G4TV’s Sessler pans Corruption controls
Thursday, October 11th, 2007 at 8:53am by Derek
While the tension of Samus Aran’s latest battle with the Mother Brain is still tantalizing the gamer nerve, and while the epic conclusion of the tale of universal phazon corruption is still fresh in the memory, dust off that GameCube controller and give the original Metroid Prime a spin.
Really, go ahead.
Loaded up? Wonderful. Now blast through the introductory space station for a moment; if there is one thing the original Prime holds over the latest, this is it. The eerie desolation and incomparable alienation of exploring this dilapidated Space Pirate vessel still manages to thrill five years after its release, and is a far better – and more suitable, considering the franchise – starting point for Samus Aran and her Metroid-blasting space exploration.
Finish off a few wounded Space Pirates? Excellent. Roll through some twisted corridors? Great. Exterminate the Parasite Queen and escape the detonating orbiter? Nice. For the few who have fought the urge to delve deeper into the spectacular locales of Tallon IV, and have instead continued reading, eject the disc and restart the console. Don’t worry; it will be just as dreary and rainy at the Landing Site next time.
Now get modern. Sync a Wii remote and boot up Samus’ latest adventure, Metroid Prime 3. Defend the Federation Base and assassinate the Berserker Lord, if you must. It’s completely understandable.
Back yet? Good. The moment the camera shifted behind Samus’ visor for the first time in the original Metroid Prime, something striking should have been immediately evident and painfully obvious. If not, it should certainly be so after killing a few Space Pirates in Corruption:
The Wii remote and Samus Aran were made for each other.
And as terrific as the first two Metroid Prime games are, controlling Samus with a GameCube controller has become incredibly troublesome by comparison. In Corruption, she is the quick, nimble, sharp-shooting bounty hunter gamers have always imagined her to be. But on Tallon IV and Echoes’ Aether, Samus feels as though her Varia Suit weighs a few hundred pounds; she is sluggish, her aiming is inaccurate, and perhaps most importantly, she has a hard time simply looking around.
This is not a damnation of the GameCube iterations of Metroid. Rather, it is a testament to the truly revolutionary controls of Corruption. Gamers can argue to a stalemate over whether or not it is a better complete package on Wii than Twilight Princess, but one thing is certain: Corruption is the first Wii title to render traditional control methods obsolete. Popping off Space Pirates has never been easier, and Samus’ arm cannon has never been more accurate. The Wiimote allows for pixel-perfect Metroid-hunting precision, and paired with the nunchuk, it offers the first FP(S) console setup to rival traditional keyboard-and-mouse PC controls. Ever.
A review at GameTrailers.com raves that Metroid Prime 3 “proves that there is no better control option on any console” for first-person gaming. IGN’s Matt Casamassina took the praise a step further, claiming that Corruption’s controls “respond quicker and with more precision than any dual-analog-helmed FPS ever created.”
But perhaps it was Infendo’s own overlord Blake Snow who said it best in the September 2 edition of Infendo Radio: Corruption “makes dual thumb-sticks retarded.”
Truer words would be difficult to muster, and their application is not exclusive to Metroid games. Play some other console-based FPS games; dig up the very best, even. Power up some nuclear reactors and turn on an Xbox 360 for some Gears of War, Bioshock or Halo 3. A few irritating minutes of aiming-by-thumb proves irrefutably that despite all these spectacular games do well, their controls are by comparison…oh, what’s the word…
“Retarded.”
Corruption has proven a point: there is no better console for first-person gaming than Wii. Developers have taken note of what Retro Studios achieved and are already implementing comparable controls into their projects. The result is a potentially bright future for shooters on Wii littered with some of the tightest-controlling FPS games sans mouse-clicking, most notably Electronic Arts’ increasingly hyped November release, Medal of Honor: Heroes 2.
And it’s all because of the Wii remote.
But last week, viewers of the tech-centric television channel G4 were told something very different. On the gaming-based X-Play, host Adam Sessler reviewed Metroid Prime 3 almost two months after it hit store shelves. The long delay in Sessler’s review itself may have been enough to convey his thoughts on the game, if not for the regularity of such unpunctual review patterns on G4.
