The long-awaited fourth entry in the Metroid Prime series was ultimately a disappointment
I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed. That cliché statement truly sums up how I feel about Metroid Prime 4: Beyond – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition. After waiting over eight years for this game, playing the original’s remaster last year, and loving its pre-release trailers, I was very excited to give this game a shot. By the time I had cleared the Ice Belt, though, I knew the game wasn’t for me.
Take my time playing through Ice Belt, the best area in the entire game. It’s a frozen-over factory left behind by a once-powerful situation, and I loved slowly uncovering the disaster that had previously gone down here before Samus arrived. None of the puzzles or combat encounters in the area were all too engaging with it, though, and once I was done, I was kicked back out to a desolate open hub connecting the game’s major areas.
When I wasn’t gawking at the world design and art direction or intrigued by its lore, Metroid Prime 4 left me bored. Ironically, it was the more action-filled moments that bored me the most. The game certainly delivers more of what previous Metroid Prime games offered, which is a good thing, but it never feels like it does anything that creative beyond that. Although I don’t regret playing Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and can still recommend it for its high points, it ultimately disappointed me.
Price and availability
There are two different versions of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond available physically and digitally, and the price differs depending on the platform you’re playing on:
A Metroid Prime 4: Beyond – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition Upgrade Pack can be purchased for $10. The Switch 2 version of the game has a better resolution and frame rate, features faster load times, and lets players use Joy-Con 2’s mouse controllers to aim.
Metroid Prime 4 is the best in its quietest moments
Although I wish Samus was a more active character
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond continues the franchise’s saga, whisking Samus away to a remote alien planet after an encounter with Sylux. The planet of Viewros was once inhabited by a race of aliens called the Lamorn, who went extinct due to the very energy that helped their civilization to advance. When Samus arises, she’s tasked with preserving the Lamorn’s legacy.
That kicks off a quest that sees her venturing across Viewros to find the macguffins needed to complete that mission, and she helps out Galactic Federation soldiers she finds along the way. These soldiers have proven controversial in the Metroid Prime community, but I don’t mind them. I understand that these soldiers may act nervously or surprised around Samus, and I get why Nintendo and Retro Studios felt the need to guide the player with their dialogue.
That said, there is one criticism I can get on board with. I agree with XDA writer Jakejames Lugo’s opinion that Samus’s lack of dialogue creates awkward moments and undercuts the narrative. I don’t need her to provide wisecracks at every moment, and there is a powerful aura that comes from stoicism. Still, more meaning would be given to the adventure if I felt like she cared more about the history of the Lamorn or the Galactic Federation soldiers she came across.
Thankfully, Metroid Prime 4 takes advantage of the quiet moments. The journey is actually at its best when it leans into environmental storytelling or lets players piece together the history of Viewros through data logs they find. There’s a powerful message about legacy and the hubris of man (and aliens) if you look for it. If that’s what you come to the Metroid Prime games for, you’ll be happy with what you get here.
Metroid Prime 4 doesn’t have any bold new ideas
It lacks the creative spark so many Switch 2 games have had
While I’ve played Metroid Prime Remastered and dabbled with Metroid Prime 2 and 3 through Wii U backward compatibility, I don’t consider myself a hardcore fan of the series. That said, I respect the legacy and impact that it has had on the design of 3D action-adventure games with Metroid-like structures. From a gameplay standpoint, Metroid Prime 4 follows the same playbook as its predecessors. That’s why it bored me.
Metroid Prime 4 is the closest thing Nintendo will make to a AAA blockbuster shooter. Of course, it’s much slower-paced and ethereal than something like Halo: Campaign Evolved, but Metroid Prime 4 does feel more traditional than most Nintendo games do. Thankfully, the core game feel is polished. Aiming with mouse controls is intuitive if you want to play that way, and part of me really enjoys stopping to scan every little thing when I first arrive in a new area or encounter a boss.
Beyond that, Metroid Prime 4 is fairly by the numbers for Nintendo. That ultimately works to the game’s detriment, as it makes the absence of features like frequent autosaves stand out more. It also doesn’t help that the new ideas it tries to introduce aren’t very compelling. The psychic abilities just open up gameplay gimmicks I’ve seen before, like revealing hidden platforms, and obtaining fire and ice shots isn’t exactly exciting.
The new Vi-O-La bike is also a swing-and-a-miss. It doesn’t feel particularly good to control and drift with, and the open hub built for it is mostly barren and looks worse than the rest of the game. Whenever I had to drive, it just felt like padding. In fact, most of the time, it felt like I was going through the motions when I played Metroid Prime 4. Nothing stood out as terrible outside of the barren desert hub, but only a few things were particularly compelling.
Metroid Prime 4 did not live up to its potential
It’s the most disappointing Switch 2 game yet
Metroid Prime 4 isn’t the worst game Nintendo has released for Nintendo Switch 2, but it is the most disappointing. I think it’s more engaging than something like Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour or Drag X Drive, but those games at least experimented with what the new system could do. Games like Donkey Kong Bananza and Mario Kart World have had a certain magic to them this year, and Metroid Prime 4 just felt like it was missing that during my time with the game.
When I was exploring a delicately hand-crafted, beautiful new environment for the first time, Metroid Prime 4 would grab my attention. Then, it’d slowly lose me as area-specific gimmicks would fail to impress, save point locations would be dispersed oddly, and at the end of it all, I’d be forced to ride Vi-O-La around a barren desert again.
I see everything there is to love about Metroid Prime 4 and understand that it can resonate with hardcore Metroid fans. To me, it just doesn’t fully coalesce, and its elongated development speaks to the fact that this was a flawed game that Nintendo and Retro Studios never managed to fully crack. I’m optimistic about the future of the Switch 2, and hope Metroid continues as a series. This is just a lackluster note to end Nintendo’s 2025 on.