It feels weird but I both like and dislike Myles. I think the opening portion of the game made him more grating due to him having a lot of dialogue commentating on stuff that Samus was doing (literally stating the obvious). After that initial segment though, he's actually been fun to have around. Helps that the game actually knows when to let you be on your own and not interact with him.
I think so far (as a first time metroid prime player) the game is really solid. The only thing I find myself massively disliking from my time with the game is the desert hub area. Not a fan of how barren it feels- and how it doesn't even really fit the structure of the rest of the game in the slightest. It felt like they just sorta slapped Ocarina of Time's Hyrule Field onto a Metroid game- but with it being larger and somehow less visually interesting in turn.
Got home from my Christmas party for work rather late last night, but i did the opening section and got to viewros before I turned it off for the night. Ill be digging in later today no doubt.
It does feel like the desert area was a last minute idea. Like, there should have been a huge biome hub instead that linked the other five and had it's own non-linear exploration for green crystals (or an alternative item that would have made more sense). Maybe it was deemed to ambitious and/or there were time constraints.
The desert is more lifeless than No More Heroes 1's 'open world', which is incredible really. Yes, yes "what do you expect from a desert?", which is exactly why Retro opted for a desert in the first place. It's cop out.
This is a conflicting one for me so far. Much like Other M, I love and hate this game at the same time. From a gameplay perspective, especially combat and when it sticks to being a Metroid game in the sense that it lets explore as Samus alone, it's spot on. But the 'open world' and bike were an absolute waste of time and resources, something Retro never should've put in there and I won't even get started on the NPCs. Some of the dialog makes the overdramatic nonsense in OM seem competent. Just a little disappointing because I've wanted a new Prime entry for so long and Dread delivered so well on the 2D front I was hoping for the same here, especially after the awesome MP 1 remaster. The blue print was right there for the new 'talent' at Retro and instead it feels like they wanted to make a game that was, in a lot of ways, the complete opposite of what the series is about.
I am trying so hard not to add another game to my backlog, but this one looks amazing, and my local Costco has the S2E for only 62 USD.... Ugh, self-control is hard!!
@Gamer83
How far in are you? I get not liking the bike as it isn't very "Metroidy" (though I actually like it, I just think the desert is too big). But I'm surprised to hear you say you don't like the dialog, tbh. Just knowing your tastes and preferences. I was really taken aback by how much some dislike it when I feel it's been great. I could understand indifference, but actively disliking it? Idk what it is that's so offputting. To me the dialog is leagues beyond Metroid Prime 3 Corruption and Other M, and the top notch voice acting and animation helps.
So I'm curious to understand what it is that bothers you so much about the dialog. Cause even if I didn't like it, I likely wouldn't care since it's just short sequences here and there, and doesn't really affect the game in any significant manner one way or the other. To me it felt like Prime 3 dialog, but way better with way more personable characters. So I really curious what exactly turns you off so much that not only do you not like the dialog when I love it, but actually deem it important enough to detract from the game (whereas I feel there's not enough and wanted more).
Usually we have pretty similar tastes when it comes to games we both play, so I'm a little surprised we're so divergent on this.
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
Every area of this game is just insanely gorgeous from not just a graphical standpoint but an artistic one as well.
And I just mapped out the entire desert getting every green crystal and I gotta say, it grew on me! I know I said I could have done with it being half the size but, it really only took an hour to scour the entire thing. And I rather enjoyed it. There's something oddly satisfying crunching into those green shards. I was surprised there was nothing left to map out after driving around such a short time. I couldn't do most of the secrets yet because I lacked many of the weapons but their locations are now tagged on the map so I can easily scoop them later.
Like, I really actually came to enjoy it. I can still see how having the crystal progression lock later could be a problem for some, but for me... I don't think this was a problem. I've changed my mind. I like it. I was kinda shocked how quick it went- I was expecting it to take several hours over multiple sessions but no, it's really not as big as it looks. Viola cruises and hitting those desert fruits to instantly refill your boost? Man... I went through every single hexagon like wait, what? That's it? I'm done already? Gave me a good excuse to enjoy the bike while jamming out to Volt Forge theme.
