{"id":282777,"date":"2025-11-14T15:07:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T15:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/282777\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T15:07:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T15:07:12","slug":"samus-is-back-but-not-all-that-new","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/282777\/","title":{"rendered":"Samus is Back, But Not All That New"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThere\u2019s an old internet adage often incorrectly attributed to Nintendo<\/a> guru Shigeru Miyamoto<\/a> that goes, \u201cA delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad.\u201d Although it\u2019s not a genuine quote<\/a>, the oft-used meme does mostly align with what fans perceive to be the Mario<\/a> creator\u2019s sensibilities \u2014 do it right, even if it takes a while.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat\u2019s funny is that Nintendo isn\u2019t really known for substantial delays. Famously, the company\u2019s creatives have been blunt<\/a> when it comes to explaining why beloved series like Star Fox and F-Zero have remained on ice for decades at a time: They just don\u2019t know what to do with them. Compared to Rockstar<\/a> or Ubisoft<\/a> \u2014 hell, most of the industry \u2014 it paints a clear picture that if you\u2019ve even heard of a Nintendo game\u2019s existence, it\u2019s probably pretty far along in its development cycle.<\/p>\n

\n\tThen came Metroid Prime 4. Initially announced way back in 2017<\/a> \u2014 the same year that the Nintendo Switch<\/a> launched \u2014 the long-awaited sequel to 2007\u2019s trilogy capper made a big splash as one of the then-new console\u2019s most anticipated titles. But afterward, there was nothing. Two years later, after the internet worked itself into a tizzy, Nintendo officially confirmed that development on the game wasn\u2019t up to their standards.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a shocking twist, the work was going to be restarted from scratch under the eye of Retro Studios<\/a>, creators of the first three Prime games who had previously handed over the reins to Bandai Namco. The whole thing felt decidedly un-Nintendo-like.<\/p>\n

\n\tNow, another six years later, the game is nearing completion and is set to launch on Dec. 4 for both Switch and its successor, Switch 2<\/a>. But after all this time, could it ever live up to the impossible expectations the prolonged delay set in motion? Rolling Stone recently attended a preview event in New York City to go hands-on with Metroid Prime 4\u2019s early areas, and the most realistic answer is \u201cmaybe?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBased on the roughly one-hour demo, here\u2019s what we know.<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\t\tOld Samus, New Twists\t<\/p>\n

\n\tFirst released for the GameCube in 2002, and recently remastered in 2023<\/a>, Metroid Prime reimagined the previously 2D-designed series (that itself kickstarted a whole subgenre) as a fully 3D first-person shooter with a heavy emphasis on exploration. Metroid Prime 4 is technically the sixth installment of the sub-series, which now has as many entries as the mainline games.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Prime series are interquels wedged neatly between the original 1986 NES game<\/a> and 1991\u2019s Metroid II for Game Boy. They follow the legendary bounty hunter Samus Aran (who, honestly, doesn\u2019t pick up that many bounties) on her continuous missions to aid the Galactic Federation in their ongoing conflict with the Space Pirates. Prime 4 picks up after the trilogy and its handheld spin-offs Hunters (2006) and Federation Force (2016), with the latter two mostly chalking up to footnotes except for the inclusion of the new game\u2019s main antagonist, Sylux.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSamus returns for the first all-new Prime game since 2007.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNintendo<\/p>\n

\n\tThe demo starts at the very beginning of the game, and is the same content previously shown at the Switch 2 reveal event and other previews. This section sees Samus arriving at a Galactic Federation station to help combat an invasion of pirates led by Sylux, who is seeking a mysterious relic.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis introductory portion is entirely on-rails, ushering Samus room to room for small incursions while serving as a basic tutorial for her combat abilities and Morph Ball rolling. In most Metroid games, Samus is a loner; the series itself was inspired by Ridley Scott\u2019s Alien (1979), meaning that the bounty hunter generally sees herself stranded on an alien planet to survive. Occasionally, certain games will give her support from NPCs via comms, but rarely is she engaging in squad-based warfare.<\/p>\n

