Iun steps behind Samus' visor for our comprehensive review of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.

Spoiler-free: N-Europe is confident that although small pieces of gameplay information are contained within, there are no major plot or character spoilers that will spoil your enjoyment of the game.

From the very first Metroid on the NES, the series has been one of the benchmarks of gameplay for hardcore gamers. By turns amazing, by others fiendishly difficult, the series has proved itself to be a worthy legacy left by its creator, Gunpei Yokoi.

Building on the foundations of the previously critically lauded games, Metroid Prime 3 Corruption is a prime (excuse the pun) example of the old adage "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". The game follows the same formula as before, but this time it's bigger, bolder and a heck of a lot better. Not fixed certainly, but it has some pretty cool new features that really set this apart from the previous iterations. The much-vaunted control system is just one in a near endless list of upgrades that turns this into the greatest Metroid game ever and a fitting swansong for Retro Studios' involvement with the series.

But the game is not perfect, so before I start to gush about how wonderful everything is, let me set you straight on a few things:

The biggest noticeable issue for this game is the scattered effectiveness of the weapons at your disposal. In particular, the lock-on system is intensely frustrating. To have the Wiimote cursor automatically shift dead centre on the target would be impractical with the fluid controls. But the irritating fact that your shots do not track your target makes the inclusion of the lock-on function somewhat redundant. Even the missiles – which boast the ability to seek out your locked on enemies miss far more often than they hit either due to the counter measures used by the enemies or the fact that it's just a sloppily executed feature.

Freezing missiles only immobilise extremely weak targets on the occasions that they do hit and the fact that you have to fire a single shot to begin charging your cannon or deplete a missile round to set up a multi-target assault still often robs you of the element of surprise.

But these are only niggles in the grand scheme of things and really do not prove to be deal-breakers in the long run. However, while we are on the subject of criticisms we have to say a word on the graphics, which are in all honesty, disappointing. We are frequently reminded by detractors, critics, members of opposing factions and indeed anyone with a pair of eyes that the Wii is physically less powerful than its competitors. Even so, I cannot help but feel that a little more effort could have been made on the part of the developers. The graphics are just too inconsistent to be noteworthy. For every super-skilfully beautiful arm-cannon shot you fire, there will be something to remind you that the Wii is not strong on graphics.

Textures are often blocky, smudged and downright dirty looking. Standard effects are generally no better than those on the previous games and sometimes even appear to be worse.

Fortunately those are the major criticisms out of the way, and there is much to be praised in this game. The boss battles in particular are to be savoured and have always been an outstanding feature in the Metroid Prime series, and this game will not disappoint you. These guardians range from gargantuan screen-filling leviathans to the small and annoyingly agile variety that require tactical changes every few seconds to effectively defeat. Sub-bosses are just as nigglesome and well-protected as their larger counterparts and demand total concentration and a perfect mastery of the controls to keep you moving.

It is indeed the controls that make this game truly exceptional. The combination of the Wii Remote and Nunchuk working together not only produces a credible alternative but –dare I say it, an actual improvement on the mouse and keyboard setup that has for so long been the ace in the hole of the PC gamer. The Wii remote acts as the arm cannon and directional control within an invisible bounding box to allow the player to turn. Accuracy can be adjusted to a frightening degree allowing you to target enemies and objects with a precision hitherto unseen on a console game.

The nunchuk provides forward motion with the analogue stick and through this you also control the morphball in some surprisingly fun moments. In the previous games the morphball sections elicited an unrestrained groan of frustrated boredom from myself and a multitude of gamers. But these sections are now actually not just fun but interesting too. The death defying physics involved are exciting and there is now a tangible sense of pleasure in negotiating the various traps and twists of the complicated puzzles.

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The excellence of the controls is complimented by the strong context-sensitive actions in the game. Some puzzles will see you twisting and turning; others lifting and replacing and sometimes you get to weld circuit boards. All of these actions are never anything less than extremely well done, and their effectiveness has shown that true precision in the motion control system is possible. Unlike in other games, these actions don't feel tacked-on – the game would truly be weaker without them, and it shows a great sense of creativity in Retro as they have honestly put a lot of thought into this.

The levels also show the hallmarks of intelligent design and are generally much better done than in the other games. Backtracking, so much so the driving force in the Metroid series is kept to the necessary minimum, and when you do backtrack you are rewarded handsomely. Gone are the vast sections that need to be explored to progress, but serve no other purpose than giving you the means to go back an hour and unlock a door. Now there is quick travel and some levels are circularly designed so that instead of going back the way you came you have a new complete area to explore immediately.

And this I feel is an incredibly important point for gamers who were put off by the heavily involved gameplay style that was present before. That is not to say that there is no fan service and not enough for the hardcore, but these aspects are perfectly balanced with new and better systems that raise everything to a much higher level.

In addition to the scan visor, there are two more visors that aid you. The X-Ray Visor means that you can scan through certain sections of wall plating to see what is beyond. This also serves as a useful means of determining viable exit points or secret locations when the clutter of the screen is reduced to a gorgeous blue effect. However, the X-Ray Visor is also an incredibly contrived piece of equipment: it is obvious when you need to use it and there are normally only two possibilities of solving any puzzle with it. There is one clever boss battle where it is used, but in truth the Scan Visor does such a good job that it seems unnecessary to replace it. Plus the X-Ray Visor is acquired so late in the game that it doesn't really have a chance to make an impact.