So... this is really interesting. Metroid Prime 4 is now a game which I cannot name a single thing I haven't liked. I thought it wasn't gonna be able to top Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. And look, maybe it still won't. That's an insanely high bar to hit. But right now, I'm starting to realize it's a very real possibility.
And Prime 2 had it's faults. The Dark world draining your life, the annoying Boost Guardian... I can't name a single aspect of Prime 4 that was anywhere as near bad as that. In fact I can't name a single thing Prime 4 doesn't do better, except perhaps the map design. The environmental labyrinthine puzzle-like map design bouncing back and forth between Light and Dark Aether was on the level. That's the one thing I'd say Prime 2 absolutely did better. BUT. Prime 4 doesn't have those weakness of Prime 2 and the personable characters expertly voiced and more diverse gameplay with the bike and psychic powers make it much less prone to becoming monotonous.
edit
Man I'm all over the place with my opinions shifting like quicksand lol. I think I get why some don't like the desert, and I'm gonna admit, I think the critique about amiibo unlocking music is actually fair. See, I have the amiibo, so I've been jamming out to Volt Forge theme. But I turned it off and realized oh... this wouldn't feel nearly as fun without these songs to jam out to. And that's when it hit me. I enjoyed it because I had the amiibo. That's it. That's the difference and explains why I ended up really enjoying it and others haven't. And you know what? I feel for them. You really should experience Sol Valley with Volt Forge theme. If you're in to amiibo, get the Viola amiibo. If you're not, just buy an amiibo card on eBay for $5-10 and scan it in for the skins and OST selection. Trust me, it does make a difference.
It's more of the same Prime experience we had before with some new ideas and mechanics that are halfcooked at best. I found the graphics and boss battles (mostly) to be very good and everything else a bit lackluster.
Galactic federation
The GF characters are not that annoying as people say/said. The promblem is their existence isn't justified. They don't bring anything to the story, every line they have could be answered with "yes" and they don't get enough development for me to care about them. Samus not interacting with them, with the exception of a few small nods doesen't help (even she doesn't care!). Most importantly they take away from the atmosphere, the isolation, the whole thing what metroid is about. They are padding the game time with unnecessary dialog, babysitting and by making samus travel back and forth for upgrades.
Scanning
There's a lot of things to scan but most of it are machines, crates and stuff with boring/uninformative/ unneeded descriptions. The good stuff, lore and research scans are at an all time low.
Enemies
You got your smaller enemies insects, lizards, birds etc. Grievers and robots. That's about it. The basic enemy variety is lacking compared to prime 1,2 and 3.
The bike
It's fun to ride but besides two lasterluck boss battles it's underutilized. Yeah it's for traveling the empty hubworld and the mandatory ***** crystal collecting.
The desert
Unnecessary.
Music
Where's stuff like "Phendrana drifts", "Space pirates battle", "Temple grounds", "Vs. Ing", "Bryyo main theme" etc. Locking music in the hub behind an amiibo is diabolical. Also what's up with the title music stealing a melody from Pirates of the caribbean
The gameplay
Combat is fun but too heavy in some areas. You can't avoid it like in the other games as you have to protect the gf troopers. Sometimes it felt like every other room there was an obligatory battle. Especially in the mines and volt forge.
Exploring is good (when you're alone). Puzzles are simple but they still work.
Items and upgrades
Was there something new besides the handwaving stuff and the slow shot? Gotta love the mechanic where you go in to morph ball mode, lay a bomb, go to scan mode, grab the bomb and then throw it.
Other stuff
Why did they change the mcguffing hunt when they had it right in prime 3 with the energy cells. The mech parts would have been enough we didn't need the crystals.
What is Syluxs motivation/ deal? Oh you didn't play hunters or 100% the game, well too bad. A main villain that's hardly in the game.
