IGN talks with Retro Studios about the Wii-controlled finale to the Prime trilogy. Everything from game difficulty to visors and beams revealed.
by Matt Casamassina

    IGN Wii: Why the name Metroid Prime 3: Corruption?

    Mark Pacini: The idea behind the title is that in Prime 1 and Prime 2 we used Phazon as a way to explain what was happening on each planet. In Prime 1, the planet was corrupted by Phazon. In Prime 2, the Phazon caused the world to split into two on Aether. In Metroid Prime 3, we're trying to explain what the origins of Phazon were and it's the culmination of what this is all about. It's not only a story element - the Phazon and corruption which happen on a planetary scale - but it also happens in a gameplay sense as well. Samus herself gets corrupted by Phazon and actually begins to develop abilities based on that Phazon. So that's kind of why the game is titled Corruption. You yourself are becoming corrupted.

    IGN Wii: How specifically is Samus corrupted?

    Mark Pacini: After she becomes corrupted she is given the ability to kind of control that corruption. In previous games, as well as in Super Metroid, Samus had the ability toward the end of the game to go into a hyper mode. Well, now the player is going to have access to hyper mode throughout the game so that they can willingly go into hyper mode at any time based off of this Phazon ability. But the hyper mode serves as a pretty big game mechanic. On one hand, it gives you pretty powerful abilities. But on the other hand, it could kill you. So you have to manage that system as you're playing. When you initiate hyper mode, you actually have to balance how long you stay in it. At the price of being very powerful, you're also susceptible to possibly dying.


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