In 1994, Super Metroid was hailed one of the best games on the Super Nintendo and one of Nintendo's best games to date. At the time of its release, little did its fans know that they wouldn't see a Metroid console game for nearly nine years, or that it would stray so far from the original series. Nevertheless, Metroid Prime was branded not only the best game on GameCube and Retro Studios' greatest game, but also one of the greatest games ever. In 2004, the fans got the sequel they'd longed for in the form of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, and in May 2006, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption was born at E3, to be the last in the trilogy of Prime games.

Corruption takes place 6 months after Echoes and a year after the original Prime. The Galactic Federation, first featured in the Prime series in Echoes, has hired Samus Aran to aid them in the war against the Space Pirates, who have gained more knowledge and want for Phazon after recruiting Dark Samus for help, who has eventually taken over the Space Pirates' entire operation.

The game starts with a ships' log of a life-support system before an anomaly and corruption is detected, shutting down the log.  It is then revealed that Dark Samus has awoken, and that the life-support anomaly was detected in the game's heroine, Samus Aran. In Samus' ship, a foreign vessel, you are eventually cleared to enter the GFS Olympus, a Galactic Federation vessel. Watching the camera pan around Samus immediately brings to light the amazing improvement of the graphics between the very first Prime game and, five and a half years later, the very last.

The game gets you used to the controls straightaway: using the control stick to move Samus around, two Federation troopers ask you to calibrate your arm cannon by using the Wii Remote to point at four targets in front of the troopers and shooting at them. They're quite small, so it's a good exercise in learning how to be very precise with the Wii Remote. The next few rooms use even more Wiimote functionality, such as having to physically move and twist it to change a lock.

On the way through the game, you'll find many traditional features of the Prime series, such as many items and lore that need scanning, crates to blow up and a save station as well. One thing you'll have noticed by now that's heavily-featured in the game is voice acting, with the vast majority of people you'll have passed talking to you. With Samus being hired by the Federation, and some of its most authoritarian figures being in the game, this comes as no surprise. On another level it adds to the darker theme of the game, as Samus (voiced by Jennifer Hale as per usual) also lets out more than a few grunts every so often, and her face is also featured a lot more in Corruption (and yes, it's the same as Brawl this time).

After a short time, a sequence will begin when the plot is finally revealed. The Federation has also hired three other bounty hunters, and all four are introduced to an Aurora Unit, AU242, which informs you that a network of AUs is down due to a viral infection. Once you have been briefed, GFS Olympus is attacked by a Space Pirate vessel. On your way back to your gunship, you'll find plenty of Space Pirates, including a mob who immediately head to kill you once they see you, but not before powering down the station. As the plot continues on, things don't get any better, and every minute of the game ends up being as eventful as the last.

The graphics, as previously stated, are tremendous. At no point can they be faulted: Samus's suit is amazing, the human characters (and the not-so-human) have had every little detail perfected, and the worlds and regions are simply breathtaking. One in particular will make you feel as though you've jumped from an alien world right into something completely, and refreshingly, different.

Unlike in previous Metroid games, you won't have to pick up any "lost upgrades", as you won't actually lose any - the only upgrades are ones that you'll find on your way around, such as new beams, Energy Tanks, missile upgrades and so on. As well as that, you'll find a new visor, and another (available at the start) will be activated. There aren't any new suits this time around, though one upgrade, the Phazon Enhancement Device, does drastically change how your suit looks and is used.

Of course, holding hands like Superman and Kryptonite, it wouldn't be a Metroid Prime game without the useful-but-deadly substance that is Phazon. This has been seen quite a bit in the past two, but only now, at the end of the trilogy, is its real use put to the test. Samus needs to use Phazon with the PED in order to go into Hypermode, in which Samus can utilize the Phazon in her suit and body to create a giant beam of Phazon, critically damaging anything it touches. Of course, there is a catch: that includes Samus.

Throughout the entire game, Samus will become more and more corrupted by the Phazon running through her body. Near the end of the game, when you look on your visor's reflection at Samus's face, you'll be in for a shock, and you'll realise just how much it's damaging her. Even during Hypermode, if Samus spends too long using Phazon, it will corrupt her, and if you don't drain her body of it within five seconds, she will die. It's a lose-lose situation, because draining her of a full Phazon meter, as you would have to do, depletes an entire Energy Tank. It's no surprise, then, that throughout most of the game you'll be asking yourself if Samus is gonna make it to the end of the game.

The great thing about Corruption is that it'll last you a good long time, at least twenty hours, and that'll easily surpass thirty on the first play-through. There are two modes at the start, Normal and Veteran, as always followed by Hard Mode once you complete the game to a certain extent. Plus, there are unlockable extras outside of the game, which you'll be able to purchase after collecting a certain number of tokens in-game, which you can use outside (such as soundtrack) and inside (such as a neat little bobble-head Mii) the game.

Corruption is full of twists and turns, and at no point will you be able to guess what happens next. It's a thrilling end to the Metroid Prime trilogy, and what a pleasure it's been to have the series back on our consoles. There is no doubt whatsoever that Retro has made the perfect Metroid game here and, whereas it might have a smaller fanbase than Zelda or Mario, that certainly doesn't mean it's not as good.