Originally announced at E3 2017, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is kind of the Chinese Democracy of video games: a highly anticipated project that longtime fans yearned for, but after a while began to wonder if they’d ever live to see its release. The difference here is, while I came away from the Guns N’ Roses album disappointed and more than a little confused, I readily admit that I have been positively blown away by my time on Planet Viewros.
Following an encounter with rival bounty hunter Sylux (and a mishap with an alien artifact à la Mass Effect), Samus is teleported to the aforementioned Viewros. Once the home of the Lamorn, a race of powerful psychics, the planet is now exactly the sort of barren, hostile environment in which our heroine thrives.
From the jump, things unfold in the most Metroid-y way possible. Samus finds herself stripped of her various abilities and can only recover them by plumbing the depths of the planet’s six unique biomes. The catch here—and the “beyond” part of the game’s title—is that our gun-armed girl doesn’t just recover her Missiles and Freeze Shot; she finds herself outfitted with a suite of augmented Psychic Abilities compliments of the Lamorn statues scattered across the planet.
In addition to granting her a smart new purple visor, these psychic skills enable Samus to telekinetically solve door puzzles, capture and direct energy using her matching Psychic Glove, and manipulate the time-slowing Control Beam’s projectile to blast indirect targets or plow through multiple enemies at once. Eventually, she’s even able to summon and control VI-O-LA, a psychically linked motorcycle that takes the chore out of traversing the sizable Sol Valley, the desert overworld connecting Viewros’s six themed zones.
Traveling on VI-O-LA is really enjoyable, even as other modes of transport become available. (Think long-distance artillery cannons, but for Samus delivery.) Something about the easy shift to third person and the satisfying blend of speed and freedom immediately put me in mind of Mario Kart World‘s fun Free Roam mode.
A third-person view is also used extensively in the game’s various Morph Ball sequences, with Samus slipping through tubes, around psychically enhanced Spider Ball tracks, and up bomb-powered lifts. This, along with the steady stream of discovered power upgrades, really helps Metroid Prime 4: Beyond to feel more like a proper MetroidVania than previous entries in the franchise, which leaned heavily into the FPS genre.
That’s not to say there still isn’t lots of first-person shooting.
Thanks to a nicely responsive targeting system, multiple beam and missile options, and (generally) some nice room to move around in, dispatching waves of enemies and even those super-sized Metroid mini-bosses is manageable, provided you stay mindful of attack patterns, your overall combat environment, and your current load-out of martial and psychic weaponry.
When in doubt, simply revert to using your Scan Visor. This overlay mode allows you to scan and access information on tons of in-game assets—from enemies and artifacts to blocked doorways and random detritus. It can also be toggled on to engage in the various psychic shenanigans that become available as gameplay progresses, easily helping the Switch 2 Pro Controller or dual Joy-Con 2 interface pull double duty without the need for complex button combos or finicky alternate inputs.
It’s worth noting that the Switch 2 version of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond includes support for Joy-Con 2 mouse functionality. This provides a more precise, PC FPS-style of gameplay that managed to impress even a dedicated console gamer like me. Switch 2 players also have access to enhanced display modes: Quality Mode (Docked: 4K 60 fps HDR, Handheld/Tabletop: 1080p 60 fps HDR) and Performance Modes (Docked: 1080p 120 fps HDR, Handheld/Tabletop: 720p 120 fps HDR). For the record, I’ve used Handheld Quality Mode almost exclusively, and the game has looked, sounded, and played spectacularly, with minimum load times and no noticeable lag.
Original Switch gamers shouldn’t feel left out, though, as the real star of the show in Beyond is a wonderfully competent lock-on system that functions well on both systems, providing consistent targeting with just enough play to fine-tune it using a thumbstick or motion controls. Obviously, I’ve been spoiled by the Switch 2 iteration, but if you’ve been waiting nearly a decade for Samus’s next big Metroid Prime adventure, don’t feel like you need to purchase a whole new system just to enjoy it.
Speaking of the star of the show, you’ll quickly discover that the generally solitary Samus isn’t entirely alone on Viewros. A number of displaced Galactic Federation Troopers are also marooned on this desolate planet, and you’ll lean on each other as you uncover long-buried secrets and attempt to find a way back home.
One of the first such compatriots you encounter is engineer Myles Mackenzie, a bookish chatterbox that some corners of the gaming internet are already lambasting as “that annoying NPC.” For my money, I like Myles, and not just because he helps me integrate foreign tech into my Power Suit.
While the Samus of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is a woman of few words, stoic in the same way as Link in the recent Legend of Zelda entries, the rest of the world, from the Fed Troopers to the messages encoded in Lamorn statues, is all decidedly animated and talkative. This provides a nice counterpoint to the silent protagonist, with each character adding a little something different to the unfolding narrative.
Like any MetroidVania worth its salt, Beyond feels open-world, but the game expects you to complete its major milestones in a very particular order. Myles Mackenzie’s role is to point you in the right direction should you find yourself cruising Sol Valley fruitlessly in search of the next waypoint. (Which I did early in the game, and he was quick to suggest I backtrack and look for a helpful item I’d missed.)
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is a different kind of Metroid title. It sticks close to the tight run-and-gun nature of the previous Prime titles, but it’s not afraid to give more gametime to the deep exploration of the 2D Metroid series. It celebrates Samus as the kick-ass one-woman army she is, but it’s also more than willing to glorify strength in numbers. Whether this is the Prime title that’s been at the top of your wish list since the late twenty-teens or you’re a first-timer just hoping to see if it’s hype-worthy, I have no doubt you’ll find something to love about this deep space adventure.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is available on Nintendo Switch 2 ($69.99) and Nintendo Switch ($59.99) this Thursday, December 4. There’s also a Switch 2 Upgrade Pack ($9.99).
Review materials provided by Nintendo of America. This post contains affiliate links. Samus Aran has a posse.
Fonte: GeekDad - Leia mais