7 Things I Learned Playing Metroid Prime 4: Beyond

pinch me because i've played metroid prime 4 beyond nintendo recently invited me down to their

offices to get hands-on with the game which was a very surreal experience for numerous reasons

not least because this is a game we metroid fans have been waiting for since its reveal in 2017

and oh i have thoughts i also have theories so i'm si this is what culture gaming and here are

seven things I learned playing Metroid Prime 4 Beyond. This feels like a sequel to Prime 3

Metroid Prime 4 Beyond is one of the most anticipated releases of the last however many

decades. It's releasing in the same year as Silksong and Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines 2

so it's a good year for it, I guess. And with so much wait time between Prime 3 and 4

it would be easy to let your imagination get away from you. Suffice to say, I have a lot of positive

things to say about my Metroid Prime 4 experience but stating up front it's worth pointing out this

isn't a game that's necessarily going to leave you dumbfounded. It's not a revolution, it's a

sequel to 2007's Metroid Prime 3 corruption that just so happens to be coming nearly 20 years later

As such it feels exactly like that, the controls are comfortable, old school even, and incredibly

familiar. All the elements are here, the targeting, the scanning, the moving in and out of Morph Ball

the lot. Heck, the game uses all of the same familiar sound effects you remember and I found

myself smiling at every last one. I think whilst I was surprised at how pun unintended retro it sort

of felt, it was kind of refreshing. Maybe a part of my brain was worried that they were going to

attempt to modernize things, not necessarily chase trends but tweak things and go too far with it

but that doesn't appear to be the case. Beyond starts with that attack on the Galactic Federation

base as seen in the announcement trailer, which is a hell of an opening, and when you touch down

in Fury Green, the lush forested first area of the game, the pace grinds down to a halt in a good way

You're incentivized to take your time, drink it all in and get back to grips with things

And I was sort of stunned by how I was simply playing a new Metroid Prime game

Obviously, there's definitely more to come, like the bike will get there, and probably some surprises

up retro sleeves as well. But it really did feel like we were playing something that had been

unearthed and released by the studios that we should have gotten years ago. And when I got my

sea legs back under me, I was really grateful for that. The game looks great. Whilst it's still

stylized to some degree, Metroid is definitely the Nintendo first party IP that gets the closest

to realism. Therefore, it's easy to make the case that it has a tougher challenge being visually

impressive. Stylization does a hell of a lot for games like Tears of the Kingdom, but it's so much

easier for the cracks to show in Metroid and for it to be unfairly compared to other games of its ilk running on more powerful hardware I very confident in reaffirming though that Metroid Prime 4 is one of the best looking Nintendo games ever

And so it should be. After all, it's one of the very few Switch 2 games released by the company themselves so far

and it's reportedly the most expensive Nintendo game ever. Of course, Beyond is also being released on the original Switch, so I'm very intrigued to see how that compares

Metroid Prime 4 never completely shocked me with its graphical fidelity, but it was nice to see Nintendo hit this here to otherwise unreached threshold

and to do so with my beloved Metroid. I largely played in quality mode, so experiencing 4K Metroid was a joy

The game also makes great use of scope, both horizontally and vertically

I found myself looking up at huge trees overhead and out into the horizon into a mysterious forested vista

Special mention needs to be made to the Galactic Base Assault though, because it is designed to wow you and does so spectacularly

Getting to play through this as a kind of tutorial is a really great way to start the game

Rain runs down Samus' visor, buildings explode in the distance, and the whole thing feels like a statement of intent

The game also features a 120 frames per second performance mode, but honestly, cards on the table, I couldn't see a difference

I'm not particularly good at seeing a difference with these things, so I'm not going to talk about it

I'll leave that for someone who does know what they're talking about to get into, rather than waste your time

That said, something I definitely know about is the atmosphere. For my money, one of the most important things Metroid Prime 4 needs to get right

is the series' signature sense of atmosphere, a mix of wonder and unease as you explore an alien world and make sense of it

That isolated journey through the unknown, piecing together the story and the rules for the world

is central to what makes Metroid great. And Prime 4 absolutely nails it

My biggest takeaway of the whole experience was not just the game feel, but hitting those tonal cues

Fury Green is much grander than any prime location before it, but it's also got so much detail

Spores and dust float through the air, light pours through the trees, local insects walk by Samus as she scours through the undergrowth in gorgeous 4K

all whilst a wonderful melancholic track plays. For context, I'm recording this almost a week after the event

and I can still recall the theme for Fury Green in my head. It's really familiar, not just tonally, but also instrumentally

and it feels like it's designed to generate those warm and fuzzy nostalgic feelings

It's really good. And of course, it's just the beginning. If this is an indication of what the soundtrack has overall

it's going to be another great addition to your Metroid Ambience playlist. The psychic powers are a catch-all feature

