Developed by Retro Studios
Published by Nintendo
By Miles Baker
After playing this game for a whole weekend I had a case of tennis elbow. I’m not left handed, and I don’t fish, so the constant casting of the Wii’s nunchuck became tiresome. It’s not that you have to do it all that often — although you really do — it’s just that the fucker doesn’t read your movements right half the time and you have to keep doing it. It’s the one big frustration of a nearly flawless game.
It should have been a homerun. It should have made me knock down old ladies in my mad dash to buy a Wii and a copy of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption — not because they’re in my way, but on the off-chance they were also going to buy it. The graphics are so pretty you forget that technically the Wii is the weakest of the next generation systems; the character design is hip and emerging; there are tons of great gameplay activities and, dude, you get to fly Samus’ spaceship! And 95 percent of the time this game is so awesome — it’s just that 5 percent you have to worry about; that 5 percent is when the Wii won’t properly read your activities, and it’s usually during a critical part of a boss fight. It happens in every Wii game I’ve played, and it’s the most frustrating thing ever. It makes me swear and say things I don’t mean about Samus Aran.
But more on the positive side: this is the most immersive game in a series of immersive games. This time around, you get to see more of the universe that Samus inhabits. Until now she’d just been this lone bounty hunter fighting against Space Pirates. You didn’t know who her employers were, and you never even saw her take a bounty. Mostly she just kills Space Pirates and saves the galaxy from Metroids. Now, there’s a lot more context, and a few more planets for Samus to sink her teeth into. The variety of locations is a welcome addition to the series, especially because it means that your spaceship is more than just a super save station. The art direction in each area is fantastic and Retro makes the most out of the Wii’s graphics engine. Though, man, this game in high def would be sweet. Hella sweet.
And when the controls work, it’s very cool. But when they don’t, well, you’ve read about the rage. It’s deep and plentiful, much like the puzzles in this game.
So, uh, buy it if you like mixed emotions.
