Metroid Prime 4: Beyond

Publisher: Nintendo

Developer: Retro Studios

Platforms: Nintendo Switch (Reviewed), Nintendo Switch 2

Because the writing process has already begun on the end of year lists and I'd like to be spending most of my time on that, I'm going to make this as quick as possible. I don't recommend you pick up Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. And that pains me like you can't believe, since Metroid Prime was my very first favorite game.

18 years have passed since Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, with 8 of those years having passed since this game's announcement. In that time, it would appear that little in the way of actual work happened. In everything from its narrative to its atmosphere, Metroid Prime 4 doesn't actually represent anything close to anything else in its saga.

Part of this is due to the cast of characters accompanying Samus on her journey. The previews that started coming out ahead of the game's release showcased a now-infamous character named Miles Mackenzie: a sniveling little nerd guy who speaks exclusively in godDAMN Marvel quips. He starts out destroying the atmosphere the introduction sets up, but somehow he becomes less and less offensive as time goes on. Really, it's the other members of the supporting cast who end up making up the brunt of Prime 4's tone problems for most of the runtime. Every member of this cast quips nonstop or uses cliche action movie lines ("here comes the boom", "it's about to get hot!") or fangirling over Samus' every move. They also comment on literally everything that happens and tell you what to do constantly ("if you don't know where to go next, why not check out the unexplored parts of the map?" YOU DON'T SAY?!). Also, they get downed in combat easily, and unless you want a game over, you have to take time to heal them like this is some kind of soulless multiplayer game for streamers. If you're going into this expecting the moody, lonely atmosphere that Metroid Prime is synonymous with, you're going to be disappointed. 

You'll also be disappointed if you're going into this expecting the kind of intricate, interesting level design that metroidvanias always come with. Every area is a self-contained story made up of hallways, exclusively. 

Every area you go to will have you restore power, fight through new hazards awakened through that power surge, then work together with a supporting cast member to find one of the game's 5 macguffins. And as I said, they're all just a series of hallways. As I had that thought, I counterpointed in my head: "hasn't Metroid Prime technically always just been hallways?" That's a true statement, but previous entries in the saga have featured verticality. Many rooms in older titles would have you enter them from various doors at various heights to tackle new challenges or reach other harder-to-reach areas. Not so in this game. It's all flat hallways with no verticality or alternate entrances whatsoever.

Another frequent aspect of other Metroid titles is backtracking, which Beyond also features. While in those previous games the backtracking isn't much of a problem, backtracking through boring levels is another story. What's more, backtracking in Beyond involves having to trek through the game's worst addition: the stupid, boring desert. Each self-contained area sits at a corner of a giant desert with nothing in it except for a grand total of 6 Breath of the Wild-esque shrines and a bunch of green crystals you can crash into with your motorcycle.

Oh, yeah, Samus has a motorcycle. Why? Exclusively for the desert sections, of course! That, at least, is a blessing. It takes forever to get from one edge of the desert to another WITH the motorcycle, so I can't imagine how long it would take to do that on foot. 

It would be one thing if all you had to do in the desert was get from one area to another...it wouldn't be a good thing, but it would be just one thing. As it stands though, you're required to spend at least an hour out there running into those aforementioned green crystals in order to progress the plot. So, it's as if the desert literally only exists to pad out the runtime. This is what took 8-18 years to accomplish?

Sadly, this isn't where the negatives end, nor is it where this game's identity as a Metroid Prime title is called into question.

For starters, there aren't any metroids at all...that's right...no metroids in a Metroid game. Scans of the plot's bosses say that metroids are secretly controlling them, but there's no indication of that whatsoever outside of these scans.

Not only that, but space pirates are relegated to the prologue and only the prologue. So, what are you fighting instead for the game's runtime?

Robots...and the occasional bit of fauna, but mostly robots...and robots that all look the same despite some moveset differences, at that! Again, this is what took 8-18 years to accomplish?

One positive is that the bosses tend to be both challenging and interesting. But even they are occasionally let down by Nintendo's insistence on using motion controls or substitutes that work exactly like them. Normally in a Metroid Prime game, combat is all about locking onto enemies and strafing, but in many of these boss fights you're forced to lock onto the boss and move the right stick to shoot at weak spots. Aiming this way is far too sensitive, especially while strafing, so it becomes a major frustration. 

This was clearly made to take advantage of motion controls, but I refused, so that's what I was left with. The whole system is awkward as hell, especially given how tiny the joy cons are. Still, credit where it's due: the bosses are indeed excellent when you're able to move past this flaw in the combat...except for the final boss, which is pretty lame.

So, this supposed new entry in the Metroid Prime saga doesn't have the level design, tone, relative isolation,  interesting enemy roster, or, you know, metroids of a Metroid Prime title. Let's not pretend anymore. This isn't a Metroid Prime game. It's an attempt at a AAA action game with a Metroid coat of paint...but AAA action games can be good. So...how does Metroid Prime 4 measure up with that perspective? Well..it would be.middling even with that inconsistent bar.

With terrible (not to mention violently unwelcome) side characters that ruin everything they touch, terrible level design, everything else I've discussed, and everything else I might've forgotten to add for brevity, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond fails not just as a Metroid Prime sequel, but as the kind of AAA action experience it was clearly trying to emulate. With 8-18 years of work under the supervision and expertise of something like 21 different studios, I would've expected more effort. But hey...what else can you expect from one of the worst publishers in existence these days? Nintendo and Retro Studios should, frankly, be ashamed of themselves for this, and I pray to whatever gods happen to exist that sales didn't meet expectations so that this detestable publisher doesn't push my first favorite franchise into the dirt any more than it already has.

Let us review:

Miles Mackenzie and friends - 1.0

Awful level design - 1.0

Green crystal padding - 1.0

Boring enemies and combat woes - 1.0

False advertising - 0.5

Lame final boss - 0.5

The final score for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is, with a heavy heart...

5.0/10 - Average

Shame on you, Retro Studios, shame on you