Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Reviews
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is an excellent, if relatively uneven, revival that reaches heights worthy of the Metroid name in its best moments.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is enjoyable enough, and has glimpses of vintage Metroid shining through, but this game could and should have been so much more.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Is Not Only A Worthy Successor, But An Exciting Sign Of Things To Come
Within its actual levels, Metroid Prime 4 is triumphant.
High highs and middling lows make Metroid Prime 4's return uneven.
After a rocky development history, Samus finally lands on the Switch 2 with one of her greatest adventures.
Overall, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is worth the wait. The new story characters are not in any way overly chatty, and this is still the mysterious and moody alien treasure hunt Metroid fans have come to love, but now with a funky alien bike. I still rate the original Prime trilogy over this, but those games were pretty much faultless, whereas this is just thoroughly excellent.
After 18 years of waiting, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond manages to replicate that magical sense of discovery from the GameCube original while pushing the series in some incredible new directions. Separating the main biomes with a vast open world sounds ridiculous on paper, but the slick traversal provided by Vi-O-La makes exploration more satisfying than ever.Combine this with the stunning art direction, ferocious new boss characters, and a surprisingly endearing squad of Federation troopers, and Beyond is quite possibly the boldest, most well-realised Metroid game to date. Make no mistake, the long wait has been more than worth it. Welcome back, Samus.
Perhaps it couldn't have been any other way: Retro Studios' game opts for a classic design, demonstrating that the franchise isn't one that has to answer to anyone. It's not always necessary to change, and stepping outside your comfort zone can, ironically, mean staying within it. Retro Studios knows exactly what it's doing. I don't think anyone would dare question something so obvious.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Metroid Prime 4 is a great return and new beginning for this series, which has spent far too many years away. It's not the strongest Metroid Prime for narrative, but the new psychic powers add a refreshing layer alongside familiar abilities and the general feel and tone that makes this series so beloved.
Despite the fact that Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is also launching on the original Switch, it truly feels like the proper showpiece for the Switch 2. The supreme gameplay design is beautifully complemented by the different input options, all of which are suitable ways to play through this adventure. The experience is bolstered by gorgeous visuals and spectacular performance regardless of how you choose to play. Outside of some boring downtime during forced traversal segments, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is a premium experience.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond feels like a game stuck between two worlds. When it’s emulating the series’ past, Beyond is an entertaining, if overly conservative, sequel. However, as the shadowy corridors make way for open-world fetch quests, and Halo-style expeditions with AI companions, it’s left feeling like a diluted experience that doesn’t fully deliver on the spirit of earlier entries.
It all amounts to what is easily the most mystifying and mixed of Samus Aran’s first-person outings yet. But there’s still some joy to be found in slowly peeling back the layers of an ever-expanding world, regardless of how disjointed it ends up being.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond ascends to higher peaks than any previous Prime entry, delivering an impressive sense of scale, breathtaking visuals, and classic Metroid level design at its most immersive and riveting, but a few missteps, including an unengaging story and flat final act, may exclude it from best-of-series conversations. That said, those who have been waiting for this game for nearly two decades needn’t worry too much, as Metroid Prime 4 largely locks onto the core of what made this series great.
All the superior design choices make the baffling ones stand out even more, however. I can’t comprehend why this game was made open-world. The backtracking you have to do is downright offensive. Otherwise, this is a fantastic entry in the Metroid Prime series.
Metroid Prime 4 Beyond is a solid, well-rounded game, well-executed in (almost) every way. Despite a difficult development cycle and a few poor design decisions, Samus Aran's return is a title that does justice to the saga's dazzling past and sheds new light on the future of Prime and the Metroid franchise as a whole. Eight years since that infamous logo was revealed during a Nintendo Direct over the summer; more than eighteen since the series' last iteration: the wait has been worth it.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The review of Metroid Prime 4 shows that the mix of sci-fi shooting and environmental puzzles still works well – but also that many things went wrong during the long development phase.
Review in German | Read full review
Metroid Prime 4 has enough going for it to establish itself as a very good adventure game and certainly one of the most beautiful on the Nintendo Switch 2. You will be blown away by its sights and ears, with its masterful and haunting soundtrack.
Review in French | Read full review
While Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is incredibly fun as a straightforward shooter, its more guided nature and excessive handholding may deter hardcore fans of the series and genre.
Metroid Prime 4 Beyond is a familiar return for the series and a soft reboot that introduces a new story and revisits the best parts of the original game that dazzled us two decades ago.