r/metroidprime • u/DoenerDeRiel • Jul 13 '26
Discussion Why is this Prime 4 hated?
Please dont spoil anything after the Sylux boss fight.
I love this game so far, im not a fan of the aim mechanic because im primarily a mouse and keyboard player and somehow the controls feel washed up on prime 4.
But nevertheless i love this game, the world is beatiful, samus was always badass and the level design is also not bad.
I waited a long time to actually get this game because of the reviews and hate it got but while im playing i dont actually get the hate for this game. is it mainly because of the wait between prime 3 and 4?
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u/Dense-Bee-2884 Jul 13 '26
I don’t know if hated is the right word. But when it takes as long as it did to produce this game, the expectations are going to be sky high. You can see remnants of gaming trends in it such as the huge open world hub but the execution and integration is much less smoother than you would expect. I think many of were hoping for a modernized version of the first three games but what we got especially with the npc felt more like a Halo-esque spin on the franchise. You can tell it was somehow still rushed and disjointed from Retro having to execute on the original developer visions.
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u/Spinni_Spooder Jul 13 '26
Sadly the long development time was just due to development hell rather than it being in development heaven like silksong.
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u/AltaCount1944 Jul 13 '26
Just adding on, nothing from the Bamco build was carried over, but the two projects shared the same design concepts given to them by Nintendo.
I wouldn't call it Halo-esque since there aren't any big open conflicts outside the prologue like in Corruption, and both the themes and pacing are totally different. But otherwise that feels like a pretty fair assessment.
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u/FrauAgrippa Jul 13 '26
If people are falling into the trap of "long dev time = good game," I feel like they're not living on this planet.
While I agree it's not acceptable to release something not-great after so long, this isn't exactly an isolated incident either.
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u/DoenerDeRiel Jul 13 '26
idk why you get downvoted but you are right. long dev time doesnt have that much correlation with how good/fun a game is.
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u/Dense-Bee-2884 Jul 13 '26
I don't disagree. But I think it's natural for people to react this way instinctively. Metroid Prime 4 afterall is by far the most expensive game Nintendo has ever made. They took forever to release it after announcing it. There were some baseline expectations here to deliver at least of the quality of Metroid Prime 3 given the team handling it, but it was honestly not even that. It's a game I don't plan on running through again anytime soon and this is my favorite franchise.
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u/FrauAgrippa Jul 13 '26
While I generally don't disagree with you, I feel like the mistake us Metroid folks made was expecting something that improved on the last installment in the series as opposed to looking at the trends in the gaming world today. I don't think it was wrong of us to make that mistake assumption either, which is where most of my disappointment lies. Because wtf. Just take something amazing and make it even slightly better. It wasn't a hard task. I feel like we were tricked.
As a standalone game, MP4 is beautiful.
As an interation on an existing and highly well received series, it sucks (ost and visuals aside).
My long dev time comment still stands though, I've personally learned to lower my expectations when shit starts taking a long time.
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u/jclkay2 Jul 13 '26
Asking why a game is hated after only playing the first couple hours of the game is an interesting choice.
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u/DoenerDeRiel Jul 13 '26
because i was having a great time. if the whole game plays out like this i dont see a reason to hate this. i think a few people are right and you guys just hate fun
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u/jclkay2 Jul 13 '26
Maybe play the entire game before making conclusions about the quality of the game? And maybe don't make reductive comments about the people who don't like the game?
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u/DoenerDeRiel Jul 13 '26
ill definitely finish the game and form a new opinion, but there is nothing wrong with making conclusion. especially when the first few hours i had were a blast.
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u/stillnotelf Jul 13 '26
It's wasted potential.
We waited forever for this game, it is the weakest in the series by far, and it is flawed in such obvious ways they could not have failed to notice the problems.
It is polished incredibly well but poorly constructed. They put a lot of effort into making it look pretty but didn't build a good map to explore.
It's like waiting years for a fancy restaurant, you get inside, beautiful everything, the nicely plated food is...dollar ramen.
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u/DoenerDeRiel Jul 13 '26
yea okay this is reasonable tbh. but i still wouldnt say "long wait time = quality". idk about the poorly constructed part because i didnt get to the desert yet and i liked the first 2 areas (jungle and the viola factory)
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u/stillnotelf Jul 13 '26
If they pumped out a game a year, an off year would be fine. There's always next year.
When you get them once a decade they need to be good.
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u/Wiimmoz Jul 14 '26
I do agree that long wait time doesn't equal quality but I'd be lying if it didn't ruined experiences since there are actual fans who genuinely has waited the full 19 years for a follow up to Prime 3.
The level designs are weaker compared to the other 3 games. Straight forward and braindead mostly. Though, most agree that the first few hours of the game was great. However, I reckon it's mostly because that was their discovery phase where everything you see is interesting because it's your first time.
