Archive for August, 2007

16
Aug
07

Metroid Prime 3: Impressions

Corruption

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption…

If you’ve had a chance to play any of the Metroid games available, you have experienced the excitement of getting new abilities enabling you to do things such as: freeze an enemy in mid-air and use him as a platform to jump off of. You’ve also enjoyed the new power suits your main character acquires on her journeys. Upgrading/Getting new weapons is something a game player looks for as they play a new title. As you play through a game, generally there is an overarching mission above the rest, but in-between the time you start a new file and finish that final battle there must be incentive to keep the gamer satisfied enough, no matter where they are in the story – to keep them playing to the end. Metroid has been no exception in the past and clearly won’t be any exception in Corruption.

In a Spider-Man 3-esque story, the intergalactic bounty hunter, Samus Aran, has been infected with Metroid-like DNA. It gives her new abilities that instantly help the gamer but overtime corrupt her further and further. It’s still not clear if becoming fully corrupt is a bad thing because the game trailers make it look really fun. But in the trailer it does have a women’s voice saying that she is “becoming corrupted, and what scares her the most is, she likes it,” and it looks like for good reason. From some hands-on demos from sources like GameSpot.com we see that one of the fun advantages to being corrupted is called “hyper-mode” in which Samus infuses a capsule of metroid DNA into her suit. This makes her weapons extremely devastating and also speeds up her movements. It seems that while in hyper mode you have some vision impairment. Something that looks like tunnel vision begins edging into the screen. I suppose that’s a way of letting you know you’re becoming too corrupted.

One other new addition I will mention is the appearance of other hunters in the game. I haven’t played all the earlier Metroid games but one of the well-known things of the series is that you are sort of dropped right into the game without knowing much of what you are there to do and you are practically alone for the entire game . The atmosphere of the game seems designed many times to give you that feeling that you are the only “good guy” in the game. The addition I’m seeing in various trailers and gameplay videos is that other hunters will appear in the game. Now, I realize there is a Metroid game called “Metroid Prime: Hunters.” I haven’t played Hunters, but I can only assume you encounter other Hunters in the game. However, I believe this is a relatively new addition to the Metroid series and doesn’t look to be a bad one at all. Once in a while it’s nice to have a break from the intense combat of a game’s many anti-social enemies and have a “civilized” conversation with someone who can empathize with you.

Without regurgitating everything I have heard or seen about Metroid Prime 3 : Corruption, I’ll say this: it looks to be, possibly, one of the best Metroid games ever and certainly looks like the best Metroid Prime game of the series. Abilities such as the spider ball make a return, along with some awesome new suits. Meeting other hunters in the game looks like a nice, refreshing addition to the game. I believe this will be a big game for Wii fans and an important release for Nintendo. It comes out the 28th for the Wii. If you have one, and love action/adventure games, pick up a copy, and enjoy.

05
Aug
07

A New Gamer Blog Coming To a Monitor near you!

So…”We Need New Batteries”, what is it?

Basically, it is a blog directed toward gamers of any kind. The main focus of this blog is to give updates on games. We are not a big, well-known gaming website, so we don’t feel an obligation to report on every game that might exist. We’ll report on games that we look forward to and then some. Don’t worry, though – we’re not looking for the Nintendogs sequel or anything like that. Our gaming interests, for the most part, align with the standard. For an example, some of my favorite games to play right now are: Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Mario Galaxy, and Mass Effect.

But, since there are a million other sites that are receiving direct news as it is released, we realize we aren’t going to be a primary source for information. Beyond giving game updates, our focus is impressions from “your average gamer.” We don’t have any partnerships with companies or an advertising department to check with, so you won’t get a view that is coerced in any way.

Here, you’ll get impressions, reviews, information, links to more privileged gaming websites (with necessary credit attached) and just, basically, another resource to help you with your gaming inquiries.