Metroid Prime is an incredible achievement. The similarities of Zelda and Metroid's structures meant Retro Studios had the ability to copy a lot of Ocarina of Time's homework, but Metroid utilises 3D space far more than Zelda ever has. Samus is fundamentally a platforming hero, who spends most of her time jumping and shooting. In Zelda, verticality is so rarely an aspect of traversal that there's not even a proper jump button. Prime opts to further explore the geometry with use of multiple visors that change what Samus can see and interact with. There's always the possibility that you're missing something if you don't explore all your options at any given time.
The new Switch Remaster of Metroid Prime has been met with sweeping positivity. Press outlets doubling down on their decades-old commitments to Prime being one of the best games ever made and dishing out 10/10s left, right and centre. Competing to see who can show it the most deference, like the audience at Star Wars Celebration. Look, that's fine. I'm quick to dismiss valid criticism of my favourites as if my identity is at risk, too. Call Dig Dug crap and I'll bite your head off. I'm just a little weary of seeing these nostalgic appraisals plastered onto an Accolades Trailer. There's aspects of Prime that I hope Retro have reconsidered as they move forward with 4.
Prime is so excited about being a 3D Metroid. It revels in it. Its puzzles frequently hide solutions in unsuspecting walls and crevices, far away from the glowing doors and luminescent 2002 enemies. Sometimes puzzles rely on you remembering that one of your abilities that you gained two hours ago and haven't had a use for since, has some crucial secondary function. That's an issue with its open design. It doesn't necessarily teach its lessons in a way that the player can immediately understand and adopt.
I originally played most of Prime when I got my GameCube around 2003 and eventually completed it via the Wii's Metroid Prime Trilogy release. The Switch release was my second full playthrough, but I still came up against situations I remember getting stuck at years ago. The Super Missiles that don't work with the only gun you've had to use for the last two hours. The dead electrical points that you have to fire a Wave Beam at. Points of progression that hinge on you remembering a door you left locked on the other side of the map. I could have previously assumed it was my fault that these parts caused me trouble, but the fact that I can approach this game multiple times over several years and still come up against the same roadblocks makes me think that the game could have presented this stuff a little better.
Then there's the sacred loneliness. You don't want to mess with that. It's crucial that Samus is alone. But see if I'm stuck in a Zelda game? It's quite nice that I can talk to an NPC who might give me an idea on where I ought to be going. In Prime, you're sometimes going over the same familiar territory, just begging for the game to get bored with you and alert you to a hidden room on the map. There's no deliberate way to get these hints. You just have to waste time until they happen, and sometimes the game thinks you've already been given enough help, and won't alert you no matter how long you backtrack. Sometimes, you're quite happy backtracking and looking for hidden upgrades, but the game will still nag you with some new revelation on your map. Maybe making these tips something you could access if and when you wanted would be preferable.
I don't like to throw around the word "dated", but there's aspects of Prime that just wouldn't be in there if it had been designed for the current market. Every release of the game after the initial one has addressed the stiffness of its controls and the lock-on system, but the game depends on their use. Whether you're pointing with a Wii Remote or using gyro with a Pro Controller, enemy hitboxes are directly tied to their lock-on points, and if you attempt to take a shot without using that, it's likely that it won't count. Even if the lock-on point isn't attached to the enemy's character model. The weakpoints on the underwater tentacle creatures are pretty bad for this, and you often have to shoot somewhere near them to make contact. You'll just have to use the lock-on system for combat, even if the other way feels better to you.
The 3D puzzles often feel rudimentary. It's obvious that the developers haven't played Portal yet. Points where Metroid Prime frustrate, underwhelm or obfuscate a solution that should feel instinctive are too frequent. Some rely on achieving enough momentum, rolling the Morph Ball back and forth on a halfpipe. Sometimes you need to get Big Air off the lip to reach a higher platform. It doesn't feel deliberate. It feels like you're pushing the game's systems to its limits and sequence breaking, but it's the intended solution. It's perhaps why so many of Metroid Prime's biggest fans have transitioned so naturally into speedrunning. I don't think it reflects great design, though.