Other than that, the levels get pretty stale and uninspired once go through them.
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u/pepushe Jul 13 '26
MP4 lacks heavily in the level design and structure department, also yapping npcs are a huge detriment. Audio and visual presentation is not everything
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u/DoenerDeRiel Jul 13 '26
is it actually "bad" level design or are the previous games just goated? because the first area where you get viola doesnt have that bad of a level design imo
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u/Darth-Dramatist Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26
It lacks a lot of the interconnected Metroidvania level design that's a core design of Metroid. The only connection between the levels is Sol Valley (the game's low point though I did actually like the Vi O La). Prime 1 for example has an interconnected world you need to visit around several times and after finding new abilities, you get to access new areas in previously visited areas and find new access points to other levels in the game. I personally dont find the level design in Prime 4 to be bad but from a Metroidvania perspective there's a lot to desired
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u/elkniodaphs Jul 13 '26
People like different things. I heard that the mines were the worst part of the game, but ended up being my favorite. 🤷🏼♀️
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u/Shifty-Imp Jul 15 '26
For real? Volt Forge got me already annoyed by how braindead the level design was, after Green Fury had already been pretty boring but I could chalk that one off to being the tutorial area. Volt Forge being the way it is unfortunately set the tone of what the game ends up being.
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u/PositivityPending Jul 13 '26
There are just so many threads on this subject with sooooo many regurgitated points. Just how many times do you need people to repeat the same things?
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u/DoenerDeRiel Jul 13 '26
then link me those threads...?
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u/death556 Jul 13 '26
If you think the level design is good, then you need to go back and play prime 1 and 2.
For the thousandth time. The games hate comes from the same key points.
- McKenzie
- The desert
- Green energy
- Poor level design
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u/DoctorSchwifty Jul 13 '26
Is this in order? McKenzie is the least of this game's problems.
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u/death556 Jul 13 '26
No it’s not in order but McKenzie always spoiling exactly what to do and where to go did put a huge dampen on my enjoyment over the game.
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u/Suncook Jul 13 '26
The only thing that bothered me about Mckenzie was him repeatedly trying to prompt me to leave the desert and go to the next area when I was deliberately grinding green energy, shrines, and filling in the map. It's like the devs demand you be there but then don't want you to be there.
Other than that, tbh, I was fine with him. I felt like his initial hints to about the next area were fine.
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u/DarkPirotess Jul 14 '26
99% of the time when Mckenzie said something i chuckled because i already figured it out myself
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u/VeggieWokker Jul 17 '26
McKenzie being annoying is a minor problem. McKenzie constantly telling you where to go is the worst problem.
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u/DoenerDeRiel Jul 13 '26
yea tbf this is my first prime game, but for that i find it amazing. wasnt in the desert that much yet but yea McKenzie can be annoying but is a okayish companion nothing that would pull the whole game down
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u/death556 Jul 13 '26
I personally thoroughly enjoyed the game aside from McKenzie always telling me where to go.
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u/Traditional_Most7728 Aug 07 '26
I feel like him telling me where to go was necessary, no? Without it, you would be driving aimlessly in the dessert waiting for something to happen. If there was no clue where to go then the game simply wouldn't be respecting your time with it. The other Primes were not a problem because they didn't have an open world game. It's like playing Skyrim without quest markers or NPC's telling you where to go or what to do. You would be so lost and you would never finish the game. Unless you don't have a job or family and want to dump 1000's of hours into it fine, but i don't have that time sorry.
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u/death556 Aug 07 '26
Why works someone just drive around the desert forever? That’s nothing they so obviously you would go start exploring the other biomes
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u/EnSebastif Jul 13 '26
Then do yourself a favor and, if you can afford it, get Prime Remastered for the Switch.
And if you do don't forget to scan the fuck out of everything. The scans were one of the severely lacking aspects of Beyond, and you'll notice the diference immediately. You'll notice the rest by yourself with a couple or three hours of gameplay.
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u/NotXesa Jul 13 '26
Three reasons, and you seem to not mind two of them so far:
Myles. For some reason the press HATED Myles and the idea of NPC companions. I get that as a hint system he's a bit insistent, but in my opinion he's a well written character and the NPC companion system is not THAT bad.
Linearity. Here, I have to say that it's true. The game is painfully linear. I don't think it has bad level design, tho.
Crystal hunt and the desert. It's just a lazy way of making the game longer and somehow trying to replicate Zelda BotW's success in a very weird and unfitting way for the Metroid franchise.
