Samus, the space heroine dons her power suit and returns for a third and final installment of the Metoid Prime series.

Without doubt, Metroid Prime was one of the best Gamecube titles, it completely relaunched the Metroid series and brought it to 3d for the first time. Typically there were some mixed views when Samus switched from side scrolling platformer into a full first person shooter, some people felt that it didn't quite ring true with the original Metroid feel, thankfully I wasn't one of them, I'm a self confessed Metroid Prime lover.

Not only did the Gamecube see one great Metroid title, it also saw a sequel in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. Although this second title didn't quite live upto the highs of the first Prime, it wasn't far behind. The darker story line and overly familiar level design was probably its faulter, but there wasn't anything majorly wrong with it.

Wii will pickup Metroid Prime in its third installment, its aleged that Corruption will complete the Metroid Prime “trilogy” and thus end the series. Don't worry though, I'm sure it wont be the last Metroid game.

Phazon

Both Metroid Prime and Echoes main plot revolved around the mysterious material Phazon. This will again play an integral role in the adventure. In Prime, the planet was corrupted by Phazon. In Prime 2, the Phazon caused the world to split into two on Aether. In Metroid Prime 3, Retro Studios will explain what the origins of Phazon were and the culmination of what this is all about. The game's developer has also stated that Samus herself gets corrupted by Phazon and actually begins to develop abilities based on that Phazon. So that's kind of why the game is titled Corruption. You yourself are becoming corrupted.

Weapons

Like the previous Metroid games, Samus will have access to an array of Weapons and Visors. We've not had total confirmation on which weapons and visors will be available in Corruption but we hear that the game feature a new Command Visor that allows remote control of your Gunship and also a brand new beam that can pass through walls. Sweet.

Controls

Obviously most of you will be excited about the new control system. When Nintendo revealed the Wii controller, first person shooters were one of the main attractions, the freedom to look in any direction finally gave the console what the mouse gave the PC. Nintendo have been showing videos of Metroid Prime 3 for a long time now, we understand you'll control Samus (forward, back, strafe left/right) with the analog nunchuck and aim/turn by pointing the Wiimote.

It was also revealed in a recent interview with Shigeru Miyamoto that the team developing the game at Retro Studios had direct input in the development of the nunchuck addon, you could almost say it was specifically designed for Corruption.

According to an hands-on preview by IGN the game features 3 variations of control scheme:

• Casual Mode - This works by setting part or all of the screen as a "box". If the point calculated from the controller (the sight of the Arm Cannon) is inside the box, aiming is done without moving the camera. If said sight is outside the box (that is, Samus' view), the camera will move in the direction of the sight. In the demo, this was the standard control mode.
• Advanced Mode - The box is much smaller, and the pointer more sensitive. Turning does not require as much of an angle.
• Expert Mode - The box is smaller still, and the cursor even more sensitive. This mode "feels hugely improved and much more playable" for people used to a mouse and keyboard FPS scheme

Along with the new control system, the Corruption will be the very first Metroid game to have any story, dialogue, etc. spoken in a real-world language. In the past Metroid games have relied on subtitles or made up languages.

Multiplayer

One of the advantages that Echoes had over the original was its multiplayer game. Retro have already said that Corruption won't have the same level of multiplayer support on the third and final title, they really wanted to concentrate their efforts into getting the adventure perfect. There has been a mutter of multiplayer support making its way back into the title, but these can only be considered as rumours.

Graphics

Graphically Corruption will continue where Echoes left off, remember the Wii isn't a graphics power house so we don't expect a huge leap in terms of graphical effects from this game, but it'll certainly be better than the first two. Hopefully the Wii will allow for bigger more detailed environments but retaining the established style.

Conclusions

For a long time, Corruption was scheduled as a Wii launch title, but sadly that slipped away a number of months ago now. We can only hope that the extra development time has been to include something worthwhile, its current ETA is Spring 2007. Nintendo must remain positive as there has been a lot of hype surrounding the game with many members of the press feeling that Corruption will truly set the standard for first person shooters on Wii. If Prime is any kind of benchmark, Corruption could be right up there with Zelda as the first phase of Wii classics emerge.