Method in the madness, Methodical Metroid

I can safely say I've never been too much of a fan of Nintendo's most prominent works. I've never been into platforming so I've never been too much into Mario, never been too much into the specific flavor of action-adventure titles that Zelda brings other than Breath of the Wild (shocker I know). The only point of interest I mostly have outside of their RPGs (Fire Emblem and Xenoblade) is Metroid, a fast platformer but more than that to the point it's created it's own subgenre called Metroidvania, platforming with mostly non linear design and item progression to a certain extent. I really like this approach to platforming due to the item progression reminding me of the power progression I enjoy in RPGs. Coming into this now, I was really excited to try out Metroid Prime. First person titles are a bit uncommon coming into the creation of Prime and especially from Nintendo considering this is their answer to bringing Metroid to the three dimensional space. Probably lacking the knowledge of creating a first person title, Nintendo sought help from Retro Studios which brought their knowledge of creating the Turok titles from a different time. This should've been one of my favorite Nintendo titles ever, my love for first person shooters and Metroid being the one of the only main (arguably) Nintendo series I care about should make this something magical and for the most part, Prime got that home run but not without a few strikes.

The game opens up with a partially powered up Samus answering a distress call like it was just any other job until it becomes much more than that and Samus ends up losing her few power ups and lands on the mysterious Tallon IV to explore further. Admittedly I wasn't too invested in the story, the thing about Metroid titles is that they always feel like separate chapters in Samus Aran's life and nothing too spectacular since it never gets into personal development about the character itself and it's never really felt needed unless it goes into why she's cool. The game does give you a lot to digest in the terms of logs and items to scan giving you information about enemies, pirate logs and even how some items operate. I sadly wasn't able to digest all of it due to my attention span but it's there if you want to truly immerse yourself with information about where you at and what you're up against.

I've admittedly only played a few Metroid titles (Metroid (only for 2 hours), Super Metroid, Fusion, Zero Mission and Dread) so my perspective on Metroid might not be wholly complete but I always felt like the speed, item progression, level design and backtracking were kind of the hallmarks of what makes a Metroid game excellent. First person Metroid might sound like a fever dream to the uninitiated at first but I'll just say it plainly: it works. The moments where you are jumping platform to platform, going through rooms, the item progression and the gates and it just all feels familiar. I also have to preface in mind that I played with the standard first person shooter controls since trying the regular vanilla controls for thirty minutes and I couldn't do it at all. Even when the game was design around it, my muscle memory fails to adapt to something that isn't the popular twin stick format and I'm grateful this remaster has that.

There's a lot more to unpack turning something into 3D, the gameplay and platforming challenges alone would probably cover pages of the intricacies but this was extremely faithful but I found myself annoyed and wanting with this game, more than I'd like to admit. Now I understand backtracking is almost a guarantee at this point in the series, the entire notion of returning to an area and finally opening that locked area is a dopamine rush for fans of the series but I always liked how fast 2D Metroid lets you go back, you tend to get movement abilities that let you zip through rooms at almost breakneck pace and I never minded it as much. With Prime however, you never really get anything movement related other than an extra jump and morph ball boost so you're constantly at a moderate pace when it comes to backtracking and there was a lot to go back to constantly. It started to feel annoying when enemies kept coming back and it was really hard to avoid without taking damage in compared to 2D Metroid when you can just completely ignore them or screw attack or dash through them which made the game feel like it was way longer than it needed to be. Some of the enemy design and general gameplay design also felt tedious as well, I do like the different types of weapons Samus gets but later on it feels like a constant swap-a-thon and swapping with the conventional first person shooter scheme takes a bit more effort when you're taking the brunt of it. I completely understand that combat isn't the main and sole focus of Metroid Prime, it's all about the exploration and adventure but I just never really had a moment where I just clicked with the mechanics. It might be in part due to the control scheme because even using super missiles had me do some weird grip where I had to move my thumb off the stick (R+ZR or R+A) so there was already a little delay in shooting the powered missile out. After testing some controllers out though, this might be purely a joycon controller issue with how small and naturally uncomfortable they tend to be. The boss fights are also pretty amazing as well and kept me on my feet for the most part with the last few bosses being really engaging.

