It's a great game in its own right, but feels like a downgrade compared to its trilogymates just because the other two games are just that good. It introduces motion control aiming, which is great for having a mouse-and-keyboard-esque experience, and they have enemies that take advantage of having lock-on and actually aiming be separate actions now. I just think everything else they do with motion controls is annoying. There's several different types of interfaces throughout the game, all of which being a weird little motion-control input gimmick that feels like it's only there because Nintendo mandated showing off the motion controls. Gotta pump this thing or turn that thing or have Samus physically input a passcode. The only waggle gimmick that feels good is flicking the nunchuck for the Grapple Lasso/Beam, and then yanking it back to pull an enemy's shield off or pry something open.
I just wish the combat and map design didn't also go down with it too. It's a step down in difficulty from Prime 2, which is fine, but it gets even easier in light of the Hyper Mode feature, where you can chug an energy tank to infuse your beam with phazon for a bit, and doing so absolutely melts just about any enemies for comparatively little sacrifice, especially since you're effectively invincible in this state. And of course, to make up for Hyper Mode taking an energy tank off of you, it feels like enemies drop and obscene amount of energy, meaning you can afford to use it carelessly and still get your energy back.
The maps are far less organically connected, instead now having basically a level select screen to go to different sections of different planets from your ship, and because of that a lot of the areas, while being some of the most visually creative areas in the Prime trilogy, are comparably smaller and traversing them feels far less involved. Individual puzzles are still the Prime goodness, but globe-trotting is far less satisfying this time around.
The bosses in this one are a mixed bag. For every Rundus, Gandrayda, and Omega Ridley, there's a Helios, Security Drone, or Mogenar that feel like they go back to Prime 1's boss philosophy of spending long periods of time being invincible and multiple phases of the same thing happening, But More.
At the end of the day, it's still a Prime game, and comes with all the goodness that entails. It still has a lot of atmosphere and cool moments, and feels like a satisfying conclusion to the Phazon trilogy, but I'd still recommend 1 or 2 more.
I just wish the combat and map design didn't also go down with it too. It's a step down in difficulty from Prime 2, which is fine, but it gets even easier in light of the Hyper Mode feature, where you can chug an energy tank to infuse your beam with phazon for a bit, and doing so absolutely melts just about any enemies for comparatively little sacrifice, especially since you're effectively invincible in this state. And of course, to make up for Hyper Mode taking an energy tank off of you, it feels like enemies drop and obscene amount of energy, meaning you can afford to use it carelessly and still get your energy back.
The maps are far less organically connected, instead now having basically a level select screen to go to different sections of different planets from your ship, and because of that a lot of the areas, while being some of the most visually creative areas in the Prime trilogy, are comparably smaller and traversing them feels far less involved. Individual puzzles are still the Prime goodness, but globe-trotting is far less satisfying this time around.
The bosses in this one are a mixed bag. For every Rundus, Gandrayda, and Omega Ridley, there's a Helios, Security Drone, or Mogenar that feel like they go back to Prime 1's boss philosophy of spending long periods of time being invincible and multiple phases of the same thing happening, But More.
At the end of the day, it's still a Prime game, and comes with all the goodness that entails. It still has a lot of atmosphere and cool moments, and feels like a satisfying conclusion to the Phazon trilogy, but I'd still recommend 1 or 2 more.