SenseiJinx said:
Yeah, I've got to give it to them for really honing the level design this time around. It's honestly better put together than the first two Prime games. I think my problem lay in the fact that I really, really enjoyed those "plodding" moments in Prime 1 and 2. Prime 3 always felt a bit too urgent, and the way you're paths are presented to you gives less of a sense of exploration than the first two. I've got to say that Prime 3 was an improvement in so many ways, but I missed that sense of just being lost in this huge world.
Yeah, I can relate to this. I too enjoyed those plodding moments in the first two Prime games. Well, actually, I found the enemy placement in Echoes to just slow down things too much at times, but for the most part, these periods of down-time allowed us to really explore and come to grips with the alien landscapes. I think these moments still existed in Prime 3, just to a lesser extent. I mean, think about the times you explored Bryyo Cliffside, or Skytown, for example. You would still feel lost in these worlds, it was just that the transition from 'objective' to 'objective' (and I use this term really loosely when talking about Metroid games) was much more streamlined in Corruption.
In Prime or Echoes, you would collect an important item, and then typically have to traverse a long distance, often crossing several different parts of the planet, just to use this item in order to progress. Whereas in Corruption, the area in which to use this item was often much closer, or at least reaching the desired area was much easier. In simple terms, backtracking was cut down significantly. Progression was much quicker, much less 'tedious' in Corruption.
I guess it depends on personal preference. In my view, Corruption achieved a very good balance between exploration and progression, almost akin to the standards Super Metroid set years ago. Prime and Echoes' approach was quite a lot different - there was a lot more down time, which sounds bad but was actually a very commendable element of both games, as it brought you really close to Tallon IV and Aether and allowed for a sense of exploration that Corruption arguably didn't match. As I said, it depends on what you want from your Metroid, really. I love both.