Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
This review contains spoilers
Some of this will also be me responding to comments I've seen.
Open world:
Yes, it's a desert. No, it is not silent. There is a thing called ambient music. And honestly, I thought it was eerie. Driving around, alone, that was Metroid isolation (except for when someone would call you to tell you where to go, but more on that later). It wasn't gigantic, and there were some shrines and other things to find.
Concerning the amiibo controversy, I do agree it's kind of weird in some sense, even though Nintendo has been locking stuff behind amiibos for years. I suppose this is a half-defense, but the intended gameplay experience is the aforementioned ambient music, not a radio, so I don't care. If it was completely silent, I'd be bothered. As it stands, I think locking it behind an amiibo is weird but people are overstating how bad it is. Again: the game WANTS you to hear the ambient music and the radio is a "bonus" for those who paid. Greedy corporate practices? Yup. Stupid bonus? You betcha, but a bonus, nevertheless. Inconsistent with author intent? Nope.
The green crystal grind was not much of a grind for me. I saw people complaining about doing it for hours at the end of the game, even though the game tells you they're important. I just drove around every now and again and got crystals, so by the time I got the thing that told me where they were, I had already completed it. I don't think it should have been necessary though, because that was some time that could have been spent doing something else. If it were optional that would have been cool.
The bike feels fantastic to drive. I also kind of dig that it's a desert because I just wanted to get to places quick, not navigate through a gigantic city or a world with lots of hills that are just annoying to traverse.
I'm actually tired of open worlds generally, and I'd normally shit on them for being empty, but for some reason Nintendo games like this or even Breath of the Wild (though that has more in it obviously) have a nice atmosphere that I appreciate, and I don't mind them.
Would I have included the open world aspect if I were developing this game? Nah. I don't really think it adds anything. It might subtract from it a bit, but I was surprised how little I was bothered.
The companions/story:
I didn't mind. I think people overstate just how much they're in it. Look, yeah, Myles tells you what to do. It's not all the time. And they don't talk to you all the time either. You play with them for a bit, with the occasional escort mission (that's so short it's comical that people are that bothered), then they fuck off for a while.
With that said, I also saw people say that they hated how Retro also then gave them this huge sacrifice because it wasn't earned. I think it was earned enough. No, they are not super compelling, memorable characters. The Samus fangirl was cute--I liked when she would gush over Samus doing... anything. The robot was cool. The others were fine. What I like about them is how they're so in awe of Samus. You already know you're a badass, but then they just confirm it.
And because they were willing to give up their own lives because they know Samus being alive is better for everybody, along with her having to succeed, I thought there was some emotional oomph.
Which leads to the story and ending. I'll be honest, I'm not a huge Metroid lore guy. I adore the games. I know basics. I don't go deep into it. I really don't "care" much about the Metroid story outside of some classic story beats (the metroid sacrificing itself for Samus in Super, for example), but I appreciate that there is a rich lore. I'm glad it's there. It's interesting, I just have a bad memory, honestly.
The story isn't brilliant and Sylux needed more depth (there is a 100 percent secret ending that sheds some light too), but this is one of the few times where at the end I was left kind of sitting in what happened. It is a tragic but hopeful and beautiful ending. I saw someone say that a) Samus didn't seem to care that people died and b) that what she does is disrespectful.
A) When she lands on the planet, you can see her pause and dip her head down ever so slightly, which is a sign when people are sad. But Samus internalizes lots of things. It's subtle but it's there.
B) She puts that one guy's religious symbol on a tree that's growing. That anybody saw that as disrespectful is... weird. Like, I don't even know what to say to that. A new civilization is going to grow around it.
With that said, I'm not always the greatest at picking out plot holes because I kind of just let stories wash over me and don't get too caught up in them, so I'm sure someone reading this could be like, "Well, this doesn't make sense." I get it. You're probably right.
Everything else:
I don't mind the linearity. Metroid: Fusion was linear. I'm okay with it. I'm at the point in my life where I'm okay with casual, so long as it gets other things right.
The gameplay is as solid as ever. So smooth. So bug free. Feels good to shoot, platform, etc.
Music slaps so hard. But that's not surprising.
Beautiful as well.
In conclusion:
Yeah, I know, I'm probably going way too easy on this. Again, I do agree there are flaws. It's not a perfect game. But at the end of the day, it didn't matter to me at all. I still had so much fun with this. It's one of those times where I can see the criticisms, and those are features to me (somewhat). It's like when you read a negative review and the problems the critic had were things you like.
But to each their own. I wish this game was better received. Sucks that it's so divisive.
