This review contains spoilers
Metroid Prime 3 is a game that is two steps forward one step back. Decked with fantastic puzzles and great level design while debuting stellar motion-controlled gameplay, I found myself as in love with it as I was with any other top-tier Metroid game. Although, despite its two steps forward, there is still that one step back.
Prime 3 doesn't display an entirely huge or impressive story and I won’t lie when I say I am partially disappointed by that. I found myself hoping a little bit that the story would take some notes from Metroid Fusion. It felt a bit awkward that the Galatic Federation is treated as this Two Dimensional “Good Entity” when in the 2D games they’ve been very open to the concept of genocide and other evil acts I'll leave unspoiled. Especially considering the game's subtitle of Corruption, I was partially let down that this game didn’t give it the double meaning it could have. It has a pretty shallow and relatively absent story. But at the end of the day, I don't find it too shocking considering the series and its publisher. Although this game doesn’t take inspiration from Fusion in the story department, this game was influenced by Fusion’s level design. Prime 3 trades traditional Metroid and Prime aspects for more linearized locations. No longer are the days of Prime 1’s obnoxious backtracking. Anytime the player needed to get to a different part of the map it always felt as if the developers planned ahead. Shortcuts and gunship docking stations to make the game quicker and easier to traverse.
Unfortunately, because of this linearization, I felt there was this sense of “one-note” to all these locations. It’s a very fair balance. Moving through these areas and solving what lies ahead of you for the first time was amazing. Advancing through Skytown for the first time probably beats out most areas in the Prime series for me. Skytown felt like something out of Twilight Princess with its atmosphere and level design. However, at limited times you're forced to retread through an already solved area. These are the only moments the game had empty downtime. Not often does it happen, but retreading through a linear location in this game was boring. Crawling through empty hallways after I already solved all the puzzles connected to them was unsurprisingly not intensely fun. These were the moments of dryness the game hosted, even if they were short and fleeting moments. It’s something that Prime 1 and 2 didn’t feel like they dealt with as much. For those games retreading through past sections was usually saved by the fact that you had new equipment. Your new equipment then would've let you speed up the travel or even explore the nooks and crannies to find Missile Expansions and E-Tanks. Those minor upgrades were also something I felt this game lacked. Though this all comes at the benefit of Prime 3 having the least amount of backtracking when compared to the other entries in the series.
Metroid Prime 3 has three major locations that you’ll find yourself visiting after the start of the game. Each felt distinct in terms of level design structure. The first planet is by far the most open one of them all, reminding me the most of Prime 1. While it still has a pretty set forward path of linearity, it wasn’t as linear as the second location. The second location is probably the most linear of the three, but I felt it offered some of the most engaging and enjoyable puzzles. The last planet was probably the most disappointing. It relied a tad too much on the combat, you could tell the developers took a good chunk of influence from Halo on this last planet. A little too many hallways of enemies and a little too much combat. Of course, the final planet still had solid puzzles and objectives that redeemed itself. If you could tolerate the onslaughts of enemies in certain sections of Prime 1, you’ll be able to handle this. I never felt Prime 3's combat dragged as horribly as Prime 1’s did.
As it stands after the completion of Prime 3, I would say it's tied for the number 1 spot for me. This and Prime 2 were both wonderful video games. Funny enough though, this game perfects the major issues Prime 2 had while also going backwards on a few aspects of what made Prime 2 so amazing. Prime 2’s world was more interesting though it forced you to backtrack through its labyrinth-like map a lot. Prime 3’s bosses and morph ball sections generally felt a lot stronger, but I liked the combat in Prime 2 more. Both Prime 2 and Prime 3 are great games, but they both have their restrictions on why I don't know if I could consider either of them to be a masterpiece. However, if you took their best qualities and put them into one game then it could be. Metroid Prime is an amazing series and I’m eagerly waiting for Prime 4. As for Prime 3, it is pretty damn great.
Prime 3 doesn't display an entirely huge or impressive story and I won’t lie when I say I am partially disappointed by that. I found myself hoping a little bit that the story would take some notes from Metroid Fusion. It felt a bit awkward that the Galatic Federation is treated as this Two Dimensional “Good Entity” when in the 2D games they’ve been very open to the concept of genocide and other evil acts I'll leave unspoiled. Especially considering the game's subtitle of Corruption, I was partially let down that this game didn’t give it the double meaning it could have. It has a pretty shallow and relatively absent story. But at the end of the day, I don't find it too shocking considering the series and its publisher. Although this game doesn’t take inspiration from Fusion in the story department, this game was influenced by Fusion’s level design. Prime 3 trades traditional Metroid and Prime aspects for more linearized locations. No longer are the days of Prime 1’s obnoxious backtracking. Anytime the player needed to get to a different part of the map it always felt as if the developers planned ahead. Shortcuts and gunship docking stations to make the game quicker and easier to traverse.
Unfortunately, because of this linearization, I felt there was this sense of “one-note” to all these locations. It’s a very fair balance. Moving through these areas and solving what lies ahead of you for the first time was amazing. Advancing through Skytown for the first time probably beats out most areas in the Prime series for me. Skytown felt like something out of Twilight Princess with its atmosphere and level design. However, at limited times you're forced to retread through an already solved area. These are the only moments the game had empty downtime. Not often does it happen, but retreading through a linear location in this game was boring. Crawling through empty hallways after I already solved all the puzzles connected to them was unsurprisingly not intensely fun. These were the moments of dryness the game hosted, even if they were short and fleeting moments. It’s something that Prime 1 and 2 didn’t feel like they dealt with as much. For those games retreading through past sections was usually saved by the fact that you had new equipment. Your new equipment then would've let you speed up the travel or even explore the nooks and crannies to find Missile Expansions and E-Tanks. Those minor upgrades were also something I felt this game lacked. Though this all comes at the benefit of Prime 3 having the least amount of backtracking when compared to the other entries in the series.
Metroid Prime 3 has three major locations that you’ll find yourself visiting after the start of the game. Each felt distinct in terms of level design structure. The first planet is by far the most open one of them all, reminding me the most of Prime 1. While it still has a pretty set forward path of linearity, it wasn’t as linear as the second location. The second location is probably the most linear of the three, but I felt it offered some of the most engaging and enjoyable puzzles. The last planet was probably the most disappointing. It relied a tad too much on the combat, you could tell the developers took a good chunk of influence from Halo on this last planet. A little too many hallways of enemies and a little too much combat. Of course, the final planet still had solid puzzles and objectives that redeemed itself. If you could tolerate the onslaughts of enemies in certain sections of Prime 1, you’ll be able to handle this. I never felt Prime 3's combat dragged as horribly as Prime 1’s did.
As it stands after the completion of Prime 3, I would say it's tied for the number 1 spot for me. This and Prime 2 were both wonderful video games. Funny enough though, this game perfects the major issues Prime 2 had while also going backwards on a few aspects of what made Prime 2 so amazing. Prime 2’s world was more interesting though it forced you to backtrack through its labyrinth-like map a lot. Prime 3’s bosses and morph ball sections generally felt a lot stronger, but I liked the combat in Prime 2 more. Both Prime 2 and Prime 3 are great games, but they both have their restrictions on why I don't know if I could consider either of them to be a masterpiece. However, if you took their best qualities and put them into one game then it could be. Metroid Prime is an amazing series and I’m eagerly waiting for Prime 4. As for Prime 3, it is pretty damn great.