Topic: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond

So, I'm gonna share my one critique I have of Metroid Prime 4 thus far.

I don't hate the hub world design in theory, in fact I prefer that approach, however, I do think the game's single biggest flaw, in my eyes, is that the desert should have been smaller, and the green crystals should not be required for progression later in the game. If they just removed the green crystal requirement and shrunk the size of the desert by around half, I think this could have been as close to perfect as it gets.

And admittedly, that does put a bit of a damper on my experience. Not to overblow it, but ya, I will say I can at least understand where some were coming from with regard to the overworld. Good in theory, but falls short in execution.

I do, however, stand by the included characters. I just can't figure out why some dislike them so much. But, maybe they can't understand how I do like them so much. So maybe we're at an impasse on that one.

All that said, the game is so good otherwise, even that flaw can't overcome it's brilliance. It may affect where I ultimately rank it amongst the other 3, but we'll see after I finish it.

@Lazz Based on what I've seen, the atmo' in this game is the best this series has to offer yet. The Soundtrack is just bliss. If you're playing this with a cheap sound bar, or worse yet the audio coming from your OLED TV or handheld NS2 Speakers than you're missing out on half the experience.

I'd recommend in investing in a traditional great 5.2(Two Subwoofers) Surround Sound System, or for an easier more compact all-in-one less expensive solution, a Sennheiser Ambeo or Ambeo Plus, or possibilty Samsung's Flagship SS SB system. There's Also Bose & Sonos. yet I just can't imagine the Ambeos/Plus's lack of true dedicated Surround Sound speakers coming close to replicating or simulating the same effect as if you had 2 SS speakers behind you. But it's still probably better than nothing. I love SS. I remember briefly using my 5.1 system, with Super Mario Galaxy 1(Honey Hive Galaxy being the high lite) on Wii in the later 2000's, and it was like being in a virtual audio playground. But i soon later had to switch over to headphones once i moved in with a buddy of mine.

Audio is every bit as important as picture quality, maybe even more imo! Completely caffeinated. lol You went from talking about an aweomse MP4 Screen shot, and i switched gears and took a nice detour into AudioVille. lol

The game runs smooth as butter on handheld. And it’s also one of the most gorgeous Nintendo games I’ve ever seen. I’m not that far into the game—about three hours, and have met that one character—but it’s been great so far. It’s very immersive, and I’m excited to see how the game will continue to evolve.

@skywake
Oh for sure. It's so annoying when devs claim 4K, as in native 4K, but it typically translates to Dynamic 4K or 1440p, instead of being a true 2160p. If it is in fact closer to 1440p, than the loss in resolution by opting for 120fps won't bug me anywhere near as much. even though, i can easily spot the difference from 1080 & 1440p on my 65" OLED.

Digital foundry will probably have you covered with a full deep dive, but not without spoilers. And ya, people using QD Mini-LED TV's will have to put up with varrying slower motion response times, so 120fps won't be quite as clear in motion as it would on an OLED. I guess it's just a matter of preference and what's more imporant for you. I personally can't go back to LG's WOLED colour.

They also canned 120hz OLED TV 'BFI', with the LG C1 being the last model to support it. With any 120fps title you had the option to use MotionPro Low, Medium or High. 120fps + Medium cuts down the blur by a whopping 75%, and then into the 80% range with High. Problem is, the LG C1 in SDR already has a dim game mode and you can't afford to sacrfice anymore brightness, so I wouldn't even recommend using 120 BFI. Modern OLED's and QD-OLED's can get much brighter. The C1's game mode is not only dim, to the point where you have to belt up the contrast to 97 to compensate, but WOLED color just isn't anywhere as good as QD Color at it's best, and then you have to deal with all of that out of box shadow detail crushing unless you fork over the money for a Proffessional calibration.

At this point, I'd go for the 55 or 65" Samsugn QD-OLED 'S90F', since the flagship S95F has an anti-glare coating which has a negative impact on picture quality. QD-OLED has fantastic colours, and the back crush can easily be corrected for free in it's service menu according to a YouTuber i follow. Still, black levels will raise in brighter rooms unlike LG's WOLED's.