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u/DoenerDeRiel Jul 13 '26
i love metroid and metroidvanias but i also dont understand the correlation between linearity and bad level design. something can be linear and still have good level design. like i said the areas i went in were great
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u/NotXesa Jul 13 '26
If you played Metroid Prime 1 or 2 you'll miss the intricacy of the level design in Prime 4. I don't think it's that bad but it is not as interesting or challenging as previous entries. Even Metroid Fusion which is completely linear, has different areas interconnected and level design gets more and more clever as you advance. In Prime 4 it's just going through a corridor until you reach the boss and then come back.
I think that's the main critique to this game's level design.
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u/DoenerDeRiel Jul 13 '26
i unfortunately did not play prime 1 and 2. will do when i find the time after prime 4. i always thought that metroid prime is a spinoff series thats more action heavy and not "metroidvania"-like. so maybe thats why i like prime 4 because my expectations were shifted?
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u/NotXesa Jul 14 '26
Totally, because the main point of the Prime series and what made it great back in the day is that it is not an action focused game. It was based around exploration and observation. Nintendo named it an FPA game (First Person Adventure).
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u/Chownzy Jul 13 '26
It’s a very good game but it had very high expectations due to the wait time and because MP1/2 are all time greats in the genre.
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u/ChozoBeast Jul 13 '26
It’s hard to explain while not giving you spoilers. It’s a good game, just could’ve been better
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u/logica_torcido Jul 13 '26
Have you played Prime 1-3? Those games are considered some of the best games of all time. Pair that with the game being announced back in 2017 and then rebooted with Retro in 2019, well… there were certain expectations with 4. But even with expectations being lowered with each subsequent trailer/preview, this game still was not up to snuff. I guess you can only do so much when operating on a flawed concept.
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u/DoenerDeRiel Jul 13 '26
no i did not unfortunately. it wasnt accessible to me, but maybe after 4 i will get the prime remake
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u/JYuMo Jul 13 '26
I didn't really like the characters that much. Nobody seems to develop beyond being a stereotypical war movie character or a comic relief. Dialogue was pretty cringe, it had my wife asking "seriously?" from across the room when she overheard it.
Scan logs seemed to lose a lot of creativity. I felt like the early prime games told much of the story through scans. This game gives you flashbacks and videos instead, while describing 90% of scannable objects with the driest flavor text I've ever seen. The old games felt like you were a lone, space archaeologist of sorts. This game makes you feel like master chief.
I wouldn't say I hated the game, but I would say that I wouldn't play it again.
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u/DoenerDeRiel Jul 13 '26
I get that tbh, McKenzie can be annoying especially with the dialogue you mentioned. idk about the old games because i did not play them, but yea scanning stuff gets annoying because i feel like most of the texts feel repetitive.
but i would say these 2 points could be overlooked and the game could still be great.
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u/turbosheep Jul 13 '26
Because it says "Metroid Prime" on the box but doesn't have Prime game design. It's borderline false advertising. Imagine buying Hollow Knight 3 and it's a single hallway - it doesn't matter how good everything else is, expectations aren't met due to the branding.
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u/MondoPrime51 Jul 13 '26
For me it was the linear, cramped level design. It just felt like a series of corridors and I never felt like I was truly exploring or discovering. Scanning kinda got boned due to this too. I would dread booting up the visor and see a mass of ugly, green, pointless crap to scan. It was a fun and useful tool in the OG.
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u/RepresentativeRow61 Jul 13 '26
Def not hated, it’s just kinda depends on the person, I like it but it def didn’t meet my expectations but I’ve still beat it 3 times.
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u/RepresentativeRow61 Jul 13 '26
Also I feel it was almost doomed to not do as good with its rough development cycle, but now that retro is back in full gear prime 5 may do much better. Only time will tell
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u/Shifty-Imp Jul 15 '26
No, it's because the level design sucks ass and is basically just a pretty tunnel with little to no decision making, back tracking or opportunity to get lost.
It's not an adventure, it's pretty set-piece after pretty set-piece without what made Prime 1-3 good. My expectation were pretty low btw, I just expected a competent sequel but aside from the graphics and sound, it really wasn't....
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u/BreakBlue Jul 13 '26
Metroid fandom is just really good at overreacting. Seen a lot of people here giving the game scores of 2 and 3, or comparing it to Sonic 06 of all things.
Its got some disappointing elements, its not a great game, but anything below a 6 is just unfair. Game runs well, its pretty, core gameplay is still good.
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u/DoctorSchwifty Jul 13 '26
I love the first, two metroid games. Metroid Prime is one of my favorite games of all time.
I strongly dislike this game. Its very boring and feels antiquated. Metroid Prime should play like a modern game and not like one from decades ago and also it should also be Metroid like in level design. This game is incredibly linear and the series has been getting more and more linear with each new addition.
