HOLY SHIT.

Metroid Prime Remastered is one of the greatest video games I’ve ever played, hands down. Is it perfect? Not exactly; this game could really use a fast travel system like the ones seen in Samus Returns and Dread, as backtracking across Tallon IV can be a massive pain in the ass, especially in the late game. But that’s basically my only issue with this game, because holy fuck, everything else is AWESOME.

Let me just start by praising Shigeru Miyamoto. I have plenty of gripes with him and his outdated view on video games, but occasionally he comes up with an idea that completely saves a project. In this instance, he insisted that this brand-new 3D Metroid game be in first-person, a la Halo. He was so adamant about this that a developer left the project out of frustration. And yet, Miyamoto’s intuition paid off. The first-person perspective of Metroid Prime gives the game an unparalleled level of immersion that’s unlike any other game I’ve played, especially among the Metroid series. When you’re viewing the world through the Power Suit’s visor with an arm cannon readied at the side, it becomes clear that you’re not just playing as Samus Aran, you are Samus Aran, and you’ve got some pirates to slaughter.

The world design is everything I loved about Super Metroid, but put into 3D and expanded. Beautiful, in-depth environments from the lush greenery and watery depths of the Tallon Overworld, to the fiery pits of Magmoor Caverns, the ghostly remnants of the Chozo Ruins, the frigid tundras of the Phendrana Drifts, all the way to the horrific depths of the Phazon Mines. These locations are just as beautiful and packed with detail as the regions of Planet Zebes, arguably even more so. There’s still a fuck ton of upgrades to find, too, and as per usual, many of them are optional, leading to plenty of opportunities for sequence breaking. I’m sure there’s an Ice Beam power-up out there somewhere, but I never found it despite finding all of the other beam upgrades, which just goes to show how well-hidden these secrets can be.

The graphics are the best on the Switch, and it’s not even a contest. Never have environmental textures been this fully realized and detailed on this shitty piece of hardware. It could easily pass for a PlayStation game at first glance. I remember being absolutely awestruck when I first entered the Phendrana Shorelines and saw just how magnificent the wintry landscape looked, as the creatures within burrowed through the snow and Ridley flew overhead, reminding Samus of her goal.

Oh, speaking of that goal, this game’s story is phenomenal, in large part due to the fact that most of it is optional. The main storyline is essentially just Samus trying to stop Ridley and the Space Pirates from building up another Metroid army, so no surprises there. But scanning the Pirates’ data logs offers some interesting insights into their operations, Ridley’s personality, and orders from an unseen “High Command” (possibly Mother Brain herself). After playing second fiddle to other villains throughout the franchise, it’s nice to see Ridley take the spotlight as the main antagonist, as while there is an even bigger threat on Tallon IV, Ridley is the only reason Samus is there to begin with, his command of the Space Pirates is actively worsening the planet’s situation, and his success will lead to the Space Pirates dominating the galaxy unless Samus puts a stop to him. Their showdown at the end of the game is built up so damn well, and it makes the major asskicking you give him all the more satisfying.

But then there’s that other, bigger threat, where Prime’s storytelling really shines. A series of completely optional Chozo messages reveal the past history of their colony on Tallon IV, the cataclysm that led to the planet’s sorry state in the present, and the prophecy of a hopeful future in which a woman from the stars will save what remains. Given Samus’ connection to the Chozo, it’s a very poignant and tragic tale that adds some emotional stakes to the plot… and some cosmic horror once you discover the “Worm” that’s been feeding beneath the planet’s surface, festering and infecting everything around it like a Lovecraftian cancer.

The bosses are solid this time around, which is nice considering how disappointed I was in Zero Mission’s lineup. Some of them are legitimately challenging, especially the dreaded Omega Pirate (another character that’s expertly built up throughout the game). The final boss is a great, long, and sometimes brutal test of all of Samus’ abilities. But, of course, Ridley steals the show once again, delivering another frantic, climactic duel to the death as Samus clashes with her nemesis for the fate of Tallon IV, backed up by his epic battle theme.

The music is exceptional, too, and a rare case where technological limitations actually help an OST, rather than hindering it. The GameCube could only handle synthetic or semi-compressed tunes, hence why games like Twilight Princess were unable to use live orchestras. Here, though, the heavy use of synths and slightly unnatural “instruments” greatly enhances the sci-fi and horror vibes that the series is known for.

Metroid Prime Remastered is a deeply immersive masterpiece, virtually unparalleled in the action-adventure genre and a near-perfect transition to the third dimension for one of Nintendo’s most beloved IPs. There are countless other reviews and video essays that can explain this game’s outstanding qualities far more eloquently than I ever could, so I encourage you to seek them out. I hope I’ll be able to play the sequels some day, because I NEED more Metroid Prime in my life.

Well, beating this on my birthday sure was a nice surprise! Especially since this was a pretty great game overall. It was my Secret Santa game in fact, which was something me and my discord fellas participated in. I'll link the list I did for that here.