Sessler began by calling Corruption a “do-or-die game for the Wii.”
Perhaps Sessler is merely pointing out the struggles the Wii is having to eclipse 20 million hardware sales in one calendar year. Or maybe he is alluding to the fact that the Wii has outsold the PS3 at a mere 3-to-1 worldwide ratio, failing to reach the more coveted 4-to-1 sales figures.
Or, of course, he could just be incredibly off-base. Just maybe. And as strange as his opening statement seemed, the state of his review experienced a sharp decline as he addressed the controls.
“You can’t help but shake the feeling that this game would actually be easier to control competently with the GameCube controller,” said Sessler. “Unfortunately, that simply isn’t an option.”
Adam Sessler is an experienced journalist. Of course, he never actually went to school for journalism, but to his credit, he has been involved with the gaming media for nearly a decade. Yet his comments spawn an inescapable desire to contend that he may well have never even played the game. Because in journalism, a true student of the profession plays games before reviewing them. In the case of Corruption, it may have also been prudent to play through the first two Primes for direct comparison, considering that the new Metroid is built entirely around a new control scheme.
Rather, it seems as though Sessler paid Corruption the most minimal attention, perhaps not even bothering to adjust reticule sensitivity, before jumping in front of the camera to announce his verdict. It would seem there is no better explanation for his unfounded arguments.
Think back a few minutes to the awkward stiffness of controlling Samus through the Space Pirate station with a GameCube controller. Fast-forward to the liberating feeling of pointer-based control, and how firing shots at Dark Samus with anything but seems entirely archaic. Of course, video games are subjective and cater specifically to the individual tastes and interests of the gamer. But to honestly suggest that Samus fared better with a C-stick, and fault Corruption for not including such a dated option, is absolutely absurd.
Of course, we shouldn’t doubt Sessler’s integrity. His reports have always been fiercely astute pieces of objective and professional journalism, as evident later in his review, when Sessler warns about the physical trauma possible in extended sessions of Corruption.
“The last time I got wrist cramps this bad,” warns Sessler, “I had just purchased Charmed season four on DVD, if you know what I mean. God, that was a good 30 minutes.”
Ah, such is the essence of journalistic integrity.
October 11th, 2007 at 9:17 am
Dude, no one cares what Adam Sessler says. No one cares about G4TV. Why are you watching him?
October 11th, 2007 at 9:20 am
Prime 3’s control scheme is a masterpiece, but comparing it to Prime 1 and 2 is a problem because those control schemes were already pretty weird to begin with. I actually just finished replaying Prime 2 directly after playing Prime 3 and I can tell you that it is infuriating to not be able to move and aim at the same time. The older Prime games are awesome, but they would be better suited to a dual thumb stick control scheme. I realize that everyone here will yell at me for suggesting that, but there’s just a lot of unneeded convolution with the older Prime control schemes.
October 11th, 2007 at 9:29 am
This is a great article, Derek. One of the best I’ve ever read on Infendo. Keep it comin’.
October 11th, 2007 at 9:34 am
Yeah, no one watches that show anymore. Especially after Kate Botello left and they replaced her with a girl who obviously did not play video games.
Sessler doesn’t like MP3 cause the more he moves the controller around, the more hair he loses.
October 11th, 2007 at 9:36 am
First of all, G4 is a terrible channel. I personally feel that being a fan of the kind of games Nintendo makes, they do not cater to my mind-set whatsoever. Seriously, anyone who can make it through an episode of Attack of the Show without feeling like they’ve become a little more stupid must not have been really paying attention, which is probably a good idea. I honestly don’t know the kind of person this channel caters to, I don’t enjoy any of the hosts of their shows, in all of their smart-assery. Oh, aren’t they so clever? NO.
(That applies to their original programming, anyway. I do enjoy Ninja Warrior and Arrested Development. And Code Monkeys is cute. But just the randomness of the channel shows that they have no coherence to programming)
But anyway, I digress. I’ve never really had a big issue with the original Metroid Prime controls, I can’t think of a moment where I blamed a problem on the controls, rather than saying, I just need to try that again and eventually get used to the controls. But honestly, how could you even suggest for a MOMENT that the Wii controls aren’t vastly improved? I agree, that’s just nonsense.
