Current Events > My hot, spicy take on Metroid Prime - It did NOT age well. *Spoilers*

(+) Yeah! (+)

Don't get me wrong, I played it back on Gamecube when it came out, and it was one of those top tier, holy games where I gave it 10/10 and replayed it tons of times. When it came out, it was stunning and magical.

Also, it still does tons of things right. The art design is amazing, the graphics. The music and general atmosphere is fantastic. The whole interface of being in the visor is super cool, the different view modes, and the reflective effect where you glimpse Samus' face during bright lights is still one of the coolest and smartest game effects out there.

And so considering all that, I went and played the remaster.

And I'm sorry, it's a complete slog.

Call it my tastes changing, or call it the fact that video games are made differently today, but I do NOT remember this much backtracking in this game. I mean it is unreal. It's an exercise in patience. SO much backtracking it just starts to make you go insane. The same ol' environments, the same old enemies, over and over and over again. The routes they make you take are sometimes crazy. Sometimes they have you go hopping from one end of the world to the other and back again, no joke.

And the game jerks you around, too. I once got one of those helpful little hints that says hey, go check out this room way over on the other side of the map. And I was like, huh, I dunno, that seems fishy. So I went and checked a guide, and sure enough, I needed to get a nearby item first. I forget which exactly, maybe the grappling hook or something. If I didn't check the guide and followed the hint, I would have traveled all the way over there to find I didn't have the needed item to continue. The game tried to trick me!

So many unnecessary time wasting parts. Like getting to the Sunchamber the second time for the artifact. You go the obvious route, climbing a tall ass tower with ghost enemies shooting you the whole time, only to find impenetrable vines are blocking the door, so you have to go all the way around a different route. And nothing is new or different on that other route. It's one you've gone before. It's completely pointless and there to just annoy you.

The fighting gets super tedious too. So many gunfights in the second half of the game. Almost every room has space pirates, and they respawn if you just leave and come back. You get nothing for fighting them again. It's just a time waster. I spent the second half of the game just running past everything. The first time you go through a place, sure, kill everything to check it all out, but after that the enemies are just another exercise in patience.

Oh and too many pointless scans.

I never died, but if I had I would've been pissed probably, because no auto saves and save points are very far apart.

And of course, when you beat the game, you're rewarded with a 5 second clip of Samus looking bored. And then after that, you guessed it, unskippable end credits that take forever.

Again, I say all this while having rated the game 10/10 back in the day. I loved it. It was a masterpiece back then. Compared to modern games though, it's not. It's a super padded game that tests your patience for BS above all else.

I would honestly like the opinion of someone who has never played Metroid Prime in the past.

CyricZ posted...

I would honestly like the opinion of someone who has never played Metroid Prime in the past.

Fear not for I have yet to play it and plan to play it. Just need to keep myself from overspending atm.

I always see the backtracking brought up, but isnt that kind of central to the Metroid series? You get a new thing, and then run back through older areas to get some goodies with your new weapon/upgrades

Just a matter of taste I guess, I just played through Prime Remastered and thought it was still like a 9.5/10, with Prime 2 being the 10/10

dameon_reaper posted...

Fear not for I have yet to play it and plan to play it. Just need to keep myself from overspending atm.

*checks watch*

My one complaint with these games compared to other Metroid games was the power scaling. I love how in the others, you feel like a boss when you return to previous areas. Thats not as prominent in Prime.

When I saw the scanning in the recent trailer I thought yeah, thats not something I want to do again.

EndOfDiscOne posted...

Thats not as prominent in Prime.

Actually I'll disagree straight up on this one. Ice Beam is actually significantly more powerful and Plasma Beam is busted.

Yeah the plasma beam is a monster in this game. Its no screw attack, but vaporizing flying pirates never gets old

Also the wavebuster is super good

Gwynevere posted...

I always see the backtracking brought up, but isnt that kind of central to the Metroid series? You get a new thing, and then run back through older areas to get some goodies with your new weapon/upgrades

Just a matter of taste I guess, I just played through Prime Remastered and thought it was still like a 9.5/10, with Prime 2 being the 10/10

Sorta. The execution of it really depends. The best executions of it are when you suddenly find yourself in an old area from finding a new entry point which then leads to another exit you can now use or that your new abilities find yourself traversing old areas a lot quicker. It's a tough balance to combine the feeling of rediscovering old areas in a fresh way with a new ability and tedium of walking through the same areas several times with the same enemies that feels the same.

I'm not making a statement of MP specifically as I haven't got back into it yet.

I will say, one thing that I noticed is that the backtracking in Prime dosen't feel too bad because these areas are a lot smaller than I remember. Like, Tallon Overworld and Magmoor Caverns don't really have a lot of rooms to them. Phendrana is slightly more substantial, with Chozo Ruins and Phazon Mines appearing to get the bulk of the design work. Chozo Ruins has a whole bunch of elevators that link to different areas, but getting from one side of Phazon Mines to the other is definitely a slog, that much is certain

Gwynevere posted...

