Metroid Prime 3 Official Thread

[+-^CrossBow^-]

So I thought it was time to have an official thread for MP3. I finally picked up a copy of the game this morning from one of my many local EB/GS. I know a lot of you hate the place but I have to admit it was worth the trip to save $5 getting the game. After tax I only spent just over $48 for the game.

 

Anyway, from what I've played so far...in a phrase...

 

Metroid Prime 3 rocks and really shows what the Wii remote is capable of!!!

 

The graphics are much sharper over previous MP titles on the Cube, and the action has been pretty furious so far and I just managed to snag missles. The story seems to start off simple enough but I've a feeling there is much more here than we are being lead on to believe thus far.

 

As a gift to my local AA members, I thought you might like to print the below item and take it to your local EB/GS to also get $5 off this game. Make sure you print off the entire doc as my EB employee here was needing it for the exclusions and directions on its use.

 

UPDATE! This coupon for 10% off at EB/GS will expire after Aug. 31st! That is tomorrow people (Friday!)

Edited August 31, 2007 by -^Cro§Bow^-

[BydoEmpire]

I brought just the 'coupon' portion to my GS, and they said it was only good for used games. I figured they were giving me the runaround, but I didn't want to bother arguing (not that I had any legs to stand on, I had no proof).

[Room 34]

GOT IT!

 

I had already planned to take today off to go to the State Fair with my wife and kids, and we stopped off at Best Buy on the way there. (OK, it wasn't really on the way, but I MADE it be on the way. )

 

Good deal though... I grabbed MP3, and at the same time I spotted the sixth Harry Potter book in paperback, which we've been looking for for several weeks, so my wife and I both got something.

[+remowilliams]

Just booted it up a few minutes ago. Graphics are OK so far, but not exceptional - and I thought the Wii could do AA They sure as hell didn't use it here. Hello Shimmering Jaggies!

 

Control seems like it will be excellent for this game, which is a real welcome surprise after some other Wii FPS tragedies. I juggled one of those 'containers' off the landing pad like 12 or 13 times without much trouble at all. That in ship beginning was cool too.

 

I noticed the Wii did a system update as soon as I popped the disc in.

[Room 34]

Just logged about a half hour or so (still on the command ship, but all hell has broken loose, and I've just made my way to a save point to stop for dinner), and so far I like it! I was worried that the voice acting and such would make it feel less Metroid-ish, and although there have been a few moments that have felt like rehashes of the early stages of the original Halo (which I've only played through the early stages, sadly enough, on my languishing XBOX), it feels very much like it belongs in the series and it will offer much satisfaction in the coming months! It also already feels like it's going to be a big improvement over Echoes, even though I really liked Echoes.

[+remowilliams]

and although there have been a few moments that have felt like rehashes of the early stages of the original Halo

Oh, it's a huge 'borrowing' of Halo for the first stage (i.e. fight through your alien boarded command ship) which I find amusing on oh so many levels.

 

Saved when I left the ship for a break. So far the controls work quite well, not 100% but very good. And the FPS mayhem is quite good.

[Room 34]

Just booted it up a few minutes ago. Graphics are OK so far, but not exceptional - and I thought the Wii could do AA They sure as hell didn't use it here. Hello Shimmering Jaggies!

 

Control seems like it will be excellent for this game, which is a real welcome surprise after some other Wii FPS tragedies. I juggled one of those 'containers' off the landing pad like 12 or 13 times without much trouble at all. That in ship beginning was cool too.

 

I noticed the Wii did a system update as soon as I popped the disc in.

I haven't noticed the jaggies yet. Are you playing on an HDTV?

 

I DID notice the system update. Weird. It just forced that when you tried to run the game first time around. What happens to Wii users who don't have an Internet connection?

[+-^CrossBow^-]

I would like to know what the update does. I suspect it has something to do with the WiiConnect24 features of the game. However, the update is done via the disc, so internet isn't required. I'm pretty sure of this because the update only took about 5 seconds to run on my Wii. Had it been from the internet it would have taken a bit longer.

 

I'm still trying to get used to the controls myself. I do like them alot. Especially now that I figured out how to swap the A and B buttons. I dont' like the default of using A to shoot and B to jump. So swapping it to B to shoot and A to jump seems more natural to my hand. The game does remind me on many levels to that of Halo. But then again...I don't think that is a bad thing at all. The Wii has needed a "Halo" like game for some time. Bout damn time...

 

Just got the PED and on my way to visit AU242.

