Years of anticipation end in frustration.
After 18 – 20 years since the release of Metroid Prime 3, many longtime fans of the Metroid series have been eager for the fourth entry in the Metroid Prime series. Ever since the announcement back in 2017, along with development issues, the change of studios from Bandai Namco back to Retro Studios, and the announcement back in Summer 2024, the game has finally been released in December 2025. I, myself, have been excited after all these years to play Metroid Prime 4, and as a massive fan of the Metroid series, I can’t wait to get my hands on this.
After playing, beating it, and getting 100%, my overall impression was… disappointing. There were many warnings and concerns about this game before its release, such as its lackluster story and the highly controversial Federation Trooper NPC characters, which feel like self-inserts and ruin the game’s vibe. Worst of all, it didn’t give me any reason to play the game again in Hard Mode after what I went through. So what happened here? After waiting all these years for the new, highly anticipated Metroid Prime game (as well as the start of a new trilogy arc for this series), it turned out to be mediocre and horribly written. Let’s dive in here and go over many aspects of the game, starting from the basic overview of the plot, then to the positives, the negatives, as well as other reasons why Metroid Prime 4 fell below expectations.
Plot
The story begins with Samus receiving a distress signal from a Galactic Federation Research facility on Planet Tanamaar, which is under attack by the Space Pirates led by Sylux. Sylux has been cloning the Metroids (based on the Metroid he stole from Metroid Prime Federation Force), and for some reason, they’re able to possess and control their hosts, which makes them more powerful. Later, he became the leader of the Space Pirates and began using both them and the cloned Metroids to attack various Federation Facilities across the galaxy, aiming to take down both the Galactic Federation and Samus.
As the game began, Samus landed on Tanamaar and began fighting the Pirates while assisting the Federation Troopers. Then battled and defeated Aberax, a Space Pirate giant commander, as well as protecting a strange artifact. Sylux and the Pirates broke in there, where both Samus and Sylux had a standoff, where Samus avoided his shot, and shot him back. In contrast, Sylux’s shot accidentally hit the artifact and transported almost everyone to an unknown planet, which we know as Viewros. There, Samus awakens in some unknown tower, having lost all her other abilities (as a common thing in every Metroid series, where if something happens at the beginning of the game, Samus always loses her abilities), gained some new skills, and learn more about the planets, the previous people living there, and their secrets.
Ending
Samus unmasked in the 100% post-credits ending scene
So, pretty much, Samus, along with the five NPC Galactic Federation Troopers, all gathered to go back to Chronos Towers after they gathered the five keys, the seed, mech parts, and a few other things to destroy the barrier covering the tower and go inside to get back to their home world (or home system as later mentioned). They entered the tower and reached the top. There, Samus is about to start the teleporter, and Sylux emerges from a healing pod, which turns out he had been in there the entire time of the game, gaining new psychic powers and other abilities. So, Samus, along with the five Federation Troopers, fights Sylux together in the first phase. Then, in the second and third phases, Sylux pushes both himself and Samus into some dimension where they fight, and Samus wins against him as Samus. Then Samus returns to the original dimension with the NPCs, and they’re about to start the teleporter. However, Sylux also escapes from that dimension and attacks the teleporter. The five NPCs decide to stall and defend both Samus and the teleporter so that Samus is the one able to get back home. One of the NPCs, Tokabi, threw the Sollan Necklace to Samus as a memorable item once she got back. Leaving Sylux and the NPCs with their fate unknown in Viewros, as the teleporter explodes after Samus gets teleported back. In the post-credits scene, Samus arrives back at Tanamaar, finds a grassy soil, plants the seed that the Lamorn entrusted her to grow to keep their legacy, then uses her psychic crystal (where she removes her helmet if you get 100% in the game) to give the seed life and grow properly immediately as a tree. Then she placed Tokabi’s Sollan necklace on the tree as a memorial for the Federation Troopers she met at Viewros and then walked away. That’s the end of the game.
