Isolation

After playing through Metroid Prime 3: Corruption over a year ago I was left thinking just about everything was on par or better than Metroid Prime 1. The Wiimote aiming system is still the only use of motion controls that I've felt added anything to the gaming experience, the puzzles were solid and the boss fights were spectacular. Yet I kept feeling like something was missing that made the first one the better game. I should probably also mentioned I haven’t played the second.

I thought about it awhile and I think the reason I like the original better is the sense of isolation conveyed throughout the game. As a player you only ever receive distress beacons and updates from your suit. You never have contact with anything that isn’t trying to kill you. After landing on Tallon IV it’s just you and your arm cannon against the world. You have no idea what is lurking out there.

In Metroid Prime 3, Nintendo actually introduces a civilization. They’ve always talked about the society Samus comes from, but it has always been vague and somewhere in the manual, never in the game. Corruption starts off with a fight on a military space station with tons of people. Samus is actually saved by a fellow bounty hunter near the end of this section after a ridiculously awesome fight with Ridley. Throughout the rest of the game you are constantly updating your superiors on your mission, returning to the space station, and discussing plans with the weird A.I. things. Because of this I never felt like I was too detached from the outside world. In Prime 1, if I died no one would ever know what happened to me. In Prime 3 I got the vibe that if my health meter dropped too low that someone would know about it.

This feeling of isolation has always been a staple of the series and even came through nicely in Metroid Fusion despite the computer you were constantly going back too. I didn’t know a handheld sidescroller could be scary until I played Metroid Fusion. Sadly, Corruption’s expanded universe and extraneous characters seem to be the trend Nintendo is taking with the franchise, if this trailer for their new Tecmo collaboration is any indication. They also seem to be giving Samus a voice for the first time ever and adding all sorts of drama and convoluted plotlines characteristic of Tecmo’s Ninja Gaiden universe. I may be getting ahead of myself however, that is a lot to infer from a two minute trailer.

The new gameplay from their joint effort looks incredibly promising, but it is sad to see what made the world of Tallon IV so creepy seemingly disappear with these new additions to the franchise. Let’s just hope Team ICO doesn’t team up with Team Ninja for their fourth project. Ueda games without their incredibly desolate and abandoned venues wouldn’t be the same at all. ;)