[Room 34]

There's some stuff about the update in the instruction manual. The update is for the new menu system, which I noticed downloaded with the last system update I ran a couple weeks ago... the Wii menu looks slightly different now.

 

I'm pretty sure the update is actually on the disc, and is not downloaded from the Internet, because it ran REALLY fast on my system, and also the manual says that the update MUST run before you can play the game. I can't imagine that they'd REQUIRE an update that has to be downloaded from the Internet for the game to work.

 

*EDIT* OK, I see you said pretty much the same thing. I should read more than one sentence before I hit Reply!

Edited August 28, 2007 by Room 34

[ManShowBoy]

Meh..... who cares? I want Carnival Games!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Mendon

 

Yeah, did anyone get Carnival Games? Maybe it needs an official thread. I'm interested to know how it plays. I kinda want it more than MP3.

[BydoEmpire]

Played for an hour and a half - I'm partway through the first planet (just activated the first generator).

 

1. The controls are absolutely perfect - exactly what I expect a first person game to be on the Wii. None of this "shake the nunchuck down to duck" or "shove the wiimote forward to zoom" garbage. Not 'over designed' at all. The few motion controls they do have ('throwing' the nunchuck for the grapple beam, etc) work very well. Perfectly intuitive, immersive and tight.

 

2. The game looks absolutely gorgeous. Retro has a great sense of style, and the engine runs absolutely silky smooth.

 

3. There's a crapload of scanning. Every little terminal in every area can be scanned. I don't want to miss things because despite what I *thought* was a lot of diligence and patience, I finished Prime with a 71% rating and got an utterly craptastic ending for my effort. On the other hand, it totally breaks up the game to have to scan every teenie little doodad every two seconds. I do like the ambiance created by scanning dead bodies "high levels of phazon detected" etc, but so far it seems like way too much. Is it just me?

 

It's totally fun to play, and I can't wait to get deeper into it. So far I would say it lives up to the hype - action/adventure-loving Wii owners won't be disappointed.

[Room 34]

I agree -- way too much scanning. Hopefully that will taper off. (Fortunately, the copious amount of scanning forced me to figure out HOW to scan, since it wasn't completely intuitive at first.)

[+Cafeman]

Thanks for the impressions. I started MP2 Echoes last week, even though I've owned it since it's debut! I wanted to play it a bit first before picking up MP3 on Wii.

[figgler]

finish it first

[Room 34]

Oh yeah, now I'm getting my Metroid groove back!

 

I just finished the mission on the first planet. Even though it doesn't (yet) have the moody, desolate feeling of the previous MP games (and the original series), it definitely feels like a Metroid game. So far I think the changes (other people and hunters, dialogue, etc.) actually seem to work well. Plus there've already been two great boss fights (that second one... oh, man! way cool!!!) and at least one puzzle where I've called myself an idiot.

 

Yep... Metroid is back!!!

[2600Lives]

Please tell me that boss fights this time are more straightforward. If I had one complaint about Prime 2 it was the almost ridiculous use of the damn morph ball in boss battles. Almost every single one had you using the ball to solve little mini-puzzles or something to do damage to said boss. To me, that's not what a Metroid boss fight is about. It's about balls out, guns blazing, shoot 'em up action. Don't get me wrong, the way you fought boss battles in Prime 2 was intriguing, but seriously, they used that formula on almost every boss there was! Ack! It would have been more effective if it had been done sparingly, so that it would have stuck out in your mind.

 

Still don't have a Wii, and won't probably till hell freezes over. Maybe I can borrow one from one of my buddies or something and play this. Honestly, I wish they would have done what they did with Twilight Princess and released it on the GC as well.

[Mendon]

Yeah, did anyone get Carnival Games? Maybe it needs an official thread. I'm interested to know how it plays. I kinda want it more than MP3.

 

Nintendo Power gave Carnival Games a 7.5 rating.

 

 

 

Mendon

[Room 34]

So far the two I've encountered are pretty straightforward. The first one does require some scanning and learning a special "trick" to beat the boss, but it's pretty easy to do. (The thing that got me the first two times I lost to that boss was a misreading of the scan text. I didn't realize that after I did what the scan said to do, the boss was actually stunned and that was my chance to start wailing on him with the charge beam.)

 

The second boss -- and I'll save the details so I don't spoil it, but I thought it was one of the coolest boss battles I've seen -- is pretty much just non-stop blasting, but it has an unusual twist.

 

By the way -- what do you guys think about starting a separate thread for spoilers? I'd like to talk in more specifics about certain things in the game, but I don't want to spoil it for anyone who's not that far yet.