One of the new gimmicks for Metroid Prime 4 are Samus mysterious psychic powers The trailers shown so far hint at it but essentially every puzzle in the opening area relied on Samus new psychic abilities

The most simple of these are moving objects to open doors, be that like a lever or grabbing a nearby psychic orb

to plug into an activation node. The most interesting though is the new psychic control beam

that slows down time when fired. If you've played Skyward Sword, you'll remember the flying beetle mechanic

and it's not really unlike that at all. you take command of the charge beam and sort of pilot it to its destination

whether that's solving a puzzle or indeed in combats. The boss fight towards the end of Fury Green forces players to get to grips with this ability

a plant monster that requires synchronized destruction of its tentacles to expose the weak point

This means breaking off the armor with blaster and missiles and then using the control beam to weave around the vines and hit its vulnerable points

It was pleasantly challenging. It feels as though the psychic powers Samus possess could be explored in a myriad of ways

and it's just a handy way to pull a bunch of different ideas together. The general theme is definitely kinetic so far

but just these three are kind of entirely separate from each other

Of course, in classic Metroidvania fashion, there were things to do in Fury Green that I couldn't interact with yet

so presumably you'll be coming back later with psychic powers to figure these things out

Samus's new companion is going to be divisive. Yes, she has a new companion. Actually, she might have more than one

Midway through exploring Fury Green, Samus comes across Miles McKenzie, a Galactic Federation engineer who's in need of saving from aggressive local wildlife

Prime 4 follows the lead of 3 and Dread, you'll be glad to hear

with characters talking at Samus rather than engaging in a two-way conversation

That is to say, I didn't hear her speaking in the game. She was just kind of motioning to things and taking direct action

That means that Miles just kind of speaks uninterrupted sometimes. He can check in on you as you make progress and the two establish a home base in Fury Green

As with Adam in previous games, he's essentially a guide for the player. Unlike Adam, he partakes in slapstick humour by falling off of things

and slots into the amusing coward character archetype. Expect a wave of hatred to come for this character when the game drops

The writing feels really out of place. I mean, in his first appearance, he describes something as win, which is very 2007 coded

But he did get a few sort of wry laughs out of me at the same time

So it's going to be a Marmite-y one for sure. I think most interestingly, though, there's a section where you have to defend him from taking too much damage

And he has an engineer symbol next to his life bar, which to me feels like it implies saving multiple soldiers all over the game's world

Which might at least mean we don't have to listen to this one guy non-stop for the whole game

Nintendo are hesitant to show Viola I think everyone had a pretty similar reaction to Samus getting on a motorbike in one of the trailers for Metroid Prime 4 which even if you thought was cool you surely

were also thinking wait what? And to a certain extent we're still asking that question. The best

guesses about it being used to traverse an open world segment are pretty much a sure thing but we

have very little else to go on beyond that and what we've seen in it from pre-release trailers

have left many people concerned. And I can't help but wonder how Nintendo feels about it too

because our time with the game seemed to deliberately avoid it. A rep at the event, however, did interestingly describe the Viola portion of the game

as being like Ocarina of Time's Hyrule Field. The game has a series of dungeons where most of the action takes place

and then there's the field between them, which is an interesting choice of comparison, certainly

So yes, suffice to say I'm as curious as all of you to know more about it

considering I now own an amiibo of the dang thing, and we've seen, what, 20 seconds of footage in trailers of it

I have a feeling it's either going to be great or terrible. And finally, we might be getting a mech

Now, this one is purely theory. In the game's opening area, the Galactic Federation deploy a Golem-class mech

to fight off the attack. It's a high-octane moment in a high-octane set piece

I remember this well because they stop, and it became my surface of choice for going up to

and firing at to see if I could see Samus' reflection in her visor like the old games

You totally can, by the way. So that's good. And whilst exploring Fury Green with Miles

you come across one of the, if not the very same mech, just randomly plonked in the forest

Miles makes a very big deal of this, recognising it instantly as Betsy

and he starts nerding out over it. He, and this whole scene, definitely seems to imply

that the machine can be repaired. What this means exactly I don't know. Is this a different vehicle for the so-called open world segments

Is this just a device to get us from point A to point B in a cutscene

Or are there fully playable mech levels? Considering the level of breakneck energy in the game's opening that slows down when you get to the exploration side of things

it wouldn't be terribly surprising if these are one way for the game's action to ramp up and to offer some variety

Perhaps you'll find a pilot out in the field to assist you in some fashion

or indeed Samus will get in the mech herself. But I think it goes without saying that there's no way that this is just in the game's opening like this

and that's the last we see of it. How are you feeling about Metroid Prime 4 Beyond

I hope it came across in this video that I'm really excited about it. I certainly had my expectations put into check, probably in a good way

and now I can't wait to play more. If you like this video, you might enjoy my sort of hands-on impressions to Kirby Air Riders

Spoiler alert, they're not quite as positive as this. other than that get down in the comments below

let me know how you're feeling and have a good week