‘Metroid Prime 4: Beyond’ review: It’s good to be back

A lot has happened in the 18 years since Metroid Prime 3: Corruption launched.

A generation-defining financial crisis, Donald Trump somehow getting elected president twice, and the entire existence of the Marvel Cinematic Universe come to mind. Most pertinent to Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, however, is the way big-budget video games have evolved. 

Unless you’re Dark Souls, it’s broadly unacceptable for players to get lost or feel too alone, two things that are generally considered key to the Metroid experience. Metroid Prime 4 feels, at times, like it’s trying to fit a square peg into a round hole; it’s got all the major ingredients you want from the series, but also small doses of quippy, overly helpful sidekicks and open-world traversal.

And the craziest part is that, dangit, it actually works pretty well. After an abrasive and uncomfortable opening hour, Metroid Prime 4 rounds into form, feeling like the Metroid Prime of old for a large majority of its 15 to 20 hour runtime. Even with the presence of chatty human NPCs, Metroid Prime 4 is a worthy addition to your Nintendo Switch 2 library, thanks to gorgeous art direction, adequately satisfying exploration, and a totally kick-ass motorcycle.

Yes, Myles McKenzie sucks

As much as I like Metroid Prime 4, it really needs to be stated that the first hour or so plays like a tribute to the “we’re so back/it’s so over” meme. 

Samus Aran’s first mainline 3D adventure since the Bush administration opens with a combat-and-setpiece-heavy intro that doesn’t really feel like Metroid. Twenty minutes later, however, Samus is walking around a desolate alien planet called Viewros that’s full of beautiful, awe-inspiring ruins of a dead civilization, which very much feels like Metroid. Before long, you’re exploring a visually resplendent jungle and acquiring new powers to aid in exploration.

And then Galactic Federation engineer Myles McKenzie enters the picture. I and many others have already covered how discordant it feels for a stumbling, bumbling, and goofy voice-acted sidekick to be in Samus’s ear for any amount of time. It flatly isn’t good, and is the primary thing holding me back from wholeheartedly praising Metroid Prime 4. There are other human NPCs you’ll meet throughout the adventure, all of whom fit into pretty basic fictional soldier archetypes. Most of them aren’t as annoying as McKenzie, but their presence is still generally a little burdensome.

Having said all of that…there are moments that are legitimately kind of charming, here and there, even if I can’t always tell if they’re intentional or not. I particularly enjoy how everyone around Samus thinks she’s really cool (correctly so) and wants to be her friend, but all she ever does is stare at them and occasionally nod in response. That made me laugh numerous times, if nothing else.

But it’s a smooth ride after that early speed bump

I imagine some of you will read that, decide Metroid Prime 4 is beyond saving, and move on with your life. I can’t stop you. Go with God, as they say. This is a matter of personal priorities; to some, Metroid is about loneliness first and foremost. To me, it’s about seeing an odd-colored door, making a mental note of it, and coming back later when you have the weapon or item that opens said door.

If you’re like me and can grin and bear the early stages of the game, before McKenzie sets up a base camp and only sparingly chimes in over comms for the rest of its duration, you’ll find that Metroid Prime 4 is largely the Metroid Prime you remember. 

That means the overwhelming majority of your time will be spent trawling through abandoned research facilities, scanning computer terminals, finding the occasional power-up, and taking on a collection of generally excellent boss fights. When nobody is talking at you (which, I must stress, is most of the time), the sense of atmosphere is a delight, assisted by percussive music and perhaps the best visuals on Switch 2 so far, including a flawless frame rate.

I particularly liked the Ice Belt, a haunting, frozen-over facility where Samus’s arm cannon gradually gathers a coat of frost as you explore. While a couple of the areas in Prime 4 are a little more linear than I’d like, Ice Belt feels like Metroid Prime at its best, with level design that incentivizes careful observation and fun Morph Ball shortcuts that make the entire area satisfyingly fold in on itself over time. 

All of Prime 4’s bespoke levels really shine on your second run through them, once you’ve gotten all the abilities and can freely unlock every secret there is to find. I think the most fun I had with this game was when I did this, right before setting off for the climactic final confrontation. I am very pleased to report that this game still has the Metroid juice most of the time.

Zooming around the desert

Vi-O-La rocks.
Credit: Nintendo

That said, Metroid Prime 4 also finds time to carve out its own space in the series, and the main way it does that is through the Sol Valley, a big desert area that acts as a hub connecting the levels, and Vi-O-La, a super sick motorcycle you unlock early on to traverse the wastes.

You’ll spend a decent chunk of Prime 4 speeding across the desert, which, well, looks like a desert. I imagine this will ruffle some feathers out there, but I’m in favor of it for a few reasons. One is that Sol Valley is easily the loneliest area in the game, as it’s the one place where (for the most part) Samus is free to operate at her leisure without needing to link up with any of her new allies. Vi-O-La itself is also a lot of fun to drive, especially once you unlock auxiliary boost charges that let you really zoom around the place.

Yes, a lot of it is empty, though that doesn’t mean it’s without secrets to find. I actually dig this because I’m a sucker for vast spaces in games where every inch isn’t necessarily meant to be interacted with. So often, video game worlds feel like theme parks where everything exists for the enjoyment of the player. Sol Valley uses its big empty spaces to communicate the desolation that Viewros has suffered pretty well, I think. As a bonus, even though it’s shaped like an open-world map, it’s mostly bereft of the kind of map icon vomit you’d find in something like Assassin’s Creed. There aren’t a million disposable side activities and collectibles here. When you find something, it really feels like you’ve found something.

It’s also a cleaner way to link together the various levels than in Prime 3, a game whose various zones felt disconnected from one another. Everything feels fairly contiguous here, even if it’s not quite as Metroid-y as the elevator-based travel in the original Prime. 

It doesn’t approach the OG Metroid Prime, but that’s fine

Look at the frost on the gun.
Credit: Nintendo

One detail that might drag Prime 4 down in the eyes of some players is that it’s not the first game, which is legitimately one of the finest 3D action-adventure games ever made. That’s a really lofty and, I would argue, unfair standard to hold anything to, especially considering the rocky development cycle Prime 4 went through. 

I am here to tell you that Prime 4 is not as good as the original. It’s not as lonely and the level design isn’t quite as elaborate. I have a couple of other small quibbles, too, like a relative lack of cool suit changes and the fact that too many of the abilities you unlock are things that have been in previous Metroid games.

But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth your time. It’s easy and reasonable to be apprehensive about the first Prime game in nearly two decades. I get it, I really do, especially considering the pre-release whiplash of finding out Myles McKenzie exists. But if you can find it within yourself to give Prime 4 an earnest shot, like I did, you might just find that hopping into Samus’s power suit is every bit as enjoyable as it was on the GameCube and Wii. 

It’s good to have Samus back, if nothing else.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond launches on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 on Dec. 4.