It’s been a bumper year for great first-person titles, really. Having bought and consumed BioShock like a ravenous wolf in August and played through and enjoyed Halo 3 not so long ago (not to mention Call of Duty 4, which we’ve both been having great fun with and will be subject to Jay’s critical eye sometime very soon), it’s to the Wii’s own killer first-person app that we turn. The question most are asking, of course, is whether it lives up to not only the anticipation of Wii-owners starved of decent games, but also whether it matches up to the previous two Metroid Prime titles.

For those who’ve not been introduced to Samus and her antics, this game completes a trilogy of first-person Metroid titles that began way back with the GameCube original about half a decade ago. Taking place some six months after the events of the second title Echoes (of which you do not necessarily need to have played to understand the story, incidentally, although it would add a little colour to the palette), Samus finds herself waking up in her ship and allowing you to calibrate your controls by looking around your cockpit. Having done this, you arrive at a space station for what seems to be a straightforward meeting.

Things take a turn for the worse, of course, and suddenly Samus finds herself battling through the station and back to her ship. Having then landed on a nearby planet, Samus encounters her arch-nemesis Dark Samus and is corrupted by a rather large Phazon blast. Waking up a month later, Samus finds herself traversing the galaxy to stop Dark Samus from doing any more damage.

The main hook for Corruption is that Samus’ misfortune at the hands of her rival has inadvertently given her the ability to channel her own energy into her weaponry for a short period of time. Thus, tapping the + button will see the Phazon Enhancement Device (natty name, eh?) activated, giving Samus a short amount of invulnerability and extra-powerful shots to scatter enemies. The downside of all this is that if you let her have too much fun the Phazon corrupts her system and will kill her if you don’t vent her suit by mashing the A button. It’s a nice addition to proceedings and, when used effectively, is a devastating tool.

Elsewhere, not much of the core play mechanics have changed. Once more you’ll find yourself jumping, shooting and rolling yourself around various maps, getting yourself new items, tools or weapons that allow you to reach new areas. As with previous Prime titles, the pacing of finding and exploring new items feels just about perfect, and is something that allows the player to enjoy backtracking through levels to find newly reachable energy tanks, missile expansions and the like. Each level you reach is peppered with areas that open up once the player has been granted a new item or gun beam, so once you’ve got something new the temptation to trog back through previously conquered levels is too good an opportunity to pass up. It’s been the same way since Super Metroid, and it’s as good here as it ever has been.

That being said, there’s something that feels decidedly different about Corruption than with previous Metroid titles. Firstly, the game sees you interacting with characters throughout, which makes the environments much less lonely and desolate in a way. Having thoroughly enjoyed the desperately isolated feeling the some of the areas previous titles have given us, the focus shift from Samus going it alone and having the help of a supporting crew isn’t necessarily such a good thing.

This is amplified by Corruption having much more focused levels than before. The feeling one gets from travelling through the game is that the vast expanses and clustered networks of tunnels and areas that had gone before have been toned down this time around, and for a lot of the time you’re travelling from one objective to the next through a number of enclosed areas. That’s not to say there’s not the scope for exploration as there’re still plenty of morph ball hidey-holes to zoom around and paths to open up; it’s just that this time the levels feel rather more constrained then before.

Heck, if we’re going to be all negative then it’s best we get the game’s only other main gripe out of the way too. As with the previous Prime titles, the game allows you to flick to a scan visor so you can aim a crosshair over items, doors, enemies and whatnot to gain extra information on them and in some cases log their details in your logbook. The problem is that there’s so much to scan, most of it which is useless, that you end up having to walk around with the scan visor pretty much on all the time, which puts you on the back foot when you’re ambushed. The reward for scanning items is a more complete ending, but the sheer effort of having to scan pretty much everything you come across on your journey makes it a laborious task.

Obviously, anyone with half a mind on the rather clumsy Red Steel or the rather poor Far Cry will be wondering about the way the Wii controls handle things. Luckily, the immediate thing that hits you about Corruption is just how well the control system works. Movement is mapped to the Nunchuck whilst your Wii-mote allows you to angle Samus’ gun around and look about, and after a couple of introductory tasks and a few battles things click into gear very smoothly. The accuracy and sensitivity of the Wii-mote is something that really shines through, allowing you to zip your crosshairs across the screen and take out enemies left, right and centre without mishap.

The fun isn’t just concentrated on the shooting, either. Coming across the Grapple Lasso sees you having to swish the Nunchuck forward and back to rip enemies’ shields off or remove blockages from doors and passages, whilst the odd door requires you to use a lever by pulling back the Wii-mote, twisting it and pushing it forward again. It all goes to making you feel completely involved with proceedings, and it’s a tribute to Retro and Nintendo that they’ve been able to manage all this in without the merest hint of annoyance for the player.

The Wii’s pixel pushing has also been given a bit of a stretch, with vibrant colours and all kinds of different scenery throughout the game. Whilst it’s certainly not a match for the graphical prowess of the titles mentioned in the opening paragraph, it’s fair to say that Corruption is the prettiest Wii game to date and it goes to show that there’s a fair bit more ticking away under the hood than most gives the machine credit for. All this paints the pictures for a sweeping and at times menacing soundtrack, which adds a whole level of atmosphere throughout.

Despite the quibbles and moans, the whole thing buttons together very nicely indeed. It’s one of those games that leaves you with an immense sense of satisfaction upon completion due to keeping you on tenterhooks throughout, always rewarding you with a new item or weapon at just the right moment, and never ceasing to find little set pieces or boss battles that will have you grinning like a maniac. If you’ve not got a Wii then this is a pretty good excuse, and despite a certain fat Italian plumber rumbling along on the horizon it’s safe to say that the end of Samus’ trilogy will stand proud this winter as one of the finest titles on the market. Let’s hope she comes back before too long, eh?