This just makes me feel better about my disdain for G4…
October 11th, 2007 at 9:46 am
A bit harsh, don’t you think? As with any review, personal preference comes into play.
Some people simply prefer to use dual analogs for their FPS experiences, much like primitive cave-dwellers prefered to stay in the familiar shadows of their caves (while all the hot cave-chicks frolicked in the sunny meadows and orchards, playing casual games of “find the strawberry”).
There is nothing wrong with dual analog controls. As any true gamer will tell you, just because traditional dual analog FPS controls are slower, less accurate, and harder to learn than the Wii equivalent doesn’t make them “bad”. If a couple of reviewers don’t like the Wii control scheme, let them stay in their cave a while longer.
October 11th, 2007 at 9:46 am
That’s sad to hear. Metroid Prime 3 offered the most natural and intuitive controlling first person shooter I’ve felt yet. Every shot I took landed where I intended it to and I didn’t waste my time trying desperately to line up my reticule on the target as with dual analog controls. No other reviewer have expressed any problems with the controls set in the appropriate sensitivity. I don’t know what Sessler’s problem. Maybe he needs to come to terms with first person shooter controls that actually work (and well) on the Wii after travesties like Far Cry and Red Steel.
October 11th, 2007 at 9:49 am
With the success of MP3, I hope Nintendo decides to go back and “tack on” Wiimote controls to MP and MP2 and re-release them as Wii editions.
That would just be nuts!!
October 11th, 2007 at 10:11 am
God I hate G4 and especially Adam Sessler and his fellow cohorts. For the first year of it’s existence, G4 was a fantastic channel about vidja games. Go look up the show “Portal”. A perfect example. It was a show about mmorpgs, but since there’s no way you can fill a half hour show a week about JUST mmo news, they made it into a story driven show that reported the news within context. It was extremely well done. But then G4 started to change and absorbed TechTV, which is when it really soured. All of a sudden, the channel wasn’t about games, it was about “the gamer lifestyle”. (Yes, all gamers want to sit and watch 2 hours of DRIFTING.) Now they tout their 3 hour block of programming “all about games”. Ugh.
I give G4 a 1. (Hilarious sound byte) ….Out of 5.
October 11th, 2007 at 10:13 am
“I give G4 a 1. (Hilarious sound byte) ….Out of 5.”
The current review system is so outdated.
October 11th, 2007 at 10:17 am
I’m pretty sure Adam is the first reviewer to suggest that the game would play better with a Gamecube controller. While some reviewers may have said that it was about as good as dual-thumbs, Adam is saying it isn’t even that much.
October 11th, 2007 at 10:19 am
Journalistic integrity is something that he does NOT have in any aspect.
October 11th, 2007 at 10:21 am
I would LOVE Nintendo to go back and “tack on” Wiimote controls to MP1/MP2 and re-release them also. PLEEEEEEASE!!!!
October 11th, 2007 at 10:23 am
And I thought the EDGE 7/10 review was a bit harsh. Having said that they were more concerned with it not feeling Metroidy enough in the early stages which I feel is a valid concern.
As for the controls they couldn’t stop singing their praises for them and felt it ended better than it began.
October 11th, 2007 at 10:30 am
G4 blows. Quit watching TV and go play Corruption. And to anyone who has finished it with 100%……does anyone have any idea what the last part of the ending is all about???
October 11th, 2007 at 10:45 am
Adam Sessler is obviously trolling for publicity as his show, his network and his career are quickly fading into oblivion.
October 11th, 2007 at 11:02 am
Sessler butted ahead of me in line at E3 2006 to play Warhawk (He was actually escorted to the front of the line by someone from Sony). It was the first time he (or really anyone for that matter) used the “SIXAXIS” motion controls. He turned to the Sony worker who was showing him around the booth and said “Wow, this isn’t very good.” Which I assume took all of the testicular fortitude that loser could muster up.
I guess that would be the only time I agree with him about motion controls then. I still hate the fact that that douche didn’t have to wait in line.
October 11th, 2007 at 11:06 am
The fact that he slipped a masterbation joke into his review shows his maturity as both a person and a jouralist. Seriously, Adam, if playing MP3 gives you cramps maybe you should get more excerise in your game playing-poor show making-crappy review writing-whacking off to charmed-lifestyle.
