TwiddleGeek

I have to say, Retro really outdid themselves this time. I mean, Prime 1 was one of my favorite Gamecube games and an absolutely brilliant reimaging of the Metroid series, but they really tweaked out every aspect of the formula this time around. The delay was a pity, it really shoulda been out by launch, but it was definitely time well spent judging by the end product.

I’m sure some people are going to argue that having each planet broken up into near linear segments that can be traveled between by ship will kill the ‘exploration’ element of the title, but give me that anytime over the jumbled mess that was Prime 2. Heck, I played through the entire game more or less without getting lost once! It’s not that there wasn’t plenty to explore — it’s that I generally had an idea where I was and where I needed to go to advance. That, in my book, is a good thing.

Even the various expansions were far easier to find this time, largely more accessible and as a reward for exploring rather than stuck in the most remote corners of the globe. I can think of few things I would suggest to improve upon Prime 3, honestly. The X-Ray visor was so nifty this time around too, even better than it was in Prime 1. Pretty much my only minor gripes were that the final beam weapon was a bit unimpressive, and that the Zero Suit model used for Samus looks absolutely ridiculous outside of Smash Bros. Why on Earth Retro threw away the amazing model of Samus at the end of Prime 1 for the cartoony Zero Suit Samus, I may never know.

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The Prime series has managed to do what few people, including myself, thought would work: Transform the Metroid series into a successful first person adventure. The term FPS is a little inaccurate for this series considering the majority of your time will be spent adventuring and puzzle solving, but Prime 3’s new controls and streamlined gameplay feels the most shooter-ish to date. The game actually takes elements of story from Prime: Hunters on the DS, as well as a bit of the shooter-ish feel.

Rather than typical FPS running and gunning, Prime is all about the environment and story. Now filled with tons of voiced dialog, supporting characters, lots of scripted events, and — thank goodness — clear objectives… Prime 3 is a far more streamlined game than Prime 1 or 2. In fact, I felt Prime 2 was an absolute mess at times of hard to locate save points and endless expanses to explore. Though Prime 3 gives you a whole system of planets to explore and hop between, this is nicely broken up into nearly linear, easy to follow sections accessible by Samus’s signature ship. For me, this really improved the gameplay by leaps and bounds over Prime 2.

The biggest advancement with Prime 3 over the previous versions is easily the control scheme, which really makes the action feel fast and fun. The developers take advantage of the new found freedom with some interesting interfaces, some nifty gadgets, and even some combat requiring precise aim and strategy. Limited ammo guns have been kicked to the curb, and we’re thankfully back to stacking beam weapons ala Super Metriod once more. While I was a fan of Prime 1, Prime 2 was more of the same and less of what made it fun. Prime 3 is the return to form that should have been, and at just over 11.5 hours my first play-through, great fun start to finish.

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New Super Mario Bros. is an interesting mix of old school and new, hardcore and casual gaming. One the one hand, the game is a complete throwback to the days of 2D platforming Mario. On the other, it’s been given a modern revamp with 3D models rather than sprites, new moves like wall jumps, and a few new power-ups. More interesting, at first glance the game feels so easy that even the most casual player could finish it in a single weekend with little difficulty. But if you play to collect all three Star Coins on every level, it suddenly becomes a lengthy and frustratingly challenging adventure.

If you loved Mario 1 and long for more side scrolling action, you’ll be right at home here. This isn’t a remake, rather it’s a new game in the 2D series that takes the gameplay back to its roots. It’s not even very much like Mario 3 or Super Mario World as there’s no flight, no Yoshi, and no real goal other than reaching the flagpole. If reaching the goal is all you care about, dashing through the 8 worlds is a snap. Too easy, in fact. I was severely disappointed with the game on my first play through due to how simple it seemed to be. But after you complete the game once, you gain the ability to save anywhere. Now it’s time to go collecting, and this is where things get interesting.

Hidden in every level are 3 Star Coins… collecting these can make your life very difficult. Sometimes they’re well hidden, but in many cases they’re tantalizingly just out of reach. Many require some perfectly timed jumps, some tricky use of an enemy head-stomp, or even the use of one of the new power-ups to obtain. To completely finish the game you need to not only find every one of these coins, you also need to unlock every single alternative path via secret exits on several stages. The casual players can easily ignore all this and still have fun, but the hardcore really need to take up the challenge to complete this game in order to get the full potential out of it.

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.