\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n

\n\tThat expectation is immediately upended by Prime 4, which similarly to 2007\u2019s Prime 3, throws Samus into action alongside space marines for all-out battle. But being a superpowered Amazonian type, towering over the solders in height and physical prowess, she\u2019s seen more as a messianic savior than just another grunt.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tAs usual, Samus begins buffed up but quickly loses all her abilities.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNintendo<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter this brief sequence that ends in a relatively easy boss fight, the demo jumps ahead past a bunch of exposition and story set up (all of which are under wraps at Nintendo\u2019s request). The bulk of the preview takes place on another planet in a region called Fury Green. This lush jungle environment is pretty different from anything seen in other Metroid games, which may have had biomes with vegetation and foliage, but never to this degree.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s here where the first genuine look at Metroid Prime 4\u2019s gameplay can be gleaned \u2014 and it\u2019s very familiar. As is the case with all Metroid titles, Samus loses all her high-end abilities from the opening section somewhere between the start and Fury Green. Left with just a base skillset, players will need to explore the labyrinthine world looking for upgrades and tools to use. In Metroid Prime 4, they\u2019re mostly based on new psychic powers.<\/p>\n

\n\tLike in Prime games past, the first-person perspective allows players to comb the world using a scanning visor, which highlights pertinent information and clues on where to go next. In Prime 4, this is augmented by a Psychic Visor which, paired with the Psychic Glove, lets Samus see invisible trails and objects and manipulate them with a form of telekinesis.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSamus\u2019 psychic powers work for puzzles and combat alike.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNintendo<\/p>\n

\n\tIt mostly works for puzzles; simple ones include unlocking doors with specific sliding nodes, with more complexity coming later as Samus can guide a Control Beam blast through the air like a remote drone. The preview culminates in a big boss fight wherein Samus must whittle away at the plant-like foe\u2019s armor then guide her psychic shots into its weak points.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s a cool gimmick but doesn\u2019t entirely feel revolutionary. In fact, that\u2019s an issue that pervades the entirety of the demo.<\/p>\n

\t\tLess Than Prime\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the years since Metroid Prime 4 was originally announced, a lot has changed in gaming<\/a>. Not only did the entire life cycle of the Switch (its intended home platform) pass by, but first-person shooters and exploration games have evolved. Open world titles like Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018) and a wave of action-RPGs have broadened the horizons on what exploration looks like in modern gaming. In that regard, Prime 4 feels simplistic \u2014 though to be fair, the demo only encompasses an early slice of the whole experience. But even by Metroid standards, the areas in Fury Green are extremely linear.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the series\u2019 best entries, like Super Metroid (1994)<\/a> and the first Prime, players are dropped into sprawling worlds that are mazelike in their design. Filled with competing routes, dead ends, and challenges to return to later, there\u2019s a sense that every step is filled with discovery. You\u2019ll need to remember the important details to mentally recall and solve the puzzle of the environments themselves.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tEnvironments in Metroid Prime 4 look nice but the visuals aren\u2019t exactly mind-blowing.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNintendo<\/p>\n

\n\tHere, most areas barely have more than two or three doors on the high end, and the path is obvious. Had I not stopped to take notes or comb every room for secrets, the demo would\u2019ve been quick to breeze through, even without any prior experience playing Metroid.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s not a new issue; Metroid Prime 3 heavily dumbed down much of the series\u2019 complexity to make the game function on the Wii\u2019s motion controller, and even 2D titles like Fusion (2002) and Zero Mission (2004) streamlined the exploration with straightforward guidance to fit their handheld platforms.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 2021, Metroid Dread brought the franchise back to 2D on Switch, and it felt like a course correction for how easy the games had become post-Prime 2. While not quite the brain buster the early entries were, Dread leaned into its roots as an explorable puzzle in ways that could leave newer players scratching their heads, and its combat was tough as nails.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlthough the full scope of what Prime 4 has to offer remains unknown, what\u2019s shown in the preview feels like Nintendo and Retro Studios are playing it safely with a light take on the series\u2019 hallmarks. Its pathways are narrow, funneling players between relatively easy enemy encounters and puzzles with obvious solutions.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tMetroid Prime 4 adds NPCs to partner with Samus, for better or worse.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNintendo<\/p>\n