But, like most of “hardcore” game media, Adam is probably biased away from nintendo by the other 2 companies due to either buying into the marketing hype surrounding their products, or being bought out by one of them. I sincerly hope it’s the latter of the 2 options elsewise Adam is stupider then I would ever want any person to ever be.
October 11th, 2007 at 11:12 am
Sessler is not that bad. I actually don’t think he writes the reviews. Based on an interview I read with him, he is primarily the on-air personality that presents the reviews. I’m sure he has some say in the content, but I also bet a lot of it is dictated to him (like the masterbation joke for example – it appeals to the demographic that watches the show so I’m sure that it was intentionally placed in there by the writers).
I’m pretty sure that Sessler is a big Nintendo fan. But I too found this review a bit strange and out-of-character for him based on what I’ve read about him in the past.
Either way, Prime 3 is an incredible game with truly revolutionary fps controls. And most reviewers have commented on this. Someone at G4 goofed IMO, but I don’t think it was all Sessler.
October 11th, 2007 at 11:28 am
” just because traditional dual analog FPS controls are slower, less accurate, and harder to learn than the Wii equivalent doesn’t make them “bad” ”
Errr, maybe not, but surely the fact that they’re slower, less accurate and harder to learn means they’re not as good?
Either way, Wii’s controls are great (I haven’t sampled Prime 3 yet – not out here [UK] until later this month). I don’t think you even have to use Prime’s, apparently, awesome controls as a comparison to dual sticks. After playing Red Steel at Christmas I had a game of Gears with my brother on his newly acquired 360 and found the system infuriating – only hours after I’d gotten used to motion controls. Likewise it seems the more I play Wii, the harder it is to revert to the ’standard’ pad. Played Halo with a friend a few months ago and got my ass kicked because I couldn’t get my head around the controls quick enough.
The way I see it, Wii’s control scheme is superior to its predecessors because it’s closer to VR – which, IMO, is the end goal for gaming.
October 11th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
I was totally against companies taking Gamecube games and adding Wii controls. This is a new system and I wanted new games. However, after playing Metroid 3, I would love to have the other Prime games remade using the Wii controls. I was never very good at the Metroid Prime games, but I’m a much better player with the new controls. Everything feels so smooth and natural.
Back to the review. I sometimes wonder if the people reviewing the games have a lot of experience with the Wii remote. It is very fast compared to dual analog. If they haven’t gotten used to Wii controls in games like Wii Sports or Resident Evil 4, they might find controlling Samus difficult with this configuration. Maybe this explains some of the harsh scores that seem undeserved for Wii games. Or maybe not. Just a thought.
October 11th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
Wii FPS controls 100x > dual analog sticks. Nuff said
October 11th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
October 11th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
I actually met Sessler at a bar in Washington DC and had a few drinks with him (read: got sloshed). Despite the fact he was spilling wine on his shirt, I gained a lot of respect for him in the process. Even when i told him to his face that “gaming journalism is a crapshoot”, he didn’t try to object.
After meeting him in person, a lot of the things he says on TV are obviously dictated, especially the dimwit comments. I walked away thinking he is definitely more intelligent than he comes across on TV.
Also, he referred to Miyamoto as a legend and fondly recalled a time when he got to shake his hand. So Sessler’s OK in my book.
He might be partially to blame for this review, because I do get the impression he’s a traditional “hardcore” gamer, but I’d sooner blame the network as a whole. You think only one person is working on these reviews?
October 11th, 2007 at 4:24 pm
wow. okay, now that i actually watched the review in question, I gotta saw this article of yours is pretty much a flamebaiting rant and I’m calling you out on it.
The comment about “Do or die” was aimed _directly_ at the issue of pleasing core gamers. That is to say, a lot of traditional console gamers were waiting for it to show that Wii wasn’t just a box for minigame compilations. It was NOT a comment about Wii’s sales numbers, but the growing perception that Nintendo is looking to the mass market rather than the old fans. If Corruption had translated poorly, lots of people would be crying foul. And aside from Twilight Princess, I have to say this was a valid argument to make, at least at the time. Not so much now with Mario and Smash Brothers closer to the horizon.
