I'm unfortunately blanking on whether you've given any opinions on shoot em ups on the Back Page, but I've played a bit of Birdcage today and it's a fantastic one! Great gameplay but the presentation and music are outstanding.

Finished this recently (just in time for your Metroid Prime episode!) and I agree, I found everything from Phazon Mines onwards sours things due to tedious combat+backtracking. Which is a shame as it's aged well otherwise, if I ever get to play Prime 2 I hope the last few hours are better!