I have to admit, after playing Prime 2 and completing it more out of a sense of duty than any real desire, I’ve been avoiding Prime 3. Shame, that… because Prime 3 was one of the big AAA titles that made me want a Wii to begin with, and I loved the original Prime. But with Prime 2, Retro just simply spoiled the ‘fun’ element with too much drab rehash, limited ammo, and tons of backtracking. So, I was more than a little leery going into Prime 3… but so far so good. I picked it up for a mere $20 at a local video store the other day. Couldn’t pass that up.
First thing I noticed was that the graphics definitely got a bit of an overhaul. Not a lot, but enough that the game seems noticeably cleaner right off the bat. What I’m really liking so far is the ample amounts of voice dialog, story, and scripted events taking place. I think that’s part of what turned me off to Prime 2… too much being alone in the middle of nowhere, reading log entries for a story. Prime 1 had enough of that, thanks. It’s still no Halo 3, you’ll still be doing plenty of solo-time puzzle solving, but dang it’s nice to actually have something happening around you. Though, within the first few hours: Minor spoilers: You’ll fight Meta Ridley yet again, and the dark Samus. Retro - do something original. Bringing back the Hunters is a nice touch, at least.
Still getting used to the wii control. Some commands and buttons are somewhat awkward, like switching to the scanning visor, or remembering what button is jump and which is morph ball… but I’ve adjusted pretty well. Aiming is fairly intuitive, wiimote controls certainly make the game more fun and improve the combat sections, making it much more shooter-ish. I’m sure some will see this as a downside though. I keep mistakenly locking on to enemies and absentmindedly firing without really aiming, just expecting it to auto-aim like previous Prime titles… but I do quite prefer having to aim for myself. So far it’s better than Prime 2 in every way. Better graphics, dialog, story, scripted events, better combat, improved controls, and good guidance.