The game development was troubled and it shows. That's a lot of whining and gripes but the game is okay 7/10. I just had higher hopes. I feel like this game would have been a natural continuation of the series.... in 2010-2012. I don't see myself returning to this one soon if at all.
The game development was troubled and it shows. That's a lot of whining and gripes but the game is okay 7/10. I just had higher hopes. I feel like this game would have been a natural continuation of the series.... in 2010-2012. I don't see myself returning to this one soon if at all.
This is a fair summary but maybe almost too kind. It's a 5/10 game, one that will destroy this franchise once and for all.
So I started Prime 4 yesterday and got the first 3 keys and the Ice Shot. And I have a lot to say about this game. Unfortunately it's mostly bad, but there are some aspects of the game I like. Overall I agree with the sentiment that the game is at its best when it tries to be a traditional Metroid Prime game and when it tries to experiment with new things, it largely fails. I do think there are a few situations where a good design philosophy could make some lemonade out of the lemons here, but for the most part it does feel like Retro forgot how to make a Metroid Prime game (or the more likely scenario, the people that knew left the company).
First of all, yes McKenzie is super annoying. Especially during the escort segment at the beginning, he has to comment about EVERYTHING. I am more okay with him stepping back into the support role after Fury Green, that's a better way to make use of him (and I do have ideas of how they could take him or someone similar in a future game further in this role in a more Metroidy way). And I will give him credit, he ended up being more helpful than I expected, especially when it came to acquiring upgrades I did not expect him to have the Missile Launcher for us and while I don't like the elemental shot system that much (more on that later) it is neat that McKenzie creates those upgrades for us by integrating the chips into Samus' suit.. But overall he does talk a lot more than I'm comfortable with in a Metroid game. I also found it neat that we could radio him, that's a good help system, but I'd rather be the one radioing him far more than he radios us. Also the radio only works in Sol Valley, not the other areas, and that's usually when I would want his help the most, because I can't figure out how to progress in a certain room, so that definitely limits his usefulness.
I have also met the second Federation trooper and he is much less annoying, so it's mainly just McKenzie. But this also really isn't much of a fun and interesting feature that sells the game and I'm still kinda baffled as to why this was greenlit, no one who truly understands Metroid would've thought this was a good idea.
Second, the game feels kinda bipolar as far as openness. Sol Valley is, of course, a fully open area, but then you get to the traditional Metroidvania locations and they're practically linear hallways. If you've played Pokemon, this game is basically the SwSh moment of Metroid and designed rather similarly. A main, Wild Area-esque hub with traditional areas branching off that are linear hallways (thankfully with less cutscenes/tutorials stopping you). Sol Valley is also as empty as it looks, there's a few Green Crystals to collect (which is hard to tell what they do, you deposit them in this temple with no real feedback as to why we should care about collecting them) and some ruins to explore, but they're few and far between. It feels like the game doesn't know whether it wants to be a linear Metroidvania or an open world game and ends up a jack of all trades, master of none on that front. Also made more confusing when after Volt Forge, McKenzie said it was up to you where to go next, which implied that the game was opening up and you could find the last 3 keys in any order, but then he tried to nudge you to the volcano and as I explored the other areas I found that in fact, you cannot explore out of order (which may be for the best because as I've said I'm not sure how an open world Metroidvania could truly work, but I do ultimately have mixed feelings because I wanted to see if they could defy those expectations). I was also fairly disappointed by Volt Forge gameplay wise (lore and theming wise it's interesting, but gameplay wise not so much), they basically made that area a giant Vi-O-La tutorial. I also don't really like the layout and traversal here. Getting from one area to another is a pain, there's no fast travel points and no shortcuts between areas. If you're in one area and have to go to another (which you do since you need to revisit McKenzie a few times), you have to go into the desert, then go to the other area. At least for McKenzie there's the cannon that gives you a shortcut to Home Base, but that's a bandaid on a bullet hole.
