It was a bit of a bumpy ride, but Samus has finally returned again, in her Prime. Since the initial announcement, we had an actual follow-up to Metroid Fusion in Metroid Dread, as well as a remake of Metroid 2: Samus Returns, and a remaster of Metroid Prime 1. Through the Nintendo Classics Apps via the NSO, there’s even easy access to most Metroid games from NES to GBA. It’s a great time to be a Metroid fan! Despite all this, a new proper 3D Metroid Prime game was missing. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is finally here in time for not only the original Switch, but also benefits from the hardware boost of the new Nintendo Switch 2. Now that it’s here at long last, let’s give Metroid Prime 4: Beyond a good scan.

It’s 20X9 again, and in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition (Beyond) Samus is back. It follows Metroid Prime 3 in the time line, taking place between the original Metroid and Metroid II: Return of Samus.

Samus gets caught up in a Space Pirate raid on a Galactic Federation research base by returning villain Sylux. When fighting over a mysterious artefact, it is activated, teleporting Samus, the Galactic Feds and Sylux to the planet Viewros. A planet once inhabited by a psychic alien race known as the Lamorn, who believe Samus is the chosen one. With the hope Samus will help to carry on the knowledge and history of this advanced race, while she also needs to find her way back home. To activate the teleporter home, Samus will need five keys from the different corners of Viewros. She’ll need to battle guardians, robots and a new enemy, the Grievers, to get them.

As is tradition, Samus loses the majority of her powers early into the game, however Viewros appears untouched by the Chozo and their artifacts. The new big mechanic for Beyond is Psychic powers, with her new upgrades coming from Lamorn technology. This includes the brand new cycle, Vi-O-La, to help Samus traverse this uncharted world. 

The newly touted Psychic powers are in addition to the usual Metroid upgrades, with Samus able to control psychic “motes” to help power devices and open doors. Samus also has a controllable Psychic beam, which can be guided around to out of reach places.

If you’ve been missing Metroid Prime, then Metroid Prime 4: Beyond will give you more Metroid Prime. Exploring a mysterious alien world – check! Scanning everything in sight – check! Regaining your abilities and new suits – check! And if you haven’t played the other Metroid Prime games, especially while 2 and 3 aren’t available in the same way the original game is. The good news is that this game is mostly a new adventure, so anyone can jump in.

Beyondf doesn’t look to reinvent the wheel, although the new Psychic-powered motorcycle is new to Samus’ repertoire. It’s the usual routine of exploring and scanning everything in sight as you navigate around the local flora and fauna, as well as the occasional enemy attack. Combat is not a continual focus of the game, but when you are up against the enemy, the controls are up for the task. While you have more traditional controls, through the Switch 2 mouse control/pointer settings, you can also aim with mouse/motion controls. Personally, I didn’t stick with the mouse control option for long, as you still need to be using the rest of that Joy-Con as usual, it gets uncomfortable. The motion controls also didn’t feel great when having to move the Joy-Con for the Psychic Grapple, like a whip motion, that would work inconsistently at a very important time. There are also gyro controls to help give you the best of both worlds along with the solid button controls.

As you may be aware, Samus isn’t alone on the quest to return home. A small group of Federation Troopers are stranded on Viewros too, caught up in the initial incident at the research base. Samus, being the badarse she is, will have to rescue the Troopers, collect the keys and get everyone home. For those concerned about Samus being hounded and talked to death by the Troopers, don’t be. In the 15 or so hours of exploring Viewros, you’ll mostly hear from them, or work with them when it’s tied to their location. For as tough as Samus is, it works within the story that the Troopers are vital to getting back home.

Additionally, the Technician Myles will communicate with you while you ride around Sol Valley, mostly to help point you in the right direction. While that has the potential to sound annoying, it’s fine, and is pretty useful for reasons I will go into further below. Honestly, it’s a nice contrast having the Troopers there. Samus remains silent and barely even nods in response or acknowledgement. The Troopers add some levity to what is at times a pretty sombre adventure. It would be hard to imagine a game of this length with Samus just silently reading scans and lore, whereas the stakes of helping people who aren’t renowned Space Bounty Hunters helps.

