Metroid Prime Trilogy Collectors Edition
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption set a new standard for first-person motion controls in video games. Now it’s bringing those controls to the rest of the celebrated series, allowing you to experience the entire Metroid Prime story arc with the peerless precision of the Wii Remote. Nintendo announces Metroid Prime Trilogy, a new premium three-game collection for the Wii console that bundles all three landmark Metroid Prime games onto one disc and revamps the first two installments with intuitive Wii Remote controls, wide-screen presentation and other enhancements.
Each game maintains its original storyline and settings, but now Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes let’s you use your Wii Remote to aim with precision as heroine Samus Aran. Based on the breakthrough control system that debuted in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, these new Wii controls bring an entirely new level of immersion and freedom to these milestone games.
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Amazing deal
Most people that read this will already know that Metroid Prime Trilogy includes 3 of the very best games released in the last 10 years. For those of you that aren’t aware of the quality, ill brief you; Metroid is one of Nintendo’s classic franchises, right up there with Mario and Zelda. The Metroid Prime sub-series is a recreation of the classic 2D games into the 3rd dimension. In other words, if you haven’t played a Metroid (Prime) game, you aren’t a true gamer. Finally, the controls. MP3 Corruption revolutionized FPS controls, offering smooth, quick, and responsive aiming. You point, and you shoot, its that simple. That control scheme has been introduced to Prime and Echoes, and their all the better for it.
Now that everyone knows that the games are some of the best EVER made, ill get to the bulk of my review, which is more of a comparison. Ill compare the original games vs the version included in MPT.
—————Game Content
Prime – Im comparing the MPT version with the 2nd Edition, or Players Choice version.
–Widescreen – First of all, MPT offers all 3 games in a widescreen display. The method to achieve this, however, wasn’t all that great. The developers zoomed in and cropped the image to present a widescreen mode. During game play you’ll hardly notice it (in fact you probably wont), but some cut scenes (maybe 20% of them) looks oddly choreographed, with half of Samus’s helmet being cut off.
–Graphics – MPT offers Prime in 480p and some graphical and technical refinements. You get bloom lighting covering ever light source, a subtle and nary noticeable touch. It creates a sort of blur around lights, as well as some better depth effects. 480p makes everything a tad sharper and more colorful. Lines and sharp details are more obvious and theres deeper colors. The best update is probably the locked 60fps. The game is VERY fluid, and no matter how much stuff is going on on-screen, the game never hiccups. Also, Retro has replaces some textures with high res models. It basically means that the games textures look much better and more modern.
The is NO dynamic water effects however. That means that instead of liquids reacting realistically to movement, its all static. The beam effects are also removed.
–Other – All of the games Lore is now that of the European release (PAL). The original release had to different versions of Lore, each varying with the region released. Also, when activating the pause menu, your given the amount of items collected and lore scanned. Load times do NOT exist in this game. You will NEVER be waiting for a door to open. Its a huge difference from that of the GC release.
Echoes – Echoes has no region different version, unlike Prime.
–Widescreen – Just like Prime, its an odd widescreen mode. However, unlike Prime, none of the cut scenes appear cropped, and the games looks better and more polished because of it. The multilayer portion of the game is now in the main menu, and its only available in widescreen if 3 or more players are playing. The game produces black and green bars to recreate a 4:3 mode if only 2 players are involved.
–Graphics – Echoes has no bloom or replaced textures, but it still looks better than Prime. Character models are much more detailed. The graphics differences aren’t all that noticeable is comparing screen shots, but if you play the games sequentially, its a viable difference. The game also has a 480p mode, and offers all the same benefits as that of Primes 480p. Echoes does stutter and drop from 60fps more often than Prime though. Where as Prime would drop frames once every 2-3 hours, Echoes stutters 3 times more often. I’m just nitpicking 
–Other – Like Prime, when activating the pause menu, your given the amount of items collected and lore scanned. Load times are also cut, but not to the extent of Prime.
Corruption – The only game originally released on Wii, is also a single version, like Echoes.
