Maybe it's because Metroid Prime 3 sucks, especially in comparison to the first two. I'm not going to lie to you, Metroid Prime is one of the greatest games I've ever played. I think it's a 10.0 straight up. Metroid Prime 2 Echoes is another fantastic adventure, though less so than the original, but it's very superb. But the third game bastardized the perfect formula and ruined the Metroid feel. There are all of these little areas to run through, but exploration takes a back seat because none of those little areas are interconnected in any interesting way. The multiple planets literally add nothing to the game because in the first two it was on one planet and all of the areas were distinct and different. But I would have been able to tolerate the planets if the five little areas on each planet actually allowed for exploration as opposed to the game trying to be like Halo. Add in the fact that your objective is the same on every planet, destroy the seed, kill the boss (which most of them suck, especially the three bounty hunters that you fight mid-level).
Metroid Prime 3 destroyed everything that the first two games accomplished. I'm so glad that there isn't a Metroid Prime 4 on the way yet. Retro Studios need to stop and think hard before making a new Metroid game. Did we need hyper mode where we could have had that button to switch between beams to have more interesting puzzles and fights? Did we need multiple planets to ruin the basic exploration? Did we need an opening that tries to imitate the first Halo and fails at it? Did we need those other bounty hunters to really, I don't know, look that lame, talk that lame and add nothing to the plot? Retro's making a new Wii game, what they do with that is up to them, but I refuse to support them if they do another Metroid game like Corruption. It's a disgrace to the entire Metroid franchise and thank God Nintendo had the foresight to ask someone else to develop a different kind of Metroid game before everyone stopped caring.
If there is a Metroid Prime 4, or any new Metroid from Retro, they need to erase the mistakes from Corruption and get rid of the "additions" that add nothing to the game. I still believe that they can make a proper Metroid game, but they need to cool it, make something else and then start development on a new one because they lost their way really quickly. Metroid Other M looks intriguing, and hopefully Team Ninja can do it justice. If it sucks, then it's going to be a sad time for Metroid fans, because after Super Metroid, Metroid Prime 1 and 2, Metroid Fusion and Metroid Zero Mission there's a high level of quality that's expected and these guys had better be able to meet it. Mario and Zelda have never disappointed on a Nintendo console, but Metroid Prime 3 definitely did.
NeonNinja
Goddamn, I HAD to log in to my age old account just to support this message.
Metroid Prime is, without a doubt, my favourite game of all time. Prime 2 is probably top 5, Prime 3 may barely be top 50 or 100.
Prime 3 failed at what made the first two amazing. Allow me to explain:
Suit Upgrades
This is easy to demonstrate with a short experiment. Compare the suit upgrade lists from the 3 Prime games, and tell me which one has the most mind numbingly useless and unimaginative upgrades (HINT: It's the one with "grapple" on it four (4) times). This was obviously done because Retro attempted to avoid the take-all-of-your-items-away step, thus forcing them to add a bunch of useless items in order to generate some goals.
Atmosphere/Story
Prime 3 had a disgustingly uninspired atmosphere, and the whole feeling of isolation, a staple of the series, was entirely absent. This was essentially due to the presence of federation troopers throughout the game. With this, the story portrayed Samus as more of a super hero in a league of super heroes which was utter nonsense.
Cues from Hunters
Metroid Prime: Hunters on the DS was a game that most Metroid fans like to forget, unfortunately, Retro didn't. The addition of other bounty hunters, first introduced in Hunters, was the first of many missteps that seemed to carry over into Corruption. Worst of all, the different planets / formulaic adventure, seemed to be lifted straight from hunters. Many people thought that the ever so repetitive "fly to the planet, make your way to the centre, face almost the exact same boss, then get out before the timer counts down" was the worst part of Hunters yet somehow, people tolerate the "fly to the planet, make your way to the centre, fight a boss, and then pick up a "hyper" version of an item that you have already" from Prime 3.
Borrowed Items
Not only did Corruption have some of the WORST upgrades, many of the actually useful ones, were straight out of Prime 1 (see Plasma Beam, X-Ray visor, etc.). They could have at least come up with a few different ones right?
Stacking Weapons
Unfortunately for gameplay's sake, they HAD to put in the oh so gimmicky (and exploitable) hypermode, which took the '+' button away from weapons, which seriously hurt the gameplay in general (and simplified it for the casuals). In Prime 1 and 2 this was a staple of boss fights, and puzzles as certain enemies, objects were affected by different beams, and this did not translate well to the plasma/nova beam and made little sense.
Cliches/Pacing/Mainstreamization/Conclusion
Prime 3: Corruption with the addition of voice acting and Federation Troopers fell in to a huge pit with the rest of the first person shooters of the generation. Cliches like the escort mission, were insane and felt borrowed right from Halo. This defines Prime 3 in my eyes as a "First Person Shooter" as opposed to the "First Person Adventure" of the previous two. The faster pacing and increased linearization also lended itself to this, which really brought it down as a Metroid game in my eyes. The game was also far easier, and the bosses much less interesting than in the previous iterations. Saddest for me was the dramatic decrease in creative backtracking and exploring which made the game far less interesting and enjoyable to play, it felt as though I was never lost, and the game was hand-holding me throughout, far more than the hint system in the previous games.
Prime > Prime 2 > Prime 3
I hope I didn't miss anything, Prime 3 was still a great game, but a disgrace to the franchise.
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