@WaveBoy I picked up a Hisense U8 65" TV and the Hisense AX512H Soundbar in anticipation of the SW2 - both are pretty nice

@Lazz
That's the exact QD Mini-LED i would go with, the 2024 U88N if that's what you're reffering to, if I couldn't choose QD-OLED, based on what's available. Sure, Hisense has their step up 2025 flagship U8QG, but it's ruined by the higher input lag.

I have a 65" LG C1(With severe burn in. lol), and a smaller 55" Hisense U68N QD Mini-LED. I don't plan on keeping either. lol. Not bad for the money. Still, the QD-Colours, although not quite as good as the U8N's and especially QD-OLED, are much better and far more natural than the LG C1 WOLED's, brightness is crazy high and amazing, ABL is less agressive, and there's zero chance of burn in. Super Mario Oddyssey looks fantastic on this TV. on the C1 OLED? Blugh, perfect blacks and motion motion aside. C1's too dim, and 65" isn't doing the NS1 version Odyssey's Dynamic 900p resolution any favours. Playing it on NS2 though, thanks to it's update, hits about 1800p though.

But the viewing angles as expected are awful, there's a little more motion blur than OLED, The black levels are nice(Supposedly they approach OLED territory with the latest U8QG) with local dimming set to high, but then local dimming always dims down bright objects(etc) on darker backgrounds or makes dark scenes harder to make out, probably from the lack of local dimming zones and slower transitions or whatever. It's annoying. QD-OLED/OLED, since it's self emmsive doesn't have this problem. I'm an idiot for getting the U68N when i could of just spend $400 more and got the U88N. Black levels are like over 3x better, better QD-Colours, 120fps support and improved local dimming. But i treat this set as a secondary whatever display. QD-OLED is going to be my main.

Cool to read people's impressions. Mostly good by the sounds of it.
I've ordered a copy from Amazon! Really look forward to playing, and it's same day delivery, woooo!

I was a bit uncertain because I've realised over time that I'm not really a fan of metroidvanias anymore. I'd rather have rather linear platforming. I guess I'd rather spend more time doing the main stuff of a game, not spending too much time exploring and/or getting lost.

And I know this game will be like that, but I'm also keen on first person shooter games or games from a first person perspective, so I think I'll enjoy it more than a 2D metroidvania.
I have played parts of Metroid Prime 1 and 2, and I finished the third game back in the day, so I do have ideas of what to expect.

@JaxonH Yeah, you said it. The desert is an empty hub whose size feels more dictated by the need for Vi-O-La to take an appreciable amount of time to cross it than by what they actually had to put in there.

I don't think it brings the game down that much, but it was a definite swing and miss for me.

Decided not to start this game until after finals week, so that I can focus on actual important stuff and not get distracted, but man every time I think about it sitting there on my Switch 2 home menu not being played it stings a little lol

@JaxonH
I think it's cool to hate the characters. That's my takeaway from the last couple weeks.

I usually really like Beat 'Em Ups, and I was watching him stream a bit of Prime 4 today, but he was freaking out every time another character had a line. I think he was with the Mackenzie guy. His reactions to the lines were more obnoxious than the lines themselves, so I left the stream.

I feel like it's gone over the edge of acting for some Youtubers at this point.

@rallydefault Yeah, there's way too much emotion being invested in characters who are barely there to begin with.

If you don't like them, just do what Samus does and act like they're not there, at least until they're in danger of getting killed.

@rallydefault
I played basically upto the save point after the second boss of the game. Honestly, I found McKenzie a bit annoying and if he was there the entire game I'd be annoyed. But even in this early but of the game it really wasn't that much. Most of the time you're by yourself

If I was to give a comparison I would say that at this point his involvement seems similar to something like Groose's interactions in Skyward Sword. Basically you escort him for a bit and then he just does a "I'll hold the fort" as you bugger off to do your thing

The complaints are valid. But seriously overblown

Got my copy in the mail and have played the first hour or two. The game is absolutely awesome so far. Still switching between 4k and 120 modes, unsure which I like more—but mostly wanted to say that WOW was the whole Mackenzie thing super overblown. He is with you for like 10 minutes, and was mildly annoying at worst. His writing doesn't even seem "marvelly" to me, just kind of generic nerdy character.

