BooJaka

So Metroid Prime 3 is released today

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And as ever us people from outside the US have to wait at least 2 months to get it.

But does anyone have it yet? Any first impressions? I'm pretty intrigued by it after (kinda) recently giving up on the last boss of Metroid Prime...

In other news, this is kind of interesting even if it probably doesn't actually mean anything.

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Don't give up on the last boss, she's easy! Well, as long as you have all four missile combos. If not, go back and get them. Then she's easy. Especially the second phase.

And no, I don't have Prime 3 yet, nor the time to play it. But if I did...man, I'd be excited.

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I have it but it's sort of sitting there while I finish up Bioshock. I'm excited for a new Metroid but I'm sort of dreading this Metroid because of everything I've seen thus far. Yeah, the reviews are positive but still... something feels off. In fact, right now I think Bioshock is out-Metroiding Metroid if that makes sense :deranged:

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Are you crazy, Lobotomy? I had all the weapons in Prime and just couldn't get past that god damned final boss. Constantly those fucking Metroids on me, ARGH. It was already a pain going through the first stage, but after three failures at the final one (and you can call me a quitter if you like, I don't care), I stopped playing mainly because I wasn't having any fun anymore and it felt like the game had let me down.

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I thought that the regular (non-boss) enemies in Metroid Prime 2 had far too many hitpoints to be fun. Not that they were that difficult, just that killing them took far too long and got in the way of the exploration. Didn't like the combat-heavy Hunters on the DS too much, so I'm reasonably wary about the constant reminders of the greater focus on combat in this one.

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What makes Metroid games (the first person ones) so awesome? I'm not trying to be provocative here, I really want to know. Because most videos I have seen make it look like a somewhat basic sci-fi fps with pretty boring setting. The enemies even turn red when you shoot them. Not sure why that's worth mentioning, though.

Judging by the reviews (the metacritic score of the latest one is 91 right now) there's a lot more than that. How are the adventure parts for example? Are they just "This door is locked. You need a key to open it." kind of things or actually exciting? What am I missing here?

I have been waiting for something good to play on my Wii and I'm considering buying this game.

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The main feature of Metroid Prime, the first one at least, is the emphasis on back-tracking. I know that sounds terrible when it's written down but it really is a great thing in practice. You travel a fairway through the game, past branches and corridors you can't get to yet and then, when you forget they were there in the firs place, you can go back and explore more of the depth of that initial place.

I'm probably not really doing a great deal in explaining it right now but that's pretty much why it's got so much acclaim.

Right now I would link to Gametrailer's recently-concluded Metroid Retrospective but their site seems to be down.

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I just finished the intro section. The controls work great -- especially the aiming. My only complaint is that it made my hands hurt. Maybe it was the way I was sitting or holding the controllers. Anyone else have the Wii hurt their hands?

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What makes Metroid games (the first person ones) so awesome? I'm not trying to be provocative here, I really want to know. Because most videos I have seen make it look like a somewhat basic sci-fi fps with pretty boring setting. The enemies even turn red when you shoot them. Not sure why that's worth mentioning, though.

Judging by the reviews (the metacritic score of the latest one is 91 right now) there's a lot more than that. How are the adventure parts for example? Are they just "This door is locked. You need a key to open it." kind of things or actually exciting? What am I missing here?

Well, primarily, the appeal is for old 2D Metroid fans getting to see their beloved franchise in 3D.

But, more to the point, the Prime series is an awesome platformer-in-shooter's clothing. The appeal lies in being dumped in a huge overworld, and figuring out where to go next. It uses the Zelda-style strategy of showing you doors/ledges/chasms early on that you think "Hmmm, how do I get through there?" but then not giving you the crucial item or special ability you need until much later on, so you think "Aha! Now I can go back to that first room and open this thing!" And sometimes you can, and sometimes you can't. And the really special-secret items are hidden really well, so it helps to have a *fantastic* memory.

