Metroid games, from their inception, have been made with gameplay in mind before anything else. The original Metroid has the morph ball because technical limitations made it impossible to get Samus crawling. I can understand if you’re put off by how archaic this game feels to play today. Metroid II is a linear descent through some vast areas connected by twisty caverns, where you fight the same boss 40 times, because that’s what the technology called for. That being said, there are some improvements made to what was laid down in the original Metroid for NES, like save points and resource-refill stations. Still, I think the Gameboy’s limitations elevate this game’s aesthetic, even if accidentally. Those cramped corridors and less-aggressive enemies compliment each other. And both of those on their own make sense, you’re invasive in this planet’s ecosystem, things are not built for you. Most “enemies” are less aggressive than they were in the original Metroid, they’re usually just minding their business. The Metroids themself lie in their domains, the path to them devoid of all life, they’ll attack you, but they won’t give chase. Tying these repetitive and simple combat encounters to progression means it’s a lot simpler to move through the game. These elements help its story come together in an impressive way. When I make that last plunge into the very depths of SR388 to make good on my bounty, the bleeps and bloops of the Gameboy sound-chip turn into a solid wall of sound, tension building as I hear the wails of the Queen Metroid, the sequence that ensues after killing her, the final Metroid on the planet, it all comes together. It’s fun, it’s thought-provoking, it’s satisfying, and it's a little shitty, but it’s a really GREAT GAME.

Metroid Prime 3 Corruption aims to expand the Prime series’ strengths in immersion and spectacle.

The second installment of this trilogy refined the first game’s structure by connecting each of its main areas to one central hub. Prime 3 takes that central hub and annihilates it. Your central hub is now Samus’ gunship, which you use to pick a location and fly to it. The three main areas are planets with their own unique flora and fauna and architecture and lore. From what I’ve read and heard, people like the variety of locations on Tallon IV, but remark on how it’s a little confusing that so many different climates can exist in such close proximity on the same planet. Aether had a more cohesive world, but the opposite problem happens - I hear people remark that the game’s areas suffer from looking too uniform. Planets, was the solution, and I think it’s a pretty good one! Bryyo’s dead golems from its war of ideals are strewn about the outskirts of a fuel plant that life has found its way back inside of. Elysia is a beautiful mechanical city floating in the atmosphere of a gas giant. And I just think it’s so fitting that the Space Pirate Homeworld is this brassy, maze-like fortress pounded by a perpetual acid rain. These aren’t the most colourful or vibrant areas, but there’s a lot that’s gone in to them to make them feel unique. Make no mistake, Corruption does display an evolution in what the Metroid Prime series has been all about.

The control scheme is the most obvious difference. Aiming with the Wiimote is a natural evolution of the series immersive strengths. It’s easier than ever to look around and take in your surroundings. There’s a detail in Metroid Prime where you can see the rain trickle down Samus’ arm cannon when looking up, only I never noticed this because I rarely looked up in that game outside of locking on to airborne enemies. In Corruption, I’d just stand and take in the view of Elysia, or try to catch a glimpse of the tendrils penetrating the surface of the Pirate Homeworld in the brief moments where I can see the sky. Combat certainly benefits from this change. It’s easier than ever lock onto and blast a hole in an enemy’s face while strafing and handling the stragglers in your peripherals. Among the fauna of each planet and the typical space pirate fare, there are several new enemies meant to take advantage of the precise aiming that the Wiimote affords. The Ridley fight in the opening sequence is a perfect example, I don’t think things get any cooler than it, and that’s not an indictment, it’s a really high bar to clear! Most of these other enemies are bosses like all three of the Leviathan Seed fights, which also have weak-points that morph as the fight goes on. The Wiimote and the new hypermode ability make combat encounters easier so fortunately there are a good variety of scripted moments with different dynamics, like defending a bomb from a fleet of pirates, disabling an air defense system while pirates try to recallibrate it, surviving an onslaught of pirates in the core of an imploding dynamo, defending a bomb defense squad from… well… who do you think?