The overall level variety is generally great and by that I mean we got the standard hot level, the cold level, the indoor building level, the forest level and the ruins level. Each level for the most part felt decent enough to traverse though and the move to 3D helps a lot with the general atmosphere of the game, never at the time you really see how Samus sees these alien worlds she tends to visit realized like this before. The soundtrack is great with some ambient electronic tracks that do a good job of setting the scene for each area with the ice level being my favorite track.

I was completely prepared to give this game a higher score but I felt way too annoyed and frustrated during the final stretch with the backtracking and generally tired of the platforming after a bit which feels like I can't give it much more justice here. I really do love the concept here and I still think it generally works really well and for a first attempt (albeit a remaster that fixes the control scheme), it's pretty solid. I'm more curious to see how Prime 4 will bring this sub series of Metroid into the modern age where the most prominent single player first person shooters are either fast paced arcade fun or immersive sims where interactivity is everything I feel like this remaster is a taste of what's to come.

Let me preface by saying that I thoroughly enjoy multiple "Metroidvanias". I think it's finally time to admit to the fact that I'm just not going to enjoy any Metroid games. Super Metroid, Dread, and now this have all tried their best to annoy me enough to stop playing. Despite low expectations going in, this game still disappoints.

Listen, if I played this back in 2001 it's possible I would have loved it and have plenty of nostalgia for it. Surely it's something special considering the time of release. However, in modernity it just oozes issues. Playing this in 2023 means it's held to a different standard now, and it falls flat in regards to most of them. I could not imagine playing the original considering how dated the controls would feel. This game actually playing pretty smoothly is one of its only silver linings.

Why do Metroid games deal with backtracking so poorly? Why?! The games that take inspiration from them have pulled off much more interesting ways of dealing with this feature. Guacamelee 1&2, Ori 1&2, Hollow Knight, and Bloodstained to name a few are so much better at being Metroid games than any of the 3 Metroid games I've played. All of those games are better than all 3 Metroid games I've played in almost every conceivable metric. This game requires a guide in multiple instances because it does such a poor job of explaining what you're capable of doing/seeing at any given point. It feels like it expects you to either meticulously study every room you find and record that information (literally) or it just wants you to wander around aimlessly until you find something new you can interact with. Neither of those sound enjoyable, which means you must resort to a guide unless you take pride in wasting your own time.

To add to this problem, Prime half-asses it when it comes to using video game logic. In a game like Guacamelee, the moves you learn are very explicitly linked to certain colours so you can very clearly understand what each attack accomplishes. Yes, that's non-sensical but it's also embracing that its a video game. In this, it wants to be video gamey and use colours but it also randomly blocks off plenty of doors and areas with... blocks? Rocks? Other random material? Oh no, that type of rock can't be blown up with a powerful rocket! You have to use this other bomb that can only be used when you're in your weaker form! Duh! Idiot.

What? Everything just feels arbitrary. This is something I noticed in Dread, as well. It doesn't feel like it's got any sort of reasoning behind it. It's not designed to make things more fun. It's not fun to be like "oh I have this new more powerful explosive move, let's try to blow up these rocks now!" to have it not work because there's arbitrarily another blast move you don't know yet. To bring up Guacamelee again, the way your moveset expands lends itself to finding new ways to explore. Things that actually take some skill to pull off. Prime just pointlessly gates you over and over. Sometimes it does it after you walk down a narrow path for 20 minutes only to find out you can't progress because of another different looking rock. Welp, time to head back.

Manually. This game desperately needs fast travel. I think it would be game breaking to have full control over where you can travel. But it would greatly benefit from at least being able to revisit a couple areas once you've done A, B, or C. Something. The game is paced horribly and doesn't flow well at all. The amount of times I have to stop and go "ok, so now where am I headed?" is unmatched. No other series places you in this trap as much as Metroid seems to. Also, no, I'm not just bad and stupid. I made plenty of connections and enjoyed remembering certain points of interest. Taking mental notes of grappling spots, for instance, was fun - to a degree. There's just too many different ways to open a door and it becomes a chore once you've sunk 10 or so hours in to it.

