In some ways it's hard to review a "remaster" or release of a game. Is the perfect re-master one that changes as little as possible, or is changing everything that needed to be changed the ideal?
Regardless, I'm going with my gut on this one. I'm a long time Prime trilogy fan, with dozens of replays on console and emulator over the years, including Wiimote AND Primehack m+kb controls. This is the first iteration that I've felt was not only the intended way to see and experience the world, but the intended way to control and be Samus Aran.
The world looks and feels mesmerizing, beautiful, and brimming with life. Everything feels the same but so much realer, which is an amazing feat. The dual stick controls feel perfect, unlike Wiimote which borderline replaces all of the lock-dash gameplay in favor of a free aim spazz out, dual stick preserves all of the best parts of the core gameplay loop, while smoothing out the exceedingly rough edges presented by "trying to aim at something high up" that felt cumbersome, slow, and pace-killing with the traditional aim method. Additionally, load times(especially doors) are remarkably better. Something that often felt like a mood killer in the original, when waiting at a door for many seconds for the next room to load, is now non-existant. Underwater sections have a much better screen filter that's less difficult on the eyes(pre and post- gravity suit acquisition which also improves underwater visibility).
A small part of me looks at a few long time criticisms I've had of the game, and wonders "what if they changed that", and for better or for worse, it would no longer be Metroid Prime. They chose to stay authentic, and I respect and appreciate their integrity in doing so, this oozes evidence of passion and respect for the players and fans, for a franchise that is far from the Pokemon et al box office smash hits.
For that, I give this game, under the context of "rating this on it's merits as a remaster of an existing game", a 4.5. It would get perfect marks if it were not for 2 issues I found glaring. The doors look awful, and a former Metroid Prime dev pointed out on twitter that the alpha layer of the doors was wrong which made the blue illumination layer go above the textures, making every door feel more like a super metroid bubble than a real door, and in my opinion made them uglier for Prime as well as hard to see when a door had be activated(opened). The much larger issue, is that the thermal visor has had something changed that makes it very, very uncomfortable on the eyes to use. I've seen many others express the same complaint, and the best I can describe it as is a mix of 3D red-blue without wearing 3D glasses plus really bad motion blur. I never feel eye strain or headaches playing games from visuals, but this one actually hurt. Luckily, the beam isn't required for that much of gameplay.
Regardless, I'm going with my gut on this one. I'm a long time Prime trilogy fan, with dozens of replays on console and emulator over the years, including Wiimote AND Primehack m+kb controls. This is the first iteration that I've felt was not only the intended way to see and experience the world, but the intended way to control and be Samus Aran.
The world looks and feels mesmerizing, beautiful, and brimming with life. Everything feels the same but so much realer, which is an amazing feat. The dual stick controls feel perfect, unlike Wiimote which borderline replaces all of the lock-dash gameplay in favor of a free aim spazz out, dual stick preserves all of the best parts of the core gameplay loop, while smoothing out the exceedingly rough edges presented by "trying to aim at something high up" that felt cumbersome, slow, and pace-killing with the traditional aim method. Additionally, load times(especially doors) are remarkably better. Something that often felt like a mood killer in the original, when waiting at a door for many seconds for the next room to load, is now non-existant. Underwater sections have a much better screen filter that's less difficult on the eyes(pre and post- gravity suit acquisition which also improves underwater visibility).
A small part of me looks at a few long time criticisms I've had of the game, and wonders "what if they changed that", and for better or for worse, it would no longer be Metroid Prime. They chose to stay authentic, and I respect and appreciate their integrity in doing so, this oozes evidence of passion and respect for the players and fans, for a franchise that is far from the Pokemon et al box office smash hits.
For that, I give this game, under the context of "rating this on it's merits as a remaster of an existing game", a 4.5. It would get perfect marks if it were not for 2 issues I found glaring. The doors look awful, and a former Metroid Prime dev pointed out on twitter that the alpha layer of the doors was wrong which made the blue illumination layer go above the textures, making every door feel more like a super metroid bubble than a real door, and in my opinion made them uglier for Prime as well as hard to see when a door had be activated(opened). The much larger issue, is that the thermal visor has had something changed that makes it very, very uncomfortable on the eyes to use. I've seen many others express the same complaint, and the best I can describe it as is a mix of 3D red-blue without wearing 3D glasses plus really bad motion blur. I never feel eye strain or headaches playing games from visuals, but this one actually hurt. Luckily, the beam isn't required for that much of gameplay.