Metroid Prime 4 is worth the wait with solid combat, story and new abilities.

Let’s talk about the visuals. The game looks jaw dropping gorgeous at times. The game’s enemy models from the bosses to the general creatures you encounter all are detailed and look incredible on the screen. The game’s environments are also a visual feast from the dusty desert to the dungeons are detailed and look incredible. When you first see the lush mountain terrain with fog covering parts you can see the power of the system.

Audio is also top notch with weapon sounds packing great punch docked or on the TV. Music and other sound effects are also solid.

Metroid Prime 3 came out a lifetime ago, way back in 2007. This is back 18 year ago. We finally got our hands on the game that has been through different developers.

The story of Metroid Prime 4 has you once again taking the control of Samus who is transported to the planet of Viewros. You must fight through the world and confront Sylux. This new world will introduce a new ability for Samus psychic ability.

Let’s talk about the game’s controls. Players have a few options to control Samus and complete her adventure. The game has 2 main control schemes. Dual sense fusion and pointer fusion. Pointer fusion being like the Wii controls of Prime 3 and Dual sense being a more traditional style.

This new psychic ability will come in handy through your adventure. You use the ability by switching to the psychic visor with the X button then using the ZL button. You can manipulate objects with the right thumbstick. This ability lets you open psychic doors, solve puzzles and more. The controller’s left thumbstick is to move your character and the right thumbstick lets you aim the reticle on screen. You also start out with your trusted morph ball that will help you get into spots you weren’t able to in your suit form. The Y button lets you transform into the morph ball. The morph ball will also gain the bomb ability which helps solve puzzles and traversal. The morph ball view switches and looks quite incredible.

Once you complete the first real area you are dropped into a desert sands and get the motorcycle that will help you get around this main area. This is the game’s hub that lets you travel to different tombs and main areas. The bike let’s player zoom around the desert breaking crystals, boosting the end even taking out enemies.

If you enjoyed the previous Prime games you will be right at home with this game’s combat. One of the best things in Samus’s arsenal is the visor. Pressing X then ZL will scan green things in the environment. This will come in handy for figuring out puzzles, scanning doors, enemies and even bosses for weaknesses and more. You will be scanning a lot in the game to get information needed. For combat Samus can lock on enemies with the ZL button and use the right thumbstick to fine aim at certain body parts. This is really handy for those boss battles where only certain parts are weak points. Boss battles are both fun and challenging with players having to find weaknesses and patterns for each boss. They offer a challenge but players can reduce the difficulty if they need to. Combat is fast and fluid.

The game will take most players around 10-12 hours to complete the game. You will explore, battle and solve puzzles in lush green areas, hot deserts, and even ice covered areas. The game has a nice variety of places to explore. All the areas feel different and unique, making exploring each fun and fresh feeling. The motorcycle is fast and easy enough to control. My only issue is a question of why the bike was needed in the first place. It almost feels like it’s added to extend the playtime. Other than this small gripe the game is a fantastic entry to the Prime franchise.

Metroid Prime 4 gets a 9/10.

Questions for Sascha?

Email him at sggall@telus.net.