Positives
Samus Aran
One thing I was happy about when playing this is that Samus is still the same stoic, kind, and silent protagonist we know from both Metroid Prime and other Metroid games. And of course, she is, and glad that Retro Studios and Nintendo decided to keep her that way, as well as hopefully learning their mistakes as to what they did to her in Metroid Other M. Overall, we are glad to see Samus again, both after several years from Metroid Dread and of course, many years after Metroid Prime 3.
Gameplay and Mechanics
The overall gameplay mechanics are alright, especially bringing back some of the other abilities, such as double jump, speed boost, power bomb, and super missiles, just like the previous 3 Metroid Prime games, as they still follow the same formula for the abilities Samus has had before. The Psychic abilities portions of them were pretty alright, such as the Control Beam, controlling the morph bombs, and several more. There could’ve been more for them, but they were good. The other weapons, such as fire, electric, and ice, were implemented correctly, with plenty of ammo, unlike in Metroid Prime 2, where ammo was scarce. In addition, they are almost identical to the weapons from Metroid Prime 1, and the best part is that I can replenish them along with my power bombs anytime at the Save Stations.
Last, the puzzles and parts of the backtracking were alright, and again, it draws on the previous Metroid Prime games and implements them here, and, of course, uses them based on the new abilities and weapons we have. They were neither easy nor difficult, so they executed them well across various areas of the game. Overall, based on my experience, the gameplay and handling look pretty similar to previous titles and are still used appropriately in some respects.
Soundtrack
The game’s music is fantastic, as usual. It definitely feels like a Metroid Prime / Retro Studios music back in the first three Metroid Prime games. The enemies and boss musics, especially Sylux’s battle themes, were really great! Neither above nor below average, but it definitely feels like we are back in the 2000s when listening to each track while exploring various parts of the game, so Retro did a really great job with the soundtrack here.
Viewros and the Lamorn
We explore various parts of the planet, Viewros, where this game takes place. We go through multiple locations such as Fury Green (jungle), Volt Forge (tech-like area), Lost Belt (ice), Flare Pool (lava), and the Great Mines. Now there is Sol Valley, the “open-world hub area,” which I see as mixed, and this will be discussed later. The rest of the areas in Viewros are definitely well done, with great details, and each of their music tracks is good. Both Fury Green and Volt Forge music are the ones I enjoy listening to.
In addition, we learn about the former inhabitants of this planet, the Lamorn, who are axolotl-like aliens that once thrived in Viewros. Until we know about the downfall of their race when they attempted to use their technology to improve their ecosystem, using seed clouds that produced green-colored rain made by green crystals, and energy from the volcano at the Flare Pool, it did show some improvements in the ecosystem when using this cloud rain, but unfortunately, things started to backfire. The rain begins to mutate the Lamorns into these monster-like creatures known as the Grievers. The Lamorn tried many attempts to cure them as well as the Psychic crystals they discovered, but to no avail. To the point, the majority of the Lamorn’s population in Viewros are either dead or transformed into the Grievers. At the same time, the few remaining survivors are sealed inside Chronos Tower to find the “Chosen One” to help preserve their legacy elsewhere, as well as a few others trying to seek them out. Of course, the “Chosen One” is Samus, whom they were waiting for a long time.
Lamorn’s appearance
The overall designs for the Lamorn look great, as they do again with their axolotl appearances and their own language. Similar to how Retro Studios did for the Luminoth in Metroid Prime 2 in some way. Their background and lore were done alright, but it could’ve been fleshed out a bit more, and some parts were not appropriately executed about them. Other than that, the Lamorns and Viewros were done alright, but as stated before, they could’ve done a lot more about this, but then again, the way most of the other parts of the game were handled seems to be moot.
Negatives
Red Flags
There were many signs and red flags that came out before, during, and even after the game’s release. Some of them will be covered in later sections, which explain in more detail:
- The Vi-O-La trailer and the desert open hub world elicited mixed reactions.
- The final trailers and demo featuring human NPCs led to negative reactions, questions, and other concerns about who the current developers and writers are, and how they are handling the game.
- Nintendo Switch 2 sales and popularity have been pretty bad, as has the direction Nintendo has been taking for over a year.
- Many retail stores still have stacks of copies (both Switch 1 and 2 versions) even in the evenings.