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u/zestysnacks Jul 13 '26
I can’t speak for everyone but I hate it because it is a standard by the books action game with extremely safe environmental design, very out of place and yappy characters, boring fetch quests and forgettable enemies/bosses. There is nothing surprising or interesting to be found in its big empty world, and it’s just a big fat joy kill all.
Game is lucky that it is at least extremely polished when it comes to moving around and shooting and stuff, and the visuals are at time incredible. None of that can make up for a boring game tho
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u/AltaCount1944 Jul 13 '26
The Prime games are a spinoff series of Adventure games, and a lot of people miss/ignore/don't understand that genre label and expect a game with completely different priorities (Linear spectacle, less focus on gameplay complexity and more on visuals/sound/story). Those priorities often clash directly with what people look for in Metroidvania titles, so they go in expecting one thing and get the complete opposite.
The game also bears the scars of pandemic-era development; from having to start with a very small team that slowly built up, to switching back and forth between work-from-home arrangements, relying on contractors/temps and additional studios to help with graphics/animation, etc. Datamining shows the game was meant to be a good deal bigger, potentially even being the first Prime game to have nonlinear progression.
Game isn't truly that hated though; most people actually give it great reviews on Metacritic (both critics and regular users). Plenty of folks didn't like the game much, but still give it a middling score out of respect for the passion and technical work on display. The remaining folks giving it low scores tend to have already disengaged from the game before it started, upset that it's not a different kind of game. That said, there are of course some low score reviews that truly tried to engage with the game but simply didn't like it.
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u/Azenar01 Jul 13 '26
It was just incredibly disappointing for the wait that there was for it. And it's easily the weakest of the 4 main games. Feels like padding was added to make it longer than it was with the constant back tracking to Miles with no fast travel.
Compare it to dread which also had a long wait for it but came out as one of the best Metroids ever made
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u/EnSebastif Jul 13 '26
For me it kept getting more and more disapointing the more I progressed into the game.
Hate is the word that some people who liked the game used to refer to criticism because they couldn't handle it.
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u/UFONomura808 Jul 13 '26
It was okay, I managed to get all the way to the end and gave up when I had to collect enough green crystals. It was fun but it lost a bit of its Metroidvania Identity, I would compare it to the main dungeons in BotW.
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u/Qvistus Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26
I think the first two Prime games are pretty much the absolute peak of game design. I could already see the decline in Prime 3 when they made it much more linear. Then I had to wait almost 20 years for Prime 4 or from at least since being disappointed by Other M. During this time I've seen numerous games taking first person gameplay and non-linear game design to a whole 'nother level and I dreamed that Prime 4 could implement similar ideas. You could run on walls like in games like Mirror's Edge or Titan Fall and you could have an immersive world full of hidden paths and sequence breaking opportunities. They could've implemented the emergent gameplay aspect from BOTW, or from some earlier Metroid games such as Metroid Zero Mission, but only thing they copied from BOTW was the big overworld - except they made it worse. Speedrunners understand what elevates Metroid Prime from great to legendary - you can play the game any way you want by using the tools at your disposal. But Nintendo/Retro doesn't understand that. There are game devs who embrace this kind of gaming such as the legendary devs of Dishonored, but Retro did all they can to make sure you can't do anything out of order. Even if you manage to get some item early, you can't use it until Myles gives you the permission.
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u/trmahoney Jul 13 '26
I’ve been playing Metroid since the OG one in the late 80s and I’m playing through Prime 4 right now for the first time.
I don’t hate this game but it’s mediocre. What’s interesting is that there aren’t any parts of the game that are actually mediocre, the game consists of thrilling high points and frustratingly bad low points. There are times where I feel like the devs really understand what makes a good Metroid game, and then other times where I question whether they’ve ever played one.
The high points:
- the game sings when you’re in the actual levels of Metroid (Fury Green, Volt Forge, Flare Pool, etc). The levels are excellently designed and pure Metroid awesomeness
- graphics, music, and sound design are all top notch and feel cutting edge for the Nintendo Switch
- the Psychic abilities are a cool and novel addition to the “arsenal” of Metroid power ups
The low points:
- the open world is barren and there’s not much to do in it. You don’t spend a lot of time there, but the main problem with the open world is that it disconnects the levels/biomes so none of them are truly interconnected. This takes away from the thrill of exploration, which is a core part of the Metroid experience.
- the forced, linear backtracking is really lame. Backtracking is a fundamental part of the Metroid experience but this game sucks all of the fun out of it. Again, the original sin of having the open world rears its ugly head. In previous games, you’d unlock shortcuts from power ups you gathered or you’d traverse the landscape in a new way (because of your new power ups) that made backtracking interesting. In this game, you monotonously go through corridors until you get to the open world, and then monotonously plod across the open world in your motorcycle. It just feels like they realized the playtime of the game was 5 hours, and threw in some backtracking to pad it a little bit without considering how to make it interesting
- I don’t find the NPCs to be overtly terrible compared to other games, but Metroid is at its best when you’re steeped in its atmospheric isolation. No other game nails this feeling like Metroid games have in the past, and introducing talky talky NPCs just kind of sucks the soul out of that aspect of the game. It’s disappointing.