Any who, yeah this was really good. I beat Prime 1 last year for the first time and thought it was awesome. So I was excited to see how 2 fared and I was not disappointed. I do think 1 was better overall as 2 has higher highs in some parts of the game and lower lows but it's still really good even compared to 1.

When it comes to straight up improvements, there's a couple things 2 did extremely well compared to 1. Loading times are all faster, it takes like half the time for you to get to a new area now. Scans now go from red or blue to green when scanned and are much easier to see if they've been scanned or not. The scanning especially being a lot better than 1's would definitely make me miss it when I replay that eventually lol.

Obviously the game's big mechanic is the dark and light worlds and honestly, I thought it was awesome. I've heard some people say they found it tedious, and I never really had an issue with it. I thought it added a cool spin on Prime's gameplay and made you think. It could make the game difficult somewhat, especially when fighting some of those dark world bosses but I liked that.

Speaking of the bosses, they're very interesting in this one. Overall, I'd say they were an improvement from 1 tho there were a couple that were a pain in the ass. Spider Guardian obviously being the main culprit for most people. I didn't hate it but man was it frustrating trying to figure out what to do while fighting it cuz that one can be brutal. A lot of the bosses were actually pretty tough, they were certainly more complex than 1's bosses. Those last few tho, the 2nd Dark Samus fight...Quadraxis and the whole set of final bosses were easily the best in the game and better than all of Prime 1's bosses. At first I was a little disappointed with the boss roster in 2 but after fighting the endgame ones, overall I do think 2 has better bosses than 1.

Now the biggest thing I think that's holding this game back from being better than 1, is its world. Prime 1 was basically Super Metroid in 3D. You had a very interconnected world to explore that was more into showing not telling. Prime 2 is more similar to Fusion with its bigger focus on storytelling and more linear world. The game is definitely not quite as linear or focused on story as Fusion, but it definitely feels like it took inspiration from it. The world is broken up into 3 main areas to explore and 1 overworld type area you go back and forth from. Rather than exploring at your own pace like Prime 1, it feels more like you're guided around slightly as you have to go back to the hub to unlock each new area. Eventually the areas do have elevators that connect to other areas but even with that the world isn't as tightly designed as 1's I feel. The area's are all cool, especially Sanctuary Fortress...that one is awesome, however I feel there weren't as many "aha" moments whenever I saw areas connect like in 1. I also feel like the game wasn't as atmospheric as 1 was, at least not the atmosphere I dig as much. Still, the world does interconnect by the end, I just think compared to 1 it just aint as good.

As for other miscellaneous things, the OST is pretty solid tho I do think its a downgrade compared to 1. I love how the classic item room theme is back, that's sick. I enjoyed the connections the game made to 1 near the beginning. Dark Samus was awesome to see in this game finally and it seems like it comes back in 3 so that'll be cool. Pirate commanders suck ass and were easily the worst enemy in the game. They're basically Chozo Ghosts from 1, except instead of locking the doors only some of the time, they lock them every time they appear and they're tanky as fuck which Chozo ghosts weren't. Weird change tbh and was just tedious every time they popped up. Navigating menus in this game feels clunkier than 1, they tried to make it all cool but it feels like it takes longer to find a certain file if you wanna read it again. It was interesting to see the screw attack in this game and while I warmed up to it by the end of the game, I still can't help it felt a little lame compared to how it was in prior games. Also again, one of the best parts of the game was just getting collectables and seeing what puzzles you have to do to get/find them. That was still really fun to do in this game, especially with the Dark/Light gimmick. I did get every item, which is of course a Metroid staple, and got a good chunk of the scans so I'm satisfied.

Overall, this was very good despite some issues I had. I do like Prime 1 more but this was definitely a worthy sequel I feel. Thank you @QuentTheSlayer for having me play this as my Secret Santa game, had a jolly good time! Next is gonna be the original Klonoa. A nice short game will do me good methinks.

Signalis is game i thought i would pick up, finish in 10 or so hours but then forget about, but this game has stuck in my head for far longer than i thought it would and im not sure exactly why, the story of this game is genuinely incomprehensible on a first playthrough and i believe it is intended to be that way, the game will frequently break away from its fix perspective survival horror to delve into atmospheric walking simulators which seem entirely unrelated to the game at hand, these sections while confusing are a big part of why the game stuck with me, speaking of environments, the various locations the game takes place across are stunning, in a bad way (but its a horror game so i guess thats a good thing?) nowhere still sticks in my head with its fleshy design, and despite alot of the environment feeling like generic sci-fi filler, for some reason signalis manages to stand out with environmental story telling as well as having a lived in feeling to all the locations ive yapped alot about stuff secondary to the gameplay and its, well i cant call it great since survival horror gameplay is by design simplistic since it hinges more on scariness and the tension of resource management instead of the moment to moment gameplay itself, so all ill say is aside from a lack of enemy variety the actual gameplay was perfectly functional