Hello, is it Prime you’re looking Four?
Samus Aran, the galaxy’s greatest bounty hunter, must explore the mysterious planet of Viewros, wielding new psychic abilities to find a way home in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition. Battle alien threats and formidable bosses, navigate your way through labyrinthine environments, and discover new abilities and upgrades to power your pursuit of Viewros’ secrets.
The original Metroid Prime Trilogy are some of my favourite games, it was a big risk originally changing the Metroid template from it’s 2D side-scrolling to a 3D first-person adventure, but one that works incredibly well. I honestly didn’t think we’d ever get a fourth entry, but after what seems like an eternity, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is finally a reality. But has the long-suffering wait been worth it?
We’ve had great Metroid games to tide us over in the meantime like Metroid Dread, but Prime 4 is what I’ve been most anticipating. Prime 4 itself feels like you’re being reunited with an old friend after a long time apart. It feels familiar but not quite how you remembered and they’ve changed a bit over the years apart, this takes place in form of the bike sections, the NPCs and overall tone of the game.
Sylux takes centre stage as the main villain, which surprised a lot of Metroid fans. He’s a decent baddie and clearly hates Samus with a passion, making the conflict very interesting throughout. The story itself is great and while the NPCs seem to have divided opinion, it’s not nearly as jarring as some lead it to believe. This is still Metroid Prime at its core and even with new elements like psychic abilities and the bike thrown in, this is still a damn impressive entry in the series.
Has it been worth the wait though? Well, anticipation for a fourth Prime game was always going to be high and while it doesn’t reach the lofty heights of the original trilogy, I think it’s a great step forward for the franchise and hopefully we won’t have to wait nearly 2 decades for another instalment.
The controls are easy to get to grips with regardless of whatever method you choose to use, be it the standard controller setup or using the Joy-Con as a mouse to aim and shoot for more accuracy and precision. The visuals are absolutely stunning on Switch 2, running up to 120FPS at 1080p or 60FPS at 4K. The soundtrack has always been amazing in the Trilogy and Prime 4 still delivers on this with incredible tracks throughout the entire game.
The Verdict
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond has taken a damn long time to arrive, but the wait has definitely been worth it. It may not have had the same impact as past games and new elements are a bit mixed, but ultimately Metroid Prime is back and I’m so glad it is. Definitely a must-have for any Metroid fan.