New Metroid Prime 3 Scans from Play (Spoilers)

[Cmtz]

http://forums.gametrailers.com/showthread.php?t=115160

Well the scans seem to be very impressive. The magazine describes the game's intro as haloish. It is also mentioned that the game will have great controls. So once again we come to the age old question is this the Halo Killer. Here are some of what Play describes in their magazine.

- First level - You are attacked on a spaceship while meeting with the ship’s captain…action packed

- Play feels motion controls work better than dual joystick

- Super sensitive pointer in “advanced” mode

- Beam stacking ala Super Metroid

- Visor switch: Hold minus and flick Wiimote in certain directions

- Boss fight with Ridley at the end of the first level. Excellent difficulty curve by the time you reach the boss.

- Back tracking in MP3:C makes more sense than in previous Primes

- Extra development time was to give the game more polish. Nintendo wanted “Twilight Princess” levels of polish. Game is focused on Metroid fans and hardcore gamers, but still accessible to newcomers due to controls.

- Second level - floating city focused on exploration

- Larger environments, bloom lighting, better textures than Prime 2

- Corruption Mode not available in demo

- Play says it could be the biggest revolution in FPS gaming since Halo.

[djbeatmongrel]

Corruption is going to be sweet. Considering the evolution in the FPS controls on the Wii so far and the extensive development on Corruption I have no doubt that its going to set a new standard for FPS control.

[c0ldb33r]

The graphics look great! Finally something that looks better than Gamecube (*glares at Super Paper Mario*)

[Poofta!]

finally a wii fps i want to play! also, finally a 3d metroid i care to play! i cant wait.

[ubersaurus]

I'm really looking forward to this game. But there's one question they've dodged every time...

DOES IT HAVE ONLINE PLAY

[heybtbm]

I'm really looking forward to this game. But there's one question they've dodged every time...

DOES IT HAVE ONLINE PLAY

It's NINTENDO...of course not. I'm sure it will support multiplayer through "friend codes" (worthless).

Nintendo needs to realize that if they want to make a "big boy" game, they have to include the most basic of features...online multiplayer. If they continue to balk, the Wii will soon be irrelevant (obviously).

[studvicious]

I'm pretty sure they confirmed that it won't have online multi-player. Personally, I couldn't care less. To me, Metroid is all about the single-player.

[agbulls]

The online play would help get the game mainstream and compete with Halo, I totally agree. But personally I don't really care. The Prime games have been the most engrossing FPS experiences I've found on any system. As single player games they're the cream of the crop and beat Halo's single player in my book.

I'm really anxious to get my hands on this. Knowing how talented Retro Studios is, I'm willing to bet this is the game that makes people realize the untapped horsepower of the Wii.

Easily my #1 most anticipated game right now.

[ubersaurus]

It's NINTENDO...of course not. I'm sure it will support multiplayer through "friend codes" (worthless).

Nintendo needs to realize that if they want to make a "big boy" game, they have to include the most basic of features...online multiplayer. If they continue to balk, the Wii will soon be irrelevant (obviously).

If you want to get technical, it's retro studios. And the bulk of the Nintendo published games for the rest of the year look to be online-mario strikers, battalion wars 2, pokemon battle revolution all come to mind.

But Metroid they've been silent about both ways, and have dodged any questions pertaining to multiplayer. The only reason I can think that they would have online play is because Metroid Prime 2 had a multiplayer mode and it would be a very, very good title to push their online capabilities.

Maybe they'll say something one way or the other come E3.

[exit]

Metroid was always a very secluded game, it was always one against a world, so no multi player wouldn't really be that big of a deal. Having it wouldn't hurt tho and if they're being very secretive about it, then it's probably going to be something major when announced.

[Chris]

"Halo's earily similar opening scene introduced the world to a new and wildly successful FPS control scheme, and Metroid Prime 3 may be the first game since to accomplish the same feat."

What is this ominous new control scheme, introduced with Halo, they're talking about?
Didn't Halo use the dual analog scheme, which has already been a standard for years when the Bungie game came out?

Regardless, it would really be awesome, if Retro would manage to prove all the other Wii shooters wrong (at least the ones like Red Steel, that also used the wiimote's pointer for turning) and come up with a control scheme that rivals a mouse in terms of accuracy and speed, albeit I still doubt that. In my book it would be already an improvement and a sufficiant achievement if they'd surpass the dual analog setting.

The part about streamlined visor accessibility and no more need for aim assists, sounds like candy and may even heal the wounds delivered by the humilating controls of the cube titles.
At least we seem to get a Metroid Prime installment that doesn't hide itself behind sissy excuses like: "I'm not an FPS, I'm an Adventure, so screw your tight FPS controls and playability, I can't be compared with games where you shoot at things from a first person view".

[hbkprm]

i just got a job, and that is gonna look good on the wii that im gonna get

[ubersaurus]

"Halo's earily similar opening scene introduced the world to a new and wildly successful FPS control scheme, and Metroid Prime 3 may be the first game since to accomplish the same feat."

What is this ominous new control scheme, introduced with Halo, they're talking about?
Didn't Halo use the dual analog scheme, which has already been a standard for years when the Bungie game came out?

Regardless, it would really be awesome, if Retro would manage to prove all the other Wii shooters wrong (at least the ones like Red Steel, that also used the wiimote's pointer for turning) and come up with a control scheme that rivals a mouse in terms of accuracy and speed, albeit I still doubt that. In my book it would be already an improvement and a sufficiant achievement if they'd surpass the dual analog setting.

