“Metroid Prime 4: Past” has had an uncharacteristically troubled improvement cycle. After it was fully rebooted in 2017, we’ve lastly gotten the following mainline “Metroid Prime” sport, 18 years after “Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.” However one thing feels off about “Metroid Prime 4.” Even after 8 years of improvement, the sport lacks a cohesive imaginative and prescient. It’s a cobbled mess of uninspired concepts with flashes of brilliance. Biomes are beautiful, and exploration feels thrilling, however the sport has the blandest open world in latest reminiscence, together with a boring solid of supporting characters.
“Metroid Prime 4: Past” follows Samus Aran as she and members of the Galactic Federation get mysteriously transported to the planet of Viewros throughout a heated fight encounter. There, an historical civilization known as the Lamorn duties her with gathering 5 keys throughout the planet to teleport a tool to security. The story is simply effective for what it’s, as this collection is concerning the vibes and environment anyway. Nevertheless, what drags the expertise down are the annoying Galactic Federation members.
You’ve the nerdy engineer Myles, the weary sniper Reger, the gruff sergeant Ezra, the energetic soldier Nora, and the curt robotic VUE-995. These Galactic Federation members continually spout Marvel-like sarcastic quips and idolize Samus, nevertheless it’s extremely awkward when all she does is keep silent and sometimes nod. In lots of previous adventures, Samus is a lone agent and doesn’t work together with others a lot. Despite the fact that she was silent, her unwavering confidence gave her a badass persona. Prime 4 makes an attempt to be extra cinematic and character-driven, however the supporting solid doesn’t actually develop past one-note personalities. By the top of the sport, it’s exhausting to care about them.
The Lamorn grants Samus psychic skills, which is Prime 4’s gameplay gimmick this time round. With these newfound powers, she’s capable of latch onto partitions, create platforms, and grapple on hooks. I had numerous enjoyable revisiting outdated areas every time I unlocked extra of her package to search out extra upgrades. Nevertheless, these psychic powers are underutilized within the fight division. The one assault that even remotely makes use of her psychic skills is with the ability to management the place her blasts go manually in sluggish movement. It’s a cool mechanic that showcases Samus’s combating prowess in a brand new method.
As an alternative of extra of those sorts of mechanics, “Prime 4” falls again on generic hearth, ice, and electrical elemental photographs that Samus can swap between. It feels devoid of creativity in comparison with previous video games, similar to her Phazon Corruption arm cannon in “Prime 3.”
On the very least, the sport is a technical marvel. Efficiency points are nonexistent on Nintendo Swap 2, the totally different environmental biomes are attractive. I beloved exploring locations like Volt Forge, a spot powered solely by lightning strikes, the sweltering Flare Pool facility inside a volcano, and the Ice Belt, an eerily chilly underground lab. These dungeons helped flesh out the historical past of Viewvros and the Lamorn’s extinction, offering helpful worldbuilding. The sound design and soundtrack are additionally excellent in conserving you immersed.
Sadly, in between these biomes, you’re compelled to cross huge distances within the Sol Valley, an totally lifeless desert space that is likely one of the emptiest open worlds I’ve ever skilled. There’s nothing right here apart from just a few weapon upgrades scattered about and inexperienced crystals that Samus can crash by together with her motorbike. Each time I step out into Sol Valley, I really feel like I’m simply losing my time. The pacing would’ve been a lot better if the biomes have been interconnected ultimately, you recognize, like a Metroidvania. The desert may actually vanish into skinny air, and nothing of worth can be misplaced.
“Metroid Prime 4: Past” may’ve finished a lot extra with its open world, supporting solid, and psychic powers. It simply looks like a Frankenstein of half-baked ideas. The ambiance and exploration that made previous Metroid video games enjoyable are in right here, however these moments are caught between laborious driving and plodding dialogue. I’m not solely positive what was occurring in the course of the sport’s troubled improvement, however there’s little coherence between all of its methods. Simply go play the a lot better “Metroid Dread” as a substitute.