So, for example, you're dumped in an area with four or five visible exits. You hop around, blasting some debris, and eventually determine that two of them are actually reachable. A third you may think is reachable, but you eventually realize that it is *just* out of reach over a large hole. And the other two are differently-colored and do not respond to your attempts to shoot them open. So, you pick one of the two, and go exploring. Then you'll fight an enemy or two, and repeat the process. There's also morph-ball puzzles, and lots of "scans" (essentially, text to read - much of it optional, but providing clues as to what weapons work strongly on what enemies, and how to get through certain areas.) After so many rooms, you'll solve a puzzle, fight a huge boss and collect a new item/ability. Really, the best way to think of it is as an "old-school" 2D shooter-platformer gone modern.

The videos for all the Prime games tend to focus on the shooting of the enemies, but don't be fooled. This is mostly to lure in the mainstream gamers who haven't played the series much. The actual game is mainly focused on what I'd call "exploration" rather than "adventuring," as Nintendo calls it, apparently unaware that the adventure genre exists. ;) And though I'll admit the videos and screens have never looked great, the games look *really good* in motion, with some really nice art design and a solid 60fps framerate (which is a small thing, but it adds more than you think).

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I must reiterate that all the videos I see of the Prime games are horrendous and make the game look trite and boring, and I've played it so I know how great it is. So really, this is a play-before-you-judge kind of thing :)

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Are you crazy, Lobotomy? I had all the weapons in Prime and just couldn't get past that god damned final boss. Constantly those fucking Metroids on me, ARGH. It was already a pain going through the first stage, but after three failures at the final one (and you can call me a quitter if you like, I don't care), I stopped playing mainly because I wasn't having any fun anymore and it felt like the game had let me down.

But...but...the second phase is so easy! She takes like, just a few rounds of Phazon. Her wave attack you can just jump over, and the Metroids you can Power Bomb.

I won't call you a quitter, for I have never beaten the final boss in "Trauma Center: Under the Knife," and...many other games :) I'm just surprised you found the *second* part difficult rather than the first.

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The Prime series is an awesome platformer-in-shooter's clothing.

Metroid Prime seems to be one of very few first-person games where jumping from platform to platform doesn't feel awkward or dangerous. :tup:

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I never even finished Metroid Prime 1, but I have to agree that the exploration side of it is pretty cool. It wasn't even that long ago, but I have good memories of stumbling across crazy new areas and finding obscure passages that end up leading into massive stretches of ruins and whatnot, and thanks to excellent art direction and general ambience workmanship the atmosphere really sticks in my mind.

The downside is that it takes so long to get through the game (including about 50,000 hours per boss) that I just can't take the time to do so, what with all this job nonsense and all.

If opinions indicate that Metroid Prime 3 hits an equal or higher level of the feel I poorly described above then I'll probably give it a go. :tup:

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OK, so rather than put in some more time with Bioshock after work tonight, I decided I'd get my shoot on with the Wii and fire up Metroid. Holy crap. I forgot instantly that the Wii is less powerful than the other consoles. Well, up until I saw a guy who wasn't wearing a helmet. Semi-realistic faces still don't seem to be within the Wii's grasp. Otherwise though, fantastic. It was really just the one guy anyway.

The controls are spot on, though they take a couple of minutes of getting used to. My accuracy is great and though the lock-on is needed for truly effective circle-strafing it's really easy to get the hang of. Voice work ranges from competent to good so far. Nothing fantastic, but certainly better than a lot of games. Already fought Ridley. That fucker shows up everywhere. How come we've never gotten a proper rematch with Kraid? Way cooler baddy, imho. Still, I'm only a little bit into the game, so maybe Corruption will provide me with that.

What else is there to say? Feels different from the first two Primes. Good though. Not so much exploring so far, but I'm sure once I start to hit truly open areas that'll come. More focus on narrative though, which I like. The action is tight and responsive, though not really that challenging. As expected, honestly. It is a Nintendo game after all, they want as many people to finish it as possible. The new ally hunters are pretty damn cool and I'm looking forward to seeing more from them. The idea of squad combat with ice-controlling guy, crazy-cyborg dude, and shape-shifting chick is really sweet, and I hope they throw some of that in there.