Well my fears were put to rest with Prime 4. I was worried with the huge time gap between when Prime 3 and 4 were made it would somehow not be the same anymore or feel too different. I was wrong. Feels totally like it could have come out shortly after Prime 3. Plays and feels just like how the next follow up should. Loving it! Everything just fits! It's perfect!

That's the best take I think I've heard yet. Isn't it sad how grown men our age feel the need to performatively act to "fit in as one of the cool guys"? It becomes a "keeping up with the Jones" competition to see who's more offended, so everyone keeps one-upping the previous takes by acting as if each line is the most ludicrous thing they've ever heard.

Saying their reactions are more annoying and outrageous than the dialog itself is absolute peak summation. It's literally just dialog with some characters. And frankly it's well-written to me and extremely well voice acted, and, well animated. Even if it was just run-of-the-mill, nothing special, it's just some dialog! That's it! Dude's having life-threatening allergic reactions any time 3 words get spoken. It's beyond outlandish.

I can't stand dishonesty, and I can't stand hypocrisy. I have no problem with someone who say, doesn't find the dialog that interesting. But it's not bad. A normal human response would be indifference. So seeing wild, flamboyant, hyperbolic reactions loses my respect real fast.

But so does hypocrisy. I watched SkillUp's review and he says he doesn't recommend it, and usually he's pretty spot on, but it's the reasons he gave that were completely illogical and contradictory to his own statements. I'll explain. He says it should have evolved more than just Prime after 18 years, but then praises Dread which had way less evolution in the genre than Beyond, and that had been after 19 years. That's hypocrisy.

He says backtracking after gaining power-ups like double jump were outdated, since other metroidvanias had power-ups that evolved combat, yet again, praises Dread which was chock to the hilt with power-ups that were essentially just tools to reach previously inaccessible areas. That's hypocrisy. And Prime 4 had WAY MORE that integrated into gameplay beyond a barrier to progress. Double jump can evade certain attacks, grapple can yank off shields, spiderball is used in all sorts of cool ways (remember Quadraxis?). So that's hypocrisy.

He says it no longer makes sense to backtrack for "just another missile expansion when he already has countless shots" yet that was never a complaint for Dread, a game he praises in the same breath. In fact Dread was worse because missile expansions were only +2 and not +5 making them even less impactful! Utter hypocrisy.

How does one who's usually so unbiased and fair suddenly become ground zero for the most "stare-in-you-face hypocrisy" I've ever seen? I think it's because he got upset by getting progress-locked near the end by not having enough green crystals, since he hadn't been collecting throughout the game. And that caused him to just go off on the entire game. Which tbh, I agree they shouldn't have done that as a requirement because it would suck just driving around for an hour to farm. BUT. That doesn't justify the hypocrisy of all the other criticisms.

And that's the thing. When people get emotional (particularly when they get upset) they become irrational. It's just human nature. I'm susceptible to it as well, which is why I never hold grudges anymore and typically forgive and forget as soon as possible, because I know firsthand how irrational anger can make you.

Combine that irrationality with the desire of some to fit in and be accepted and you have what we see today. It's a wonder any games release at all anymore without the entire gamership tearing into them. Particularly Nintendo games. While PS/Xbox/PC fanboys are BY FAR worse than Nintendo fanboys (don't think I'm defending them though, they can be annoying as heck too), the insane insecurity and desire to dog pile for acceptance into what they perceive as the dominant opinion is a hallmark of some Nintendo fans, FAR MORE than I've ever seen within any other fanbase.

I can’t believe I almost let some of the negative reviews dissuade me from buying this game. I had a last minute change of heart this morning and decided to get it.