- At my local GameStop, when I went to pick it up late in the evening, there were still large stacks of them, along with a large stack of Switch 2 consoles.
- Development issues have persisted even after the game’s overall development was handed off from Namco to Retro Studios, and they are also due to Nintendo’s poor decisions.
The NPCs
Federation Human NPCs
Myles McKenzie (top-left), Regar Tokabi (top-right), Ezra Duke (bottom-left), Nora Armstrong (bottom-right)
Aside from Sylux, we are introduced to several other NPC characters: Myles McKenzie (engineer), Regar Tokabi (Corporal and sharpshooter), Ezra Duke (Sergeant), and Nora Armstrong (Private). All of them are Federation troopers that were transported to Viewros along with Samus and have been scattered at various parts of the planet.
A month or two before the release of Metroid Prime 4, through gameplay demos and final trailers, we first saw these NPCs, and the public’s overall reactions were very concerning. This was mostly from first seeing Myles, from how he looks, how much he talks, and the many unnecessary dialogues added to force us to like him. Now, when I say “how he looks,” he, alongside the other human NPCs in this game, is what many others and I have been claiming, and later proved, to be nothing more than self-insert characters from some people in the writing team.
Some early reviewers claimed that Myles is only with you for a short while and that all the NPCs are alright, but those claims turned out to be false. All of them are just as bad as Myles, except for VUE, which I will discuss later on.
Especially with Armstrong, as she is a “fangirl” of Samus, there is, like with Myles, so much unnecessary dialogue, odd background information about her, and other forced traits meant to make us like her, but not really. She is someone even more unlikeable than Myles.
For Tokabi, his constant talking about Sollan, which I guess is some religion his people worship and is supposed to play a role in future entries, is unnecessary. Later in the game, if you want to get 100% items, you need to complete missions to gather mech parts. You have to visit different locations in Sol Valley to find Tokabi, listen to his dialogue about Sollan and his life, and receive items from him.
Last, for Duke, and to be fair, he is not as annoying compared to the other three characters. However, as always, there are still unnecessary dialogues and comments meant to make us like him.
Aside from these attributes, another negative experience with them is that during enemy encounters and even the final battle against Sylux, you have to keep them alive, or otherwise, if one of them dies, it’s game over. Their AIs aren’t that good, and every time they are down or in trouble, you have to guard them, heal them, and make sure they stay alive.
Somebody can argue that in Metroid Prime 3, there were instances like this where you had to protect Federation troopers. Still, those were primarily short-term and designed to be less hand-holding, allowing you to continue focusing on your own objectives as Samus. Unfortunately, in Metroid Prime 4, these characters were not appropriately executed and suffer from these flaws, along with poor AI.
VUE: The only good NPC
Later in the game, the last NPC Samus meets is VUE-995 (or VUE for short), who is a Federation android whose primary directive is to replace humans piloting aircraft and other vehicles, and can engage in various fights in various parts of the game. Out of the five NPC characters in the game, VUE was the only reasonable and decent NPC who is likeable and doesn’t throw any dialogue that forces us to like that character. As a matter of fact, they made him distance himself from that, and some of the interactions with him were pretty good. Now, yes, he is a robot and doesn’t have the same human kind of interaction, but when you compare his interactions with some of the NPCs from Metroid Prime 3, they are subtle and show that they are likeable in some way. Even in some parts of the game where Samus and the VUE team up, it feels like you have some great company with you and are great at assisting Samus in some way. Now, of course, the AI for VUE and some of its battles, especially in the final fight against Sylux, are still wonky, along with the four NPC characters, which is still a downside. However, VUE as a character is the only well-written character, and I would see him as one of the best NPC characters alongside several others in the Metroid series.