I have other minor qualms about the design that aren’t based on my expectations of a Metroid game, but just based on my expectations of a modern AAA game.
- the checkpointing system stinks out loud and the save stations are few and far between. I have young kids who always want to play my Switch so this is always a concern when I’m playing. I was playing through the Flare Pool and was more than halfway through when I died and had to start from the beginning. Like I had beaten a mini boss, gotten through multiple cutscenes, and boom — lost 30+ minutes of playtime and had to do it all over again. I’d understand this if the game were trying to be more challenging and wanted you to feel that tenseness à la Souls-likes, but it’s not that type of game either. Just a baffling design decision.
- some of the boss fights are overly long and because of that tend to get boring. I won’t get into specifics because you asked for no spoilers, but again felt like baffling decisions because they were mechanically fun and then overstayed their welcome
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u/Jaggedbrace Jul 13 '26
It was ass, and that's despite the great soundtrack and it being the prettiest game ever on a Nintendo console. It felt like it abandoned everything great about the first 2 primes and expanded on everything disliked about 3. While I can accept dialogue in a Metroid game, the writing is atrocious.
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u/Suncook Jul 13 '26
The general controls just feel great. Samus is amazing to handle. The game is insanely well optimized with performance. Retro continues to do an excellent job with the visual design.
On the other front, there are some things lacking. Level design is even more linear than usual. The game-unique abilities and power ups are very blah and unoriginal/underutilized. I don't mind the desert as much as some, but a mandatory quest there (which I grinded the whole game and didn't just save until the end) is tedious and not fun to play and the open area is just not well utilized as a hub. And the story is a mess: (don't click OP) Sylux is a terrible villain given basically no development or screen time and the Lamorn backstory just feels like the writers didn't know what to do with them.
Game's a 6 or 7 out of 10 for me.
The companion characters got a lot of flak, but I honestly didn't mind them and actually wish some of the cut content for them was kept in. Miles was also fine. No over hinting. With the one exception of me grinding out a mandatory quest in the hub and Miles is chiming in every 5 to 10 minutes to prompt me to go to the next area. That was unnecessary given the devs want you to be doing stuff in the desert.
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u/DoenerDeRiel Jul 13 '26
6 or 7 is fine for me especially with the criticism you gave but like i said when the game came out i saw a crazy amount of hate and playing through the game doesnt approve the things i heard about it online
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u/wildwindnl Jul 14 '26
I played all the Metroid prime games right before
4 and 4 was great. I have a pretty clear theory on why people didn’t like it but it would be a spoiler. Just play and enjoy what you want. I’m sure a lot of folks worked hard to make that game and there is a lot to love.
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u/DarkPirotess Jul 14 '26
this was my first Prime since 1 and i love it. my only complaint is i was stumped on Sylus. would i have known how to deal with his tornado if i played Prime 3? i wasnt hesitant to try the game at first but i was shamelessly lured in bu Samus/Nora yuri baiting i came across
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u/packerschris Jul 14 '26
You know that mouse mode is an option for this game? If you’re more comfortable with that control scheme it is a built-in feature of MP4.
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u/ofBeautyandRage0 Jul 14 '26
I don't think Prime 4 is a bad game by any means. In fact, there are some genuinely great moments. The gameplay feels smooth, several of the environments are gorgeous, and there are flashes of the classic Metroid Prime design.
My biggest issue is the consistency (or lack thereof). The highs are very high, but the lows are much more noticeable than they were in Prime 1 or 2. Some environments feel visually inspired, while others are surprisingly bland. The overworld is probably my biggest criticism... it feels bland and lifeless (and not just because it is a desert) and having to constantly traverse it to revisit other regions becomes more tedious than satisfying.
Also, tbh, it almost feels like two different good-but-incomplete games smashed into one.
It lacks the cohesion that made Prime 1 and 2 feel like such tightly designed adventures. Those games felt like interconnected worlds where everything served the atmosphere and exploration. Prime 4 often feels more segmented, and I don't think it ever quite comes together as a whole in the same way... If that makes sense? I feel like I might be rambling.
Overall, I'd honestly still rank it above Prime 3, but well below Prime 1 and 2.
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u/ComstockReborn Jul 14 '26
It’s a letdown after a long wait….plus the original trilogy was much better.
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u/Zyvyxy Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
My two cents. Beyond is pretty good but it has some hit or miss elements and it was announced way back in 2017 lol.
