The Greatest Games I’ve Played: #24

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (2007, Nintendo Wii)

“Yeah, I’ve always wanted to catch that.”  

We always have a growing stack of classics or cult hits that we intend to see/read/play simply because we feel we must for our own cultural education.  You’ve either seen The Godfather, or you intend to.  You’ve either read the Harry Potter books, or you’re planning on getting around to it (or you think they’re an abomination).  

Similarly, I went 20-something years intending to play a Metroid game.  The Metroid series has always stood as a hallmark of game design, thanks to its unique and mysterious narrative, its seamless welding of platforming, adventure, and action, and its protagonist– Samus Aran– who is arguably the first strong female gaming lead.

I finally rectified my oversight when I picked up a copy of Super Metroid– the undisputed king, er, queen, of action platformers– my senior year in college (spoiler: you will see Super Metroid later on this list.)  Not long after that, one of my roommates snagged a copy of Metroid Prime 3.

The Metroid Prime games are significant for being a successful heresy of sorts.  Before Metroid Prime’s release in 2002, the Metroid games had 16 years of 2D side-scrolling, jumping adventure under their collective belts.  Then upstart Retro studios revealed a new take on the game– a 3D, first-person shooter/adventure.  Impassioned fans were outraged (as they tend to be).

Naturally, Metroid Prime is now considered to be one of the greatest games of all time.  It turned out to be an artistic masterpiece (with one journalist going so far to call it the Citizen Cane of games).  The meticulously-created organic, alien worlds were unlike anything that had beed seen before.  The atmosphere was strange and chilling, yet beautiful.  The overwhelming feeling of isolation– a hallmark of the Metroid games– was preserved and even enhanced.

Metroid Prime 3 had all of these elements, but enhanced them with improved artistic style and detail, more action, and the addition of the Wii Remote (which was much, much easier to use, if you ask me).  The original Prime normally gets more recognition for being such a breakthrough for its time, but MP3 is probably the better game.  Probably.