Metroid Prime 4 Beyond Review: Graphics without Gameplay
I have a confession to make, I was never a huge Metroid fan. I played a few Metroid games before. I did overall enjoy my time with Metroid Prime 1 and Metroid Dread, but with neither I fell in love. Still I was very excited to play Metroid Prime 4. I expected an atmospheric adventure with some clever ideas, but sadly Prime 4 only delivered on one of the two.
What does it feel like to play Metroid Prime 4?
I feel alone and cold. Walking through the icy corridors of a long forgotten laboratory. My goal is to reach the generators to turn back on the electricity of this God forsaken place. But the things I find along the way leave me with a feeling of dread.
Monsters frozen in the ice that were clearly part of experiments. Tons of cryo chambers with possibly many more of those creatures. Are they dead? Or would they wake up when I turn the power back on? While I explore, a beautiful soundtrack follows my every single step, drawing me deeper and deeper into this mysterious world.
Moments like this are where Metroid Prime 4 shows its strength. If you sit back with earphones on in a dark room and shut your brain off, to just enjoy this beautifully crafted world. The environmental storytelling works, even though the actual main plot is pretty much forgettable. If Prime 4 delivers one thing, then it's a deep atmosphere with an amazing soundtrack and visuals to match. It's just a shame that Retro Studios seem to have forgotten the rest that makes a game good.
Is Metroid Prime 4 fun to play?
Now let's talk about the foundation of every videogame, its gameplay. Metroid Prime 4 honestly left me speechless and a bit puzzled, in that regard. After playing it for many hours, I honestly don't know what kind of game Prime 4 wants to be.
Its structure reminds me a lot of Zelda games. You have 4 dungeons to explore and in each you will learn new tools to advance further. In between you get some light puzzle solving, but honestly, to even call it puzzles doesn't really hit the mark. Most of the time it's a simple scan of this object or pull on that thing. In some ways, those kinds of things reminded me more of a walking simulator than a Zelda game.
So how about being a Metroidvania? I mean, that's the foundation of the series. Many would argue that Metroid Prime 1 is one of the best Metroidvanias ever created. But also, in this regard, Prime 4 falls flat. To me a good Metroidvania needs to nail its exploration. In Hollow Knight Silksong, I constantly felt rewarded and surprised when I explored the world.
Prime 4 on the other hand rarely lets you step away from the main path. Most of the time you go in a straight line. Sure here and there some upgrades are hidden, but even those are most of the time easy to spot. The world also doesn't really feel connected, like Prime 1 did. It's more like 5 separate areas connected by a boring desert.
Lastly, let's talk about Metroid Prime's combat. I mean, beautiful and mysterious worlds apart, with environmental storytelling? That sounds like something Dark Souls would do. Well, sadly Prime 4 combat isn't nearly as fleshed out. Most encounters simply come down to a bit of jumping left and right and shooting.
Bosses on the other hand can be a highlight. They simply look impressive and all require some sort of strategy. However those fights mostly drag on too long. After you find out how to beat a boss, which usually doesn't take long, it again can become quite boring to execute on it.
Should you play Metroid Prime 4?
Even if it hurts me to say I have a hard time recommending Metroid Prime 4 to anyone. The game simply is missing anything that I look for in a game. Its story is a nonexistent mess, combat is simply nothing remarkable. If you look for puzzles or exciting exploration you won't find it here either.
In many ways, Metroid Prime 4 really feels like a walking simulator with too much combat added to it. If you just sit back for a bit and enjoy the graphics, environments and sounds, you can have some good moments here. For some, visiting the four very distinct dungeons with their unique looks might be enough. But without any kind of exciting gameplay to match that's simply not enough for me personally. Nintendo's mantra is usually “Gameplay first, everything else second”. Sadly, it seems like no one at Nintendo told Retro Studios what this means.
Rating: Worth a Try