Metroid Prime Trilogy [Wii Review]

Metroid Prime Trilogy is a first-person action/adventure game that brings the Wii’s Metroid Prime 3 together with new Play Control versions of the first 2 critically acclaimed Metroid Prime games together on one disk in a funky special edition box. But how do they work on Wii, and how much of an improvement, if any, are they?
The games see you playing as bounty hunter Samus Aran as you save various planets from the nasty space pirates and their evil experiments with a mysterious and deadly substance called Phazon.

Gameplay

The game appears to be a first-person shooter, in that it has a first-person perspective, and you, well shoot things. However, the reason I describe it as a first-person action/adventure game is that there’s so much more to the game than simply running and shooting stuff, with the first two Metroid Prime games especially putting very little emphasis on shooting, and more into exploration and puzzle solving.

You’re armed (literally) in the games only with Samus’ arm cannon, a hugely adaptable and innovative weapon that fires it’s standard single shots in a truly old-school fashion, but can also be charged to fire off more powerful shots, fire rockets and be upgraded in various ways for additions such as different beams, like the Ice Beam and awesomely named Plasma Cannon. Who needs multiple guns when you’re armed like Samus?

Samus' arch nemesis, Dark Samus.

Samus’ other abilities lie in her suit, the main gem being the good old Morph Ball, which allows Samus to completely transform into a ball in which you can roll around and get through small tunnels and such which you otherwise can’t and drop bombs. The camera changes to a third-person perspective here, so you can see where you’re going in the often wonderfully intricate tunnels. This feature has always been fun, even in Metroid’s SNES days and brings a whole new level of puzzle/platform like gameplay to the game.

The other main ability you have in Metroid that differentiates it from just about any other game out there is to change visors, with a variety of effects. The main one (aside from the main, Combat Visor) is the Scan Visor, which you can use to scan a huge variety of objects and enemies you’ll encounter on your way, not only to interfere with computers and such to solve puzzles and make your way through the game, but also to gain information on the object, (particularly useful for info on enemies,) all of which is recorded into your logbook for reference. Dedicated players will find themselves attempting to scan everything in the game to fill up their logbooks to add even further longevity to the game.

The Scan Visor in action.

Aside from this, Samus is armed with other abilities that you gain as you progress through the game, (all 3 see Samus being “damaged” in some way early on and having to regain lost abilities,) such as a grappling hook that allows you to swing through the landscape. A nice touch to this is added in Metroid Prime 3 where you can also use this against enemies with the help of motion control to pull away an enemies shield/armour. There’s also nifty wall jumps, double jumps, various morph ball and visor upgrades and more, all of which are required at some point to give you access to previously inaccessible areas and often add a fun platforming touch to the gameplay.

All this upgrade business adds a huge amount of depth to the game, however it does also link to one of my biggest disagreements with the game, which is that there is a hell of a lot of tedious backtracking through areas you’ve already explored, simply to get to a door or obstacle you couldn’t get through before without a certain upgrade. It does all add to the “exploration” factor in the game, so you’ll either love this or hate it, but I did find it quite tedious, especially when it isn’t always clear where exactly you’re supposed to be heading next, which often leads to you running around the huge game world aimlessly, constantly checking your map for a place you haven’t yet explored.

While I’m on the annoyances, the save system is another, as this game sees those dreaded save points that have found their way into so many otherwise great games, where in order to save your progress, you must locate a “save station”. They’re not too harsh with the distribution of these to be honest, but it’s still annoying when something comes up and you’re in the middle of playing, and you’re unable to save and quit. Why all games don’t simply allow you to save anywhere is anyone’s guess.

All 3 games are pretty similar in gameplay and structure, which was always one of the main criticisms for Metroid Primes 2 and 3 (being too similar to their predecessors), but the concept is good enough and the games unique enough for them to get away with this, and this is why I’ve talked about the gameplay as a whole up until now rather than a section for each game, but there are a few features unique to specific games that should be mentioned.