Open world:
Yes, it's a desert. No, it is not silent. There is a thing called ambient music. And honestly, I thought it was eerie. Driving around, alone, that was Metroid isolation (except for when someone would call you to tell you where to go, but more on that later). It wasn't gigantic, and there were some shrines and other things to find.
Concerning the amiibo controversy, I do agree it's kind of weird in some sense, even though Nintendo has been locking stuff behind amiibos for years. I suppose this is a half-defense, but the intended gameplay experience is the aforementioned ambient music, not a radio, so I don't care. If it was completely silent, I'd be bothered. As it stands, I think locking it behind an amiibo is weird but people are overstating how bad it is. Again: the game WANTS you to hear the ambient music and the radio is a "bonus" for those who paid. Greedy corporate practices? Yup. Stupid bonus? You betcha, but a bonus, nevertheless. Inconsistent with author intent? Nope.
The green crystal grind was not much of a grind for me. I saw people complaining about doing it for hours at the end of the game, even though the game tells you they're important. I just drove around every now and again and got crystals, so by the time I got the thing that told me where they were, I had already completed it. I don't think it should have been necessary though, because that was some time that could have been spent doing something else. If it were optional that would have been cool.
The bike feels fantastic to drive. I also kind of dig that it's a desert because I just wanted to get to places quick, not navigate through a gigantic city or a world with lots of hills that are just annoying to traverse.
I'm actually tired of open worlds generally, and I'd normally shit on them for being empty, but for some reason Nintendo games like this or even Breath of the Wild (though that has more in it obviously) have a nice atmosphere that I appreciate, and I don't mind them.
Would I have included the open world aspect if I were developing this game? Nah. I don't really think it adds anything. It might subtract from it a bit, but I was surprised how little I was bothered.
The companions/story:
I didn't mind. I think people overstate just how much they're in it. Look, yeah, Myles tells you what to do. It's not all the time. And they don't talk to you all the time either. You play with them for a bit, with the occasional escort mission (that's so short it's comical that people are that bothered), then they fuck off for a while.
With that said, I also saw people say that they hated how Retro also then gave them this huge sacrifice because it wasn't earned. I think it was earned enough. No, they are not super compelling, memorable characters. The Samus fangirl was cute--I liked when she would gush over Samus doing... anything. The robot was cool. The others were fine. What I like about them is how they're so in awe of Samus. You already know you're a badass, but then they just confirm it.
And because they were willing to give up their own lives because they know Samus being alive is better for everybody, along with her having to succeed, I thought there was some emotional oomph.
Which leads to the story and ending. I'll be honest, I'm not a huge Metroid lore guy. I adore the games. I know basics. I don't go deep into it. I really don't "care" much about the Metroid story outside of some classic story beats (the metroid sacrificing itself for Samus in Super, for example), but I appreciate that there is a rich lore. I'm glad it's there. It's interesting, I just have a bad memory, honestly.
The story isn't brilliant and Sylux needed more depth (there is a 100 percent secret ending that sheds some light too), but this is one of the few times where at the end I was left kind of sitting in what happened. It is a tragic but hopeful and beautiful ending. I saw someone say that a) Samus didn't seem to care that people died and b) that what she does is disrespectful.
A) When she lands on the planet, you can see her pause and dip her head down ever so slightly, which is a sign when people are sad. But Samus internalizes lots of things. It's subtle but it's there.
B) She puts that one guy's religious symbol on a tree that's growing. That anybody saw that as disrespectful is... weird. Like, I don't even know what to say to that. A new civilization is going to grow around it.
With that said, I'm not always the greatest at picking out plot holes because I kind of just let stories wash over me and don't get too caught up in them, so I'm sure someone reading this could be like, "Well, this doesn't make sense." I get it. You're probably right.
Everything else:
I don't mind the linearity. Metroid: Fusion was linear. I'm okay with it. I'm at the point in my life where I'm okay with casual, so long as it gets other things right.
The gameplay is as solid as ever. So smooth. So bug free. Feels good to shoot, platform, etc.
Music slaps so hard. But that's not surprising.
Beautiful as well.
In conclusion:
Yeah, I know, I'm probably going way too easy on this. Again, I do agree there are flaws. It's not a perfect game. But at the end of the day, it didn't matter to me at all. I still had so much fun with this. It's one of those times where I can see the criticisms, and those are features to me (somewhat). It's like when you read a negative review and the problems the critic had were things you like.
But to each their own. I wish this game was better received. Sucks that it's so divisive.
Mini Review: See my full review where I go into detail, but basically, I think there are flaws in this game (open world), but they were never enough in my experience to make me stop loving this game. The story's fine, though Sylux could have used some work. The companions are completely fine... good, even. And the game looks, plays, feels and sounds beautiful. I also don't mind how linear it was.
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