The universe is corrupted. The phazon infection is spreading. What once were isolated cases on the planets of Tallon IV and Aether have moved on to affect a slew of planets, and Samus herself. What is said to be the end of the Prime trilogy is made more special by the fact that the title is appearing on the Wii and able to take advantage of all that the new Nintendo hardware provides. Join us as we tour the supposed end of a trilogy and take a look at where the future may take the Metroid franchise.
Near the beginning of MP3, Samus Aran is somehow corrupted by the mysterious property known as phazon at the same time that multiple planets are infected. (We're guessing she was in the neighborhood.) Not merely a story detail, Samus' infection will manifest itself as a gameplay mechanic. Due to the phazon infection, Samus will be able to enter a sort of "hyper mode" in which she can use phazon-related abilities. Whether or not this is more than simply inflicting extra damage or moving faster remains to be seen. However, Retro has stated that the hyper mode will introduce a sort of phazon meter and that when she uses her new abilities she releases phazon from her system. If she releases too much the meter will drop to zero and she will exit the hyper mode, but all the while the meter will slowly fill and if it does fill Samus will die, being far too infected by the phazon to sustain her life. Reportedly, a general strategy in the final game will be to sustain hyper mode by releasing just enough phazon out of your system to live, but not completely removing it from your system altogether. It should make for a very interesting twist on the gameplay, especially if Samus gets some very specific abilities she can use.
Wii Remote functionality may seem, on the surface, to turn Metroid Prime 3 into more of a first person shooter than it ought to be, but this is simply not the case. In fact, combat feels very similar to the first two Primes aside from a few added features (grapple hooking for instance, but more on that later). I'm expecting combat to be changed up mostly through the kinds of beams and visors Samus gets. Boss fights will, however, probably factor in the ease of pointing at specific parts of an enemy to target weak spots, which should be a welcome change of pace from the first two Primes, which told you about a weak spot and then proceeded to lock-on to that spot for you.
Movement in Metroid Prime 3 works similarly to Ubisoft's Red Steel, but felt a bit farther along quality wise. Samus is moved with the "Nunchuk" controller's joystick, which moves her backward, forward, and allows her to strafe. Turning and aiming is handled with the remote. An aiming reticule appears on Samus' visor, which can be moved around freely without moving Samus' view of the action, but pushing it to the edge of her visor will cause her to turn. (Of note, there was an "Expert" control option that I was unable to try out myself, but that supposedly starts Samus turning before you aim all the way to the edge of the screen.)
If, for whatever reason, the player's unintentionally wild movements mess up Samus' vision, all is needed is to calmly point at the Wii's sensor bar for a moment and the controls will recalibrate themselves, focusing Samus' vision ahead of her where it belongs instead of at whatever awkward angle the player may have put it at by mistake. The auto-recalibration works remarkably well, but do not be mistaken by this write up and assume it is something you will have to do after almost every corner you turn in the game. It is there when you need it, but it isn't something you have to actively think about more than once. Recalibrating the controls does not take you out of the action.
Despite the improved ability for Samus to aim on the fly, the ability to lock-on to a target returns from the first two Primes. Instead of simply pressing the lock-on button to focus your view on the nearest enemy, Samus can now point directly at an enemy to specifically choose to lock-on to them (which avoids the occasional problem found in the first two games where to select a specific enemy while amidst a large mob of baddies one would have to press and release the lock-on button multiple times). This feature took some getting used to due to the fact that I was so used to how the lock-on worked in the other games, but it is fare more intuitive once you shake off the faulty feel of the old game's lock-on.
For those confused as to why lock-on still exists when the Wii Remote allows for on-the-fly aiming, let it be known that locking on to an enemy allows Samus to circle strafe around them quickly. This is something that, without major control tweaks, would be otherwise impossible (just as it is impossible in Red Steel). Could the game have been designed to make circle strafing possible without locking on? Probably, but then it would've felt more like a first-person shooter, and that is not the aim of Metroid Prime 3. Do not forget that the Metroid Prime series is commonly paired with the "first-person adventure" denotation. The ability to lock-on could be said to make the player to feel like they are actually wielding the functionality of Samus' technologically advanced suit instead of using their own reflexes. In this fashion combat is impressive while allowing focus to be placed on exploration.
