Metroid Prime Trilogy Review

The Wii FPS landscape is desolate to say the least, but Nintendo has given us three reasons to go exploring.

Echoes is still possibly the most intensely oppressive and suffocating environment ever to feature in a game – even if the sombre pallet and industrial clang of the soundtrack don’t give you a clue as to how much the designers hate you, the fact that even existing in Dark Aether’s world depletes your energy should drive the point home. Once you acquire the relevant inventory the game does become bearable and eventually reveals itself to be a worthy entry in the series. The poorly conceived multi-player can be comfortably ignored.

Corruption gets off to a very shaky start with the first hour home to the most embarrassingly generic space marine/bounty hunter interaction the series has ever seen, apeing Halo and failing miserably. Once you have left the human race behind, however, it settles into its stride, with a wealth of expertly designed levels and items that make intelligent use of the Wii controls.

So for your money you’re getting one of the best games of the last generation, a dark and difficult sequel, and that most uncommon of beasts, a “hardcore” Wii game. If you haven’t encountered Metroid before this is an absolutely essential purchase. The Prime series took the FPS into uncharted territory, with the emphasis on exploration and discovery rather than straightforward firefights, and it is as original now as it was back in 2002, with nobody even trying to imitate Retro Studios’ masterpiece. Owners of the individual titles however will have to ask themselves just how important those silky controls are, because when it comes down to it, that’s all the Trilogy has to offer veterans.

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