Metroid Prime Remastered (Switch) Review

A Masterpiece Revisited

 I didn't own a GameCube back when Metroid Prime was released. By the time we got the rerelease on the Wii, I had given up on the console by that point. Yet, I always heard the love for Metroid and specifically Metroid Prime. I am also willing to admit I have never completed a Metroid game or really played more than a few minutes. That being said, I've enjoyed games in the Metroidvania genre —visiting the twisted jungles and ruins of Chozo culture long lost in Metroid Prime Remaster— so it's interesting to see the exact influence the series has had in the gaming landscape. 

Last year I tried to go back and play the Wii version of Metroid Prime with mediocre success. Trying to play anything from the Wii generation on a modern TV, even through the use of a third-party upscaling tool like the RetroTINK, which I highly suggest if you are interested in playing older consoles on modern TVs, can be really rough. That, mixed with the less-than-optimal controls, I almost immediately bounced off. So when Nintendo shadow dropped Metroid Prime Remastered, I was a little hesitant, but I wanted to give this beloved-by-all game a fair shot.

The story of Metroid Prime Remastered follows famed space bounty hunter Samus Aran as she intercepts a distress call from a space pirate’s ship only to discover the crew had been slaughtered by a parasite queen. Then the pterodactyl-like monster Ridley comes to play and downs the ship. After escaping, Samus chases Ridley down to the planet Tallon IV, where her story takes place. 

Now story for me is where the most significant divide comes down. Akin to a Soulsborne game, around ninety percent takes place through scanning objects in the environment. Some people will love this, as it makes Tallon IV feel like a planet that has a deep rich history. It happens to also be the part I dislike about games like Bloodborne the most. There needs to be a happy medium for players that don't want to go around pulling out their scan visor to scan every piece of the environment. Due to the majority of the story being told through this scanning mechanic, its story is mediocre at best for people who choose to skip this task.

That being said, if you set aside enough time for Prime and give it the attention it craves by plodding around and scanning all these objects, the result of that effort is a fantastic story of calamity and its aftermath. It's just a shame that the more interesting aspects of the game’s world-building are hidden behind a mechanic that really tends to slow down what I consider to be the best part of Metroid Prime Remastered, the first-person gameplay.

Buttery smooth is the best way to describe the feeling of controlling Samus while blasting various alien life forms through a tour of Tallon IV. Samus often finds her path blocked by areas that can only be explored after gaining various necessary upgrades found throughout the planet. There is a lot of joy in finding these upgrades after fighting bosses. My biggest issue with the gameplay is the backtracking, the map, and the lack of an autosave. The amount of backtracking within the first few hours of Metroid Prime puts classic Resident Evil to shame. This wouldn’t be an issue with something like a fast travel system but having to take a five-minute walk back and forth each time —while fun at first— ended up feeling like inching along each section rather than a treacherous hunt for a space dragon. Needless to say the frequent backtracking quickly overstayed its welcome. 

The game’s map is another issue. Thankfully if one does get lost, after around 10 minutes, the game will ping the map to show where one should be heading to progress. The issue arises when trying to navigate the map in its overworld state. While zoomed in, it's not horrible, and I could absolutely make sense of it. However, when I would pull back to see the overworld or check out another area it became overly clunky to try and narrow down the area I was looking for.

That and dying and losing an hour of progress sucks every time. I get the added tension of having to save manually, but damn, there were a few times when I lost an hour or more. I almost stopped my journey after that. . .

What needs to be lauded in Metroid Prime Remastered is the upgrade in visuals. This game looks gorgeous. Even playing on my launch switch looks outstanding compared to the original. This visual upgrade also helps add to the inclination of a fantastic story by doing such a great job of making environmental storytelling stand out.

Overall, I enjoyed my time with Metroid Prime Remastered. Other than the various nitpicks I mentioned above, I do think it's a great game, although it could have used a few more quality-of-life changes to make it land better for the more casual Metroid audience like myself.

SCORES

GAMEPLAY - 7/10

VISUALS - 8/10

SOUND - 8/10

CONTROLS - 7/10

REPLAY VALUE - 6/10

OVERALL - 7.2/10

A copy of Metroid Prime Remastered was provided by the publisher for review purposes. Screenshots were captured using native features of the Nintendo Switch. More information can be found on the official Nintendo Store listing.