A lot of those scenarios sound un-Metroid - these kind of things don’t happen until the very end of Metroid games, y’know? I had an inkling before, but I knew something was off when a Galactic Federation member told me about my new upgrade and how powerful it is after I had used it in a sterile tutorial setting. People are quick to compare Corruption to Halo. I’m not certain why, as I haven’t played Halo, but I get that it’s probably because the game has a much bigger focus on action and a story that’s more front-and-center than the previous games. When you see characters other than Samus that also talk? The alarm bells should be going off in your brain. That’s not me trying to regurgitate the hatred everyone has for Other M, it’s because the series has a reputation for a carefully cultivated atmosphere, one that might be compromised with even any amount of dialogue. Even Metroid Fusion, the most dialogue-heavy and linear Metroid game feels like a response to the masterpiece that was Super Metroid, like, “we can’t do better than this yet, let’s do something different, let’s break all of the rules on purpose…” Fusion endeavoured to use its linear structure in such a way that there was an ever-escalating series of unnerving and action-packed setpieces. Corruption feels more like the Metroid Prime games before it, with some scripted bits inserted in, and a bunch of interruptions. Yes, Aurora Unit, I am going in the direction of the exact area that you are calling me to tell me is the direction I should be going in, thanks. Like Fusion, Corruption still has the Metroid mainstays, only in this case, they’re a lot less polished and its linearity and story-focus doesn’t lend itself to nearly the same level of excitement.

Substitutive upgrades are something that basically needed to happen because of the Wiimote’s limitations. The beam upgrades are simple, and cool. They’re as objective of an upgrade as you can get, and they’re worked into the level design well. They feel like honest-to-goodness rewards and it’s a great moment to go from the clangorous noise of robots being destroyed by your power beam, to outright melting them with your plasma beam. What doesn’t feel great is getting an upgrade to your grapple lasso, the grapple voltage! Now, with this upgraded ability, you can now lasso onto terminals to drain them of or provide them with energy or siphon the energy of space pirates but only if they have shields and also once you get the hyper lasso you can go into hypermode and lasso only shielded enemies to overload them with Phazon energy and… see where I’m going with this? As I’ve mentioned before, the Prime series exceeds at creating a rich atmosphere, and I think the ability to exist in Samus’ gunship is a great idea for this reason. It’s intuitive that you’d be able to do that, and since you’ll be using your ship a lot more in this game, it’s a great inclusion. It doubles as a save point and a fast travel option, making it extra rewarding to find and open docking areas on each planet. Your gunship functions are very messy, however. It’s very clunky to try doing anything with its Command Visor before getting its upgrades, and once you’ve unlocked its missile and grapple functions, you’ll find that you rarely ever use them because combat is easy and those grapple-puzzles are few and far between. Overall, I like the ship, but it having upgrades takes away more than it adds I think. It’s just another upgrade that feels purely a key and I found that this level of context-sensitivity doesn’t suit Metroid. There are also your typical Prime movement upgrades, which are fine, but due to how levels are designed, I never had that “a-ha!” moment. Right after getting the boost ball, you’re unceremoniously dropped off at an area where you can use it to access a shortcut. This shortcut leads back to where you’ll have docked your gunship, and the only reason you know to get back there is because you received a transmission signal telling you to. There are many interruptions in this same vain, but I was delighted to see the solace of a quiet, explorable world, is still afforded to you at many times, especially in Bryyo and the early hours of Elysia.

When this silence is interrupted, it’s often to weave in the strings of a plot. There are some genuinely striking moments here. The specter of Dark Samus executing each of the Hunters was always a spooky image, one that I looked forward to seeing. Gandrayda morphing into Samus with her dying breath was horrific and great. The various points where Samus is affected by Phazon poisoning is also very interesting! And while it doesn’t quite stick the landing, I think the idea and mechanics of ‘Phaaze’ are really cool. The death screen showing Samus succumbing to Phazon and becoming Dark Samus is a really good way to work this into the plot passively, as well. In these ways the theme of “corruption” is woven into the narrative quite well. In other ways however… Look, I’d rather judge something for what it is, than what it isn’t. But come ON it, was right there! The Galactic Federation, a government and military force, is more present than they have ever been, Samus’ suit is a combination of Phazon and Galactic Federation technology, the game is literally called CORRUPTION - the implied symbolism almost spells things out for you.

I’m left a little disappointed by Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. Interesting, mazelike environments to traverse; stories told through their surroundings; upgrade-based progression; there’s been refinement in each of these aspects. It’s a Metroid game, through and through. It’s ultimately bogged down by the constant interruptions and a high level of context-sensitivity, which never lend themselves to moments much more interesting than moments in the games prior. Its central narrative is interesting but resolves itself in a very blasé way. It feels un-Metroid to some, and I see how that’s the case. It’s a good game, but, it could’ve been great!