Developer: Retro Studios
Publisher: Nintendo
Platforms: NS1, NS2
Version Played: NS2
Price: $69.99
Metroid Prime 4, a sequel 18 years in the making. Well, 8 years in development, but it's been 18 years since Metroid Prime 3 came out on the Wii. And I guess it's a sequel in name only because the story doesn't have a whole lot to do with the original trilogy. Sylux is the only real connection to the old Prime games. But it still plays like Metroid Prime. Well, maybe more like Metroid Prime meets another famous Nintendo series.
Metroid Prime 4 takes place in that ever expanding time period in between Metroid 1 and 2, just like the other MP games. So no fusion, no Adams, and no baby. In the game’s intro, Sylux, along with a gang of Space Pirates and Metroids, attacks a Galactic Federation base where they're analyzing a mysterious artifact, one thing leads to another, and Samus ends up being teleported away to a planet called Viewros. Now she has to collect 5 magic gems to activate a teleporter to get back home. Unfortunately, her ship wasn't teleported with her.
Viewros was once inhabited by the Lamorn, a highly advanced civilization that learned how to harness psychic powers and make badass bikes. They're kind of like Chozo, but Axolotls instead of birds. Axolotls are those cute Mexican salamanders with tentacle-like gills coming out of their heads. The ruins of their civilization are everywhere on Viewros and you learn about what happened to them by scanning stuff throughout the game. Even though they're long gone, they left messages and technology for Samus, who they call “the chosen one”. They're psychic, so they knew she was coming.
During her adventures on Viewros, Samus encounters a bunch of Federation soldiers that got teleported along with her. It's not just that Miles guy, there's 5 in total. You talk to them, fight alongside them, and they even call you from time to time. I could hear people crying about their precious isolation the moment I saw Miles. But if you’ve been playing the games since Fusion, you probably saw this coming miles away. The check-in calls and Navi-like hints aren't anything new to Metroid games. The way these characters tag along sometimes definitely is, though. There's multiple parts where you fight alongside them in a sort of Firefight/Horde mode scenario, and one of these characters is basically a walking door opening item. It's more than a little Halo-ish and pretty weird for a Metroid game. I didn't mind it too much, though, because it does work with the story. I also feel like Samus needs to have other friends besides that Adam guy she named her ship’s AI after. Time to move on, girl.
Hopefully these relationships are leading to something, like a sequel! Because if they're not, this game’s story was a huge nothing burger. It isn't moving anything forward in the Metroid universe, and Samus's character hasn't been developed at all. It's just introducing a new race that would've probably worked better as Chozo and Galactic Federation characters that might never be seen again. Remember the “remember me?” guy?
Strangely enough, the Lemorn didn't make many upgrades for Samus that the Chozo haven't made already. Or did they make them before the Chozo? This game does take place before Metroid II. Metroid Prime 4 has a grappling hook, power bomb, double jump, spider ball, Ice Shot, spring ball, you get the picture. The Lemorn literally just put “Psychic” in the names of some of these and called it a day, like some kind of cheap knockoff. The only real new items here are a “Psychich Glove” that gives you telekinesis, the bike, and the Control Beam, a psychic shot that you fly around in 1st person like a drone. Sounds familiar.
VI-O-LA is actually pretty cool, but it's just a mount. It's basically Epona. I would say the Master Cycle, but it really is more like Epona with the charged speed boosts and everything. You use it to get around the desert and to break the green crystal clusters found all over. You can't use it inside most areas in the dungeons, so it's rarely used as a key item.
The desert connecting everything in the game is called the Sol Valley. It's where you’ll find all the dungeons, shrines, Galactic Federation wreckage, and the green crystals. There's also ramps to do sick jumps on your bike. There are puzzles and items in the shrines, like in Breath of the Wild’s, but there's only 5 of them. Packs of enemies appear and attack you every now and then, but it's mostly deserted. This really is just a space to connect everything, like Hyrule Field or Wind Waker’s ocean. It's not very exciting, and the lack of music doesn't help, but you don't have to spend a lot of time in it. I really like how it looks, though, because it reminds me of the desert behind Samus on the cover of Metroid II for Game Boy.
The green crystals are used to get various upgrades throughout the game. I heard some people ignored them and then had to grind for them at the end of the game, since a certain amount is required to get a specific upgrade, but that wasn't my experience. I don't even know why you’d do that. The first upgrade I got with them was pretty good, so I made sure to get every one I saw.
So what I’m trying to say here is that Metroid Prime 4 is by far the most Zelda-like Metroid game ever made. It's got the big area in the middle connecting everything, a bike, people to talk to, tag-along NPCs, a Skyward Sword beetle-like item, the story sounds more like Link’s Awakening the more I think about it, and the major areas are basically dungeons, because they're not connected to each other at all. They even share themes with Zelda dungeons. There's literally a volcano area that looks like Death Mountain from the outside. What else should I call them, temples? One of them is a motorcycle factory! These ain't no temples!
Even though it has a very Zelda-like structure (and story and items), the game still feels like Metroid Prime. It's still a game about scanning everything in sight, exploration, and solving puzzles with the items you find along the way. It's still that game where things don't work until you scan them and you revisit old areas with new items to reach new places and find more items. It's a Metroid Prime game through and through. It just has a big-ass desert in the middle of everything and Samus meets 5 new friends in it.
Metroid Prime 4 is still a Switch 1 game. There really isn't anything special going on with the graphics aside from the game running great. It's 60FPS in 4K and 120FPS in 1080p docked and 720p handheld on NS2. The only time I noticed any kind of frameyness was when trying to play in 4K with the Joycon in mouse mode. Maybe I was moving my hand too fast for the game to keep up. Mouse mode works just fine here, by the way. The thing that truly makes MP4 look great is the art direction. The game has this sort of Star Wars meets HR Giger thing going on and it really works for me. It makes sense that the art is inspired by Aliens and Star Wars because the first 3 games were definitely inspired by those movies as well.
It's been way too long since I played MP3, so I can't really say if this is better, but I can tell you that I like MP4 a lot more than Metroid Prime Remastered. It didn't get rid of scanning, which I’m still not a fan of, but it did get rid of all the other visors, the dark areas, and the constant locking you in rooms with bullet sponge enemies. MP4 is just a less annoying and more modern game that still retains the Metroid style of gameplay. And the bike is awesome! Can we get a Metroid-themed Excitebike or something?
8/10
…Because it's a good Metroid Prime game, but scanning still isn't fun.