Corrupted
Near the beginning of MP3, Samus Aran is somehow corrupted by the mysterious property known as phazon at the same time that multiple planets are infected. (We're guessing she was in the neighborhood.) Not merely a story detail, Samus' infection will manifest itself as a gameplay mechanic. Due to the phazon infection, Samus will be able to enter a sort of "hyper mode" in which she can use phazon-related abilities. Whether or not this is more than simply inflicting extra damage or moving faster remains to be seen. However, Retro has stated that the hyper mode will introduce a sort of phazon meter and that when she uses her new abilities she releases phazon from her system. If she releases too much the meter will drop to zero and she will exit the hyper mode, but all the while the meter will slowly fill and if it does fill Samus will die, being far too infected by the phazon to sustain her life. Reportedly, a general strategy in the final game will be to sustain hyper mode by releasing just enough phazon out of your system to live, but not completely removing it from your system altogether. It should make for a very interesting twist on the gameplay, especially if Samus gets some very specific abilities she can use.
The Wii Remote and You
Wii Remote functionality may seem, on the surface, to turn Metroid Prime 3 into more of a first person shooter than it ought to be, but this is simply not the case. In fact, combat feels very similar to the first two Primes aside from a few added features (grapple hooking for instance, but more on that later). I'm expecting combat to be changed up mostly through the kinds of beams and visors Samus gets. Boss fights will, however, probably factor in the ease of pointing at specific parts of an enemy to target weak spots, which should be a welcome change of pace from the first two Primes, which told you about a weak spot and then proceeded to lock-on to that spot for you.
Movement in Metroid Prime 3 works similarly to Ubisoft's Red Steel, but felt a bit farther along quality wise. Samus is moved with the "Nunchuk" controller's joystick, which moves her backward, forward, and allows her to strafe. Turning and aiming is handled with the remote. An aiming reticule appears on Samus' visor, which can be moved around freely without moving Samus' view of the action, but pushing it to the edge of her visor will cause her to turn. (Of note, there was an "Expert" control option that I was unable to try out myself, but that supposedly starts Samus turning before you aim all the way to the edge of the screen.)
If, for whatever reason, the player's unintentionally wild movements mess up Samus' vision, all is needed is to calmly point at the Wii's sensor bar for a moment and the controls will recalibrate themselves, focusing Samus' vision ahead of her where it belongs instead of at whatever awkward angle the player may have put it at by mistake. The auto-recalibration works remarkably well, but do not be mistaken by this write up and assume it is something you will have to do after almost every corner you turn in the game. It is there when you need it, but it isn't something you have to actively think about more than once. Recalibrating the controls does not take you out of the action.
Despite the improved ability for Samus to aim on the fly, the ability to lock-on to a target returns from the first two Primes. Instead of simply pressing the lock-on button to focus your view on the nearest enemy, Samus can now point directly at an enemy to specifically choose to lock-on to them (which avoids the occasional problem found in the first two games where to select a specific enemy while amidst a large mob of baddies one would have to press and release the lock-on button multiple times). This feature took some getting used to due to the fact that I was so used to how the lock-on worked in the other games, but it is fare more intuitive once you shake off the faulty feel of the old game's lock-on.
For those confused as to why lock-on still exists when the Wii Remote allows for on-the-fly aiming, let it be known that locking on to an enemy allows Samus to circle strafe around them quickly. This is something that, without major control tweaks, would be otherwise impossible (just as it is impossible in Red Steel). Could the game have been designed to make circle strafing possible without locking on? Probably, but then it would've felt more like a first-person shooter, and that is not the aim of Metroid Prime 3. Do not forget that the Metroid Prime series is commonly paired with the "first-person adventure" denotation. The ability to lock-on could be said to make the player to feel like they are actually wielding the functionality of Samus' technologically advanced suit instead of using their own reflexes. In this fashion combat is impressive while allowing focus to be placed on exploration.