The main word that comes to mind that perfectly sums up this game is 'nuisances'. The enemies are a nuisance - they absorb some shots, and some require you to switch weapons - but in reality they're all the same thing and they don't put up much of a fight. Almost every fight is the same. Not only that, but the respawn when you re-enter rooms which puts even more emphasis on the annoyance that is back tracking. The back tracking itself is a nuisance - it's not fun whatsoever and is very poorly integrated. The controls are a nuisance - why are there so many almost identical actions that you must switch between? The weapons barely feel different outside of their visual effect. Plus it's annoying having to swap visor functions constantly so that you don't feel like you're missing something.

I got about 10-12 hours in and I decided to quit. I fully intended to beat the game but I just could not deal with the immense amount of my time the game was literally wasting. Backtracking in this game brings me no joy. The other mechanics don't make up for it. Shooting things feels... fine. Moving around is actually pretty fluid - I'll give it that. Rolling around is fun! It would be nice if doors just opened themselves once you have them unlocked, though. Why do I have to switch forms and then switch weapons just to get through every single door after the first time?! Again - the pacing is ruined. I like the feeling of the jumping. I like the visuals. The strong and vibrant colours speak to me. The music is great.

Like I've said about the other 2 Metroid games - I would love to love this. It's got so much potential. It's a shame that potential has only been lived up to in other series. We'll see how Metroid Prime 4 goes - I intend to try it. That will be my last shot at the series. If that doesn't land for me, I'm out for good for sure. I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt due to it finally being a truly modern 3D Metroid. We'll see - Dread probably should have been my realization a couple years ago that Metroid wasn't going to do it for me.

In a year full of remakes and remasters ranging from fantastic to good - this one sticks out as a sore reminder that Metroid is a very stubborn franchise that has many issues that need to be addressed. Why it's praised so much, I do not understand. With each attempt I make at understanding, it makes less sense to me. Everything else is better at being a Metroid game than Metroid games are.

My first time experiencing RE4 this year was incredible. Dead Space is better than it was back in 2008. Super Mario RPG was still fun and charming.

This? Nah, this is a mess. Fluid movement, pretty visuals and effects, and an eerily cool soundtrack aren't enough to save it from being one.

I feel like the praise being given to this remaster is a hold-over from its original praise. If this was a new game, surely it would get roasted for all of these issues, right? I would hope so. It feels silly to me to shower it in compliments because of what the original meant. That's not fair, imo. Praise the original all you want for what it pulled off over two decades ago. Surely that's quite a feat and was very impressive for its time. Nowadays, this games structure is out of whack and outdated. It's not impressive in any way anymore. It should be treated as such.

I decided to play Prime, again. Only I thought I'd try hard mode, as I did the same on my 2nd Dread playthrough and I had a great time. Of course they are the same thing...

It was pretty much business as usual until I got to the Phazon Mines. That soon started to give me a kicking. But once I picked up the plasma beam, it felt like I was in god mode. And then I got to Ridley. Spent the last 3 days basically doing 2 (3 if you count the 2 stages of Metroid Prime, the boss, not the game itself) bosses. Ridley took more attempts than the final boss, but it was just a case of repetition and grinding it out. If you get complacent or greedy, you get punished for it. Safe to say I did both several times. What, am I supposed to learn from my mistakes?

But it was a rewarding playthrough, and finishing it felt great. I was in two minds just to fuck it off, but I'd come this far, and surely to give up at the last boss would be pathetic. So I soldiered on. Overran on my lunch break, but it was worth it.

This might have overtaken Dread as my favourite Metroid.

Definitely see why it was so beloved back when the original came out : the atmosphere is on point, the visuals are really impressive both for a 2002 game and for a switch remaster, and building such a non-linear metroidvania in 3D sure is a feat. Unfortunately the combat is pretty bad, the backtracking required is ridiculous and never in a Metroid did I ask myself "where tf do I go now" so often.
While I really liked it, all of those faults prevent it from being one of my favourite metroids, and prevent me from seeing it as the intemporal masterpiece like so many do.

Never played Prime before but even 20 years after the originals release I see why it's held in such high regard. Great atmosphere and exploration.

Nintendo really undersold how much was redone for this game. It looks fantastic on Switch. The comparisons between this version and the original show a ton of work was put into this.

Only have a couple small issues with it. There's one or two areas that really could have used one more save station due to how long and filled with enemies they are (looking at you Mines). Also could use a couple more major bosses.

