Thoughts on Metroid Prime Remastered

 

Metroid Prime Remastered is the first Nintendo game I've ever completed. In short, it was a bit of a slog but fun over all. Here are my pros and cons of Metroid Prime.

Pros:

Exploring a well-developed world. A Switch remaster of a 2002 Gamecube title, Metroid Prime feels fairly modern in its world design. Samus must battle the various flora and fauna of Tallon IV as well as Space Pirates and mutated Metroids, and traversing the varied environments, from the dusty temples of Chozo Ruins to the frozen wastes of Phendrana Drifts feels natural while still being well-crafted. The Switch isn't powerful by modern standards, but the artistic design holds up, and I found myself appreciating the graphics.

Getting Upgrades Is Fun. Metroid games are all about getting suit and weapon upgrades that allow you to return to previous areas and unlock new ones, and Prime does this very well. It was always thrilling to get a new upgrade like the jump boots or plasma beam. Samus's armor feels like a real battle suit, with its various vision modes and the Morph Ball, which is used mostly for easy but cool platforming sections.

This Isn't a Normal FPS. Metroid Prime's gameplay is a blend of platforming, environmental exploration, and first-person combat. The left trigger locks on to enemies, so aim isn't a factor. Avoiding enemy attacks by jumping while cycling through your arm cannon weapons is what's important. Usually I detest platforming in first person games (Neon White being a huge exception) but I didn't miss many jumps in Metroid. Scanning enemies and figuring out what weapon works best is also crucial. In the late game, many Space Pirates will only be vulnerable to specific arm cannon modes. So gameplay is more complex than just pointing and shooting.

Cons:

Old Game Design Conventions Crop Up. No fast travel is a bit of a pain when you must traverse half of the map in order to find all of the Chozo Artifacts so that you can defeat the final bosses. Also, save points are few and far between. While I enjoyed the final boss fights against Meta Ridley and Metroid Prime, I could have used a save point right before each battle.

I Don't Think I Would Have Finished This Game Without a Walkthrough. Metroid Prime isn't terribly difficult, but man is it an artifact from a different time. The locations of some of the Chozo Artifacts, all twelve of which you need in order to fight the final bosses, are obscure to say the least. The one in the magma levels was literally hidden inside a pillar that you had to look at with your x-ray vision mode. To find another, you have to climb atop a not obviously accessible room, shoot a radar dish in an inaccessible area of the map so that it falls down and creates a hole that you can roll into with the Morph Ball. How you would have figured how to find the aforementioned artifacts without using a guide, I have no idea.

Do I recommend Metroid Prime Remastered? I think it's a cool entry point to a classic franchise as long as you're willing to use a walkthrough. If you want to keep your gamer cred and go into it blind, do so at your own risk.