3.5/5 ★ – Tye_Boy's review of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is a considerable step down from the terrific games that proceeded it. By no means is it ever terrible, but for as solid as it generally is, this final game in the trilogy comes with a multitude of issues and downgrades that sour the experience throughout. Off the bat, the story failed to grab me. The introduction of new characters and lore previously unseen in the trilogy left me feeling quite confused. I hardly cared about those new hunters introduced, which makes the attempts at creating emotional stakes kinda laughable yet still effective at scarce points. I still have no idea what those Aurora units are. But even then, the game grabbed me because it's still that signature Prime gameplay at its core, and that was enough to keep me on-board. The Wii's hardware and capabilities tend to muddle the game, whether by forcing motion control gimmicks that feel tacked-on and clumsy, or by the unacceptable wait times for doors to now open. Both of these issues lead to the flow of the game to become constantly stagnating, these brief but many downtimes annoying to deal with. The game's presentation has some merit to it, the atmosphere good and the music quite nice. Having voice acting and actual humans present feels weird, though I can understand their inclusion for expanding the scope of the series. While the decision to have multiple planets to explore instead of just one changes things up a bit, it leads to all of them feeling lacking in depth. Although released before it, I couldn't help but compare this to Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (a childhood favourite). On top of that, the immensity of linearity with these planets feels like a further downgrade compared to the locales in prior games, only further contributing to how somewhat easier this game is. The first major item is just in a small office for you to grab, no build-up, no challenge to overcome to get to it. That to me feels lazy and anticlimactic. Samus' gunship has new mechanics that sometimes make it a necessity to complete certain objectives with, but like the gimmicky motion controls, it tends to disrupt the game's flow. Despite the easier difficulty and simplification in levels, both the exploration and combat remain enjoyable - even with the new hypermode mechanic that I think works alright. The essential controls work well, the same as the previous Prime games bundled in the Wii trilogy collection. I had my fun with a lot of the game, the combat, some of the later challenges, and some of the bosses. Although I wouldn't be lying if I said that I was itching for things to really wrap up towards the endgame. At the end of the day, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption manages to still be a good enough game even with its series of flaws and missteps. It's undoubtedly the weakest entry in the trilogy, the core gameplay largely carrying it for me, yet it feels rewarding to have finally played through it, since I'm greatly excited for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond later this year. Can't wait for it!