The artifact quest is a part of the game that gets a lot of criticism. It's kind of overblown, but I understand. Before the final stretch of the game, Samus is tasked with searching the whole map for 12 artifacts. Many see it as padding for padding's sake. Lots of games use large maps that you can fully explore at any point, but you never had to follow a series of clues to find hidden trinkets scattered throughout Vice City's most unassuming alleyways before Sonny Forelli would recognise your right to a duel. It's something I found frustrating when I previously played the game, but I've gained some appreciation for it now. It's Samus making fuller use of all her abilities, and that includes the map. A last farewell to Tallon IV, and a last opportunity to stumble upon upgrades you missed. The hints give you just enough information to determine where you need to go and what you need to do. There's no modern day conveniences like a user-determined waypoint marker, and the artifact hints are buried quite deeply within a submenu on the pause menu. It's the kind of unintuitive design that Grezzo would have addressed in a Zelda remake, but Metroid Prime Remastered hasn't been approached with the same kind of intention. It's the old game, but the controls and visuals are better. You're buying the 21 year-old experience.
Retro Studios naturally imbued Metroid with more of a western sci-fi atmosphere, and it's something I have a kind of uneasy relationship with. Samus herself doesn't feel so much like a tokusatsu hero, but an astronaut doing her job. A grown up. Her animation and design often comes off as joyless and bored - I kind of like that. It's like the deeply un-special working class interplanetary miners of gritty, frightening 70s sci-fi. I do miss the spark she has in Dread though. The incredible energy she displays in the big fights, and the unfazed sarcasm as she points her arm cannon at Kraid. I really like thinking Samus is cool, and getting excited to see how she takes on some mad new threat. In Prime, she often comes off as just some lady (even if all the Chozo lore and the spoken-word intro prop her up as some fabled galactic saviour). I'd hope Prime 4 can balance out a dour atmosphere with a Samus Aran who totally fucking rules.
I'm sorry to level so much criticism at Prime. It really is a fantastic game, and I love it. There's few games as deeply engrossing and exciting. It's its own world. When all the wheels are turning and you're just eating up all the ambience and creativity, it's like little else. I just don't want the developers to think they've totally nailed it already and uncritically apply its design philosophy to Metroid Prime 4. There are aspects that ought to be reworked if Metroid is going to have a future alongside Mario and Zelda. I can see the younger crowd looking at the Metacritic rating, buying into it, and then abandoning all hope of ever liking the series when faced against its 2002 nonsense. Mind you, they all seemed to get into Demon's Souls just fine, so what do I know.
The new Switch Remaster of Metroid Prime has been met with sweeping positivity. Press outlets doubling down on their decades-old commitments to Prime being one of the best games ever made and dishing out 10/10s left, right and centre. Competing to see who can show it the most deference, like the audience at Star Wars Celebration. Look, that's fine. I'm quick to dismiss valid criticism of my favourites as if my identity is at risk, too. Call Dig Dug crap and I'll bite your head off. I'm just a little weary of seeing these nostalgic appraisals plastered onto an Accolades Trailer. There's aspects of Prime that I hope Retro have reconsidered as they move forward with 4.
Prime is so excited about being a 3D Metroid. It revels in it. Its puzzles frequently hide solutions in unsuspecting walls and crevices, far away from the glowing doors and luminescent 2002 enemies. Sometimes puzzles rely on you remembering that one of your abilities that you gained two hours ago and haven't had a use for since, has some crucial secondary function. That's an issue with its open design. It doesn't necessarily teach its lessons in a way that the player can immediately understand and adopt.
I originally played most of Prime when I got my GameCube around 2003 and eventually completed it via the Wii's Metroid Prime Trilogy release. The Switch release was my second full playthrough, but I still came up against situations I remember getting stuck at years ago. The Super Missiles that don't work with the only gun you've had to use for the last two hours. The dead electrical points that you have to fire a Wave Beam at. Points of progression that hinge on you remembering a door you left locked on the other side of the map. I could have previously assumed it was my fault that these parts caused me trouble, but the fact that I can approach this game multiple times over several years and still come up against the same roadblocks makes me think that the game could have presented this stuff a little better.