I originally played Metroid Prime for the GameCube when I was much younger. I never finished it, and remember only making it as far as Phendrana Drifts before I became too frustrated at not knowing where to go, where I then proceeded to put the game down and never pick it back up. Today I have finished Metroid Prime Remastered to make up for my impatience in my youth, and I come away from it thinking, "Yeah, I'd say dropping it over that was pretty justified."

I'd wager most of the appeal for Metroid Prime comes from the feeling you get of being a space adventurer on an unknown planet. After all, Samus Aran is a fantastic character to play as in Metroid and most games don't feel quite as alien in it's aesthetic in quite the same way as Metroid. In Metroid Prime, you're never pointed to go in any direction, only ever trusting your map, data logs, and memory for points of interest along your journey. The game definitely had that affect on me for most of the game, though putting the game down for any long amount of time would result in me needing to spend several minutes going back over the map screen and remembering those points of interests. Like the 2D games, you're given a good amount of freedom to look around an area even with your limited abilities at the beginning of the game, always keeping note to come back through later when you might have a new ability that opens up more of the area.
That's more or less the gameplay loop for Metroid Prime; comb through zones to find new abilities until you finally have all of your arsenal to beat the game (wow it's like a Metroid game or something). The only real issue I take with the gameplay loop in this game is, most of the time, you can never judge if a new location you can access is progress towards a new ability or a dead end. The game has a strange way of giving you an incredibly valuable ability in one room, showing you a door that ability can now open, only for you to hit a dead end immediately upon exploring it. Now is there anything so wrong about finding more rooms that require more abilities to unlock? No, especially in a series that relishes in making the player backtrack as frequently as Metroid does. I guess I just found myself becoming annoyed whenever I found myself creating more mental checkmarks of zones in the future rather than being able to knock out a good chunk of an area when getting a new ability.

Combat is... fine... until it's not. Enemies early on are very simple; you shoot small enemies with your laser beam and big enemies get the missiles. It does the job and can be pretty fun at times, even if most harder enemies before the middle of the game start having weak points only on their back. Later on, you also start to unlock different beam weapons, each one serving a separate use and unique interactions with puzzles and enemies. But where the combat goes from being fine to not fine is once they start introducing enemies that can only be damaged by specific weapon types.
This starts out harmless enough with enemies that are more like stage hazards requiring a specific laser beam weapon to destroy them. But this problem caps once you hit an area where suddenly most enemies in the zone are now color coded, requiring the weapon type that their color matches with to deal any damage. What's worse is these enemies aren't even unique from one another, they all still have the same basic "run around, shoot you at a distance, melee if you get close" move set, no matter which color they are. I can see what they might've been going for, having enemies act as a sort of light puzzle to solve in each room, but this made me end up opting out of combat entirely when needing to backtrack through those rooms later on.
I'll be keeping this review spoiler free as usual (unless revealing gameplay elements like this is a spoiler, in which case, my bad), but just know that I hated this inclusion in the game and it never gets any better from that point onwards; if anything it gets worse.

Overall I'd say that, for most things I enjoyed in this game, it always came with their own frustrations. I love the moment in a Metroid game where you finally have your full arsenal of weapons and moves, but I can't say I enjoyed the frustration of constantly hitting dead ends before getting to that point in this one. Combat in 3D compared to the 2D games still feels like what you'd expect, but falls on it's face later on in a poor attempt at trying to mix things up for the end game. I'd say the positives mostly outweigh the negatives and at least the problem of not knowing where dead ends are is a feeling I wouldn't have again on another replay. I consider myself a fairly big Metroid fan and I'd slept on this game for quite some time, always hearing that it was a beloved classic and a great example of transitioning a style of play from 2D to 3D. I'd say I'd agree with that sentiment, though a part of me does think the game lives in such a positive space because it's well beloved for it's sci-fi aesthetic and impressive graphical fidelity for the time. Everyone likes to remember their favorite childhood game being just as good as they remembered. But Metroid Prime is definitely a game where you have to eventually take off your red rose tinted glasses at times; that enemy you're looking at is purple, after all.

