Robit Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Review

Final score 85/100 -> 8.5(9)/10 TL;DR if you like Metroid, and/or like Metroid-vania games and FPSes, give this game a shot; you'll enjoy it. If you don't like Metroid-vania games, or could take or leave Metroid as a franchise, skip this one. price: 60/100 (only counted as 3/4ths of the other scores) The issues with the game should have informed the price. This needed to be $10 cheaper. graphics: 100/100 This game renders perfectly in 4K 60. I didn't see a single drop in frame rate as I'm fighting massive enemy swarms, with environmental effects all over the screen. This is a fantastic looking game. controls 85/100 The game plays pretty well. This gets points off because there's some odd choices for button config (why is Samus's jump different when she's in morph-ball form vs not?) and for some difficult mid-battle swaps (going from standard to morph-ball and back mid battle is tough, and I used to be able to shoot while swinging from the grapple beam, I can't do that now). gameplay 87/100 The play is classic Metroid; you're going through areas, finding equipment, and backtracking like in every other game. It fits right in. The boss battles are classic Retro studios: just challenging enough to make you lean in on your couch and focus, but not so hard that you're dying constantly, and they're always rewarding. I personally love Viola and hope that bike makes a comeback in other games, though I think it could have been used more effectively in the game and needs some tweaks for it's controls. Thankfully, you can edit this some. Sol Valley isn't as barren as the critics made it out, but it is more sparse then it should have been. Add more shrines to get ammo upgrades and energy tanks, maybe add a bit more density, and you're good to go. The game needs fast travel. Forcing people to use Sol valley as sparse as it is just wastes time. DLC can fix all of this. As part of 100%ing the game, you need to collect all the green energy crystals. This is unnecessary tedious, but I won't take points off for this because you don't need to do this to complete the game and 100%ing any game gets tedious. At least Prime 4 gives you ways to find stuff in-game without needing to rely on guides to do it. Story 70/100 Most of my gripes lie here. The story isn't bad, but they made severe missteps that could have been easily avoided. Firstly, the handholding is almost a non-issue. In going back and seeing gameplay footage of previous prime games (that scored higher), there's both people you interact with AND hand holding, so knocking off too many points for that isn't honest. The one caveat here is that Miles does come on the comms (and repeatedly tells you how to use the comms) to nudge you to go where the story needs to go to progress. After the first time, this didn't have to happen again, but the physical character interaction is barely hand-holdey at all. The biggest issues are that the voice acting is sub-par, that it's all one-sided dialogue, and Retro did two things that should never have been done story-wise. Additionally the "psychic" angle is out of nowhere. There's also was one massive opportunity Retro missed. Let's break these down: Voice acting: I think the people voicing the characters are fine, they're delivery is just off. I think a few more takes in the voice acting could fix this. As the story progresses, the dialogue gets better though. Thankfully, an update to the game could solve this no problem. One-sided dialogue: There's absolutely no reason Samus shouldn't talk. In my opinion, Retro did this because Other M got backlash for giving Samus some vulnerability and substance. Forget the critics of Other M. Give Samus a voice. There's voice acting when she's hurt, let the actress who did that respond to the NPCs who're talking to her. This will elevate the story immensely and make it feel less out of place. Again, this can easily be fixed with an update. Psychic powers: I can forgive this one. Every Metroid game has a gimmick, this one is psychic powers. How Samus suddenly loses these abilities at the beginning of the game is what bugs me, but her losing all her powerups each game bugs me every time, so I can live with this. Massive missed opportunity: The literal first scene is Samus coming in on her ship shooting Space Pirates out of the sky. Retro adds a whole new vehicle into the Metroid universe, yet flops on space battles ala Starfox? This could have been an epic addition. Story Mis-steps: Without giving away spoilers, the game does something to ratchet up suspense in the game, then reverse course, making the entire sequence unnecessary. Additionally, they, out of nowhere take an action with potentially significant consequences at the end of the game. The former can' be helped, but the latter can be addressed with DLC. Last thoughts: I actually really like the NPCs that are part of your group. Having to find and save them adds some character to the story. Hot take: Miles is actually good and people are just being babies about him. Speaking of story, I think more information on why Sylux was attacking and controlling the space pirates, and why there were mind-controlling Metroids was needed. Retro, you NEED to rectify these issues with a FREE update for everything but the end game thing I mentioned here, then supply a paid-for (low price, like $10), DLC that closes up loose ends. Otherwise, this is a solid entry that the critics steamrolled because some of them didn't like that Retro tried something new. If you like Metroid, or like Metroid-vania games and FPSes, get this game. If you don't, you were never going to get it anyway.