Not Ready For Prime Time?

I puchased Metroid Prime 3. Before I tell you about my experience with the game, I should first brief you on my history with the Metroid Prime series: I have very little history with the Metroid Prime series. Here's the extent of it: Long ago, I bought a used copy of the first Metroid Prime game and played it for a little while, until the game freaked out... the disc was a little scuffed up, which I had shrugged off, but now those little scratches and imperfections had prevented me from advancing. So I borrowed my friends copy of the game, figuring I could just continue with my save data and his disc, but the problem was that I also borrowed the brilliant Shadow of the Colossus at the same time, and decided to play that first. Of course I got swept away into the wonderful world of Colossus, and by the time I had finished with it (note: "finished with it" does not equal "beat the game" in this case, sadly), I had pretty much entirely forgotten about Metroid Prime. My friend's copy of the game is still sitting in my room, staring at me with its dead eyes.

But before all that happened, I had really been enjoying my experience with the Metroid game. I was really impressed at how the spirit of the classic Metroid series had been faithfully translated into this crazy first-person game. So I had been excited to enter that world again on my Wii.

The first thing I noticed about the game was that it was going to take a LOT of getting used to, control wise. I spent the first hour or so bumping into walls, spinning around, and generally having a tough time. Even at the worst of times though, I acknowledged that this was my fault, not the game's. Still, for a period of time long enough to freak me out, the experience was more frustrating than fun.

It didn't help that the very beginning of the game is extremely action-heavy. I participated in many battles with Space Pirates in wide-open arenas, with comrades fighting by my side. Not exactly the scenario you expect to encounter when you pop in a Metroid game. I want my Metroid experience to be dark, solitary, and focused more on exploration than combat.

I got my wish soon enough. Moments from when I touched down on the planet of Bryyo and began exploring, those wonderful old Metroid feelings came rushing back. I wandered around, confused and frustrated, looking for means by which to advance and finding nothing, and I loved it. Metroid!!! Somewhere along the way, I got a little bit better at the control scheme, but I don't think I've completely mastered it yet. Hopefully I will before things get too tough.

I really enjoy the game's scanning function. When I have no idea what to do or where to go, it's nice to be able to just relax a moment and scan everything in sight, searching for clues. It fits in really well with the feel of a Metroid game, and it has helped me many times.

So, I am currently in the Fire region of the Bryyo planet, and I made my way to the arena in which I am to fight the boss. Two spaceships circled around me, sending a couple of waves of Space Pirates down to fuck my shit up. I took care of them fairly easily, and then the boss emerged: My ice-themed bounty hunting colleague, who I suppose is bad now. Unfortunately, as soon as his entrance cutscene was finished, the game totally bugged out on me. The screen went black, as it normally does when transitioning from a cutscene back to real-time action, except this time it stayed black. I sat there patiently for a moment, hoping it was just an extraordinarily long load time, and then the Wii reset itself, bringing me back to the system's main menu screen. The disc channel had the default image showing, as if there were no disc in it. I clicked on it, and the Metroid 3 screen did finally load up, but I decided not to have another go at it right then.

Luckily, I saved right before the boss battle, but I'm worried. I hope that was some kind of isolated spazz-out, and not a fucked up bug that won't allow me to advance. I've read reports of people getting buggy Metroid discs, so I'm a bit worried. Oh well, at least that would be consistent with my previous Metroid Prime experiences.

Stay tuned...