Finished up Metroid Prime 3 last night, after approximately sixteen hours of play time. The Wii-based controls were interesting and fun, though they’ve become such a part of me now that I’m incapable of appreciating them; I’d need to go back and play Prime 1 and 2 on the GameCube to really acknowledge what Nintendo has accomplished.
Few games will live up to the original Metroid Prime. Metroid Prime 3 doesn’t, though it does sometimes come close. (When I hit the steampunk-inspired SkyTown level, it was hard not to fall in love.) The shocker for me was that the game seemed too easy, especially at the end, when the final boss expired and I hadn’t broken a sweat. “Too easy,” isn’t a typical complaint from me: I like my video games easy. Don’t get me wrong: I hate looking up the online cheats to figure out how to solve a puzzle or kill a boss, but after twenty minutes of banging my head against the wall, I will, indeed, give in. (There are just too many good games awaiting my attention to waste time accomplishing nothing.)
Overall, highly recommended. Nintendo just gets “fun” in a way that few other game manufacturers do. (I’m looking at you, Halo 3. To be fair, I haven’t played Halo 3 yet…but it doesn’t engender the same excitement in me that popping in the Prime 3 DVD did.)
Greg Maletic 