In fact, coupled with the updated shooter-style controls - and solid 60 frames-per-second performance - these existing staples now feel more organically implemented. Of course, the ability to move wherever you want while freely swiveling Samus’ head in any direction doesn’t come at the cost of the game’s signature lock-on targeting and strafing maneuver. Modern dual-stick controls are now the default, offering an incredibly smooth, fluid experience that’ll feel immediately comfortable to anyone who’s ever shouldered a shotgun from a first-person perspective. While the game’s subsequent availability on the Wii and Wii U did little to make the mechanics more accessible, Metroid Prime Remastered finally addresses the issue.
But navigating Samus from behind the GameCube’s unconventional gamepad presented obstacles that only became more cumbersome with the passage of time and prevalence of standard dual-analog controls. Despite not being a dedicated shooter, fans raised on Halo: Combat Evolved - established as the defining console first-person shooter a year prior - expected it to control similarly to Master Chief’s debut.
The original Metroid Prime mixed first-person combat with exploration, platforming and puzzle-solving elements. And while it’s a bit more difficult to decipher how drastically the sound work has benefited from the remaster - and how much of the heavy lifting is done by our modern headphones - the audio has clearly received its own coat of polish. The haunting score and atmospheric ambient effects envelop you in the harsh alien world, organically supporting the isolated, unsettling vibe of Samus’ solitary journey. The game’s audio work deserves plenty of praise as well. Everything you lay your eyes on - from weather and elemental effects to cutscenes and the incredibly cool visual tricks that play off Samus’ visor - doesn’t just raise the remaster bar but blasts it like a Phazon Beam through our previously established expectations.
Metroid prime for switch update#
Whether spying the subtle glow of a flying Plazmite reflecting off a cave wall or stopping dead in your tracks to fully appreciate the droplets of rain running down the barrel of Samus’ blaster, you’ll need to regularly remind yourself this is an update of a game originally released the same year as Grand Theft Auto: Vice City - whose 2021 remaster still hurts our eyes.Īnd while the aforementioned examples ably convey the presentation’s scope, they’re merely appetizers to the visual feast that awaits. Overhauled effects, such as the more prominent, pulsing beams on Samus’ arm cannon, pop off the Switch’s screen - especially the OLED model’s crisp display - while entirely new elements like the barely contained crackling bolts bouncing within the weapon’s spherical Charge Beam don’t simply stand out as minor improvements but striking inclusions any modern triple-A game would proudly call their own. Enemy bosses and other character models once defined by menacing, surface ugliness now sport musculature and other creepy touches beneath their skin. Where many remasters shed some of their source material’s artistic magic in an effort to look shinier, Metroid Prime’s enhancements never stifle its original creative vision but consistently complement it.įoliage previously represented by nondescript forms of green and brown now look like actual branches, leaves and grass with distinct detail and definition.
But bathed in better lightning, fresh effects, improved physics and abundant new details, its existing fauna and flora now make the planet an even more engrossing, immersive playground just begging to be explored. The moody, alien world of Tallon IV was always a looker, packed with inspired environments and imaginative extraterrestrials. But it also goes far above and way beyond the usual fresh coat of paint and filing down of rough edges to deliver an eye-popping showcase on par with its current-gen peers. Sporting smoother textures, sharper details and a more vibrant overall presentation, Metroid Prime checks all the requisite “remaster” boxes. Your CNN account Log in to your CNN account
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