# *Metroid Prime 3: Corruption* Notes *Metroid Prime 3: Corruption* is/was the conclusion of the *Prime* trilogy and was the first Wii game made by Retro Studios. They used the pointer controls of the Wii Remote to make a masterfully intuitive first-person exploration shooter. The game's presentation shot for the stars by using the Wii's capability to include cutscenes, voice acting, and numerous planets. This approach feels alienating when compared to other *Prime* titles, but not so much other *Metroid* games. > [!warning] > Spoilers below! ![[Metroid Prime 3 - Corruption Notes.pdf]] ### Stats - Started Playing: 6/25/2025 - Beat: 7/27/2025 - Total Playtime: 12:44:00 ### Legacy - It gave us one of the most intuitive first-person shooters ever from a control perspective, but it sacrificed an identity as a true "Metroid" experience in pursuit of a more guided, cinematic, and welcoming experience. - It gave us Prime 1 and 2 with motion controls. ### Overall - I wonder if it gets less chatty after the tutorial. Very big budget stylings. - Still pretty chatty. And linear. Feels they went on rails for the cinematic experience, which is what the market demanded at the time. Especially to sell the Wii to “hardcore” gamers. - I am reminded of when every game seemed to have a “Dark” version of the protagonist. Tapping into dark powers for new moves. - Was the best thing this game did give MP1 and even 2 motion controls? - “The new Metroid and the most intuitive first-person shooter. Ever.” Reggie Fils-Aime, E3 2006 - “Best first-person shoot control on console. Period.” Bill Trenin, E3 2007 27:50~ - I was mid mini boss fight (Hatcher Metroid) and the in-game tutorial voice decide to interrupt me to give me a hint about the main path and a clue as where to next investigate. What. That is pure antithetical to the Metroid experience. - In fact, it’s only when I leave the main path, get notified I left, and I just explore that the formula comes to life. - The game almost acts annoyed that you’ve left the main path. ### Story - Cutscenes! Voice acting! They went big. - Definitely leaning into the world building and more "Hunters." - There is an ice Hunter, a transforming Hunter, and a cyborg Hunter. I assume all of them get infected somehow and are boss fights. - Some virus has infected the Galactic Federation Fleet. the GF hires four bounty hunters to deliver the "vaccine." Space Pirate shenanigans ensue. - Samus now self-generates Phazon. The GF sent the other Hunters to planets to defeat “Leviathans” of Phazon. Lost contact. Now Samus must do it all. - Dang. I straight up murdered Rontundus (ice hunter). Dark Samus absorbed him? - The Chozo built SkyTown, which is an interesting way to being in direct Samus lore. - Ghor busted my ship. I busted Ghor. - Drop a nuke on the second seed. Who cares about the planet beneath the clouds? - Now we found the Pirate homeworld and are infiltrating it to destroy the third seed. - Wormhole to Phazon planet - The big Sylux moment is another post-credits scene. Kinda feeling like Sylux hype is purely design aesthetics. ### Gameplay - Point and aim controls are smooth. Essentially mouse controls. - Muscle memory is broken for sure though. Learning curve is step when you have years of standard controls under your belt. - A credits/achievements system was introduced. Complete certain tasks and you can spend the credits on art, music, etc. - Lots of motion-y "You are Samus" actions. Push buttons, pull levers, snap the Nunchuck for grapple. That sort of stuff. - The grapple in combat is far too inconsistent on activation for the rate at which Retro wants you to use it. This causes frustration, lost time in sensitive boss battles, and classic Wii waggle. - Falling down the power generator shaft while fighting Meta Ridley was a very neat concept. A bit long - Upon loading, it pops up with a reminder of the current objective. Handy. - I feel like they tried too hard with the ship, Flying between areas actually makes the worlds feel smaller (at least in world 1) - But the ship is also an upgradable weapon? You can carpet bomb enemies? What - The first major mission structure is very “go destroy this. Oh wait. There are two shield generators. Destroy those first. Oh wait. You need more powerful gun. Get that first. Good job, now destroy shield. Oh wait. Turrets defend shield generators. Gotta get those first. Ah. Now you can destroy shield.” - I hope this isn’t the template. - Kind of is... - Skyrails years before BioShock Infinite... - Feels so antithetical to the Metroid principles. Linear paths. Ship broken so you can’t go to previous planet. They only want you on the golden path. - Well, I may have spoken too soon. After restoring the network, my ship was fixed promptly. I immediately left and went to Bryyo to use the Plasma Cannon. Exploration after all. - And that led me to the Screw Attack. Let’s gooooooooooo. - And then, as I’m leaving to return to the golden path, I get a notification that I can explore a derelict ship that went missing five months ago?! Neat! - But I wish I could have somehow discovered this naturally? In 2D Metroid, you could just end up in a new area/section of the planet. Think of the crashed ship in Super Metroid. - Plot twist: all of this was golden path. I couldn’t progress any further in SkyTown without the screw attack. All intentional. All linear. - I like that the weapon upgrades are just applied to the gear. Reminds me of Zero Mission and Fusion. The blaster just becomes the plasma cannon, no need to select it every time. Indicates becoming more powerful in a good way. - Special Access Codes - 28413 73636 55184 14758 - Norion - 78356 - Valhalla - If you land on the wrong landing pad, sucks to suck. - Whole lot of just missile expansions. Reminds me of Ghost of Tsushima. Like, I’m 100%-ing, but not loving the repetition. - Boss fights are underwhelming - It’s so easy. - There is no escape sequence?!?!!!!!! ### Music/Sound Design - There are some more orchestral tracks. Cinematic, not necessarily techo, futuristic. - Nothing is standing out to me boldly. - Okay. I like the SkyTown chanting choir theme. - I hear you remnants of Phandrana Drifts in Ice Bryyo! - Helios boss music is not what I’d expect, but I dig - Most boss music is chiller than I expect. - Pirate Homeworld has some good music underneath. ### Graphics/Performance - Big budget, spacey design. - Coming in and out of morph ball is much faster. Wii Power baby! - I like the early corruption suit. - Samus’ eyes reflect in the scan visor and follow your cursor, since she is the one looking around. Nice touch. - Dual-layered disc load times on doors, not great. - Still a class act in diegetic design with the HUD elements. - I think the upgraded suit has a nice silhouette, but a hodgepodge of colors that doesn’t look great. ### World - The world maps are chunked up. Probably due to load times/memory; that sort of thing. It makes them feel more limited and linear. It is as if ambition far exceeded hardware - It’s all too disjointed. There are too many levels in the map system. You can’t see everything all at once. The worlds are not necessarily interconnected either. - Galaxy > Solar System > Planet > Landing Zone/Level - But there are multiple zones that may or may not be connected. Always backing in and out. And some aren’t even viewable on the map (Ice Bryyo). - Norion? First world? I sort of assume there is multi-planet travel. - Bryyo is a stone-y lava-y place that our ice Hunter friend went to. - The people here devolved into war after science and space travel was discovered. Tribal vs new age. - The main environmental theme hot vs cold is emphasized by the raw combustible fuel gel. Key in puzzles so far. - Elysia is home of SkyTown which floats above the planet. - Steampunk vibes in the design. Enemies are “Tinpots.” Very brown/gray. - It’s linear by design. It is not that exploratory Metroid design. - GFS Valhalla - This is where I learn the secrets. Have to collect power cells to dig deeper. This is the “artifact” bit. - Spooky vibes, but not quite Dead Space. - Pirate Homeworld - Phaaze