I always see the backtracking brought up, but isnt that kind of central to the Metroid series? You get a new thing, and then run back through older areas to get some goodies with your new weapon/upgrades

Just a matter of taste I guess, I just played through Prime Remastered and thought it was still like a 9.5/10, with Prime 2 being the 10/10

It's just a matter of how much there is I guess. I loved Metroid Dread. It didn't feel like a slog and it didn't jerk you around. You did revisit old areas but the game always felt new and fresh.

Gwynevere posted...

I always see the backtracking brought up, but isnt that kind of central to the Metroid series? You get a new thing, and then run back through older areas to get some goodies with your new weapon/upgrades

in MP1's case it's "Go deep into this area, get hard locked out of progress, leave to find new item, go back to where you got hard locked"

it feels like unnecessary back and forth instead of something more natural

I've never found a game that "aged" in any noticeable capacity and that particular mindset baffles me. The problems Metroid Prime has were there on release and didn't feel any less shitty. >___>

Yeah the game pulls some insanely annoying shit, but the overall experience is still great imo. The only real difference for me is that I'm an adult and don't have as much free time to just get lost in some video game world while life passes me by, so the parts that feel like they waste my time feel much worse. <___<

Gwynevere posted...

I always see the backtracking brought up, but isnt that kind of central to the Metroid series? You get a new thing, and then run back through older areas to get some goodies with your new weapon/upgrades

Just a matter of taste I guess, I just played through Prime Remastered and thought it was still like a 9.5/10, with Prime 2 being the 10/10

Yes it just typically takes longer in a sprawling 3D map, and it's generally considered bad design to have multiple key points on opposite ends of the map in succession.

It's still a great fun fame, just has some kinda poorly thought out progression points. Echoes and Corruption both got progressively better about this.

I don't think the backtracking is that bad in metroid prime? except for the artifact hunt, especially if you save them all to the end, that one's a big of a pain

prime2 definitely does a better job of keeping areas interconnceted in different ways that unlock as you progress, though. I always thought it was strange that 2 was much less liked than 1

kirbymuncher posted...

I don't think the backtracking is that bad in metroid prime?

Boost Ball in Phendrana, back to the landing site for Space Jump, and then back to Phendrana for the Wave Beam has always been irksome.

Yeah, the backtracking and combat is a lot worse than I remember. All the scanning feels about the same, but you don't have to do most of that. It's not a deal-breaker though, and the remaster is still worth it.

CyricZ posted...

I would honestly like the opinion of someone who has never played Metroid Prime in the past.

This is my first time playing it. I just got the morph ball bomb so its early. But yeah I feel this game has a lot of backtracking that feels cumbersome. I also dont really like all the scanning I have to do. Its still a good game so far

Better take:

It was never good.

I put that shit in after playing Halo and I was like the fuck is this shit.

CruelBuffalo posted...

I just got the morph ball bomb so its early. But yeah I feel this game has a lot of backtracking that feels cumbersome

how can it already have backtracking you've done basically nothing lol

I was never a fan of scanning everytthing either and ultimately I ended up just... not doing it. I'd scan bosses sometiems for combat tricks but that's about it

CruelBuffalo posted...

This is my first time playing it. I just got the morph ball bomb so its early. But yeah I feel this game has a lot of backtracking that feels cumbersome. I also dont really like all the scanning I have to do. Its still a good game so far

Pro-tip: You don't actually have to scan much unless you care about your completion percentage. If you don't worry about the logbook then scanning is just a way to interact with the occasional environmental puzzle. >__>

My one complaint with these games compared to other Metroid games was the power scaling. I love how in the others, you feel like a boss when you return to previous areas. Thats not as prominent in Prime.

Not sure what you're talking about. Super missiles, ice beam (specifically ice+missile), and plasma beam all feel like huge increases in firepower.

Sure, it isn't at the level of "just screw attack everything" that most other Metroid games eventually become, but that would have been awkward to work in and is why it mainly got converted into a traversal powerup in Prime 2/3 rather than something you use to murder everything.

DeathVelvien posted...

Boost Ball in Phendrana, back to the landing site for Space Jump, and then back to Phendrana for the Wave Beam has always been irksome.

Right, but along the way it makes it worth your trip. There's quite a few items that you can get with boost + space jump that are pretty helpful as you're going into the research lab and thardus fight

honestly i'm enjoying it more than i did as a kid. it also helps that the shooting is way way more engaging with actual twin stick controls/gyro

some of the backtracking isn't done very well tho i agree. the space boots and gravity suit backtracking so far were complete time wasters.

CyricZ posted...

I would honestly like the opinion of someone who has never played Metroid Prime in the past.

I haven't played the remaster but I played it for the first time a year go.

I used a guide for some parts and tried to stick to just the game on others.

I thought it was a wonderful game but as an old working slab of husk, I find it irritating when the game 'wastes' my time by making me backtrack because it's time I don't have.

Prime didn't get me there, but it tested my patience a couple of times.

Great game though.

games dont age