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes expands on Metroid Prime with the edition of the slightly overused concept of a “light” and “dark” world, where the same place can be explored in a different... dimension(?) where the odd change is made in layout and enemies, and there’s the “wonderful” edition of the air being toxic, causing you to lose health while you’re there. What happens in one dimension having some effect on the other, which does add another level of puzzle-solving to it all; however it does seem a bit of an excuse to drag the game out a bit and re-use the same areas even more, and the fact that you have to stay within certain spots to get your health back after having it sapped by the toxic atmosphere reduces the pace to a bit of a crawl. This concept isn’t exactly the best Retro have come up with and it’s for this reason Metroid Prime 2 is probably the worst of the trilogy, although that’s not to say it’s a bad game.
The 1 on 1 multiplayer from Echoes is also included, and is as awful and pointless as ever.

Dark Aether in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption thankfully ditches the light and dark world concept from Echoes and plays more like the first Prime, except with much greater emphasis on shooting. The puzzle, exploration and platforming aspects remain, but probably thanks to the greater disk space on offer when designing this for the Wii and that they wanted to show off how well the Wii remote can work for Shooters you’ll find areas absolutely swarming with space pirates quite early on, with the game as a whole being much more action-packed.

This game also introduces a “corruption” feature. Basically, Samus’ body is corrupted by Phazon, which threatens to consume her completely and turn her into Dark Samus. However, this has a few side-effects you can use to your advantage, as you can let this Phazon temporarily flood through your body, putting you in “Hypermode”, where your shots pack much greater firepower, and your weapon can be charged and even overloaded to unleash a sustained beam of shining, blue ownage on any unfortunate Space Pirates and Metroids that happen to be in the vicinity. This is great fun, however, use at your own risk, as if you stay in Hypermode for too long Samus can become completely corrupted, in which case it’s game over.

The unlockables/bonuses feature from Metroid Prime 3, which allows you to unlock different “tokens” for different tasks, such as defeating bosses and making a certain amount of kills is incorporated into all 3 games, so artwork, music and other bonuses can be unlocked for all games, including the screenshot tool where you can take a screenshot at any point in the game and send it to the Wii menu to share with your friends. These tokens include “friend vouchers” which can only be used when received from friends over Wiiconnect24, which I find quite annoying since you therefore can’t unlock everything without WiFi.

Controls

This is the bit you’re probably most interested in if you’ve already played Metroid Prime 1 + 2 on GameCube.
All 3 games control the same, exactly like Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. There is no option to use the GameCube controller for the first 2 games. You run via the control stick on the Nunchuck and use the pointer on the Wii remote to both point your crosshair to aim and shoot and to look around. Jumping is done with the B button, and shooting with A, unless you choose to switch them in the option menu; I much prefer B to shoot, it feels more like a trigger.

The sensitivity of your pointer and how it reacts can be fully customised too. There are 3 options, ranging from the camera remaining fixed in place until you point right at the edge of the screen, or the “advanced” option, which I would recommend you change to for quick, effortless and fluid movement where the camera follows your pointer with the slightest movement off centre.

This does work fantastically and really shows off how well the Wii remote and Nunchuck combo is suited for shooters and feels a real dream to play, particularly in Metroid Prime 3 where the gameplay is more shooting based, however, in the first two Metroid Primes, which were originally made for the GameCube, I find myself asking if it really is much of an improvement, since such a small part of the game requires pointing and shooting stuff. It still works just as well as in Metroid Prime 3, but whether it’s necessary is another question, and I find myself leaning towards “no”.

Aside from this, the C button on the Nunchuck puts you in Morph Ball mode, and then the A button drops bombs. Firing rockets is done via the down button on the Wiimote’s D-pad. This is all simple enough. However, changing visors and weapon beams is done by holding the - and + buttons respectively, and then pointing at a certain region of the screen when letting go. It works well enough, but is a bit fiddly, and again I found myself asking if it’s really necessary when this could be done via a simple button press in the GameCube versions.