Metroid Prime? More like Metroid MID.
While the classic formula has proven to work in 3D, the developers of this game took it way too far. The levels are unnecessary bloated and the progression is always the same way: one step forward, ten steps back.
Don't get me started on the absolutely abysmal combat. Why is it even in the game? Encounters take way too long and are always annoying.

To complete this controversial opinion: Other M was better.

Despite owning a GameCube since 2002 I never played this until now. As a kid I would get lost in Zelda dungeons for hours, if not days on end, so I stayed far away from the Metroid series as a whole for a very long time. Now with Dread and Zero Mission under my belt this re-release was the perfect time to jump in. And I'm happy to say that I was gripped from beginning to end. The atmosphere and sense of isolation in this game is unmatched, even by many modern titles. While I did miss the fluidity and tight control of the 2D titles, exploring a lush and expansive 3D environment as Samus was an absolute joy in its own right. The world is big but it's never too big, and unlike Dread getting from one end of the map to the other never became a chore. Which is a plus because this game has quite a bit of necessary backtracking.

Probably goes without saying that this remaster looks absolutely spectacular, and it's a testament to Nintendo and Retro's work that they can make a Switch game look THIS GOOD on outdated hardware. Let alone a reskin of an already twenty year old game. If this is what Prime 4 is going to look like then it's safe to say that it's in good hands. Now please give us 2 and 3 in the meantime, I'm dying to try them!

Overall I had a great time with Prime, and I seriously regret not playing it sooner. I can easily see my appreciation for it growing more and more with time. One of the best GameCube games is now one of the best games on Switch. And with Nintendo's unusual decision to sell it at a reduced price, this is not one to be missed!

Metroid Prime is a flawed game.

Usually in Metroid games, they do a great job at circling you back around to an area in which you need to be next. It properly conveys to the player where they need to go, all without holding their hand. Prime doesn't do this. Instead, they tend to have you jump around from area to area, looking for a new thing that's suddenly popped up on your scanner. This can lead to a lot of unnecessary backtracking, and takes away a lot of the enjoyment from exploring. It doesn't help that the map design can often be confusing, with a 3D map that looks cool, but is often hard to read.

"Hard to read" is sort of a trend for Metroid Prime. It's dedication to realism is what's responsible for this. Often times, what you can break with your arsenal can be confusing to discern. In the 2D games, you could use shots from your beam canon or your power bombs on were denoted what you can interact with, accompanied with very game-y icons that would appear when hit and faded back to normal geometry if left alone. Prime, with it's realistic terrain, makes this aspect questionable. To add insult to injury, destroying these "lock-and-key" doors can often require the use of your scanner to trigger your ability to even begin to interact with them.

Ontop of all of this is a fetch quest for Chozo Artifacts, locking you out of the final area and it's boss fights until you backtrack throughout the entirety of the map once again. All of this can be so headache inducing. I was hoping the remake would fix these aspects, but alas, they were completely faithful to the original design. This is fairly disappointing, given its such a missed opportunity to fix the weakest aspects of this game, and reform it into something more.

... That's a lot of negatives, I know. It might be surprising to you that I still believe Metroid Prime is something special. Despite it's many flaws, it is yet another one of those games that absolutely nails key aspects of it's design, and falls apart at the seams.

As a first attempt at bringing Metroid into a 3D space, it's a really good attempt. They absolutely nailed the world design, building a believable world that's as rich as it is beautiful. It's a different take on Metroid, being more of a dry, realistic approach to the Metroid universe, but it's done in a way that's faithful to the original games. The exploration and action is spot on, albeit clunky with the constant need to switch between visors, beams, and missiles, (Metroid has always had this problem though, so it's also spot on). Combat can feel really nice, and often times can be challenging. Some of the bosses can be frustrating with how much they need to be hit to open up their weakness, but most of the bosses are great.

The music to the game sets the atmosphere ablaze. It works in tandem with the environments to create these fascinating moods and atmospheres. The overworld to Tallon IV is one of the most beautiful areas in the game, it's rain-soak foliage that's a constant downpour establishes the life that used to be on this planet. As you journey further, you begin to view more aspects of this dying planet, and the corruption that's gone through it. It's remnants are all there though, and nowhere is that more established than in Phendrana Drifts, a snow covered ruins of the Ancient Chozos. Within this bitter tundra are temples that are frozen solid from the broken roofs collapsing in upon itself, with statues erected of a forgotten people frozen in time. It's genuinely awe-inspiring, and it's one of my favorite snow areas in ANY game.