Secondly, you take offense to a single negative comment in an otherwise complimentary review. The game scores 4/5, which is hardly a bad score. At that, most of what he said about the gameplay was valid. Did I get wrist cramps from extended periods of play? You bet I did. Does the lock-on fall off the enemies more often? Completely true.(I personally chalk that up to Retro introducing lock-breaking dash moves to the enemies, and welcome the added challenge however). Did I have to pay more attention to my aiming? Most definitely.
Now, would I suggest that Gamecube Controls are superior, of course not. That’s silly. But his statements, at least to me, are suggesting that the combat would be easier if the player could hit targets without having to actively aim. That… doesn’t seem too far-fetched. The game would be _too_ easy to be enjoyable in my opinion, but it _would _be easier to kill baddies.
In closing, I have to say the way you go after Sessler for the jokes (lame that they are) and his journalistic integrity (or lack thereof) is not very professional behavior on your own part. Like a lot of people who write reviews for game sites (freelancers, at least), he might not have a journalism degree, but that hardly has anything to do with a statement that boils down primarily to personal preference. And it definitely isn’t the condemnation you are presenting it to be.
He’s not some god of gaming reviews nor does he present himself that way. He does what a lot of us do: he plays games and then tells people how much he likes them; he just happens to do it on TV.
October 11th, 2007 at 6:35 pm
What can I say? Sessler is, and always has been, an idiot. I once saw a video of him and Jack Thompson discussing violence in video games and he made himself look like an idiot. Attack of the Show has always been horribly crappy and has always been anti-Nintendo focused. Don’t EVER expect anythign intelligent to come out of Sessler’s mouth.
October 11th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
NOTE: I have nothing but respect for Mr. Sessler, and my words were certainly not written in angst. I am merely questioning his judgement. My concern is not with his review itself; rather, his comments about the controls. Thanks for reading, everyone.
October 11th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
And to anyone who has finished it with 100%……does anyone have any idea what the last part of the ending is all about???
MP3 takes place before Metroid II, Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion in that order. They are the END of the Metroid timeline. The ship is Ridley’s I believe as he is NOT dead.
October 12th, 2007 at 1:09 am
Very impressive article. While I would bet Sessler never plays these games, I would also bet that certain colleagues of yours would never write so intellectually about these kinds of quotes from people in the media.
Not to take anything away from your article, but you helped gain some respect for infendo in this post by being tactful, proving actual points, and overall just not being a fanboy.
Metroid Prime 3 has the best console controls for a first person perspective. Too bad this is not an FPS but a FPA (First Person Adventure) so this argument made by Sessler and yourself is rather moot.
Anywho, impressive non the less.
frisby
October 12th, 2007 at 1:55 am
NeuroMan, wasn’t the ship that follows Samus in the extra bit Rundas’s ship? His ship is docked at the Bryyo Fire landing sight throughout the game, so I assumed the two were one and the same (even though Samus leaves from Elysia at the end, not Bryyo). But Wiki says it’s “an unknown ship following Samus’ gunship as it flies off”. So am I the only one who thought it was Rundas’s ship on, like, auto-pilot or something?
October 12th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
I was playing Halo 3 yesterday with my bro on live and before i had a good look at the enemy I was getting shot at… thats when I wished I had a Wii-mote on my hands and that IR pointer would’ve looked like a smok’in barrel…
October 12th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
I didn’t even know nothing about the game and justify himself with some lies about the game and his supposely wrist pain ja,ja,ja that make laught, just to give the game a point less (4/5) Gamecube controller option wtf!? do I want a GC controller to play MP3 if that is mayor interesting part of the game and the WII itself, this the ral revolution in gaming. Common next time play the game on all 3 dificultys then talk.
October 13th, 2007 at 4:47 am
Would you trade the controls for better graphics and online play like Halo?
October 14th, 2007 at 9:05 am
Derek, I have to hand it to you. This is one of the more engaging editorials I’ve read on infendo. But, on the other hand, soup is right. It might be better next time to write an editorial with an eye to besting your competitors with insight and concision rather than slights and slander.