–Widescreen – Corruption is the only game in MPT that has a real widescreen mode, no cropping used.
–Graphics – Easily the most impressive looking game on the disc, Corruption has the best detail and effects of all the games. Being designed on the Wii exclusively really shows. Larger areas, more enemies, more detail, better effects, etc. While the graphical leap from Prime to Echoes was nice, Corruption is the only title that the naked eye will see major differences. The frame-rate dips about as much as Echoes.
Other chances in general (not limited to MP3) – MPT has a new menu system, a “new” token system (its taken from Corruption and half-heartedly implemented into Prime and Echoes), and unlock able content is bought using said tokens, instead of scanning X% of items/lore/creatures. Prime and Echoes both have a new difficultly mode, “Hypermode”. Previous versions had Normal and Hard difficulties, those are now replaced with Normal and Veteran respectively. Hypermode is the 3rd and hardest mode. Changes to visor and helmet opacity are now only available in game, and cannot be adjusted in the main menu. Boost Ball aiming is not included in any game, MP3 included.
NOTE – I had Corruption prior to MPT, and i played in 480i on a 4:3 CRT TV. The game never once hiccuped, staying at a solid 60fps. If your playing MPT in 480i, chances are you will never see any of the games drop from 60fps.
——————Packaging
MPT comes in an awesome steel book casing. Its a metallic tin instead of a simple white plastic as in most Wii games. It also includes a slip cover and a fold out booklet, highlighting the Prime sub-series storyline and including some concept art.
As is obvious, MPT is an amazing deal for $50. You get 3 of the best games of the last decade, all on one disc and packaged in an awesome steel book case. While i thoroughly enjoyed the games twice each over, i couldn’t help but feel that so much more could have been done. Why wasn’t the superior HUD and Map design of MP3 be implemented into Prime and Echoes? Why was there no new content included? No new modes, galleries, or bonus material. Regardless of the missed opportunity, MPT is one amazing deal that every Wii owner should have in there collection.
4 Stars Superb game, with one kink.
Being a Metroid Prime fan, I naturally fell in love with this set of three games. I really love the fact that the Wii controllers are used to aim your arm cannon at any point on the screen. It is also a good purchase financially: you get three games for $50, which is the same price as the third game by itself. However, there is a downside. Nintendo said that they fixed a bug when the doors won’t open even when you tried to shoot them open (or at least that is what I heard on the trailers). This isn’t the case at least for Metroid Prime III. I can’t say for the first two because I never played them from this trilogy set. It is quite irksome bug, but I still love this game, hence the four stars instead of five for the overall game. I do have a suggestion that helped me overcome the bug with the doors refusing to open sometimes. Hold down the fire button to charge your weapon while you practically touching the door. Sometimes that works, sometimes you just need to move around the door for a little bit. Also, try to shoot the door when you are not too close, but also not too far. But if this still annoys you, try to think of it this way: while you are on the derelict ships, the door may be malfunctioning! Helped me get over it. 
5 Stars The greatest game of all time?
A good question that deserved deliberation. With all three top rated games in one package for less than $50.
5 Stars Metroid Prime Trilogy
The basis for all three games is the same, find weapons and upgrades to explore a world (or more in Corruption) and save it from disaster. The games are all linked together in a loose yet sensible way. The Wii remote revamp is about flawless along with the controls. The scenery is gorgious and enthralling. There are numerous upgrades that reward an explorative mind while giving the main objective of the game some depth and difficulty. The graphics compliment the look and feel of the worlds and could not be better suited. The games are epic, and everything about them helps that feeling, including the music. Even though the general basis for the games are all similar, the creative stories and innovations make each installation its own masterpiece. I can’t think of anything to imporve about these. Great Job!
4 Stars Best Game in a Long Time
I love this game! Three of the best Metroid titles ever rolled into one. Controls take a little getting used to, and the in-game menu is a little confusing. Sometimes it’s tough to figure out what to do next, but what’s a good game without some challenges? Love the tons of bonus content that comes with it, and the stuff you have to unlock too. Overall, I am very satisfied with this game, and I would recommend it to anyone.