I'm only scratching the surface here, but I think that's why Metroid Prime is so special. The world feels so realized and enchanting, with the graphical fidelity and incredibly strong art direction to aid in pulling you into it's world. With it's dry realism and it's even drier-reading lore, it establishes a universe that's ripe with exploration.

I just wish that the gameplay and the level design reflected that feeling. As of now, Metroid Prime Remaster is a beautifully recreated version to a flawed GameCube game, and it could have been so, so close to being an all time favorite. It's not, but it's still a wonderful little game.

This was my first time playing a Prime game, and it was a blast! The exploration was pretty dang fun in 3D, and most of the time combat was pretty great. I used the newer dual-stick control scheme and it felt so nice to play. The game has such a strong atmosphere that I just couldn't get enough of. Although I will say, the game was also quite irritating at a few points: namely the Thermal Visor sections.

The Thermal Visor in this particular version of Prime is, for some god-forsaken reason, needlessly fuzzy and difficult to perceive enemies and obstacles, meanwhile in the original game it still has visual clarity. I don't know WHY the devs decided to make this actively worse, but it really hurts these sections of the game.

Aside from the bit with the Thermal Visor, the only other issues I had were 1) that the Omega Pirate fight was REALLY just unfun for me and 2) that it would've been nice if there were just a couple of extra Save Rooms sprinkled around as well.

Otherwise, I had an absolutely wonderful time with this game. I really hope they give this treatment to Metroid Prime 2 & 3 on Switch as well (but please for the love of god fix the Thermal Visor).

Having previously played the Wii version of this, I had a good idea what to expect, but didn't expect to enjoy it quite as much as did here. Firstly, the remaster is cracking. Despite it being pretty unremarkable playing handheld, it looked absolutely incredible playing on the TV. Every time I went from handheld to docked, the difference had me in awe at just how great this looked (between this and Super Mario Sunshine, Nintendo have proved that the GameCube is another potential for some fantastic ports/remasters).

Gameplay wise, once you get used to the fact that this is a standard Metroid game in a 3D environment, it really clicks. I've a seen a few complaints about having to go back and forth through the same areas several times. This is a Metroid game, that's part of the experience. I don't think there was a time I felt cheated by having to go back to previous areas I couldn't access until I got certain weapons or power ups. Only when I haven't saved it for a while and then die because I'm doing something stupid and then have to reload the last save point as the game doesn't auto save and there could be a whole section you've got to replay again because you didn't notice the save point through the other door and were playing silly buggers.

That's probably my only gripe about this to be fair. Sometimes there too much distance between save points.

I had a fantastic time playing this. When I wasn't playing it, I was thinking about playing it or I was playing Fusion because it was fun jumping between the two. It's probably only the second Metroid after Dread where I'm considering going straight back in on hard mode.

And I probably would were it not for the fact I've got the sequels ready and waiting so I probably gonna crack on with Echoes instead.
How good would it be if they remaster the other two as well? Or even just port them over to switch? They'd still look brilliant.

Metroid Prime is ace, and I'm glad this remaster eventually arrived.

I'll keep it short and sweet. This is Metroid Prime. No extra content, only the updated graphics and modern control scheme. The graphics look phenomenal, even for a switch game. While I had no issue with the original controls, the modern two stick scheme was pretty intuitive and made playing to completion a little less of a chore. Metroid Prime isnt my favorite metroid game, but it is one of the most immersive experiences Nintendo has ever put out. The remaster has got to be the definitive way to play this classic, but if you've already played the original there isn't much new here for you.

Metroid Prime is the vital “mood” game. The atmosphere is what sells it, shootin’ shit is just a plus.

Straight out of the gate, boom, detailed planet in the distance whilst in the middle of space. It hooks you in with its stellar visuals and killer soundtracks, and keeps you sucked in with its atmospheric world building.