Given it has been 18 years since the last Metroid Prime, I must say that it is a joy just to be getting a new adventure. Beyond does a lot right by the feel and atmosphere of the game. Along with giving some lovely environments and visuals and performance that benefits from the power bump of the Switch 2. From the lush forest and temple of Fury Green, the dark and sinister-looking lightning power towers of Volt Bridge, to the red and green lava of Flare Pool, contained within a volcano. The world of Viewros makes these starkly different environments work, and look amazing with the resolution bump.

It would be a great injustice to say nothing about the music throughout the game, with standouts being the choral theme throughout the beautiful Fury Green, the building rocking guitars of Volt Bridge, and Sylux’s theme is still not far from mind. Overall, this game sounds great, and doesn’t feel like it needs to try to fill every second with music when it’s not needed; with one exception. It won’t be the last time I discuss Sol Valley, but the largish, mostly barren overworld definitely does not benefit from having the most minimal music as you spend minutes riding between locations. It is known that the Samus and Vi-O-La amiibo will play other music in Sol Valley, although I don’t know what that is at this point, it sucks it’s locked away given how dull it can make riding around Sol feel.

Although you get a lot of what makes Metroid Prime so enjoyable in Beyond, it isn’t immune to the less fun parts of the series too. There is a really solid three quarters of a game, then that last quarter feels more shaky.

The main frustration throughout Beyond is the implementation of Sol Valley. It’s a mystery to me why it is the way that it is. As a joining overworld, I get why it kinda needs to be there, but I don’t get why it’s so big, and so empty. Across this sparse and mostly lifeless desert, there are some points of interest, mostly parts of the Galactic Federation that were teleported and dumped in the sand. There are a handful of robots and creatures that will make your journey across the dunes less straightforward.

Early on in the story, you’re tasked with collecting green crystals to help cultivate a memory fruit, a representation of the memories of the Lamorn race. These crystals are dotted around the Sol Valley, for Samus to smash through with the Vi-O-La. I can’t recommend enough that you collect as much as you can throughout your travels. Sadly, the Sol Valley feels like it serves mostly as busywork and to give you something to do with Vi-O-La, which also feels like a missed opportunity given this new mode of transportation. It might not be as annoying if it wasn’t for the fact that you will need to cross Sol a lot. There is no fast travel whatsoever, and you need to return to the base in Fury Green multiple times. And when you need to travel back to base, it isn’t as simple as just driving to the entrance and finding the base there.

First, you need to make your way to a cannon that fires you over to Fury Green, then you still need to walk your way through to the base. When you find elemental chips around Viewros, instead of just installing it there and then like all of your other power-ups, you need to take it back to base. When you want to drop off your green crystals for the memory fruit, you also get upgrades at certain amounts, but it’s not even just back at the base; you need to travel a bit further for that. There’s also points in the story where it’s clear what you need to do to progress, but it’s unclear where you need to go to get it. This is where Myles’ comms guidance in the Sol Valley helps. While he doesn’t give everything away, he will at least suggest where you should look. Given how freaking long it can take going from location to location to do this yourself, this is a godsend at times.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond delivers three-quarters of a great Metroid Prime game. It captures so much of what makes the series so fondly remembered by fans. I would hate for people to miss the opportunity to experience it, and but it’s a shame that some parts don’t feel like they respect the player’s time. For all my grumblings, I was still on board for most of this intergalactic adventure, though some late-game obstacles bring you to the finish line with a little less of a smile.

Beyond gives the world more Metroid Prime, for better and for worse, but there is still plenty here that makes the journey worthwhile.

Rating:

Vooks received a review code Metroid Prime 4: Beyond from Nintendo Australia for the purpose of conducting this review.