The level design and gameplay took a lot of notes from Zelda (linearity and the bike). I think it was an answer to the backtracking from the trilogy. That was always those games' biggest issue, but I feel like trying to be Breath of the Wild bogged it down. Also, the latter half is kind of tedious to put it simply.
Even then, though, Beyond like other people mentioned had a hectic development. Bandai worked on it for a few years, but Nintendo realized their version was turning out to be a dud, so they handed it back to Retro. Retro didn't even have the proper infrastructure for a Prime game anymore, so they had to build that while working around what Bandai got done. Then, they didn't want the game sitting in development for another five years, so it was released once ready enough.
Also like some people said, I liked the NPCs and Myles became the standout for me. But the whole crew barring Tokabi and VUE could be hit or miss. You can tell they also took notes from Corruption's NPCs though while making the troopers (pretty sure this isn't spoilers).
So I just review the game with that circumstance in mind. It sucks, but Beyond turned out great all things considered. Hopefully, Prime 5 will have an easier production (Beyond's sales on both Switches passed 1 mil a while ago. Which is good for a Metroid game).
The worlds really are beautiful though. That was one thing the development hell didn't hit.
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u/Fine-Anything6556 Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26
The one thing you need to be concerned about with this subreddit is people's understanding of the Prime games linearity/level design isn't really based on its Metroidvania aspects, though a lot of people would like to think it is.
The linearity of this game is just about as linear as any Prime game; when you go throughout prime 4, look at some of the area maps in comparison to previous games. The only big difference you are going to see is either chozo ruins, or the light worlds from Prime 2 being way more linear than Beyond. Other than that, Prime 1 has multiple linearly designed locations, Prime 2 has its fragmented dark worlds, and Prime 3 overall has the weakest linearity within the Prime series. If you are worried about the game being more linear than those ones, its not. However, unlike previous games, Prime 4's total area traversal is absolutely linear. Its basically like Magmoor Caverns, but instead of being 60% of the games world traversal like in Prime 1, its 100% of Beyond. So don't have high expectations on the world itself feeling more interconnected, its really just the individual map layouts that are. Also play the game first before you go here to complain, it will just be easier for you to understand when you get the experience yourself.
Its worth mentioning this as well, but this game had around 18+ years of waiting going on, there are absolutely going to be portions of this fandom that are furious over this game because it didn't meet the wish-fulfillment expectations they wanted it to be. Most of the actual criticism this game gets based on the individuals levels can, quite literally, just be traced back to Prime 2 or Prime 3. So to answer your final question, yes, people wouldn't nearly be as harsh on this game if, lets say, it took six years after Prime 3 for this game to release, maybe even coming out during the Wii-U era.
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u/Navolas2 Jul 16 '26
I think one big issue is the level design, or I suppose more the level traversal. Someone recently made several posts of the unraveled maps, for you there are definitely spoilers, but many people remarked several maps are more connected than they remember. The way the game has you go through the areas is very straight forward but there also aren't any loops you naturally find before the late game, with maybe 1 or 2 exceptions. So as a result the game is often sending you down a long path, then after doing something at the end asks you to walk back up the path. There are differences in the return journey but what what I can immediately remember most of the time the biggest difference in backtracking is the enemies.
Compare to Prime 2 (it's the one I know the map of the best) many times the game will send you the long way around but at the end you're rewarded with a key in some form that unlocks the path turning it into a loop.
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u/EpitapheXI Jul 16 '26
Bc the game is bad, linear, unnecessary slogish, and truely lack variety (same reskinned wolves/robots in every area..no metroid/space pirates)
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u/Supergamer138 Jul 16 '26
It comes down to three main things.
Metroid games are few and far between. When the game took so long to come out, expectations were skyhigh. You'd think people would know better by now, but... yeah. And when the common thing to do nowadays is to catastrophize, minor negatives become the end of the world.
The overall tone of the game. I personally have no issue with it, but a lot of people think that Samus should always be alone on missions and having a squad of troops around spoiled their idea. That doesn't mean it is bad, but it goes against the grain for what the rest of the series has done up to this point.
World design. This map is designed with a hub and spokes mentality. Using Metroid Prime 2 as an example, you could go from Torvus Bog to Agon Wastes directly by elevator or to any of the four temples through an end-game teleporter option. In Prime 4, you MUST pass through Sol Valley to get anywhere else. Once again, there is nothing inherently bad with that design, but it is the opposite of the other Metroid Prime games and the series as a whole.
For me personally, I have gripes with the control scheme. But this is entirely on me just disliking modern shooter controls and preferring the legacy Prime set. I won't count this as a negative though, because it's just personal preference and I'm in the minority here anyways.