Played about 4 hours straight (without getting up once- very rare these days). Thus far the experience is exactly what I wanted with even better art direction than I could have expected. Even if the game goes downhill from here on out (I’m half through the Forge) I’d be satisfied… for context I had a NES before the first Metroid came out. Very happy I picked this up. Cheers to the rest who are totally enjoying (it’s been great to read others are also super excited too!) great experience so far!

I'm loving it so far. It's very Metroid Prime-y in all the ways that matter.

Yeah the open world bits and the crystal collectables are arguably a bit unnecessary and shoehorned in, but I don't know if it's outright a problem if you don't pay it too much attention other than the necessary area traversal.

I'm still just under 4 hours in, and not rushing as I scan pretty much everything, so maybe I'm wrong, but yeah enjoying it so far.

What's up with the aiming in this? My arm cannon seems to get out of sync constantly or spin around in circles when im trying to aim straight ahead. How do you get the pointer to snap back to the correct position? In metroid prime remastered you just tap the R button but that's your missle launcher button in this game. Kinda frustrating during intense shootouts. Also anyone else getting Arkham vibes from the control beam? It's just like the remote control batarang when you're trying to guide it to the correct spot to open doors. One of the more annoying trial and error gameplay elements.

I was blown away by the initial videos which looked amazing and beautiful graphically but have since watched some reviews for example Dreamcastguy his concerns seem genuine and fair plus also the need to have a amibo to hear music while on the motorbike seems depressingly profiteering for Nintendo. The metacritic score is 80 and most reviews seem to be around 80 overall with some dipping as low as 60 and some of course giving 100 or near to it but most are at 80, a good game, not a great game. Eurogamer gave it 60 which seems very low. It seems far too expensive for such a game to me with the pricing not really justified at this point. Premium game pricing surely means a exceptional experience and that isn't the case here. It feels like a game that needs a few tweaks/patches to clean up the gameplay a bit before stepping in and experiencing the game so probably not a game to buy at launch. The motorbike sections sound absolutely boring and a chore. I don't like games where you are dreading having to do sections of the game before you get to the good bits. Also I don't want to support having to buy a amiibo to unlock features in games especially when such a feature can turn a boring section into a more pleasant section in the game. I don't collect amiibos so I am just denied a beneficial feature. Clearly its not a great game but quite a flawed game for quite a lot of reasons. If the vast majority of critics averaged out means 80 out of 100 its neither a great or a poor game, I guess a good game but its clear some people will not like it at all and some people will love it.

I would strongly suggest a physical purchase so you have the chance to resell it if you don't like or want to finish with it quickly. Does not seem worthy of a digital purchase at all. Even with a physical purchase don't be surprised if the price you get is much lower than you expected when reselling it. It feels like a game that will struggle to hold its resale value. I had a quick look on ebay for used copies and about 4 that are being sold as 'new other' or used so already the reselling has begun. Of course these people may have completed the game or they just don't want to play the game, we don't know their reasons.

@moevot138
So glad to hear it. Pretty much everyone here who's playing it is loving it. Virtually every "issue" has been a non-issue, with one exception, and even that isn't a big deal.

People hate having any other characters or dialog. It's wild. I love it and actually wish it had more. I kid you not, Myles is THE best character I've seen in a game in quite a while.

People hate the hub. I don't. I think it's not as fun as the rest but it's still fun. I think if it were half the size and without green crystals blocking progression late game it would be perfect, but even as is, I don't mind it.

People complain about amiibo crap, as usual. Amiibo gives nothing, people complain. Amiibo gives anything of value, people complain. Like gimme a break already. That said, I bought all 3 amiibo and I love getting that health refill and shield once a day. Some of those fights I need it. I also love jamming out to Volt Forge tune in the desert.

No game is perfect, but many imperfect games are a 10 in my book. And unless something radically shifts (which I doubt- I'm almost down to the final key), this game absolutely ranks right up there and yes, I still think it's better than both Prime 1 and 3