The same cannot be said of the Command Visor that allows you to call down your ship to certain pre-determined points on the map. There are a number of uses for this, but the most important is as a portable save station in certain areas. In Metroid Prime and Echoes the backtracking element often led you to wander for a very long and exposed time to the nearest save station to cement your possession of the newest weapon in your arsenal. Not so any more. With the ship to back you up, you really feel involved in Samus' game, and though it could be said that this lowers the difficulty somewhat, it's a worthy trade-off.

Samus can also use her gunship to make a strafing run over certain targets to open up blocked sections, and the ammo capacity can be increased in a nice touch that is pretty much irrelevant as the ship is pretty much capable of blasting a hole in anything that isn't shielded. The other main use is to grapple and move heavy objects, which proves vital in the later game and is also the cause of some challenging mysteries that will have you frowning with frustration as you work out the right sequence of drops – and keenly feel the loss of your portable save station, as while the ship is carrying things, you cannot enter it as it hovers above the grappled target.

Another boost to the whole experience is not having to re-collect all your lost power-ups as the game progress. When you begin you have everything you need to start exploring the world around you, and the subsequent power-ups mostly just enhance your current abilities instead of giving you a new toy to play with. Notable additions are the grapple beam that allows you to pull off certain panels, enemy armour and obstructions. This is all done with a smooth whip of the nunchuk and it feels really satisfying when you get it right.

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Graphically, as has been previously stated, the game is a mixed bag. But generally you will be amazed by the level of detail gone into by Retro, this is by far the best looking game on the Wii to date. It's the little touches that are best expressed in the series, like the incandescent glowing of your arm cannon as you power up a charged shot, or the perfectly animated water droplets that appear on the outside of the visor. I defy anyone not to double take at moments like this, I was personally extremely worried that my expensive television had water on it, but getting up to wipe the screen I saw it evaporate in front of my eyes. The size and scope of the bosses cannot be overstated, and though the individual battles are not as memorable as fighting against the Mutant Plant Flaaghra, the overall experience is a much better one with a consistent level of difficulty and a gentle but wonderful learning curve with the tactics needed to succeed. A word has to be said on the canned ship animations which cover up loading one world to another. These scenes are just boring and after the first few times end up being a nuisance. Some kind of minigame here would have been a nice addition.

Sound-wise the Metroid is just as good as it has ever been with some fantastically atmospheric tracks that never really intrude on the game but instead perfectly complement it. Some might lament the lack of a sweeping orchestral score, but this would interfere rather than improve things. The sound effects are also very well done, with meaty sounds from your weapons and explosions all done very well. There is nothing remarkable about the sound, but that is just dandy as it does an excellent job.

The story of the game is instantly forgettable – some guff about meteors and threats to all life as we know it. But then again, Mario has never had much of a story and he has managed successfully so far. The plot is hackneyed and does no more than create a basic frame of reference for why you are doing what you are doing now, though it has to be said the voice acting is superb. What is more fun is piecing together the history of what has led up to these events through scanned logs and snippets of information you get from other characters. This is a much more satisfying way of fleshing out the story and it gives you the chance to find out how much or how little you want to about the planets you are on.

On this note, the game is a completionists' paradise with hundreds of items to scan and logbook entries to be discovered and alternative endings are available for those who want to put the extra effort in. For some people the journey itself will be enough to justify the investment of time and care, for others a slavish devotion to that 100% mark will drive you to the point of distraction.

In terms of length, the game is comparable to Prime and Echoes, clocking in at less than 20 hours overall, and there are extras that can be bought with tokens that you are given in game. With these you can unlock concept galleries, songs and extra features for the gunship. None of these really add that much to the game and it should be noted that anyone without an internet connection for their Wii is going to be disappointed as without friend vouchers from other consoles you cannot unlock the cooler stuff. In fact, people with an internet connection will be disappointed also, especially if they were foolishly hoping for a multiplayer deathmatch. An online system would really give nothing to the package and would probably taint the game, so it certainly loses no marks for not trying.

Let's face it though, the Metroid Prime series is far more suited to solo play. And Hunters on the DS notwithstanding, the atmosphere is so much better on your own with this game, no-one needs a bunch of sweaty teenage berks screaming out "Boom! Headshot" in their ears while they enjoy the sublime beauty of the world.

This game is beyond any shadow of a doubt the best game in the whole of the Metroid series bar none, but I say that with a touch of sadness as Retro apparently have no plans to continue working on the project. Which is a massive shame as they finally seem to have nailed the formula for making Prime great. Time and sales will tell whether or not the studio can be tempted back into making the games, but for the time being Metroid Prime 3 is the best reason to own a Wii if you are into games that you can play on your own. At almost every turn you will find something new – a clever puzzle, a graphical quirk that will leave you staring for a moment or simply something you never saw before. Sure, once it's over you won't be coming back again for a month or so, but while it's happening, it's the best ride you'll go on for a long, long time.

Leave us a comment below - our final scores for the title can be found just underneath.

Also, watch out for our spoilerific Video Review of the title, online soon.