Vi-O-La and Sol Valley
Vi-O-La
Later on, Samus goes to Volt Forge and gets a Vi-O-La, a motorcycle she can use to travel anywhere in Sol Valley, an open hub world with different areas, green crystals, and mech parts. At first, it seems like an interesting concept, especially in the Metroid Prime series; however, this is nothing new. They attempt to use the success of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom’s open-world gameplay, and Nintendo has been incorporating it into its recent games, including this one. The whole open-world and riding on a motorcycle, especially in a Metroid game, kills what the actual meaning of the Metroidvania genre is supposed to be. Now it would’ve been adequately executed in this game, but the way they handled this did not meet expectations. The whole process of grinding to find green crystals seems useless and a waste of time. Now, yes, you can get the radar for the green crystals later in the game, but again, trying to go all over to find them in Sol Valley with nothing but desert doesn’t seem that fun at all. Of course, they are needed for unlocking new things, making your beam attacks stronger, and unlocking secret stuff, as well as part of the 100%, but it could’ve been done properly. Same cases for the mech parts, hidden items, and other ways to place this stuff in certain areas, and could’ve had something to show how amazing Viewros is instead of a desert, open hub world.
Sylux
After many years and speculations, we finally get to see Sylux again after seeing him from Metroid Prime Hunters as well as brief appearances in the secret endings of both Metroid Prime 3 and Metroid Prime Federation Force. Especially, the developer and creator of the Metroid series, Yoshio Sakamoto, and more specifically, Kensuke Tanabe, who is the producer for the Prime series, gave all the hints and speculation of what his role is going to be in this so-called next Prime trilogy after the first three, as the main antagonist, and getting to know more about him. As we know, he has some hatred toward the Galactic Federation, especially Samus, for some reason. We see that the suit he is wearing was a prototype developed by the Federation that he stole. Many fans and I have been speculating about who this mysterious bounty hunter is and what his lore and background are like. And with all the trailers and the release of Metroid Prime 4, I was excited to see more about him. There were some positives about him, but later, near the end of the game, it became very negative, which I will explain.
For the positives, battling Sylux several times in the game, more accurately, two of his bot clones and the final boss battle against him, were pretty well done. No objections there, and of course, his battle theme song has been done correctly, which I enjoy listening to. Another is hearing him speak for the first time in the entire series, which was surprising after all these years. Some of his battle mechanics are unique, while some might be copied and pasted from other enemies from the previous Prime games, which I noticed, but didn’t bother me too much. Of course, it feels like we’re battling like how I used to struggle against Dark Samus in both Primes 2 and 3, so there are a lot of reminiscences for those. Although it’s different from fighting Sylux from the Hunters, this added a bit more with his new attacks and, of course, his morph ball-like form. The LockJaw is back and still great as always. Overall, battling against Sylux along with the new attacks and powers he’s gotten while being healed in Chronos Tower, the first and final location in the game, does add a new arsenal for him.
Although his battle was good, there are some mixed-to-very negative aspects of Sylux, his background, and his role in this game. First off, his role in Viewros is very minor and doesn’t involve much there. Though your battle is clone bots and later at Chronos Tower for the final battle, where you see him, he was actually getting healed there (after he accidentally shot the artifact at the beginning of the game, where he, Samus, and several others got transported to Viewros) and somehow got Psychic powers. It didn’t give much explanation, as well as more details and explanation as to how he did all of this so quickly, as well as possibly using his Metroids to possess the other bosses in the game. The other, and to me, the worst of it, is that we get to see a bit of Sylux’s past and who he is.
According to the secret cutscene, once you get 100% in the game, we see that Sylux was indeed a federation trooper, a commander to be precise, and the other troopers are fighting against the Space Pirates and the new destructive weapon they created. Sylux was disobeying orders by not waiting until Samus and the team came for reinforcements. He didn’t like that, so he still led his troops forward to get that weapon. However, the closer that Sylux and his troops were getting, the Space Pirates had no choice but to activate their weapon, which killed many troopers except for Sylux, who survived by hiding in a small ditch. After the destructive attack, Samus and the other reinforcements came in, and Samus easily destroyed the Space Pirates’ weapon. Samus tries to get Sylux up, but he slaps her hand away, refusing her assistance. And then that’s it, and it doesn’t explain even further as to what happens afterwards and why he hates Samus. In parts of the game, Samus keeps getting parts of this flashback of Sylux (as we see both Samus and Sylux, at Chronos Tower throughout the game getting healed, sharing the same memory due to their psychic crystals or whatever they are using) for that particular incident in that past over and over again which I guess is suppose to show why Sylux has bitterness against Samus.