The part about streamlined visor accessibility and no more need for aim assists, sounds like candy and may even heal the wounds delivered by the humilating controls of the cube titles.
At least we seem to get a Metroid Prime installment that doesn't hide itself behind sissy excuses like: "I'm not an FPS, I'm an Adventure, so screw your tight FPS controls and playability, I can't be compared with games where you shoot at things from a first person view".

The dual stick system didn't exist on prior FPSs, to my knowledge. The N64 and Dreamcast only had one analog stick for starters...though I'm not too familiar with Playstation FPSs prior to Halo, I do know that practically all consoles shooters that came out after used the same two stick setup. Also being able to melee and throw grenades without switching weapons was something that I don't recall seeing prior to Halo.

[agbulls]

At least we seem to get a Metroid Prime installment that doesn't hide itself behind sissy excuses like: "I'm not an FPS, I'm an Adventure, so screw your tight FPS controls and playability, I can't be compared with games where you shoot at things from a first person view".

Actually, Metroid always has been an adventure game, and the Prime games just happen to be first person adventure games. What isn't there to understand here? Are you really saying you wanted dual analog for Prime on cube?

The games have never EVER been about having incredible twitch response -- the hallmark of all FPS's. They've been about exploration. By removing the dual analog aiming and making Samus auto-aim, they ensured the title stayed true to its roots.

I really never heard anyone say the controls took away from the experience. I welcome the new wii-specific control scheme, and thank Retro for not staying with the norm.

[Chris]

Actually, Metroid always has been an adventure game, and the Prime games just happen to be first person adventure games. What isn't there to understand here? Are you really saying you wanted dual analog for Prime on cube?

What's so hard to understand that the first Metroid titles weren't just adventures? They were action-adventures, with at least equal emphasis on platform-shooting action and exploration.

And regarding the Dual Analog question, the Cube pad isn't exactly tailormade for this scheme (like the Playstation pad), cause of the small c-stick, but yes, I think that would've been better than the solution Retro came up with, which just felt awkward and prehistoric to me, even in comparison to Goldeneye, which came out nearly ten years ago.

The games have never EVER been about having incredible twitch response -- the hallmark of all FPS's. They've been about exploration. By removing the dual analog aiming and making Samus auto-aim, they ensured the title stayed true to its roots.

Yeah of course, cause we all remember the 2D Metroids having auto-aim, so that you could concentrate on the exploration ^_-
What shouldn't be ignored is, that the earlier Metroid titles had spot-on platform-shooting controls that could easily compete with other 2D action titles, but when anyone dares to compare Metroid Prime's shooting sections with similar parts in 3D action games, than that seems totally out of the question for many people.


@ubersaurus
I think there have been games that used it before (a Medal of Honour title on PS1 for example) and while the N64 didn't have two analog sticks, many of it's shooters featured dual stick controls (which is principally exactly the same as dual analog stick controls, with the only differenc being that a digital stick is paired with an analog stick).
The thing about throwing grenades and doing melee without switching weapons is interesting, but could be contributed to the myriads of buttons available on the XBox controller, things like an extra grenade throw button wasn't very practicable on the older joypads. The melee attack is also similar to a "secondary fire option", we've already seen this kind of melee stuff in Perfect Dark, albeit they'd also no button to spare for it.

But yeah, Halo has been an inspiration for nearly every Xbox shooter that followed, even if it didn't invent anything particularly groundbraking, like the magazine's article is making it out to be.

[chicnstu]

But yeah, Halo has been an inspiration for nearly every Xbox shooter that followed, even if it didn't invent anything particularly groundbraking, like the magazine's article is making it out to be.

What parts of Halo inspired every FPS after it? What about this series makes it so much better than the other FPS games?

I played it for a couple of hours when it came out and didn't see anything special about it and the vehicles didn't control very well.

EDIT: This post isn't meant to sound mean, it's just questions.

[ubersaurus]

What parts of Halo inspired every FPS after it? What about this series makes it so much better than the other FPS games?

I played it for a couple of hours when it came out and didn't see anything special about it and the vehicles didn't control very well.

EDIT: This post isn't meant to sound mean, it's just questions.

Well, look at shooters made since Halo. Regenerating health has pretty much replaced health packs for a lot of games. Vehicles play larger roles. Melees and grenades can now be done at any time...something I don't even think PC FPSs were doing at the time of it's release.

[djbeatmongrel]

Meh, Halo bores me to fucking tears.

Metroid Prime/2 echoes werent really FPS games. i think standardized fps controls would have taken away from the style off boss fights plus the target styled puzzles.

Man i know this is off topic but i want a new serious sam game. i'd love to see a wii serious sam.

[Chris]

Metroid Prime/2 echoes werent really FPS games. i think standardized fps controls would have taken away from the style off boss fights plus the target styled puzzles.

They designed everything with their control scheme in mind, they could've easily done the same with a dual analog scheme and I think that the numerous shooting parts would've profited immensely.
Instead of just auto-ainimg your way through the game you'd have to actually aim yourself.. but maybe that would've required too much skill from the japanese guys, who generally dislike FPS games. Maybe this unorthodox scheme was Retro's only chance of talking the folks at Nintendo into utilising a first person view.
Something like: "So they dislike FPS games, but what if the shooting bits don't control like an FPS? How about making them control like Zelda? Maybe then they'll swallow it."


But anyway, I really hope that Prime 3 changes my view of the 3D titles. Has anyone of you played a Wii shooter, with controls rivaling a mouse in terms of accuracy/speed?
I think the farthest we got was with Medal of Honours optional control scheme, where you'd use the Wiimote like an anlog stick (utilising the accelerometers) and not the Pointer. Afaik this was at least up on par if not better than dual analog stuff.

[Frica89]

You can color me exited for this one. Everything about it looks phenominal.