So first of all, it's very short. You just play the build from April in the Federation base, and it's only about 5 rooms and a boss which a Metroid veteran can breeze through. I'm not sure if this is a good or a bad thing, it depends on how the rest of the game is (less tutorial fluff and more actual content would certainly be a bad thing, but if the rest of the game is this scaled down... yeah this might be rough).
They were also pushing this Free Aim mechanic and in particular having you lock on to one target and manually aim at another which was fairly awkward and may require a learning curve to get good at.
Aberax was also tougher than I expected and I see why some of the journalists struggling with it too. It's nothing a veteran Metroid player can't handle but for a first boss it's pretty roughr. Aberax shields itself and switches weak spots constantly which is a bit much to deal with this early in the game, and you really need to make the most of your abilities to weather this one. I could see this boss being a noob killer.
Other than that? Yup it's a Metroid Prime all right. Not much else to say because it's just the tutorial section and we can't experience the new stuff like psychic abilities, the bike, or the NPCs.
Well, there it is. Copies in the wild, and a player confirms Myles very seldom appears after the tutorial section. He does appear later, but only briefly. Essentially, all the mass hysteria and panic was over nothing. No, he doesnt tell you how to solve puzzles all game, and no, he's not always chatting over the radio.
Which is exactly what I said it would be from the beginning. I know this will probably disappoint some people to hear, as it seems they were really hoping the game would be ruined, but ya.
That soundtrack is gold. I still wish i could experience this with a Steam Frame(Valve's new wireless VR headest) + Steam Machine. For me that's the next logical step moving forward to take the series after Prime 3, as an option for those who love VR. To have a future Super Hybrid platform/console(Switch 3?) that allows you to play Metroid Prime 4(5, whatever) on a TV, Handheld, TableTop, VR or MR is no doubt the future. Everybody wins based on how they like to play and nobodies left out.
@Ninfan
No, the opening gives some weird year like 20X9 or something like that. And I suspect Viewros is the distant future of the planet we start on, courtesy of the incident with the artifact. But we'll see.
Psalms 22:16 (1,000 yrs before Christ)
They pierced My hands and feet
Isaiah 53:5 (700 yrs before Christ)
He was pierced for our transgressions
I found this GiantBomb review discussion very insightful (they awarded a perfect score and discuss it in a roundtable with Jeff Grubb and several others).
Says Prime 4 is easily better than Prime 2 and 3, and might be better than the original but he's not sure on that just yet. That alone tells me what I need to know. But, there's some interesting details revealed.
For one, the game still has a lot of talking ghost (holograms probably?) from past civilization like the Chozo in Prime. That's cool. Also has tons of options to fine tune the gyro aiming dead zone, to get it just right and to your liking.
Also said there was less story than expected, which actually kind of disappoints me. Said it was the perfect amount for him, and I'm sure others will be happy to hear that, but I would have wanted more.
Also said it's visually stunning, to the point it almost seems developed for NSW2 ground up, and not a Switch game. But I think we already could see that ourselves. It's apparently much more impressive in person though.
I also appreciate IGN's new "post-review discussion" (Logan awarded an 8). Because you get to understand the thinking of the reviewer. Surprisingly, despite his original allergic reaction to the NPCs, he says he actually ended up enjoying them. His critiques actually managed to focus on other, more meaningful things.
It's interesting contrasting with NintendoLife (awarded a 9), who enjoyed the bike section, whereas Logan didn't. Provides a good diversity of opinion. Consider each one and their perspective of where they're coming from. I'm curious to learn how I feel about it once the game releases tomorrow night.
48 hours left @Ninfan
No, the opening gives some weird year like 20X9 or something like that. And I suspect Viewros is the distant future of the planet we start on, courtesy of the incident with the artifact. But we'll see.
Oh, that's confirmed as appearing in the game itself? Interesting, because if so that's the first actual appearance of the "Cosmic Calendar" in a game, rather than in promotional material.
I am very curious to see if the actual contents of the game include any references that would let one confirm which games it has to take place after. An explicit reference to Zebes blowing up would be excellent.