For this, and if this is the reason why Sylux has the grudge against Samus and the Federation this entire time, then it’s one of the worst ways to write the antagonist’s backstory because it just gives the impression that he’s just some hater and a whiner about this one particular incident. Now, it can be argued that in the next Prime games, they might address this further, but given how the game’s development has gone and the writers involved, it raises eyebrows and concerns about how they will handle it. I will discuss this in a later section on what happened during the development process. Anyways, the execution of Sylux’s background for this and the first impressions weren’t that good, and we see Sylux as some “pathetic loser and whiner” rather than a well-written character, or at least could’ve correctly set something up with him. For me, this reminds me of how they handled Infinite in Sonic Forces: they announced a new villain and, of course, his edgy theme, which generated excitement and speculation about who he was. Once the game came out, just like with Sylux, he was introduced poorly and came off as a whiny, pathetic character over losing something so small, and it makes no sense why this character became what they are. Again, it doesn’t make any sense. Again, like with Metroid Prime 4, bad writing was the same case for Sonic Forces, and how they poorly executed and wrote the story, the characters, especially Infinite, and other aspects of the game.
If you want to compare this to Dark Samus, which is what they tried to do with Sylux in this game when she was first introduced in Metroid Prime 2, we didn’t know who she was, and she was a complete mystery even before the game came out. Of course, when the game came out, we encountered her a few times, and of course, another final boss in the game. The revealing moment was that near the end of the game, she looked just like the final form of Metroid Prime from the first Prime series, and turns out she was the one who emerged from that Phazon after the events of that game, after she absorbed Samus’s Phazon suit back then. And of course, leads up to Metroid Prime 3 and all, and properly sets her up as the main antagonist of that game. The way Dark Samus was set up was, again, she was mysterious and had only one goal: to absorb as much Phazon as she could to make herself more powerful, with an unknown goal. And of course, in Metroid Prime 3, she controls the Space Pirates and reveals her plans for galactic domination by spreading Phazon across the galaxy for her to rule and all. She is the complete opposite of Samus, and we see why they clash. Basically, we started with Metroid Prime (the creature) in the first game, secret ending of what the creature becomes, then to Metroid Prime 2 where it becomes Dark Samus as well as what it’s trying to do and why it hates Samus after defeating its original form in the first game, and then it goes to Metroid Prime 3 where we see what Dark Samus’s true goal is for galactic domination and again, her being a complete opposite to Samus. It gave a good introduction to what a villain, specifically a Metroid villain, is. Now compare this to Sylux; it really didn’t do a good job of establishing him as a proper villain, with flawed reasoning for why he became what he is. The backstory doesn’t make sense, and even if it’s meant to be revealed in future games, it needs to be addressed in Metroid Prime 4 first so people can invest in Sylux, which they didn’t. And therefore, it feels like Sylux is just like the “Infinite” in the Metroid series, and that is not a good first impression of him.
Why Did This Happen?
Development Issues and Delays
From the recent interview with the development team of Metroid Prime 4, which includes both Nintendo and Retro Studios, we find a bit more information about not only why Metroid Prime 4 took many years to develop, along with delays and changing the development studios, as well as why the game is what it is now. Based on recent conversations, one of them concerns when Metroid Prime 4 was first announced in 2017, around the time Zelda: Breath of the Wild was released on Switch 1. Given BOTW’s popularity, the development team wanted to incorporate this into Metroid Prime 4, which makes sense given the whole Vi-O-La and Sol Valley as the open hub world. Now that’s one reason, but a few years later, Namco, the original developers of this game when it was first announced, had to hand back their changes to Retro Studios because they didn’t meet Nintendo’s expectations. Many thought this was a good decision because, of course, Retro was responsible for the first three Prime games, so it made sense to hand this back to them. Several years later, in June 2024, we saw the first gameplay trailer, and overall, the first impressions were excellent, with many fans excited. However, as months went by, things grew suspiciously quiet again, raising red flags, as no additional information has come out. It might’ve been that they were trying to prevent leaks and all (though Nintendo has a bad history of doing so). Not until, I believe, the mid to third quarter of 2025, when they released another major trailer, did many fans become concerned. First was the whole Vi-O-La with its open world stuff, which was the first strike. Later on, the NPC federation character Mile McKenzie was introduced, who looks like a kind of self-insert and is odd-acting. This goes for the same with the other three human NPC characters, as I stated earlier. This started to divide the Metroid and Nintendo communities as a whole over why this is the case. After digging into the reasons for these delays and the direction they took, here are some of them in the sections that follow.
