Metroid Prime 1 is among my favorite games of all-time. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes is a game that I barely like. It's a bigger, more unwieldy and more frustrating version of its predecessor that does little to iterate on its foundations.
Metroid Prime 3, by contrast, is something different entirely.
From its earliest moments, Metroid Prime 3 is very much NOT like its predecessors. The game has a foregrounded, talkative narrative with the sort of cinematic presentation that's mostly anathema to Prime 1 design philosophy and the reputation the first game established. Interestingly, its narrative focus and linear progression feel very much in step with Metroid Fusion, another game I love.
And that's probably why I enjoy Corruption nearly as much as the untouchable Metroid Prime 1. In continuing to reject the conventions of its predecessors, Corruption is full of action set pieces. This is much closer to a conventional FPS than either of the games that came before (Echoes' multiplayer aside). I like that a lot.
The Metroidvania genre, on the whole, is one that I don't care that much for. The later Shantae games, Prince of Persia: The Last Crown, these are a few of the only non-Metroid Metroidvanias that I truly enjoy. I'm drawn to Metroid by its worldbuilding, art direction, and sense of place (and all the ways it's evoked).
I'm also massively drawn to Samus Aran: the badass intergalactic action hero.
This is the version of the character that childhood me was introduced to through Smash Bros., and the version of the character I found when I rented Prime 3 as my first Metroid title way back when. I was too young to understand the game and get past Norion. But it forged my connection to this character and world, a connection I'd later strengthen in high school when I truly got into the series.
Many people will claim that the Metroid series' pivot towards action began with Other M and then was followed through by MercurySteam, and while I agree that Other M turned the action dial to 10 before MS cranked it to 16, I truly believe that Corruption is where the 'modern' depiction of Samus was born. Think about the fight with Ridley on Norion, the huge battle alongside Galactic Federation Troopers on the Space Pirate home world. Samus builds and detonates a nuclear bomb and escapes from its blast after a massive point-defense firefight. Corruption brought Samus to an entirely new echelon of cool.
And the Wii brought Samus to a new level of realism. I totally appreciate that the motion-controlled keypads and locks and levers are a relic of 2007, but I really enjoy the life they imbue in the character. To me, they're an extension of seeing the rain fall on Samus' visor on Tallon IV. These choices were doubtlessly mandates to illustrate what the hardware was capable of back near launch, but I just don't mind.
It's very easy for me to look at Prime 3 and understand why it's not widely held in the regard that I hold it in. The game is very linear, many of its secrets are not hidden well or at all. It's bigger, louder, more cinematic and less archetypally Prime-like. But almost none of that matters to me because this feels like the massive action-packed Metroid spirit that defines most of my favorite games in the series, while retaining the immersive, inquisitive quality and attention to detail that define Prime 1 and 2.
So glad I finally saw this one all the way through.
Metroid Prime 3, by contrast, is something different entirely.
From its earliest moments, Metroid Prime 3 is very much NOT like its predecessors. The game has a foregrounded, talkative narrative with the sort of cinematic presentation that's mostly anathema to Prime 1 design philosophy and the reputation the first game established. Interestingly, its narrative focus and linear progression feel very much in step with Metroid Fusion, another game I love.
And that's probably why I enjoy Corruption nearly as much as the untouchable Metroid Prime 1. In continuing to reject the conventions of its predecessors, Corruption is full of action set pieces. This is much closer to a conventional FPS than either of the games that came before (Echoes' multiplayer aside). I like that a lot.
The Metroidvania genre, on the whole, is one that I don't care that much for. The later Shantae games, Prince of Persia: The Last Crown, these are a few of the only non-Metroid Metroidvanias that I truly enjoy. I'm drawn to Metroid by its worldbuilding, art direction, and sense of place (and all the ways it's evoked).
I'm also massively drawn to Samus Aran: the badass intergalactic action hero.
This is the version of the character that childhood me was introduced to through Smash Bros., and the version of the character I found when I rented Prime 3 as my first Metroid title way back when. I was too young to understand the game and get past Norion. But it forged my connection to this character and world, a connection I'd later strengthen in high school when I truly got into the series.
Many people will claim that the Metroid series' pivot towards action began with Other M and then was followed through by MercurySteam, and while I agree that Other M turned the action dial to 10 before MS cranked it to 16, I truly believe that Corruption is where the 'modern' depiction of Samus was born. Think about the fight with Ridley on Norion, the huge battle alongside Galactic Federation Troopers on the Space Pirate home world. Samus builds and detonates a nuclear bomb and escapes from its blast after a massive point-defense firefight. Corruption brought Samus to an entirely new echelon of cool.
And the Wii brought Samus to a new level of realism. I totally appreciate that the motion-controlled keypads and locks and levers are a relic of 2007, but I really enjoy the life they imbue in the character. To me, they're an extension of seeing the rain fall on Samus' visor on Tallon IV. These choices were doubtlessly mandates to illustrate what the hardware was capable of back near launch, but I just don't mind.
It's very easy for me to look at Prime 3 and understand why it's not widely held in the regard that I hold it in. The game is very linear, many of its secrets are not hidden well or at all. It's bigger, louder, more cinematic and less archetypally Prime-like. But almost none of that matters to me because this feels like the massive action-packed Metroid spirit that defines most of my favorite games in the series, while retaining the immersive, inquisitive quality and attention to detail that define Prime 1 and 2.
So glad I finally saw this one all the way through.