really really really really really good!
always fell off of the game trying to play it on wii but shockingly i fell in love with the original gamecube controls here. i would recommend most people try to play it with Hybrid as it blends the intent of the original controls with better "R-aiming" through gyro controls.
in Metroid Prime, breathtaking world design gives way to incredibly fun and engaging combat. not a single part is dull save for perhaps the artifact hunt, but eventually you'll know this map so well that the prospect of routing said hunt becomes almost exciting. i appreciate that enemy layouts change throughout the game, tangibly representing the back-and-forth conflict between the Tallon IV pirates and Samus. the bosses, at first, are somewhat generic and uninspired but they definitely only get better as they go on, and overall are much better designed around the core combat systems than anything seen in the 2D games, at least prior to Dread (do not @ me!).

of course it must be stated that this is also an incredible remaster of the game i've been reviewing, one that feels like a genuine labor of love and sticks closely to every art direction choice at every turn, while also having some of the most absurd polish i've ever seen on the Switch. the rain falls differently on the arm cannon depending on which direction you're looking!!!! good god!!!!! while the control and gameplay options present are totally acceptable, i would have appreciated some ability to remap buttons and turn up the dreadfully low FoV (though i understand if this would have broken some part of the visuals, lol)

all in all, this may well be one of my favorite Metroids now, if not my SINGLE favorite!

fuck fission metroids though what were they thinking with that last room good god

a slick punisher-lite story by way of john woo and film noir. storytelling has rarely been done this well in games. playfully machismo but reserved enough to be self-aware; max is a sensitive and vulnerable man as much as he is a bloodthirsty and unstoppable one, and the women in this story often have more agency than their male counterparts, who rarely exist as more than pawns.
the game itself is brilliant. somehow utilizes the humble quicksave key better than half-life 1. bullets travel slower than you'd be led to believe but they're almost invisible until you activate bullet time so you never really notice. your only "evasive" manuver is one that's incredibly risky and takes a great amount of consideration to use effectively. big chef kiss on this one

make no mistake this is a review of the remaster and not the original game, which i never finished. although now i'll have to, because i found the balance changes of this rerelease to be painfully egregious towards the end. why would you nerf the quake 2 railgun are you insane?
compass is a welcome change though, a suitable replacement for looking up a walkthrough in another window every time you get lost in these head-bashingly stupid levels (which, btw, don't even try alt-tabbing in this version lol)
i can't insult q2 on its own too much though, i think the weapon lineup is mostly solid and the combat encounters are generally more fun than anything in q1. avoid this remake and just play the original. i hear Yamagi's a good sourceport