As far as upgrades, the Psychic abilities are... okay. They don't really have a lot of useful features that older abilities didn't and they're mostly reskins of classic items. The Control Beam is definitely the standout, the others are just meh and if we had the classic items I wouldn't bat an eye. My real complaint though is how they handled the beams. The elemental shot system just feels pointless. They're basically Missiles but not really and have a separate ammo system. I don't really get it other than using Shot Expansions to pad out the expansion totals. If you wanted a limited ammo system for the elemental weapons... just make them Missile variants. There's no other difference.
Now as for the good. The area I've most enjoyed so far (and may end up my favorite in the entire game) is Ice Belt. Ice Belt is peak Metroid. First of all, it's less linear than other areas because of the TK keys gimmick, that allows them to open things up a bit more. As you go down to activate the generator, you then find there's weird cryopods and medical research equipment everywhere. Then you activate the generator and bring the facility to life, but then it wakes up all of the Grievers being held in the cryopods and you find a recording showing the purpose of the facility- it's designed to research how to turn Grievers back into Lamorn, revealing that Grievers are some kind of corrupted form of Lamorn and despite their best efforts, it seems like they couldn't find a permanent cure. Amazing reveal and I'm interested in hearing more about how the Lamorn became Grievers. And then as you return it starts getting intense because the Grievers start hunting and attacking Tokabi so you have to hurry back to resolve the situation. Amazing sequence that really felt more like Metroid, the next game needs more of this and it'll be in much better shape.
I also did like the misdirect in Flare Pool. You go in there, but you end up not getting far. Sylux (I think) seems to shut down the bridge blocking your progress, so you have to turn around and go through a previously locked door and you get the Fire Chip which McKenzie integrates into your suit to give you the Fire Shot. But you can't proceed any further in Flare Pool, you have to use the Fire Shot to break the ice in Ice Belt, go through everything I said above, and get the Ice Chip to progress in Flare Pool. Definitely more Metroid-feeling design, reminds me a bit of Norfair in Super Metroid. Your first trip through Norfair doesn't go very far either, you dip in and get the High Jump Boots but then you have to exit, go fight Kraid, and get the Varia Suit ti progress.
And while I'm not too keen on some of the things they did in this game now, I do think they can build on these mechanics to do something better in the future. In fact it wouldn't surprise me if they wanted to be even more ambitious with the game than the final product ended up being and they need to do more experimentation to give us an actual peak Metroid experience. I can see the seeds of that here. For one, the "Home Base" seems quite intentional, they seem to have wanted to make it a hub of sorts to rest and resupply. That could work, but there needs to be more to do and more of a gameplay loop to incentivize you to constantly return. Having collectibles/currency you can turn in to powerup Samus would be great (yes you have the Green Crystals, but it's unclear what those really do and you can't track how many you have so it's relatively meaningless), maybe there could be some kind of shop to give Samus upgrades, perks, and even customization options. A better sidequest system would be great too. The Green Crystals, Lamorn ruins, and Federation wreckages are good (are they even sidequests? I can't tell yet), but not enough, they need more of these. This could tie into the collectible/currency system too, the sidequests could be the vehicle you use to obtain them and that would create a nice gameplay loop. Also, if they want to do open world, do it right. Try and figure out an open world formula that better fits the Metroidvania formula instead of overwriting it. That may be difficult, but I'm interested in seeing what they come up with to make this work. I would say something more of a Mega Man-esque design would be worth trying, something where you can go to any area but some areas might be easier or harder if you come back with certain gear (for example, what if you could go into the icy area without the Plasma Beam/equivalent?). And if they can lean into allowing sequence break techniques so skilled players can progress however they want that would help too. I would say give that a try for next game (it's possible they already did for this game and that's why McKenzie gave that line but if so, I would say try working on this a little more). A Metroid game like THAT would be more of the kind of modernization I could get behind.
