As a lifelong gamer, I can say that I’ve spent a sizable portion of my life playing video games. Games from all genres and for a lot of different platforms. That said I didn’t have a Nintendo GameCube growing up. At that time I was entrenched in the Xbox and PlayStation consoles and honestly never felt the pull to get a GameCube. Now fast forward years later and there are quite of few games that people talk about from that console joyfully and with reverence. So you may not know this about me but I have a serious FOMO. When Nintendo dropped Metroid Prime Remastered I knew that this was my chance to see if I missed out and to possibly join all of the games admirers. So how does the game stack up?
Let’s dive into it.
The Narrative:
In Metroid Prime Remastered, you play as Samus Aran. A space badass that intercepts a distress signal from a Space Pirate ship. You find that the crew has been destroyed by experimental subjects. Locked and loaded with your dope super suit and arm cannon you set out to neutralize the threat. Honestly, this game has lore and story that would be dope if they put forth any effort into actually showcasing the story. As it stands we barely get any dialogue or cutscenes to help newcomers get invested into what is going on in the game. I get that the narrative isn’t the priority with these style of Nintendo games, but I wish that they would have put more effort into showcasing the game’s story.
The Gameplay:
You attack various creatures and aliens in this game using your arm cannon. This first-person shooter combat reminded me of my childhood playing Halo Combat Evolved. However, it is way more simplistic in its gunplay with nowhere near as many weapon types. The combat itself is fun in a Retro 2000s shooter kind of way.
Outside of combat, the gameplay consists of exploring the maps, scanning your surroundings, and solving puzzles to progress to the next puzzle or boss fight. This is the main emphasis of the game. While the shooting combat is here, I’d argue that Metroid Prime is at its core a puzzle game. In fact, the boss fights even feel like puzzles, as opposed to you, brute forcing your way to victory.
Just like the tons of games, Metroid inspired, here you traverse the map to get different suit abilities and power-ups that make new parts of the map accessible. Each ability allows you to solve a new piece of the level’s puzzles.
Additional Pros:
As I mentioned I’m coming into this Remastered never touching the original version. As a result, I don’t have the memory to compare how much better this looks over the original version. That said I will say that this is a good-looking Switch game. The game’s environments and textures are detailed and the game runs at a smooth 60fps.
The score and soundtrack are very good as well. The soundtrack has a sci-fi electric feel to it with a bit of horror tones thrown in. It amplifies the “everything is out to kill you” tone of the game.
Flaws/Cons:
One aspect that I didn’t like is that it’s hard to find out when to go next. The game’s maps are helpful to keep track of where you’ve been but that only helps a little when you are trying to figure out what to do or where to go next.
Another con of the game is the narrative. Especially at the beginning of the game. It would have been nice to learn more about the main character and her motivations. You are given a simple setup to what’s going on and then set along your merry way to save the day.
One thing that I noticed didn’t age well is the game’s save points. In a lot of Metroidvania games now there’s an autosave function. You die and go back to your last save without much progress lost. That’s not the case here. In Metroid Prime, you are presented with designated save spots and if you die from a boss fight you start from that save spot.
This isn’t a fault of the game itself, but more so the Switch and Nintendo ecosystem. Metroid Prime feels like a game that is made for and perfect for a trophy or achievement system. Again I want to stress that this isn’t a knock on the game, but it does feel like trophies/achievements need to be added especially since you can 100% log entries and the item collection.
Overall/Should You Play Metroid Prime Remastered:
If you enjoy the Nintendo style of games where the gameplay and puzzles shines above all else then you should definitely play this game. I get the appeal of the game. The puzzles are amazing, well-designed, and challenging. The shooting feels outdated for sure, but the weapons are fun to use. The boss fights force you to do more than try to brute force your way through the opponent. You have to think and find its weak spot. All that said I found the game boring and outdated. The lack of narrative makes it hard to invest in
anything that’s going on. Who are these characters? Who is Samus outside of a lady that’s out killing anything that stands in her way? Look I get it. It’s Nintendo, they don’t care about narrative and that’s not the purpose of the game, but doesn’t excuse the fact that this game doesn’t give you much of a reason to invest in its characters and world. It makes the barrier for entry for newcomers to the series higher.
If you add the lack of narrative to the old outdated aspects like the designated save points and the lack of maps then that barrier of entry gets even bigger. Overall this game is the best way for Metroid vets to re-experience what made a lot of people consider Metroid Prime as one of the best games of all time. Speaking as a newcomer to the series I wouldn’t recommend Metroid Prime Remastered to other newcomers unless you love Nintendo-style puzzle games or want a sci-fi game to play on the Switch.
Where does Metroid Prime Remastered fit in your video game backlog:
All in all, I think Metroid Prime Remastered should definitely be in your backlog if you enjoyed playing the GameCube version back in the day. With the remastered version’s face-lift and modern controls, this is the definitive way to play that game. That said if haven’t played a Metroid game before then I’d recommend that you only have this in your backlog if you enjoy puzzle games or want a 3d Metroidvania to play. This would be a good game for your chill and relax spot as well as your pallet cleanser spot.
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