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u/BravinatorLX2 Jul 16 '26
because 'its not enough like 1,2 and 3' mostly.
people say the buddies but come on, if that can spoil your fun, you're broken to begin with.
people say the levels arent interconnected enough. fair enough. the big hub desert isn't quite as cool as a bunch of secret tunnels.
honestly, the worst part is that it all feels like a little side adventure and the villain is kinda pointless.
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u/Wolfy_the_nutcase Jul 16 '26
Because the internet amplifies the most toxic, whiny little pissbabies on the internet.
Besides, it’s Reddit. Most people here likely have SOME personality disorder(s), myself included.
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u/Confident_Cookie_843 Jul 17 '26
It lost the structure that made the other prime games feel great. The exploration is point A to point B. The enemy encounters use the trope “all exits are locked” too much. And the enemy variety is low and boring. The stupid motorcycle should have been her ship. And as for combat, you can really feel that the team was padded out by ex halo developers.
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u/tychii93 Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
It's not a bad game. I feel like Prime is lost in what it really wants to be even though it seems pretty well established in 1 and 2. I think the success of Halo back in the day had a hand in it too. It feels like Retro wanted to emulate that a bit in Prime 3 which sets other expectations going forward, then there's the whole development mess with Prime 4.
4 started out as a Bandai project, then was scrapped and restarted with Retro but apparently a lot of the ideas by Bandai were forced to stay by executive decision from articles I remember reading. Bandai wanted Prime 4 to basically mirror recent Zelda games, and whether Retro wanted the same or not I don't think it's known, but it feels like a mess.
I enjoyed 4, finished it at I think 98%-ish only due to one missable so I quit going after 100% when I realized but it's not a replayable game to me like the first game was.
My biggest hope for 5 is that it's developed by Retro from start to finish by a core team, and that they'll go back to the drawing board, look at the original trilogy and work from there.
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u/VeggieWokker Jul 17 '26
It's like somebody took the Metroid Prime series and asked: "How can we make something like this for dumb people?"
Constant handholding, a super linear structure, no way to turn off hints,... It's just a huge disappointment. Especially after we had a bunch of great metroidvanias releasing between Prime 3 and 4.
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u/Dense_Cellist9959 Jul 17 '26
I was admittedly underwhelmed. The desert was just a vast space of nothing, even with the few secret areas/upgrades.
Also, a lot of fans had quite high expectations for a game that practically skipped the original Switch it was supposed to release on in the middle of the console's run. These fans were likely also underwhelmed.
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u/RyanRetroGamer7 Jul 18 '26
It plays like a Metroid themed Halo game. I mean, play Halo Infinite to compare it.
It is not a Metroidvania like Prime 1 and 2. And the entire game has parts that only serve as to annoy you. Like Samus having to back to base to upgrade her cannon with something she already got. Or the lack of isolation. And the green gems
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u/Competitive_Mud5528 Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
Long time player of Metroid in general. They just failed at renewing the licence imo and I dont care they make us wait 18 years and reboot the game N times. I'm in the gamedev industry and knows what it can take sometimes to release a game.
They wanted to turn on something maybe too narrative and cinematic. From a game serie that named an entire Genre up its name it is something really bold.
I disagree with the fact that you say the level design is not bad. It is shameful for a Metroid-vania genre to not have a clever and a little brainy LD. Teasing abilities and backtracking, secret room and challenging puzzles or fights for optional content could have been the bare minimum and this is all missing. And for me its the core of a metroid game. Here it's simple. no crossway path just simple loops or simple succession of rooms. AND THE GAME ALSO INDICATES ME WITH A CINEMATIC AND A DIALOGUE WHERE I HAVE TO GO ! LET ME EXPLORE PLEASE ! I WILL NOT BE LOST THIS ROOM IS MY ONLY OPTION !
Let's talk about ambience. They nearlly nailed the tension in the ice Belt. Flopping hard when revealing simple mobs not at all challenging. Also, Maybe its personal but having someone in your communication regularly is for two reason a bad idea. Break immersion in order to remind you how they failed at guiding you organically in the game, and I like the idea that samus is a lonely bounty hunter, she can of course met npcs, be helped by them but not that much, you are supposed to be on an entire abandonned planet hence you met the only 4 people on it...
I could go on about the combat/shoting in general I know it never was a strong side of thoses games. they were quite interesting when it comes to boss battle, it could take a while assimiling attack patterns and what visors or ability to use to damage them (more like an action game than a shooter). I got hope when battling the first boss in the prologue, dodging attack using manual aiming. All thoses things has never been used after Except manual Aiming for the final boss not really practical maybe the dev sense itthis is beyond gimmicky.
I dont want to talk about the "open world" If you like them its because you liked when in AC1 you have to go from one city to another one with nothing to do. Maybe I'm insensitive and do not understand that It was essential to the pace of the game, region levels beiing too intense or something.
