Though straightforward at times, Metroid Prime 3 does exactly what the end of a trilogy should do; leave you satisfied.
Gameplay - 9/10
This is undoubtedly the strongest asset and addition to the Metroid Prime series. The controls, although take a bit of time to get used to, is an awesome part of the game, and is essential on a few objectives too. The wii remote acts for the most part as Samus' buster and hands, and the nunchuck for the main movement and grapple beam, which is also a cool addition to the control scheme. And every other button on the wii-mote and nunchuck is used (save directional pad) and its functions are placed just right, and feels right. Through out the gameplay you'll find yourself sometimes hitting the A button like mad, trying to shoot enemies at your disposal, and with the easy movement that the wii-mote grants it's easy to get into it.
Another cool addition to the gameplay is the over-powerfull Hypermode. This will make the game a whole lot easier... when you use it, because you are limited. Depending on how much energy (hp ) you have, is how long you will use hypermode. This works alternatively, for every time you use it, you have to put an energy tank (99 hp) into use. Once in hypermode, you can get out using the same button (+) at any time... EXCEPT, when you are getting corrupted. Corruption usually happens on an overload of energy or phazon from an enemy, or severe damage. Once in corruption, a full red bar will appear where your energy is displayed, and you must get rid of it, by releasing the excess phazon by shooting it out of your buster. This will be another instance where you will press the A Button like mad. If you are unsuccessful of disposing of your excess energy, you will indeed be totally corrupted and die. Hypermode brings a lot of ease to the game if used correctly; while some enemies will take countless normal shots to be terminated, it will take about 3 shots in hypermode to do the job. This also works the same in bosses, so you might expect some easiness to come out of it. Gladly however, after your first play, you're able to increase the difficult of the game.
In MP3, you now instead of going through different parts of a planet, you get to travel a few planets... and still go through different parts of them! Even though the exploration concept is practically the same, it's definitely cool to get inside your ship and start your ships engine to move onto another area. And each world, has its own environments, although, theres not as much variation as the last two, you'll still find it to be very interesting. These are after all, alien planets... and ships.
A lot of other stuff has not been changed greatly, but rather made easier. Scanning for research is now less stressing, due to the fact that is now only for the gamer's learning experience, and collecting items is now more linear than before, and has become the percentage factor of the game. Armor pick-ups and expansions seem to be adjusted this time however. Some of the pick-ups will override the previous pick-up and be a better version of it, so it will be more of a revamp of the previous item. No new suits; instead as you beat bosses, your internal corruption increases, and your suit changes with it, although there's no change of gameplay because of it, just graphical adjustment.
Visors are not a great deal of change either. To begin with you start with two of them, out of three; the scan visor, and the ship command visor. Needless to say, the scan visor scans stuff, but the ship command visor allows you to set land points across the worlds in MP3. Of course these points are already pre-designed, but it easies a lot going back and forward through rooms. It also allows you to command to shoot missiles! When you get some certain upgrades.
Overall, gameplay is very good and exceptional, despite of how easy the game can get at times. And the control scheme is an awesome achievement in this genre, for other games out there for the wii that are FPS, tend to be gimmicky and weird. But MP3 shines through control preciseness.
Graphics - 9
We all know (or should know) by now that the Wii isn't graphically wondrous. But there's still shine in this game when it comes to graphics. Although it looks just like the two last games at first glance, you can see some improvements through some models, and also large amount of background imagery that are in 3D. The frame rate is wonderful, and there's no graphical lag at all, nor glitches that were encountered. Load times are short and sweet. Yes sweet. When you want to go to another planet, your load time will be displayed as your ship going thru hyperspace. Unless you want to skip it, you will not see little letters indicating loading time.
A new thing that you will quickly notice and that's a very cool thing they added, is that, when you go to the scanning visor, you can see Samus' face, and see how her eyes move as you browse around with your wii-mote. Even though it's a small element, I myself went to the scan visor just to see her eyes move. Is that awesome, they implemented it without hurting frame rate.
The graphical execution is strong because no matter what you want to get out of life-like graphics, MP3's environments are just amazing. And that's where this element shines.
Sound - 9
What we didn't get in the last two games and on the last Zelda installment, we got in MP3; voice acting. No Samus won't talk, and as bad as some of us want, it wasn't really necessary in MP3. However, other characters will indeed engage conversation with you, but where you'll mostly hear it will be in cut-scenes and transmissions sent to you while playing. The voice acting is superb, plain and simple. For the characters that have personality, it truly shows through the voices and grunts they make, same goes for some taunts.