Ahem. That was a lot of text. Get the game, anyone on the fence. Honestly I gave up on Prime 2 because there was so much else worth playing back when it came out. There's a lot I want to play now, as well, but I think this one and Bioshock will be my top priorities until I see some credit screens.

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I think I've got about as far as Miffy has. I agree with him on most points.

I can't agree on the graphics though. Honestly, there have been a couple of cringe-worthy moments where I was like, "uhhh, okay I see what you were trying to render there, but no. Nice try though." In particular, the explosions in some of the cutscenes are terrible sprite-o-vision stuff, and the ice-trail with one of those hunters is quite horrible looking too.

For the most part it looks good though ... haven't seen much of the world yet, but I'm hoping the environments are beautiful enough to make up for the occasional less-than-stellar effect.

The controls are great. I could definitely see the likes of Quake 3 Arena working on the Wii. Took me a little longer to get used to (under an hour) but they work really well. What I didn't like though, was the fact that minus and 1 are mapped to reasonably common actions. Minus is mapped to visor-switch, which is really quite irritating as I like examining stuff alot, but I find myself doing that less often because of how out-of-the-way the minus button is. I wish Nintendo had put the -/+ buttons higher up, close to the A button.

It's more combat-focused that I would have liked, plus there hasn't been much exploration, but I get the feeling that once the game opens up and lets me explore a bit more it'll turn out great.

SiN

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Yeah, ok. Some of the explosions do leave something to be desired. I quite like the ice trail though. Don't see what you're talking about there.

Mapping wise, I find the "hold minus and aim up a bit" visor switch to work really well, and haven't had any problems with it. Actually, firing missiles with the d-pad seems an odder choice to me. Maybe RE4 trained me to reach for the minus button more often (inventory screen) and I'm alright with it as a result. Also as a result of my RE4 playing, the map on button 1 seems perfect, but that's just because it's the same in both games.

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The new ally hunters are pretty damn cool and I'm looking forward to seeing more from them. The idea of squad combat with ice-controlling guy, crazy-cyborg dude, and shape-shifting chick is really sweet, and I hope they throw some of that in there.

very minor (like, first 3 hours of gameplay) spoiler:

They're not that friendly... Boo. :violin::tdown:

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So I indulged myself, put all my other games aside, and went out and bought this.

The first section on the spaceship was sort of lame, but now I'm on the planet below, all by myself and...

Ahhhhh. THIS is what Metroid is supposed to be like. So glorious! So lonely! So...awesomely controlled!

Sweet!

Also started watching my friend play BioShock. Seems fun, but...my preference is clear. :)

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I just got it from Gamefly today, and the controls are pretty damn good. It has really smooth aiming-not like a mouse at all-but the downside is, I didn't feel like I could move the camera fast enough from side to side (on advanced setting). Personally, I love the 2D Metroid exploration more, but if you liked the other 2, this one seems just like them with better control. It feels pretty badass ripping shields off of enemies.

I didn't think the fight with Meta Ridley was nearly as cool as it could have been. Anybody else feel the same way?

^Spoiler, before you get to the first planet. How do I put spoiler tags on something?

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So, I finally got my Wii back from Nintendo. Or rather, they just sent me a new one.

Either way, I spent this Thanksgiving weekend resuming Prime 3, which I hadn't played since early September.

It's awesome! I love it!

I just got to the part in Elysia where I'm trying to assemble the bombs; but before that, the abandoned space-craft was pretty cool.

I've noticed that Prime 3 is a bit more, er, "cartoony" (for wont of a better word) than the previous two. (The bosses look a little "silly" according to my brother.) That's mostly ok with me, though. The only places that this has been a bother are when you find those secret Chozo areas. For some reason, It just feels a little less special than in the original.

The gameplay and puzzles are still spot on, and there's tons of places to go. All is well, and I'm loving this game!

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Has anyone here finished it? I got to the end, but gave up at the final boss after two unsuccessful attempts. Such a pain in the ass.

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Oh god, how disappointing of them. I was so excited at the rumours that the game was actually a little more lenient this time around; that the developers had acknowledged they had made the previous two a tad too brutal. Clucking bell.

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