Modern-Day Woke and Politically Correct Culture Infecting The Gaming Industry
With many recent AAA games coming out, especially in the West, most of them from major studios have been going downhill because far-left activists, developers, and writers have been entering these spaces. Many of them are subverting long-time classic games by making this or that character a particular kind of sexuality, making the male leads effeminate, pushing a message and agenda rather than creating a good game, and introducing self-insert characters from the writing team. In addition, the gameplay is subpar and doesn’t offer anything innovative or game-changing, as the developers focus more on politics than on making games for everyone. Basically, they make games for themselves and a few others, rather than for the majority of gamers who want to have fun and enjoy escapism.
So what about Nintendo? We know Nintendo is headquartered in Japan, and it seems most decisions are made there. However, at Nintendo of America, which is not only the North American headquarters of Nintendo but another key decision makers as well as localizers, they are based in Redmond, Washington which is in the West Coast and the west coast in the United States are very liberal and of course, they tend to have these woke and politically correct ideologies which is not only infecting within those States, but in culture and various parts of entertainment including video games. For Metroid Prime 4 specifically, we know that Tanabe, in Japan, of course, has the final say on many of the decisions. Still, most of the development and parts of the writing also interfere, coming from Retro Studios themselves, given the team and writers they have.
Retro Studios Development Team and Writers
Unfortunately, the current gaming culture, infiltrated by activist developers and writers, has also infiltrated Retro Studios. As we know, the studio is based in Austin, Texas, which is also a very liberal city with the same woke and political correctness ideology heavily present there. From the recent conversations there, they hired many new developers who are again, mostly activists, including those from 343 Studios, the developer studios for the Halo series, who had their layoffs back then due to various reasons, such as Halo Infinite not doing well, and Xbox overall has been underperforming for a while. Of course, most of the developers also come from the same woke ideology and background. Now, maybe not all of them are, but again, with the current AAA studios hiring these people, it tends to be the case. At Retro Studios, they had to rehire some of the old developers and the director, but this still wasn’t enough to replace the devs from the 2000s.
For the writing team, now this is where most of the main problems have been occurring within Metroid Prime 4. And of course, and you guessed it, most of them are woke as well as being millennials, according to some of the information found in their social media profiles. It makes sense why the four Federation NPC characters feel like the writers’ self-inserts, as well as why some of the story’s directions and the way they have written Sylux feel like self-inserts. Especially with Myles and Nora, it feels like the writers are trying to insert themselves into the game. Thus, with these kinds of writers, the overall story of the lore took a mediocre turn.
Timeline Placement Controversy
As many fans of the Metroid series already know, and as interviews from the 2000s with the devs make clear, the entire Metroid Prime series takes place between Metroid 1/Zero Mission and Metroid 2. Even when the first Prime trilogy ended and the later on interview of how the new Prime Trilogy is suppose to be starting from Metroid Prime 4, Tanabe and the devs still specifically said that all of this should still takes place not just after Prime 3, well Federation Force as that comes sometime after that, but still within the range of Metroid 1 and 2 in which many people are fine with. Many people assumed that this would always remain the same. Unfortunately, due to changes in today’s gaming culture and the arrival of a controversial new generation of devs and writers, things started to change. Going back to the recent interview in December 2025, and in addition to the supposed year that Metroid Prime 4 has kind of ambiguously confirmed it takes place, it’s now considered to take place between Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion (or rather Metroid Other M and Fusion, as Other M directly takes place right after Super Metroid). The reason is that the new Prime trilogy is about being beyond space and time (of course, in some way, what Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is about) and claims that the timeline does not matter. The timeline placement decision has caused a lot of confusion among gamers and fans because it doesn’t make sense. Primarily because Metroids should no longer exist after not only Metroid 2 but also Super Metroid, as the last Metroid died in that game, and Nintendo has confirmed this many times, including the Space Pirates in some way.