Curling up into a ball and rolling or bouncing around might be the absolute most fun thing in any game ever. Because, sure, it’s not the only game to ever have a playable ball, but it is the only one that looks, sounds, and feels like this while also racking up alien K/Ds. Bouncing off of morph ball bombs through the air, using the spider power up to roll around ceilings and walls, twisted columns, it’s so surreal.

Metroid coined the term “metroidvania,” and Metroid Prime 15 years later certainly shows why. Yep, there certainly is a whole lot of backtracking here. It’s not terrible since the goal is just collecting artifacts and the maps are extremely detailed. Colored
doors guide your way to understand the best path to advance from elevator to elevator.

Where Metroid Prime fails, though, is its endgame. Petrasyls may be my least favorite game enemy of all time. They are not fair and challenging, they are not a scary design, they are not cool to look at. They take way too many shots, and latch onto your face constantly for no other reason than to slow you down. So, when they start coming my way by the dozens after the Phazon Suit is acquired, I want to die. Especially when the final boss throws 2-4 of them at once, so you’re just scrambling to try and get them off of you.

There’s not a whole lot bosses here, since the focus is the vibe, but when you do come across a boss, it is very fun. I just kind of wish they’d had been more balanced out throughout the whole game, rather than really spread out.

Metroid Prime Remastered takes the cake of an already amazing game, and adds some icing to really boost its replay-ability. This is one of the best looking games on the Switch, the source material was already there. Thanks Reggie, you did it this time. 8/10

First playthrough in probably 20 years. Everything that worked and didn't work remains intact, but man, twin-stick controls really improve the experience. The large amount of backtracking and combat feel better now that aiming is a lot more fluid. Also makes looking around spaces for puzzle solutions a lot less of a headache. I probably logged more items in this playthrough than ever before just from being able to see better.

Looks gorgeous and is truly a testament to the Switch's capabilities when games are optimized correctly (and I played it on a year 1 model). Meta Ridley remains one of my favorite boss fights of all time, making you WORK for that finale.

Would be 5 stars if they had figured out the insufficient region-linking paths that remain from the OG. We're still walking through Magmor Caverns wayyyy too many times (and God help you if you forget something and have to double back). Also, the graphics on the Thermal Visor? WOOF.

Still one of the greatest games ever made, now in HD. Metroid Prime Remastered looks how the original GameCube version does in my head. Some nice additions like the dual stick controls, which I admit I was a bit skeptical of as Metroid Prime was already a game built around its original control scheme, although I suppose it's more like it was built around the GameCube Controller. Dual stick feels much more natural to use with a Pro Controller, though it does come with the trade-off of losing the second stick for beam switching (something that always felt really satisfying in its implementation).

Beyond that, this is just an absolute must-play for everyone. It's Metroid in its ultimate, realized form and a true masterpiece of video gaming.

We all know that Metroid Prime is good. But is it actually fun to play? In my case, tragically, only kinda? Which is bonkers given everything this game has going for it. It’s beautiful and atmospheric (the remastered graphics are so pretty!), even quite effectively spooky at times. The gameplay replicates the experience of a 2D Metroid in a 3D world without losing a thing in translation, which is impressive even today, so I can only imagine how revolutionary it must have been twenty years ago. Good first-person platforming in a game of this era?! What the heck.

So what’s the deal? Has all the joy been sucked out of this formula for me by Metroidvania oversaturation? That might be part of it tbh. It also dawned on me while I was playing that I really do not enjoy the combat in this game, like, at all. At its best it is just kind of there; at its worst it can be incredibly annoying. And although there is less pew-pew than in other FPS games, it still feels like there’s a lot more of it than there needs to be. Why am I fighting the same dang respawned space pirate for the fifty-eighth time? What sort of satisfaction am I meant to derive from this? It often feels like the combat is only there to slow down and pad out the exploration, which is far more rewarding—or would be, if the combat wasn’t constantly interrupting and turning it into a frustrating chore. Honestly I think I would prefer a version of this game with all enemies except bosses removed, Shadow of the Colossus-style.

Speaking of bosses, I’m stuck on the final one, and after a few attempts, I’m not sure that I actually care enough to try again. Which is sad. Usually, if I sink enough time into a game to make it that far, I’ll keep trying until the bitter end. But in the case of Metroid Prime I had to step back and ask myself if I was really having any fun with it anymore. I’m still mulling that one over.