Video Game Makeovers

Metroid Prime Trilogy and Wolfenstein

What’s old is new again and one of the Nintendo GameCube’s top selling games is back with two sequels in tow. Meanwhile, long before a Tarantino-led assault on the Third Reich, the PC had gamers returning to Castle Wolfenstein, which has now found its way to the PS3 and Xbox 360.

Two classic franchises are being revisited, one of which, the Metroid Prime Trilogy has been released as a special edition three-game box set for the Wii.

Developed by Retro Studios for Nintendo, improvements to the motion controls and loads of unlockable content join a merger of the first two titles originally released on the GameCube with a third title designed specifically for the Wii -- Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. The original Metroid Prime was released in 2002 and now seven years later, each of these three games are given a full widescreen presentation.

Far beyond your typical WWII first person shooter, Wolfenstein developed by Raven and ID Software for Activision, brings the supernatural back to the task of annihilating Nazis. There’s a legacy to the series, that this game for the most part lives up to, but putting nostalgia aside, the game doesn’t quite stack up with the best first person shooters out there. Nonetheless, the combat and the story won’t disappoint the true fans of the series.

The presentation for both these games is far better than average. Still, the question becomes, as we presently witness the gaming world’s ever-expanding future, just how much of the past do we really want to relive? In the case of these two games, it might be worth pulling the trigger.

Laurence Scott's look at video games are distributed each week to NBC affiliates nationwide via NewsChannel, the NBC University Network and TechNow.

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