Music is more epic. Specially during boss battles. And while you're exploring, not only will you see situations change, but you'll hear the situation change as well. The main theme and credits theme is the most epic as well... and a certain boss battle brings back an already heard tuned but epically remixed. And for a price of in-game earnings, you can purchase some of the songs used for your hearing pleasure.
Every sound effect is precise. Shooting, dyeing, getting hit, discovering something, etc. Everything will have a sound. And it's not mediocre. Who knew sounds had designs. And none of them are annoying. Maybe except when you hear a pick-up near by and you can't find it, but other than that sound is right on.
As to how it all hears together for your brain to process, it absolutely leaves you no regret, and makes no bad distractions.
Value - 8
Metroid Prime 3 exploration concept is the strongest element in the whole series. In MP3, however, this is hurt some because of the new difficulty of the game. Though it will still take you a while to complete an objective, you will do it much easier. A lot of this is due to the ridiculously over-powered hypermode. Though Hypermode is a new and neat idea and concept, it takes a lot of the heartbeat from the original gameplay found in previous Metroid Prime games, specially during boss battles. Luckly, every boss requires you to use abilities earned in the game to be able to inflict damage, and the damage you DO inflict, can be huge if you use Hypermode. Believe me you will use Hypermode. In some boss battles you have no choice. But gladly after the first run-through, you'll be able to set the difficulty to the highest, so if you thought the game was a tad easy, then that's for you. A regular walk-through will take you about 15-20 hours, as for a complete 100% maybe 18-23 hours. Yeah, almost a day of Samus greatness fun.
Finding upgrades and item pick-ups has also gotten easier. Some upgrades you won't even fight for, which is good... and easier to continue the game. The item pick-ups are practically given; no really. In the game if you look hard enough (well not that hard, you just have to have a sense of exploration) you can find something to assist you with the item pick-ups, and even upgrades. Scanning; only for reading and learning purposes, and for some bonuses. MP3 changed a lot of things that make sense toward the first Metroid games, like, now your ending will depend on how many total items you've collected,and how some of your weapons will override other weapons, becoming an upgrade instead of an alternative. So, you won't have a hard time getting the secret ending like the last two Primes.
Another first for Prime, is the bonuses with credits. Meaning, each time you scan something of importance or do something to trigger an event, or simply beat a boss, you earn some kind of credit that go toward you extras. The extras are interesting enough to keep you scanning and shooting, and sometimes doing some fun stuff. So with enough credits, you'll be able to purchase some extras like Art, Soundtrack, and trophies... of course all of these are in-game, and are mainly for one's pleasure. For some extras you will need to trade "Friend Vouchers" that are earned through special events in the games, like, killing 100 enemies and other neat stuff like that. Once you have them, you need to be able to connect to the internet and trade those with other people, or "friends". Once someone gives you a voucher you can turn that into a green credit which is used to buy neater stuff like the Screenshot tool and a Mii Bobblehead. None of the rewards, or extras however, effect gameplay in anyway. Except for the harder difficulty of course.
No multi-player. AT ALL. But don't worry, you won't miss it. The major Primes saga always felt single player anyway. So if you didn't know, well there you go. MP3 of course follows the storyline since the end of the first Prime, which is, the pursuit and destruction of the now resurrected Dark Samus. Though like MP2, it has it's own integral storyline that relates to the ongoing storyline. And it's very interesting, with the characters introduced and all, and even more info on the Galactic Federation and Space Pirates. So, you get corrupted, you must stop the corruption in planets, and destroy the corruption's core. that's the storylines summed up in a sentence; short sweet and to the point. How a good storyline should be.
Overall, the value of the game is damaged by the creeping feeling of overwhelmed easiness, but you should still be able to kick butt and shoot those baddies down with your trusty buster and missiles, and still be able to explore the wonderful scenery in MP3. With a high variety of enemies and smart-strategy bosses, you shouldn't let the easiness get you by much, and it should not completely disappoint you.
Overall - 9/10
Fun fun fun. It's what MP3 really is. Controls give the game a true shine and all the beautiful exploration just fulfills your dream of being an intergalactic astronaut... err, bounty hunter. Honestly, it's a good ending to what has been one of the best trilogy sagas ever, and at the same time it's almost sad to see it go, but you just know that this had to be the last game. No doubt, this game is an spectacular title for the wii, and is a must have for any adventure and/or FPS gamers out there, who enjoy sci-fi and cute cuddly translucent alienoids that suck up your energy and kill you. No disappointment there.
Play it, enjoy it, and give it time for the Corruption to grow on... or in you.