Metroid Prime Trilogy is made up of the original Metroid Prime released in 2002 on the Gamecube and followed by Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. Both were highly acclaimed games. The final game of the three is Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, which was released in 2007 on the Wii. The earlier two have now been reworked for the Wii and repackaged with the third as a trilogy.

The game story revolves around the fortunes of Samus, a bounty hunter, and her battles with the Space Pirates and their allies. One of the features of the series has always been the strong storyline, and having them together as a back to back package allows players follow it from beginning to end.

Nintendo promotes the game as an action adventure. In effect, it is a shooter with interactive puzzles and challenges. Thrown into the mix are some RPG elements, where you upgrade weapon levels. This results in a combination which delivers a solid, immersive gaming experience.

As Samus you are encased in a suit of armour which has one arm dedicated to a weapon harness, while the other is capable of grappling. The weapon arm can be charged up for a harder hit effect, and you can also add rockets as a secondary weapon. The grapple can be used to pull objects out of the way or tear down your opponents' shields. The suit also allows you to morph into a rolling ball that can access areas you would not otherwise be able to reach. While in ball form you can lay mines, some of which allow you to detonate for a jump effect. As a ball you also move a lot faster than in normal armoured mode.

The adventure portion of the game is all about working out which lever, button or control unit will unlock or open up the next area. Most of these are relatively easy to do, while some can be a bit more challenging. The Wii control system comes into its own during this aspect of the game. You can get your armoured glove to punch in keys, align dials, and pull, twist and push levels. Some can be a bit fiddly at times but overall it works well.

Combats consists of speed and accuracy. There is no sneak and snipe here but rather quick sideways movements to avoid incoming, plus fast and accurate return fire. Most kills require multiple shots so battles can be quite protracted. You need to keep an eye on your health and power bar while also looking out for charge up globes.

At the end of each level there are boss encounters. These can be quite inventive and involve aiming for a weak spot (often highlighted), whilst at the same time dodging the combination of weapons being fired back at you. Some you have to jump over, while others you need to just plain run away from. Boss battles can be quite challenging and quite drawn out. Luckily there is usually a save point to be discovered prior to the boss encounter.

The graphics for the earlier games have been tweaked for the new platform and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes has had the difficulty reduced (it was unreasonably difficult at its original release). Overall the effect is not too bad, with some reasonable textures and weapon effects; it's about the best you can milk out of the console. One frustrating aspect is how the fire button is the same as the talk button. Although you can't aggravate a friendly player by shooting them, it can still be frustrating and it takes away from what is essentially an excellent control scheme.

Metroid Prime Trilogy is a decent trio of games, but playing through them you can't help but make comparisons with other science fiction based shooters. Most have an adventure element as well (maybe not as much as Metroid) and you wonder how much better this game would have been if it was released on a more graphics-intensive platform. If all you ever played was the Wii then this is a great investment, but the Wii is not the most ideal platform for this genre.

The morph ball effect - although a novelty at times - feels like you are slipping into a platform game. It's an odd combination and instead of feeling integral to the game at times it feels like this sequence was slipped in for the sake of it.

Overall Metroid Prime Trilogy is good value for money and something we would thoroughly recommend to any Wii owner. It's fun to play and has some challenging elements that set it apart from being 'just another shooter'.