Then there's the sacred loneliness. You don't want to mess with that. It's crucial that Samus is alone. But see if I'm stuck in a Zelda game? It's quite nice that I can talk to an NPC who might give me an idea on where I ought to be going. In Prime, you're sometimes going over the same familiar territory, just begging for the game to get bored with you and alert you to a hidden room on the map. There's no deliberate way to get these hints. You just have to waste time until they happen, and sometimes the game thinks you've already been given enough help, and won't alert you no matter how long you backtrack. Sometimes, you're quite happy backtracking and looking for hidden upgrades, but the game will still nag you with some new revelation on your map. Maybe making these tips something you could access if and when you wanted would be preferable.
I don't like to throw around the word "dated", but there's aspects of Prime that just wouldn't be in there if it had been designed for the current market. Every release of the game after the initial one has addressed the stiffness of its controls and the lock-on system, but the game depends on their use. Whether you're pointing with a Wii Remote or using gyro with a Pro Controller, enemy hitboxes are directly tied to their lock-on points, and if you attempt to take a shot without using that, it's likely that it won't count. Even if the lock-on point isn't attached to the enemy's character model. The weakpoints on the underwater tentacle creatures are pretty bad for this, and you often have to shoot somewhere near them to make contact. You'll just have to use the lock-on system for combat, even if the other way feels better to you.
The 3D puzzles often feel rudimentary. It's obvious that the developers haven't played Portal yet. Points where Metroid Prime frustrate, underwhelm or obfuscate a solution that should feel instinctive are too frequent. Some rely on achieving enough momentum, rolling the Morph Ball back and forth on a halfpipe. Sometimes you need to get Big Air off the lip to reach a higher platform. It doesn't feel deliberate. It feels like you're pushing the game's systems to its limits and sequence breaking, but it's the intended solution. It's perhaps why so many of Metroid Prime's biggest fans have transitioned so naturally into speedrunning. I don't think it reflects great design, though.
The artifact quest is a part of the game that gets a lot of criticism. It's kind of overblown, but I understand. Before the final stretch of the game, Samus is tasked with searching the whole map for 12 artifacts. Many see it as padding for padding's sake. Lots of games use large maps that you can fully explore at any point, but you never had to follow a series of clues to find hidden trinkets scattered throughout Vice City's most unassuming alleyways before Sonny Forelli would recognise your right to a duel. It's something I found frustrating when I previously played the game, but I've gained some appreciation for it now. It's Samus making fuller use of all her abilities, and that includes the map. A last farewell to Tallon IV, and a last opportunity to stumble upon upgrades you missed. The hints give you just enough information to determine where you need to go and what you need to do. There's no modern day conveniences like a user-determined waypoint marker, and the artifact hints are buried quite deeply within a submenu on the pause menu. It's the kind of unintuitive design that Grezzo would have addressed in a Zelda remake, but Metroid Prime Remastered hasn't been approached with the same kind of intention. It's the old game, but the controls and visuals are better. You're buying the 21 year-old experience.
Retro Studios naturally imbued Metroid with more of a western sci-fi atmosphere, and it's something I have a kind of uneasy relationship with. Samus herself doesn't feel so much like a tokusatsu hero, but an astronaut doing her job. A grown up. Her animation and design often comes off as joyless and bored - I kind of like that. It's like the deeply un-special working class interplanetary miners of gritty, frightening 70s sci-fi. I do miss the spark she has in Dread though. The incredible energy she displays in the big fights, and the unfazed sarcasm as she points her arm cannon at Kraid. I really like thinking Samus is cool, and getting excited to see how she takes on some mad new threat. In Prime, she often comes off as just some lady (even if all the Chozo lore and the spoken-word intro prop her up as some fabled galactic saviour). I'd hope Prime 4 can balance out a dour atmosphere with a Samus Aran who totally fucking rules.
I'm sorry to level so much criticism at Prime. It really is a fantastic game, and I love it. There's few games as deeply engrossing and exciting. It's its own world. When all the wheels are turning and you're just eating up all the ambience and creativity, it's like little else. I just don't want the developers to think they've totally nailed it already and uncritically apply its design philosophy to Metroid Prime 4. There are aspects that ought to be reworked if Metroid is going to have a future alongside Mario and Zelda. I can see the younger crowd looking at the Metacritic rating, buying into it, and then abandoning all hope of ever liking the series when faced against its 2002 nonsense. Mind you, they all seemed to get into Demon's Souls just fine, so what do I know.