Metroid Prime 4 Beyond - Review

When Nintendo announced Metroid Prime 4 back in June 2017, I was among the many that were hyped, but I was also among a smaller number that were confused. The Prime series of games had its end with Corruption on the Wii, I refuse to count that 3DS release. So, using the series name, restarting development and taking 8 years to make, there was a lot riding on this game. Were they successful or were the lofty expectations beyond them?

The game begins with Samus Aran flying through a battle raging above a new planet, where the Galactic Federation is defending itself against a raid from the Space Pirates. Soon after she has landed, she is directed towards a command area where help is needed to protect a mysterious artifact. While Samus makes it to the artifact, Sylux breaks through the door and shoots at her, but hitting the artifact in question, which comes alive and sends out a wave of energy. This hits Samus, Sylux and a number of Federation soldiers, with the result being they get sent to an unknown planet. Upon waking up Samus encounters a recording of one of the last beings who lived on the planet Viewros and they ask a big favour. The goal is to get home and save the knowledge of this forgotten world.

Sadly, that is as much story as you get, because it is the weakest part of the entire game. Samus being pulled into events is not new, it happens all the time due to her answering distress calls, but here it does not even feel like it matters. Even if you remove the desire to return home, which everyone would have in that situation, the idea of saving the knowledge of an unknown race makes little sense. When Samus encounters Chozo ruins, she has a connection to those because of her past and other missions are at the behest of someone paying her, this has neither, so it feels weird. What makes this weirder is that due to the setting of the game, in the timeline, Samus either succeeds and tells no-one or she does not succeed and therefore, nothing she does here matters. That also applies to the Federation troopers that you encounter, these names have never popped up elsewhere before, which all but confirms they are not going to make it home. This is not an issue exclusive to Metroid, it happens with all prequel stories, it is why Clark Kent in Smallville was never in any danger. The troopers are all fine, but they are also stereotypes, there is the chatty geek, the stoic sniper, the grizzled veteran and the chipper youngster. This is one of those moments where you are either going to be ok with them or not and honestly, if the game did not include them at all, I don’t think we would be missing anything. Oh, and before I forget Sylux is here as well, no idea why, but there you go.

Metroid as a series has always been about navigating a sprawling world and discovering the secrets that are everywhere, the Prime sub-series adds in scanning, a lot of scanning. Soon after Samus meets the last Lamorn, she is granted psychic abilities, which let her move things from a distance. For the most part this is a forgotten ability, as most doors still open by you shooting them, but the times when it does appear, it usually does so via throwing bombs and such. Accessing the psychic abilities is done by activating the visor, which in turn lets you scan things. This is the biggest part of the Prime series, scanning doors, computers, walls, enemies and just about everything you can imagine. While scanning for lore is a great way to learn more about the planet and what happen to those that called it home, there is a weird thing going on here. Each region you enter, you need to scan the doors, crates, broken computers and more, each and every time. Now if you have seen one broken computer, you have seen them all, but if you want that 100% rating, you need to scan everything and it gets tiring.

Outside of scanning, the gameplay is about exploring, finding new upgrades and then heading back to previously inaccessible areas, in order to find what new secret is hidden away. A lot of the abilities that Samus picks up in this game are tied to the psychic powers she obtains at the start, but they are the same powers she gets normally. So instead of the space jump, it is the psychic space jump, morph ball becomes psychic morph ball, you see where I am going with this. Now I understand what the wanted to do, but all it made me do was think of this. The weapons that you get are elemental in nature, which is a bit of a departure from the wave, power and hyper beams of other games. There are plenty of doors that have locks that are dependent on the element, which again enforces that loop of revisiting areas.

The only real issue I had with the gameplay was tied to the controls, which are just weird. Now in Prime 1 and Prime 2, Morph Ball mode is attached to X, but here it is attached to Y. My issue is I kept hitting X for it and getting the psychic visor instead and usually at the worst possible time. In addition there are stupid choices like how B is jump when standing, but X is jump when in morph ball mode. There are also duplicated buttons, L and B do the same, as do A and ZR and I don’t understand it. The game could honestly do really well with the ability to remap. Sadly though, that is not the more egregious part of the game, which is the additional aiming. In the tutorial the game tells you how you can lock on to something, then use the right stick to fine tune your aim. Or those who want, you can also use motion control and on Switch 2, mouse-con mode. The issue is outside of boss encounters, I never came across any time when I needed to do that and given their example was a door, it feels weird. What made it worse though was that when I tried to do that fine tuning in boss fights, the reticule would occasionally fling itself to the side, requiring me to stop locking on and then try to focus back on the main target, it was infuriating. Perhaps the most annoying part, there were only a few times when it was actually needed, which makes it seem like the game could have been done without it.

On the presentation side of things, there is really very little to complain about, as the game looks great and sounds great. Now for context I played the game on Switch 2 and I opted for the 4K and 60fps, and at no time did I regret my choice. Samus looks great, from the moment she leaps out of her ship at the opening moments, until the final cutscenes. The new red suit she gets looks cool, it has an Iron Man vibe to it, but more rounded and less angular, which suits her usual look. The troopers you spend time with all look good as well, their faces when you get to see them, show a lot of detail, which really surprised me for a Nintendo game. Sylux is here and his suit is just a slightly tweaked version of the one we first see him wear in Prime Hunters from the DS. His character really didn’t need to be in the game and the lack of variety in his appearance reflects that.

The world itself is stunning, the vibrant and dense jungle section or the heat filled volcano, every location feels alive. Well, except Sol Valley, which is the large desert that connects the other areas together, that looks bland. I understand that as a desert, there is not a lot you can do, but there are also countless things that could have been done to give it a purpose, outside of collecting green gems and weapon upgrades. This is the only real area where I noticed issue with performance, usually with objects popping into view, which just highlights how nice everything else looks. There are a few times I spotted some really blown-up textures, where you can see the square that make up the pixels, which again just highlights that this game has been in development a long time.

The audio side of things is interesting, there are some great musical pieces that feel at home in the series, but nothing you have not heard before. In fact, if you were to compare the Jungle section from this game to any other Jungle section from any other Prime game, I doubt you would hear much different between then. The troopers have some good voice work, but as I said before, they are stereotype characters, which means they don’t get to do much beyond play those roles. I will say though, having Samus not speak at all during the game is a stupid choice. We know she can speak, there are games where she has, so here it just comes across as her not wanting to speak to anyone, even when people are asking questions directly of her. If I had one grievance with the audio, it would be the harsh transition between the music from the world to the save point rooms.

Metroid Prime 4 Beyond is a good game, it takes Samus Aran on a new adventure and does so with some fun and style. The addition of Psychic abilities might have sounded good on paper, but they are rarely used to any real effect, which makes them more of a gimmick than a proper addition. The story is pretty basic and having Sylux there makes no sense, because the character does nothing most of the game, but is meant to be the big bad. If you are like me and love the Metroid and Metroid Prime series, then you likely will play the game regardless. For everyone else, you are going to get a game that gives you a great world to discover and that is really it.

The Score

8.0

Review code provided by Nintendo

The Pros

Viewros as a location does not change to much up from the series established traditions, but still has a lot to discover as you explore it

The gameplay is pretty great, exploring is fun and combat is fast and exciting…

The Cons

… but the weird fine aiming makes no sense, given how infrequently is it used

Sylux is just not a threat, he is not a bad guy that you should consider as a danger