\n\tAnother reversion that, for now, seems ill-advised is pairing Samus up with other characters. A third of the way through the demo, players meet an NPC named Mackenzie, a Galactic Federation technician. Putting it simply, Mackenzie\u2019s a dork; a sheepish science guy whose awe of Samus and bumbling demeanor set the duo up as a typical odd couple.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe first scene with Mackenzie has Samus rescuing him from a horde of aliens, followed quickly by an escort mission \u2014 one of the most agonizing cliches in gaming. Their dialogue (or lack thereof on Samus\u2019 part) has funny moments. Nintendo has learned that the bounty hunter\u2019s most affecting personality trait is remaining a mute goliath who handles nuisances \u2014 from chatty scientists to roaring monsters \u2014 with annoyed nonchalance. The recurring joke here is that Mackenzie talks a lot and Samus doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s hard to say how much of a presence characters like Mackenzie will have in the larger story, but Nintendo learned firsthand how detrimental poorly written NPCs and forced interactions can be with 2010\u2019s abysmal Metroid: Other M. That game, which fans would kill to forget, turned the series into a Ninja Gaiden-like third-person action title, but its worst crimes were in the painful dialogue and dumb-as-rocks story. Samus works best when other people are at a distance, and giving her a sidekick, even temporarily, raises some red flags.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tUsing Samus\u2019 nonchalance makes for good comedic bits, but hopefully it doesn\u2019t wear thin.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNintendo<\/p>\n

\n\tVisually, the game looks nice \u2014 with sprawling vistas in the distance when looking beyond the edge of the cliffs and little particle effects filling the air. There\u2019s some great lighting, too, with bloom effects and glints of sunbeams peering through Samus\u2019 visor, as well as the return of the occasional reflection of her face in the helmet\u2019s glass (a detail that blew fans\u2019 collective minds back in 2002).<\/p>\n

\n\tBut despite the pleasantness, there are still some areas where the graphics are lacking. Waterfalls lack complex physics, mostly appearing as flat sheets with some misting to cover up the seams. There\u2019s some solid texture mapping across the ground and objects to give the appearance of depth, but it mostly looks like wallpaper. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe game runs very smoothly \u2014 even hitting up to 120 frames per second in performance mode \u2014 but it doesn\u2019t feel like much of a leap forward. It\u2019s a game that was clearly designed to run on the now-geriatric Nintendo Switch, which results in a game that aesthetically lags behind its Switch 2-exclusive peers like Donkey Kong Bananza<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\tNitpicking aside, it\u2019s a small miracle that Metroid Prime 4 exists at all. Arriving after one of the few instances of publicly known developmental hell for Nintendo, the game could\u2019ve been cancelled outright. Metroid has never been one of the company\u2019s best-sellers; it\u2019s an IP that they\u2019ve invested in to keep their hardcore fans happy in between higher grossing fare. But, after all this effort, here\u2019s hoping that the full version of Metroid Prime 4 is worth the wait.<\/p>\n

\n\tMetroid Prime <\/a>4: Beyond<\/a> launches on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 on Dec. 4.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s an old internet adage often incorrectly attributed to Nintendo guru Shigeru Miyamoto that goes, \u201cA delayed game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282778,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[49,48,874,128571,10755,105479,61,2881],"class_list":["post-282777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-gaming","tag-metroid-prime-4-beyond","tag-nintendo","tag-rs-gaming","tag-technology","tag-video-games"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}