Edited August 29, 2007 by Room 34

[Atarifever]

I'm not terribly excited about this one. I didn't like Prime or Hunters, and didn't bother with Echos, so I doubt this will interest me. I may give it a try, considering that I'm one of 6 people who really likes Red Steel, so maybe motion controls will be enough to get me to play this one, but I doubt it. It's the Adventure element I don't find appealing in a First Person point of view.

 

Now, I'm one of the lucky few who have never really played Super Metroid much, so I have that whole thing ahead of me on the VC while everyone else is busy with a stinky old 3D game. I hope they make a 2D Metroid for their console this generation (it could use any control scheme it wants, I don't care) on top of the FPA games.

Edited August 29, 2007 by Atarifever

[BydoEmpire]

The second boss -- and I'll save the details so I don't spoil it, but I thought it was one of the coolest boss battles I've seen -- is pretty much just non-stop blasting, but it has an unusual twist.

I totally agree - it was unexpected and awesome.

[Atarifever]

None of this "shove the wiimote forward to zoom" garbage.

Now unless you're talking about a game besides Red Steel, I feel the need to ask what is wrong with that particular mechanic. In Red Steel it's push forward to zoom and thrust (i.e. push forward much more quickly) to enter the slow time mode. Despite these two controls being identcal except for the speed at which you push forward, I have had not one problem and find it very intuitive. As well, when zoomed in with the sniper rifel I find the pushing forward and pulling back motion to be much more automatic and natural for lining up one shot after another than is the moving of multiple analog sticks. It took some getting used to, but once you are used to it, it is far from garbage.

[bones]

Thanks for the impressions. I started MP2 Echoes last week, even though I've owned it since it's debut! I wanted to play it a bit first before picking up MP3 on Wii.

I'm in the same boat, have MP2 but haven't touched it yet...need to finish that for an excuse to buy MP3!

[BydoEmpire]

None of this "shove the wiimote forward to zoom" garbage.

Now unless you're talking about a game besides Red Steel, I feel the need to ask what is wrong with that particular mechanic. In Red Steel it's push forward to zoom and thrust (i.e. push forward much more quickly) to enter the slow time mode. Despite these two controls being identcal except for the speed at which you push forward, I have had not one problem and find it very intuitive. As well, when zoomed in with the sniper rifel I find the pushing forward and pulling back motion to be much more automatic and natural for lining up one shot after another than is the moving of multiple analog sticks. It took some getting used to, but once you are used to it, it is far from garbage.

Just my opinion, but for what it's worth:

1. Most importantly, pushing the wiimote forward in Red Steel inherently screws up your aim.

2. It felt awkward on my wrists

3. It's not intuitive and doesn't make "sense."

 

Don't get me wrong, I actually liked Red Steel and didn't have a problem with the controls - except for the zooming mechanic. Even that didn't really hurt the game all that much overall, I just didn't care for it.

[Atarifever]

1. Most importantly, pushing the wiimote forward in Red Steel inherently screws up your aim.

2. It felt awkward on my wrists

3. It's not intuitive and doesn't make "sense."

It screws up your aim? How? Do you have jittery hands? It should stay centred.

It doesn't feel awkward to me, outside of it feeling much different than the joypad controls I'm used to (which I find with all Wii games, and assume I'll get over).

How is it less intuitive than zooming in in other games? It is always forward to zoom and normally you then aim with your thumb. In real life zooming in is, I believe, a twist, and then aiming (like in Red Steel) is with your arm and hand. It may not be exactly like with a real scope, but it's certainly no less intuitive than any other zooming mechanic has been (and I find zooming back out much more intuitive, as when I get shot back at I often pull the controller back toward be anyway).

 

You're of course entitled to have a different opinion than me, but I can't personally see thinking it is in any way inferior to previous sniping controls.

Edited August 29, 2007 by Atarifever

[moycon]

It screws up your aim? How? Do you have jittery hands? It should stay centred.

It doesn't feel awkward to me

 

He's not talking about you, he's talking about how he feels about it. The difference is...he's not you. Deal with it.

I'll tell you now, Red Steel controls like crap and no amount of anyone telling me they like it or explaining why I should like it, will change that for me.

I can only pray Metroid Prime 3 doesn't control like Red Steel, if it does, I'd pass on it.

 

Altho I'm in the same boat as some other folks, I haven't played through Metroid Prime 2 yet. To be honest I don't think I finished Metroid Prime. Too many games, not enough time.