What about Tanabe and his role for these changes in the game?
Yoshio Sakamoto (left) and Kensuke Tanabe (right)
As mentioned earlier, Kensuke Tanabe is the producer for the Metroid Prime series and has been for all four games, so he’s been very familiar with this game as well as working with Yoshio Sakamoto in some way for story and lore. However, the Retro Studios development team from the 2000s that worked on the Prime trilogy is different from today’s team, as stated. Here are some possibilities of what happened regarding this whole issue with the writing, lore, and timeline. These are based on my thoughts, as well as on both how the game went and on the developer interview:
- The new writers at Retro, and possibly some involvement with Nintendo of America, had a decisive say in certain parts, which led to divisive elements in the overall development process. So it might’ve overwritten some of Tanabe’s original direction that he had when he first spoke about his plans over a decade ago, of what Prime 4 and later are supposed to be about.
- The other is that, due to the development hell for this game, it seems they can’t go back to the drawing board because Nintendo doesn’t want to risk another delay, which would further cause issues for many fans and gamers. So they all have no choice but to move forward with what they have and try their best to include and fix what can be salvaged for the game. This was later revealed in another interview: Nintendo rejected the idea of starting the game over from scratch.
- Following the first point, for the timeline, there are two things: the new writers pushed the whole timeline placement, which, again, Tanabe and possibly Sakamoto had no choice but to approve and find a way to clarify in future games. Or Tanabe decided to do this with Sakamoto’s approval, since it’s been 18-20 years since Prime 3, so some things might have changed in how the timeline will unfold.
Conclusion and Final Rating
Rating: 5/10
I’ve played the first three Prime games back when they were released, on both the GameCube and Wii. Their gameplay, story, and world-building were excellent and enjoyable, and they can be played again and again. In fact, months before Metroid Prime 4 came out, I played these three games again to get ready for it. However, when Prime 4 came out as I was playing it start to end, it did not feel like a Metroid Prime game at all, let alone a Metroid game.
After seeing all these leaks, final trailers, and recent developer interviews, it further shows that the modern gaming industry, and the people running and working in these studios, including Nintendo itself, are responsible for this. The good things I like about Prime 4 are the music, boss battles, and the new and returning gameplay mechanics. Also, VUE is the only decent NPC in this game, and he’s the only character I feel bad for after the ending.
For Lamorn’s backstory, they were alright. I feel it could’ve done a lot better, but they at least set themselves up properly as the primary alien race for this game. However, everything else about the game, such as the lore, the four Federation troopers, the desert open-hub world with a motorcycle, and the way they handled Sylux’s bad story, was all poorly executed. Some parts were not necessary to add.
The NPC characters, especially Myles and Nora, were definitely self-inserts, and the game’s creators, based on their profiles, are more activists than game developers or writers. Sylux’s backstory of why he became Sylux now, due to what he was doing when he was still a Federation trooper, makes no sense, just because of that mission about the Space Pirates’ weapon. The open-world hub and Vi-O-La are unnecessary, require a lot of grinding, and are a waste of time. The fact that Nintendo keeps adding open-world elements after the success of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has clearly gone to their heads.
Now, of course, they might just be setting things up for Sylux, the Lamorn, and the whole space and time continuum the creators originally wanted. However, it seems they will have to work very hard to get this right and execute it accurately in the next Prime game, given how they handled Prime 4. After waiting this long, I expected a game that understood Metroid Prime’s identity, not one that tried to modernize it at the cost of what made it special. Metroid Prime 4 feels less like a continuation of a beloved series and more like a reflection of where the modern gaming industry is heading, and that is not a good sign. As someone who grew up with this series, I find that the most disappointing part of all for this.
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