Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Review - Shooting Beyond Expectations, But Not Primed And Ready
After what was closing in on two decades, Metroid Prime returns. The franchise had begun to regain some of its clout thanks to the enormously impressive release of 2021 release of Metroid Dread, and with Retro Studios returning to their deeply beloved Metroid Prime sub-series, hopes were high that this release could mark another fantastic chapter in the return to prominence of Samus Aran and the Metroid IP. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond stays true to the Prime roots in a lot of ways, and goes beyond fan expectations in a range of others, with not every design choice hitting the mark.
For prospective players new to the Metroid IP or even the Prime sub-series, Metroid Prime 4 is a player-friendly entry point, serving as a nice entry point for prospective new players, and even fans who’ve not returned to the franchise in a while and are a bit rusty narratively speaking. When Samus Aran is thrust into combat with a rival bounty hunter, Sylux, as he launches an attack on a Galactic Federation research base, the encounter is flipped on its head when an mysterious artifact is activated, suddenly transporting all involved to an intriguing new planet, Viewros. As Samus attempts to escape the planet, she must work with other surviving travelers and overcome the threats posed by Sylux, his army, and the plentiful threats native to Viewros, requiring her to embrace a new skillset to reach safety.
One of the more controversial elements of the Metroid Prime 4: Beyond experience has been the level of influence of Myles MacKenzie and other NPCs in the game. Recent previews, including my own, expressed concern over how prominent other characters might be in the world, and that the overly chatting MacKenzie might significantly derail the still, silent, and lonely experience that it can be to assume the role of Samus. While MacKenzie is absolutely as infuriating as I had first determined when playing the demo, the overwhelming majority of the game is still Samus, in her suit, exploring a lone, and while the overly excited Galactic Federation Engineer will very occasionally pop into Samus’ earpiece, this is quite sparing. Samus herself is her normal stoic self, giving players the power-trip that they’ve always loved when filling her boots.
The isolated feeling of living the life of Samus Aran is heightened further through Metroid Prime 4’s world and level design. Of course, the technological advancements in console hardware since Metroid Prime 3: Corruption in 2007 have been significant, and this is reflected in the scope and size of the world. This manifests in several positive ways when you’re navigating many of the different regions of the Viewros; from the lush Fury Green, to the icy surrounds of the Ice Belt, the scorching volcanic Flare Pool, and the sizzling Volt Forge, all of which look beautiful and possess a range of gameplay depth to them. Less positively though, this increased scope has also led to the central desert area called Sol Valley. Sol Valley is the game’s central hub region that allows the player to venture from each of the four aforementioned regions, as well as other, smaller points of note, though Sol Valley itself is a vast expanse of nothingness, and not in a way that feels immersive, but rather in a way that infuriates. As is the standard fare of Metroid titles, there will be times where Samus needs to acquire a tool in one region of the world, only to venture elsewhere to put it best to use, but the presence of Sol Valley sucks much of the momentum out of the enjoyment that comes from exploration and discovery. Vi-O-La, Samus’ newly introduced motorbike is designed to make navigating the world and breeze, and while it does the job well, there is still an enormous, boring, expanse to cover, and little reason to want to do so. Sol Valley could have been less than half the size, and felt additive to the experience, but in its current form, it’s just a hindrance.
Aside from this fairly significant weakness, Metroid Prime 4 is a sensational gameplay package. Samus’ adored first-person exploration and shooting gameplay returns, and her suit has been infused with psychic abilities that only broaden your scope of gameplay options. With a wider range of skills, Retro has found new ways to introduce both fresh environmental puzzles, as well as a range of fascinating boss encounters that prompt outside-of-the-box thinking to use your newfound powers to overcome them. When you’re not drudging through vast desert, you’re immersed in some of the most fascinating level design, with a suite of skills befitting one of the greatest bounty hunters of all time.
As a game coming to both Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2, and caught in development hell for far too long, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond doesn’t hit the same visual heights that prior games had accomplished for their time. While the visual artistry of Beyond is sublime, the technical artistry, presumably limited by the original Nintendo Switch, is lacking. The Nintendo Switch 2 version does offer players the ability to choose between Quality and Performance modes to tailor the experience to their tastes, but whatever you choose, the Switch 2 version just doesn’t match up to what you’d envisage Metroid Prime 4 looking like with modern console hardware powering it. The game’s sound design is excellent, with the charge from Samus’s Arm Cannon crackling through your speakers, the whistling of fast-moving enemies, piercing the silence, and rumbles of the environment around you upping the tension. The voice work is solid, but not inspiring; however, the musical score is of the highest quality.
The core of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is superb. The gunplay, paired with Samus’ awesome new psychic abilities, is the best that the Prime series has seen thus far, while the story is intriguing throughout. Sol Valley is incredibly boring, and makes the cool inclusion of Vi-O-La feel equally dull as well, but when you’re not stuck in desert wastes, you’re left to enjoy a richly detailed world with intrigue around every corner. The lows are low, and it blunts the impact of every other facet, but there’s still so much to enjoy about Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond was reviewed on Nintendo Switch 2 with a code kindly provided by Nintendo Australia.
