worth mentioning, almost no hidden items to seek out, and much easier battles. In fact, one of my only complaints about the previous games — the occasional few-second delay before a door opens, as the game loads more of the story from disc — was magnified many-fold in Corruption, with many doors taking upwards of 10 seconds to open. I also found the game’s adaptation to the Wii’s unique remote controllers to be awkward at best. The standard controller on the Gamecube worked far better for this type of game, and the few motion-sensitive additions in Corruption were unnecessary and didn’t add to the experience.

Summary: If you are a fan of the first two, you may be disappointed. If you haven’t played the first two, you may enjoy it… but you’d be better off buying MP:1 and MP:2 for a few dollars at a used store, since the Wii will play all Gamecube games.