For the sake of brevity, I'm happy to skip over what people generally know or can find out about Metroid Prime. It's a 3D first-person action-exploration game where you collect upgrades and battle enemies. Its mechanics are well-explained elsewhere. 2003's Metroid Prime is largely referred to as one of the best games on its original platform, a timeless classic, and if you're feeling especially hyperbolic, one of the greatest games of all time. What sticks out to me is that even in 2023, Metroid Prime is every bit as brilliant and unique as it was 20 years ago...and all it really got was a facelift.
Remastered really doesn't do much to tip the scale any heavier in Prime's favor, but the visual overhaul is certainly impressive. If anything, a repackaging just serves to show how far ahead of its time the original game was; there are very few adventures quite like it, and aside from the follow-up Prime games, I'm hard-pressed to come up with another first-person explor-action example. From near-impeccable level design to a narrative style that almost certainly rivals the piecemeal world building approach of more contemporary games (I'm not gonna say Dark Souls, don't worry), Retro Studios expertise on display shows very few signs of aging.
Of course, opting for a visual overhaul and not, say, a complete remake has its drawbacks. The last 30% or so of the game, the hunt for Chozo artifacts, remains the same -- I think of it as one of the game's lone blemishes -- and the new dual-stick "modern" control scheme doesn't really do a lot to change how the game is balanced around its original control scheme. Still, the game isn't especially difficult and a lot of the experience is defined by enjoying the ambience, so balance concerns are minor at best.
If you're looking for a chance to catch up on a historic game or even just want to relive some glory days, don't be hesitant to pick this up at its $39.99 USD price point. If you didn't like Prime to begin with, this probably won't change your mind.
Remastered really doesn't do much to tip the scale any heavier in Prime's favor, but the visual overhaul is certainly impressive. If anything, a repackaging just serves to show how far ahead of its time the original game was; there are very few adventures quite like it, and aside from the follow-up Prime games, I'm hard-pressed to come up with another first-person explor-action example. From near-impeccable level design to a narrative style that almost certainly rivals the piecemeal world building approach of more contemporary games (I'm not gonna say Dark Souls, don't worry), Retro Studios expertise on display shows very few signs of aging.
Of course, opting for a visual overhaul and not, say, a complete remake has its drawbacks. The last 30% or so of the game, the hunt for Chozo artifacts, remains the same -- I think of it as one of the game's lone blemishes -- and the new dual-stick "modern" control scheme doesn't really do a lot to change how the game is balanced around its original control scheme. Still, the game isn't especially difficult and a lot of the experience is defined by enjoying the ambience, so balance concerns are minor at best.
If you're looking for a chance to catch up on a historic game or even just want to relive some glory days, don't be hesitant to pick this up at its $39.99 USD price point. If you didn't like Prime to begin with, this probably won't change your mind.