Ultimately this feels like a step down and definitely will not be my favorite Metroid, this is not the grand return Metroid Prime deserved after such a long hiatus. But it's not bad and could be the building blocks for something better down the line if done right. I'll have more thoughts when I've gotten further in the game.
@BonzoBanana Dreamcast Guy is irrelevant now. All he ever does is whinge whinge whinge. I used to like his content but everytime I watched him all he ever did was complain about trivial things.
@rallydefault
I am a longtime Metroid fan, but I have NEVER been married to some purist notion of what game is "supposed" to be. I dont care. Just give me something fun. I didn't care when Zelda broke tradition, and this game is essentially the same formula just with some added elements (and the extra characters arent even new- Metroid Prime 3 had them too, this one just does them waaaay better).
I mean, if ppl don't like it, Idk what to say, sucks to be them I guess. But as someone who literally got into gaming with Metroid Prime, this game is up there with the best in the series. 10 all day every day, and that's not hyperbole as an "overreaction" to be contrarian. It's legit one of those games.
I'm stuck to this game like Gorilla Glue. And it keeps getting better the more I play. I havent been this in love with a game in years, probably since Monster Hunter Rise.
I thought Ice Belt would turn out kinda bland but man... it's up there with Phendrana Drifts. The atmosphere is haunting and you can almost feel the cold yourself. The glistening shimmer of the frozen snowpacked ice in the tunnels of the lab... and with that butter 120 fps? It's pure euphoria. That's the best word to describe Metroid Prime 4. It's non-stop euphoria.
10/10 for me. Best Metroid Prime since Metroid Prime 2. 4th is now 3rd best in the series in my opinion.
1. Metroid Prime / Metroid Prime Remastered - 10/10
2. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes - 10/10
3. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond - 10/10
4. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - 9.5/10
That's my opinion and Metroid Prime series is one of my favourite game Franchises of all the time alongside Mario Kart, Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Donkey Kong Bananza, BioShock, Splinter Cell, Fallout, Ratchet and Clank, Red Dead Redemption, Mass Effect, Dead Space, Resident Evil, Yoshi, Hitman, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and lot more. I love games and gaming. I own Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series X and PS5 as well Nintendo Switch. I am so glad Retro Studios nailed it!! Fingercross Metroid Prime 5 coming next some years not wait like hell 18 years waited for Metroid Prime 4.
Does anyone have a recommendation for a mouse mode grip? I definitely prefer it, but it's just not comfortable over a long period of time.
I recommend the Muumba mouse grip and the 8"x10" Seihoo firm mousepad, both of which are on Amazon. If using the grip I'd advise using button remapping to set X (scan visor) to L3 so your thumb doesnt have to reach, and map L3 to R3 for grapple lasso since you won't use that nearly as much and don't even get it until a good ways in. Use L to jump instead of B, with ZR to shoot and R for missiles and you only need to use Y for morph ball mode, and even that could be mapped to B for easy reach since L can jump instead. Heck, you could even map stuff to SL and/or SR on the Left Joycon if you wanted. My middle finger naturally rests on the SL when holding Left Joycon so it's a free easy-to-press button if you want to free up your mouse face buttons. Could map morph ball to that button instead of B and never rely on face buttons at all.
edit
OK, found the best mapping.
Enable Motion Controls for Grapple Lasso to free up L3, and R3 isn't used ao that's also free
Map A to R3 so you can interact while resting thumb on Right Analog in mouse mode
Map X to L3 so you can scan without taking thumb off Left Analog
Map Y to SL/SR to transition to morph ball mode with either your middle finger wrapped around SL or pinky on SR
Enable Motion Controls for Spring Ball so you can jump in morph ball mode (can also click L3 since it's mapped to X, which is just as easy)
Use L to jump, ZL for psychic/scan visor, R for missiles and ZR for beam.
Done and done. No need to move your thumb up in an awkward position on mouse since all 4 face button actions can be activated with other buttons.
@Insert_Username and @JaxonH thank you both for the recommendations! And I appreciate the button remapping suggestions, definitely trying them out once the grip arrives.
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