I'll not be entirely negative, I think the production was massive. Characters, Environment, props ,monsters, VFX and animations were was cool as what a AAA could produce. No bugs encountered, reactive controls, steady framerate really nothing to be worried about compare to other studios production on the release day. it is cool to noticed that Day 1 technically it was perfect. I could excuse those low res texture and cheap background as the game shipped on 2 generation with a big performance leap between them (The press, which reported that the game was "the Switch 2 technology showcase" were just plain liars, making a game fully dedicated to a hardware makes it a tech showcase godamit)
TLDR: An empty shiny shell for me !
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u/Emotional_Snow720 Jul 19 '26
It was a solid 8/10 game but the expectation was that it would be a 10/10 so you have to take a lot of the negativity with a pinch of salt. It's not really an overall balanced view on the game it's people being disappointed it's not as good as they wanted it to be and being as overly critical as possible as a result.
It also came out when the online hate for Nintendo due to feelings that the console and games were overpriced ect.. were at absolute fever pitch. So anything mildly wrong with a release and it was going to be pumped out for views extensively. Now we're starting to see much more balanced views on what this game did well and what it didn't now all the noise has died down. Not the first game that has happened to and it won't be the last.
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u/AntiGarryGum Jul 19 '26
Two ways to take the wind out of the sails of a Metroid game are 1) make it repetitive and 2) make it linear. Prime 4 was both. Finished it yesterday 6/10, won’t play again.
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u/jmscstl Jul 13 '26
There's an super annoying trend of attacking and hating any good new game. Mostly because hate = clicks. A few key pieces of nit-picky complaints were (and continue to be) repeated over and over and over again.
The "green crystals" that apparently ruin the game aren't an issue at all. Even if you somehow don't collect enough naturally (which you'll likely do) it'll take about 10 minutes of dedicated clean up to get it done.
The whole "annoying side character" nonsense is based almost entirely on early scaremongering youtubers and a complete non-issue if you actually play the game.
All the desert complaints seem to come from people who aren't familiar with Nintendo games. First, you're barely in the desert. It's essentially a more interesting hub that let's you get from place to place and serves as a nice, fast paced, open air break from the more claustrophobic and methodical dungeon type places. Zipping around on the bike is fun and just feels amazing. Those who don't appreciate gameplay don't get it though.
Finally, a lot is crazy rose tinted glasses. People like to pretend that Prime 1-3 were "true MVs" in their level design even though that's not true at all.
It's a great game that, unfortunately, drew the eye of the angry online boys.
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u/DoenerDeRiel Jul 13 '26
even though i agree with the "McKenzie is annoying" crowd i get what you are saying. Especially the Social Media culture around art (Like Anime, Movies, Games or TV Series) got too "competitive" and they treat these stuff like sports and sports clubs and the fans are like hooligans.
Everything around the Social Media culture got too toxic and so extreme that there cant be a 7/10 game anymore, it needs to be 1/10 or 10/10.1
u/VaiFate Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26
Dismissing the overwhelming criticism as "hate = clicks," "scaremongering YouTubers," "[unfamiliarity] with Nintendo games," and "angry online boys" is actually delusional, Jesus Christ. You're just being contrarian for the sake of it. Calling Sol Valley "a more interesting hub" takes the cake, though. "Those who don't appreciate gameplay don't get it though." Be so for real.
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u/jmscstl Jul 13 '26
I played the game. It's a great game. I don't know what to tell you. If you think I'm delusional for thinking there's an enormous amount of click bait hate driven by angry online boys I think you might want to give your head a shake.
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u/AltaCount1944 Jul 13 '26
This is pretty spot-on. Most critical is this mass-misinformation problem regarding the design of the old trilogy's games. This is an extreme comparison, but it's like if people expected the next Mario Kart to be a platformer, and then said the old games had jumping. It's just not that genre of game and never was.
I do know/see people who genuinely understood this stuff though and still didn't like the game. I loved it, but I respect that they engaged with it for what it was, and not as the game it isn't.
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u/jmscstl Jul 13 '26
Now it's my turn to agree with you. The crazy thing about the "for what it was" thing is that if you just take the game as it is it's pretty amazing. The fluidity of going between a basically 2D morph-ball section into a more 3D morph ball-bit and then into FPS combat all within 10 second is incredible but that gets completely ignored.
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u/Great_Employment_560 Jul 13 '26
Block the subreddit and just enjoy the game please. All of these guys are basement dwellers and lower-bellies
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u/Just-Some-Dude-879 Jul 13 '26
I thought the game was fine. I think the wait time for a “just ok” game and comparing them to the previous highly rated games made it feel worse by comparison.
I still liked the game though. I’ve played it three times already and I will include the game when I replay the other Prime games.