We picked up Metroid Prime 3 yesterday after a quick trip to town and I got to spend about 2 hours with the game running it through it’s paces. After smelling the game manual like a freak to ensure it had that Nintendo freshness to it, I popped the game into the Wii and fired it up. I’m going to try very hard to keep important spoilers to a minimum here.

You start off in Metroid Prime 3 on your ship as it’s docking with a much, much larger carrier/battleship to meet with some folks about a job they need you to do. While you are inside your cockpit, you can look around and push on various buttons that actually serve various purposes. Some open up communications, others adjust the windshield to close and open it, and some buttons give you status reports on enemies killed and more. Once you get docked with the big ship, you start getting familiar with the controls as you make your way to the captain. Everyone is expecting you so if you press A to speak with folks you’ll get their full cooperation in helping you find your way.

You’re not alone this time in the overall mission as you will have a few of the Hunters from the DS game on your side and they show up fairly early on in the game. There’s a humorous moment when you meet everyone as you see another Samus Aran standing there. I won’t say anything more about that but my initial surprise turned into laughter very quickly. The captain explains everything to you all and to give you the gist of the mission at hand without spoiling it, here’s the bottom line for the intro:

Bad guys are on the way, help us out by getting to your ship and making it down to the planet they are after.

You make your way to your ship, head on down to the first planet and assist them in other missions I don’t want to spoil but make for a GREAT opening to a game. You get a sense of the enemies and how to fight them, how to use the controls and the maps and such, and you also get a feel for how big the game is going to be as you come across doors and areas that can’t be reached until you find a few upgrades.

The graphics, while not in high definition, look fantastic; the best I’ve seen from any Wii game so far. The art direction has gone a long way in this game to make it a beautiful experience. I played the game for about 1.5 hours before realizing I didn’t have my Wii setup for 480p or Widescreen and I was still in awe at how great it looked. Of course it looked even better once I setup the Wii to match our HDTV setup.

The controls felt very natural immediately after getting started and you continually get better at controlling Samus until it feels so good you can’t imagine going back to play Metroid Prime 1 with the thumbsticks again. As great of a game as MP1 is, I just can’t bring myself to give up the superior control scheme the Wii offers in aiming. You don’t only use the Wii motion controls for aiming though as you’ll be opening doors and pressing buttons, pulling pieces of metal and other debris away, and other non-combat moves that work very well with the controllers.

You’ve perhaps heard how the game was made specifically for the Wii and wonder exactly what that means. In certain places, there are puzzles so early on and integral to the level design that require the precise and quick aiming the Wii controls offer. There are also enemies that once you fight them you’ll understand that they could have only been fought using the quick aiming of the Wii Remote. Little things like this are all over the place making sure you get the point that this is not a reworked GameCube game, nor would this game work with traditional controls. The controls never feel cumbersome, laggy, or anything but spot on for the game.

I’ve spent plenty of time scanning various things and while it’s not necessary to scan everything in the game, you get some cool bonus’ to unlock when you scan the right things. Scanning lifeforms, lore relics, and other important objects from the game will grant you achievements points that can be saved up and then used to unlock things like a Mii Bobble Head or even a Screenshot feature that allows you to take in-game screenshots and send them to friends. You also earn Friend Vouchers by accomplishing certain goals like 100 Kills that you can send to your friends. By doing this, you earn Friend Points that can also be used to open certain bonus features.

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I’m about to jump back in for some more action as I’ve barely scratched the surface. I’ve made it through the initial training stuff that the Metroid Prime games have used to familiarize you with the game and world. If you have any questions about the title or anything I might have forgot to mention, ask away and I’ll try to answer it the best I can. —by AndyG

Tags: wii