Seems like it's going to be a divisive game, even some of the more positive reviews are highlighting that.
I'm looking forward to finding out for myself. Wasn't terribly impressed by what I played at the Switch 2 preview event in April but it was an odd slice of the game to be fair.
Check out a few screenshots I grabbed from the IGN video review.
And Digital Foundry's analysis, which I think we've all been eagerly awaiting (they say it delivers, both with regard to visuals/performance and in quality of the game itself).
@OmnitronVariant
I agree- a demo would be great. Not for me since I already have it pre-ordered but I always believe demos are good for the consumer, to try a game and see whether it resonates with them. Cause some games are GotY for one group of people, and for others they fail to hold their interest. At least with Prime 4, you pretty much know what to expect if you've played prior entries, but I think there's a lot of people who never tried the series for whom a demo could do wonders. Or even, as you said, to test the 120 fps mode on a proper 3D game (I'm also excited to try that out BTW, specifically for mouse mode though where I believe it would benefit most).
There have been a number of games I thought I would love, that I just... didn't (Kirby Air Riders). And yet others I thought I wouldn't love or for which I failed to grasp the appeal- maybe I thought they looked ok and would be decent enough, but I wasn't convinced would be a masterpiece in my eyes, that I ended up adoring (Mario Kart World).
@metaphysician Federation Force also had the year in the opening video, but tbh I don’t think many people played it haha. It’s listed as 20X6 btw.
My personal theory on the year is that the X is ambiguous and Prime 4’s 20X9 and Super Metroid’s 20X7 could be a decade apart or some other timeframe.
The series hasn’t had the most accurate timeline between games at least. (A Samus Returns video claims it was less than a year since Zero Mission and when Samus goes to eliminate all Metroids and it doesn’t really work to fit all of the Prime games in between that time)
@Rahmus I think its a solid 7.5 game based on what I have seen read.
The thing about those high ratings on metacritic which range from 10 (almost perfect) to 9 (also almost perfect) is they are doing the franchise a disservice.
Prime 4 looks nice - given the s1 was the lead platform. The open world desert seems bland though and boring though to traverse through and sort of tacked on to make the game seem bigger?
Either way the game doesnt look perfect or without flaws and giving it such a high score means the devs did everything right, right?
Anyhow I was looking forward to prime4 for years - actually I was expecting it to arrive on the wii u back in the day, and the bad or mediocre reviews and apparent flaws won't make me cancel my preorder. I just hope the devs view critisizm as constructive and deliver a better product next time with the s2 being thenlead platform.
I'm looking forward to seeing how I feel about it, and playing a 2025 game in 2025 at all. But I am mildly concerned because of the review scores.
In most cases, whatever, especially for ultimately a good average by normal standards. I don't know if I said this already but I do think game reviewers are predictable enough that Kirby Air Riders getting like a 79 on Metacritic is significantly more impressive than Metroid Prime 4 getting an 81. I feel by default a competent version of Kirby Air Ride got underwhelming scores and Metroid Prime is, if not as much as 3D Zelda or Mario, a near guarantee of critical acclaim on the basis of Metroid Prime. So it NOT getting as good reviews as I think even Mario Kart did makes me think there's a chance I'll be actually disappointed by it. (note: I'm going into it expecting it to be as great but not Prime 1 as 2 and 3 are, maybe even slightly worse)
None of what I said would matter except the vast, vast majority of time I like the games other people like, often to a pretty similar degree and Kirby Air Ride getting the reviews it did stands out as an exception. And Metroid Prime 4 is the opposite of that, regardless of quality, did not expect the review scores to be this close, reviewers inherently love one and don't care about the other for what they are.
Though obviously nothing would make me happier than by the end of the year praising it as the 2nd best Metroid Prime and laughing at people's takes.
I definitely wasn’t expecting the outlet average to be around 80 with Retro at the helm, but unless it were to be resoundingly low (like the 60s), it wouldn’t dissuade me from being excited to play it Day One. It was my most anticipated game this year aside from E33 and Yotei. Really looking forward to it, especially since it coincides with the upcoming slower pace of the Christmas holidays.
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