A great remaster of an absolute classic.

Metroid Prime is one of the greatest Gamecube games and one of the best games of that generation. It’s great to see it get a quality remaster for old fans to revisit it and so new players can jump in easily. They did an excellent job with this remaster by taking an already good looking game that was still holding up well after all this time and making it look beautiful. The game works perfectly too. They also added new control options without getting rid of the old controls. One thing to keep in mind though is this is a Gamecube game so it was made within the limitations of that time and hardware. Not that it really matters as I still enjoyed this more than the majority of current games but it’s still worth remembering when going into Metroid Prime remastered.

Metroid Prime is one of those games that can be hard to put down after starting it. The exploration is so satisfying and enjoyable. Every time you find a new ability it triggers your memory of all the things you went past that can now be reached/unlocked. The exploration is also elevated so much by the atmosphere, beautiful visuals and great soundtrack. The environments are a joy to become familiar with and all the small details, like reflections and moisture on the visor, add so much. Combat is good with a variety of great looking enemies to dispatch. There is also a good variety of weapons at your disposal, once unlocked, that you are regularly forced to switch between. Things really work well when faced with a small number of different creatures. There are some puzzles to solve too and the developers trusted players to pay attention to the environment and use the tools available. There is plenty of scanning to do and lore to discover which adds another layer of depth to the experience.

Metroid Prime does have some things to nitpick though. First of all I think the design could be a little tighter or the locations more interconnected to reduce backtracking slightly. It is also on the smaller/shorter side and could have benefited from one more location. I think most first time players will probably finish it in around 11 to 13 hours. On top of this, while it is definitely worth revisiting, it doesn’t have a lot of immediate replayability. You could try for 100% or do a different difficulty but Metroid Prime could be a one weekend game for many people. It does lack a little in challenge and the enemy AI could be better. Another thing is that some of the bosses don’t take quite enough damage which means the fight drags on a tad too long. However none of this brings down the whole experience too much.

Metroid Prime is a beautiful, fantastic game with very minor faults and this is a really well done remaster. I hope Metroid Prime 2 can get the same remaster treatment soon too. Metroid Prime Remastered is a must own Switch game. If you’ve never played this before then go grab yourself copy, this is one of the greats.

9.3/10

Reviewed on Sep 08, 2023


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