Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Review

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond was first announced all the way back in 2017, mere months after the original Switch hit store shelves. Revealed with little more than a logo and Bandai Namco confirmed as its developer, Metroid Prime 4 went radio silent for a couple of years. In 2019, Nintendo, apparently unhappy with Bandai Namco’s progress on the game, made the shock announcement that development on Metroid Prime 4 was being restarted at Retro Studios. The Bandai Namco version of Metroid Prime 4 must have been a full-blown disaster because I can’t imagine Nintendo being particularly thrilled with Retro’s final product either.

Since Retro Studios formed in 1998, it’s been a developer that can’t miss. Its first game was the magnificent and groundbreaking Metroid Prime, with Retro delivering two well-reviewed direct sequels before moving on to the critically-acclaimed Donkey Kong Country Returns duology, considered by many to be some of the finest 2D platformers ever made. Considering Retro’s impeccable track record and the Metroid Prime legacy, I went into Metroid Prime 4: Beyond with high expectations and left more disappointed than I have ever been with a video game.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond transports longtime franchise protagonist Samus Aran to the planet Viewros, where she’s tasked with collecting five teleporter keys. Early on, Samus is imbued with special psychic powers that expand as the game goes on, giving players more traversal and puzzle solving options, in typical Metroidvania fashion.

The psychic angle could have been a way to give Samus a unique move-set not seen in previous games, but instead, it’s used to recycle abilities we’ve seen for decades, but now with a fancy purple glow. Instead of the Boost Ball, it’s the Psychic Boost Ball. Instead of the Spider Ball, it’s the Psychic Spider Ball. The new Control Beam ability, which lets players take direct control of a charged beam for combat and puzzle-solving purposes, is simply Batman: Arkham’s Batarang with a makeover. Psychic abilities are sometimes used to drag objects around as well, but the psychic concept hardly reaches its full potential.

Now, there is still a lot of fun to be had with Samus’ arsenal in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. The tried-and-true Metroid formula still has life in it, and there is a relatively satisfying sense of progression as players gain new tools that let them better traverse the game world. The puzzles and dungeons built around these abilities are fun enough to conquer. It may not be terribly original, but Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is still at its best when it’s sticking to the hits. It’s when it plays its new material where things get really off the rails.

Metroid Prime 4 Doesn’t Know What It Wants to Be

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is stuck in limbo between being a classic-style Metroid Prime game and an open world game. It doesn’t fully commit to either and that is its biggest downfall. Metroid Prime 4’s semi-open world consists of a big boring desert with very little of interest and seems to serve no purpose other than arbitrarily stretching out the game’s runtime by not only putting the dungeons far away from each other, but also coming up with reasons for players to go back to already-completed dungeons to get important key items.

I made my way to the ice dungeon, only to realize I needed the Flare Shot to continue. After figuring out where to get that, I had to go back to base to actually unlock the ability because Samus can’t install cannon chips herself. Later, I tried to go to the lava dungeon, only to find out I needed the Ice Shot to continue. I went and got that, went back to base to install it, and then headed into the lava dungeon only to find out I needed another thing to actually explore it, which meant back-tracking yet again to get that ability. There is no fast travel either, which makes all of this even more annoying than it would be otherwise.

As annoying as the open world is, at least Samus doesn’t have to run around the desert on foot. Early in the game, she acquires the ever-controversial motorcycle, which significantly cuts down on travel time. The Metroid Prime 4 motorcycle is called Vi-O-La, and while a lot of fans were apprehensive about it, it does make the desert a little more palpable. The bike is fast and there’s fun to be had ramping off dunes. Vi-O-La is not a bad addition, and I wouldn’t mind seeing it back with a more interesting locale to drive around in. Plus, it decks Samus out with sleek new red armor that’s one of her most visually-impressive suits to date.

Besides the motorcycle, the other thing Metroid Prime fans were worried about going into Metroid Prime 4: Beyond was the game’s “cringey” sidekicks. Samus wasn’t the only person teleported to Viewros, and so the intergalactic bounty hunter needs to save her companions and get them safely back to base. There may be some goofy dialogue here and there, but the other characters do not really drag the game down. Beyond may have more cutscenes and cinematic moments than fans are used to, but they are actually some of the better and more memorable parts of the experience.

I also enjoyed some specific action sequences in the game, with Metroid Prime 4: Beyond having its fair share of genuinely exciting set-pieces amidst all the boring desert driving and back-tracking. I won’t spoil them here, but these moments make it worth trudging through Prime 4: Beyond’s more tedious sections.

Unfortunately, tedium also robs some of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond’s boss fights of hitting quite as hard as they should. I love the boss designs in this game, with Beyond delivering a strong roster of intimidating creatures for Samus to square off against, and I appreciate that it doesn’t reuse a bunch of tired boss fights from older games. But what it does do is repeat some of its mini-boss fights, and the bigger boss fights go on for too long. They’re cool at first, but the bosses take too many hits and about halfway through the battles I was anxious to move on.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond likes to put up roadblocks to enjoyment. The needlessly long boss fights, the boring desert, and the dull back-tracking are examples of this, preventing players from fully enjoying the game’s solid dungeon design and drop-dead gorgeous graphics. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is a stunner, with beautifully-realized environments that are nothing short of breathtaking. It makes me excited to see what Retro can do when building a Metroid Prime game from the ground-up specifically for the Switch 2, but the fact that Beyond is a cross-gen game and still looks this good is really impressive.

When players are immersed in Beyond’s dungeons, they will have a mostly great time. Yes, they are a little more constrained and linear than one might expect from the series, but they’re still fun. So it’s such a shame that the game does everything it can to keep players from properly enjoying its best parts and instead forces them to engage with its worst elements.

Metroid Prime 4’s Green Crystal Hunt Derails Any Momentum It Might Have Had

This is especially apparent with one of the main missions that players must complete if they hope to reach the end of the game. Besides collecting five keys, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond players are also tasked with collecting green energy crystals and delivering them to the home base. I made an effort to smash every crystal I saw while driving through the desert, and figured it would be no problem. By the time I deposited them at the end of the game, I wasn’t even halfway to the goal.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond has shrines with a lot of green energy crystals players can raid to boost their total. The shrines themselves feature disappointingly easy puzzles, and even finishing them all didn’t give me enough crystals to progress the game. Ultimately, I had to drive around the desert and smash rocks for about an hour. Not exactly my idea of a good time and not exactly what I want to do when playing a Metroid game.

Despite the fumble here, I think that an open world Metroid Prime game can work, but it can’t be a half-measure like Beyond is. Beyond could have been a revolutionary step forward like Breath of the Wild was for Zelda, but instead it’s a weird in-between that is only fun when it is recycling its old ideas and everything new it tries falls flat on its face. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond has an identity crisis and the result is a baffling open world surrounded by solid dungeons that still fall short of what came before.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is out now for Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2. Game Rant played the Switch 2 version for this review.