Motion sensing is utilised in certain abilities, such as the grapple beam, which makes use of the Nunchuck as you swing and a lot of these gimmicks are added in Metroid Prime 3 as you move the Wiimote to mimic actions such as pulling levers and such in Samus’ spaceship, which is pretty impressive for a while before it inevitably wears off and you want to go back to pressing buttons.

Graphics

Samus enters Phendrana Drifts in Metroid Prime

The main view in the game is a unique first-person view through Samus' visor, which adds a feel like you really are inside of Samus' suit, which of course is added to by the controls. The transparency of the helmet and visor can be adjusted as you please.

There’s a great sense of atmosphere in the games contributed to by the often beautiful surroundings. They are wonderfully diverse in Metroid Prime and Echoes, ranging from old, barren wastelands, to snowdrifts, volcanoes, futuristic, computer filled pirate bases and my personal favourite, the beautifully atmospheric Torvus Bog. Metroid Prime 3 is less so, with most of the game being quite dark and dingy as most of your time is spent in metallic Pirate bases and such, although all 3 games have a truly alien feel with an awful lot of thought and imagination put into everything.

Metroid Prime 1 and 2 have both undergone upgrades in some parts, with apparently improved textures (to be honest, I couldn’t tell) and widescreen and 480p support, although your visor is simply stretched to fit the screen. However, as hard as this may be to believe, it seems some nice graphical features that were originally in the games including water effects and weapon fire effects, such as how your Ice Beam would freeze when charged and leave ice wherever fired have actually been REMOVED from the games. That said, these effects were nothing major and don’t affect the game in any real way, and the games certainly don’t look dated but it’s still pretty odd.

The enemies in the game are pretty imaginative, ranging from tiny insects to massive monsters, although, bearing in mind these are long games, the enemies early on seem to be limited to small wasps and other bugs, which is quite unspectacular, although as you’d expect from a Nintendo game, boss battles feature with truly massive and spectacular enemies. A special side-mention goes to Dark Samus who is undeniably cool-looking.

A spectacular fight with Meta Ridley, an old nemesis from Super Metroid.

Metroid Prime 3 adds big, cinematic cutscenes as you make encounters and fly between planets and a whole bunch of friends and a whole army of allies, such as the other bounty hunters you met in the DS’ Metroid Prime Hunters. These are all quite spectacular and give a much deeper feel of the whole Metroid Universe when you’re not all alone and are part of some huge battle with weapons fire everywhere.

Sound

The soundtrack in all 3 games is fantastic. All the music has a really alien and sci-fi sound to it and contributed to what is already created by the graphics to make one hell of a package in terms of atmosphere. The themes are often recognizable from the early Metroid games on NES and SNES too for a nice nod to the excellent classics.

Sound effects range from the typical blasts and roars and screeches of various monsters, with the odd weird sci-fi effects. Metroid Prime 3 also includes voice acting both in-game as people bark orders at you and during cutscenes, although Samus herself remains silent beyond the typical grunts and such. Not exactly Oscar-worthy but not bad at all and contributes further to the “epic” feel in Corruption.

Overall

It delivers what it says on the tin. 3 Fantastic games on 1 disk, in a gorgeous special edition sleeve plus artwork book all for the price of an ordinary game! You don’t get much better than that.
However, if you already have the games separately I would put some serious thought into whether or not they’re worth a second purchase, as the updates don’t add quite as much to the first two games as you might think.

Good Points: Rivals the Orange Box for bargain of the century. A truly epic adventure with unique gameplay a huge amount to explore and an absolute ton of longevity. The controls do work very well...

Bad Points: ...However, they don’t really add a lot to the first two Primes. Tedious backtracking and save points will annoy some.

9/10
(not an average)