I'm doing my second run in Hard Mode this time and I must say, I still feel joy when I listen the little jingle when Samus leave the save station. Yes there are flaws, but the good surpasses any weaker parts.
To me at least, games that survive troubled development cycles and are such interesting gems. I love to see when art makes is through and comes out at the end.
But most critics of the game either hate the game for the same reason they loved previous ones or didn't engage with it and then blamed the game for it.
Take SkillUp. I checked his review yesterday and my jaw dropped when he said that he grinded for green crystals for an hour. He didn't bomb the crystal boulders apparently and blamed the game for this.
Many people have derided the game for been *just* another Metroid Prime while also praising the original trilogy (SkillUp did this too). What? That is contradicting in itself.
There's so much to love here if given the chance and not *looking* to find things to hate.
Posted by xyZora
23 Comments
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“Most critics hate the Prime 4 for the same reason they loved the other Prime games”
The game has about an 8/10 average so hardly hate, but could you explain what you mean by the above?
I haven’t finished my first playthrough. I’m not even that far. But damn is the game good.
Metroid is my favorite series and this is a great addition so far!
I enjoyed it for the most part, but even you admitted there are flaws. People can’t critique that?
Most frustrating 6.5/10 I’ve ever played because I can see elements that are great
I agree, I had a really good time with Prime 4, and I don’t really think the backlash was halfway reasonable. It’s not the best Metroid game, it’s got issues yeah, it’s still a fun game tho, with some great stuff in it.
I was disappointed in it because it’s *not* just another Metroid Prime game. It’s nothing like the greatness of the previous trilogy.
Most Metroid fans, at least going off of r/Metroid, are very much “it’s a really well made game that’s fun to play but the writing and map design are really glaring issues.”
Myself included.
The other day i said something similar to you in another post and i was downvoted (i still dont know why)
Metroid prime 4 isnt perfect but its certainly overhated
Bro it’s at like an 80 out of 100 on OpenCritic.
People are disappointed by it in relation to the original run, particularly the remaster that was the third highest scoring game of 2023. It is a game from 2002 and it was only out scored by Baldur’s Gate 3 and Tears of the Kingdom.
Disappointment at a pretty good game failing to live up to the standard set by its predecessor is not hate or controversy.
The game was fine but for the near 2 decades it took for the game to come out, it will easily be forgotten in a few years and will only be mentioned in footnotes. It’s okay. Even the developers said that some parts of the games were amiss but didn’t want to start over again.
I don’t think about it.
The hate is pretty typical of any long running franchise with a loyal fan base these days. I personally thought Metroid prime 4 had some really wonderful highs. The addition of the desert had a lot of people (me included) scratching their heads for good reason, but it was still tolerable. My main gripe with the game was how easy it was compared to the others, even on hard mode. And I don’t mean just combat. The puzzles seemed to be designed to be visually cool, but like most modern games were dumbed down for a newer potentially younger audience? However the game was yet another technical achievement from retro. It somehow nailed performance benchmarks on new hardware while simultaneously being the most visually stunning game I’ve seen on any piece of Nintendo hardware. Except the empty desert of course. I really do hope they make a sequel, and can have retro develop it from the beginning because when it was on it was really on.
What do you mean “bomb” the green crystals? I’ve been driving around on the bike and hitting left trigger to skid into a group and break them
It’s not that the game was objectively bad, it’s just that it did not live up to the hype. The conversation around this game is mostly dead, sadly.
I think the fact that the game is still pretty great despite its flaws goes to show how retro and Nintendo still managed to try and make the best of a bad situation.
Is it a masterpiece? No. Is it the worst game in The series? No. But is it a good game nonetheless? Heck yeah I say!
It should also be noted that I think Metroid fans dodged a bullet, imagine if this game turned out like Duke Nukem Forever…
“But most critics of the game either hate the game for the same reason they loved previous ones or didn’t engage with it and then blamed the game for it.”
I’ve also noticed a pattern with this as well. The older Metroid veterans express more disappointment with the game than people new to the series because they went in with an expectation of how the game should play based off of the previous titles and, because the game strayed from their expectations they dismiss it. Newer players aren’t detracting the game based on comparisons, to them this is what they will more or less expect moving forward. For this reason, I believe the public perception will change 10 to 20 years from now. Kids today will express their love for this game when they reach adulthood.
Content creators are in it for one thing and one thing only: interaction. What generates interaction? Controversy.
Anyone can make a blog or post an opinion, but that doesn’t make their opinion valid. I judge a game based on the marketing and eventually my own gameplay experience, knowing these days we live in a world where marketing tends to be more honest than any content creator or reviewer.
Haven’t watched or read a single video game review in years. I have no plans to, either.
The good: the graphics Samus’s movement ESPECIALLY the fact they sped up the morph ball, the bosses are amazing with only one that was frustrating and the graphics are a no shit they are great while keeping the Metroid prime look and the music is amazing honestly I think I like it more than even prime one Sylux’s theme is an absolute banger
The Bad: the story everything about it is a mess I barely care about the lamourn Sylux is NOT shown to be active enough as a threat until the end the NPC’s have very hit or miss dialogue and the ending is so ass and completely betrays Samus’s character. The dessert brining bland way to large and only exist for green crystals and the mech parts at the end, enemies combat is great but there is SO LITTLE enemy variety and it hurts how good the combat should be, the endgame everyone knows how annoying the green crystal grind is and the fact that it hardlocks your progress until certain points so you can’t even grind early sure people are finding the routes now but the fact the game does not tell you they are necessary UNTIL THE VERY END SUCKS prime 2 got shit when they only revealed it at the end so this game does to
But the worst part is how linear the game is yes every Metroid game is technically linear but they are supposed to HIDE it by making it feel like a maze this game does not even try so many straight corridors flare pool is the worst for this
Skillups review made no sense. He said the game didn’t change enough and also changed too much at the same time. It wasn’t “Metroid” enough but then leaned too much into Metroid tropes. I usually trust his reviews but I’ve played through the game multiple times now and I feel like his review was very…premeditated. Like he heard the “Myles” controversy and took advantage to maximize views or something. There are valid criticisms of the game but some things feel straight up hypocritical at times or things that have been in other Metroid games before.
“But most critics of the game either hate the game for the same reason they loved previous ones or didn’t engage with it and then blamed the game for it.”
Is this ragebait? Fuck off.
My issue is just that desert. It was cool for about 5-10 minutes until I realized it was almost completely empty and the green crystals were all the same. It was so boring and half-assed, I don’t know how the devs thought it was acceptable for the standard of the Prime games. Also the stupid cannon thing anytime you wanted to go to see Miles, completely unnecessary.
Other than that, I dunno I guess was just expecting it to re-invent the Prime formula a little more?
I am fine with MP4 not being wildly different than previous games. It’s been like 15 years since 3 so the same thing works.