Tag Archives: Nintendo

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance Review

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Fire Emblem is one of those titles that is so cool and incredible that you have a hard time believing that it is actually a Nintendo product. The games always have real storylines to them as well as high stakes. People are dying here and the gameplay is quite difficult. The game is not going to be holding your hand at all as you go through all of the maps. Yes, the game also has perma death so if any of your allies die, then they are gone for good. While the game is on the Switch Online, there is no rewind for Gamecube games so that gets tricky as well.

The main character here is Ike and he’s a part of a mercenary guild run by his father. Unfortunately his father is defeated by The Black Knight which forces Ike to take command. He must help a princess escape her fate of death by delivering her to a neighboring country but it won’t easy. The world is divided up into around 8 countries and they had been in a state of peace for a long time until one kingdom suddenly invaded Crimea. Now all of the lands are potentially going to get wrapped up in this. Ike’s standard bodyguard mission just got a whole lot more dangerous.

First off I have to say that Ike is really a great main character. He is always ready for a fight and he doesn’t bother with the usual pleasantries. He isn’t going to play the game of the rich just because he needs their help. Ike has always been a mercenary and so he is all about producing results instead of just playing nice. His troops really trust him as a result, well except for two who run off for their own solo journeys. As with most Fire Emblem games you will have the chance to recruit a bunch of characters or destroy them yourself. It’s not always an intentional choice as some can only be recruited by specific units and others will die before you get to them.

Generally I tried to recruit everyone but I did end up missing out on quite a few. The game is fairly long with 30 chapters and the character cast is huge. Even as late as chapter 25 you are gaining new units to help you out in battle. I believe the last one may even be around 27 although I wasn’t really keeping track by then. There are so many characters in the game that you will want to settle on a few to take into battle or your resources will be spread too thin.

Each level has a certain amount of characters that you can bring into the battle. Typically the limit is around 13 but this can go as high as 19. Generally I would try to keep my group between 8-10 fighters. The reason for this is two-fold. The first is that the more guys you have on the field, the harder it is to protect everybody. You have healers, warriors, archers, etc. The healers must be protected and so each one will require around 3 bodyguards to keep them totally safe. That slows your guys down from breaking into the enemy camp.

Most of these levels reward high levels of offense so if you stay back then they will begin summoning a lot of backup over and over again. That puts you in a potentially unwinnable position so you don’t want that to happen to you. Also, it’s hard to keep everyone at a high level when each character is fighting for EXP. There are no side battles or retreat options in this game meaning there is absolutely no way to grind EXP. All you have it what you get from each level which you can distribute among the team between chapters.

You can see how this would get very dicey after a while when you have nearly 30 army fighters. So trust me when I say you want to keep the army small. Additionally, it just makes every level a lot quicker since there is less loading times between every turn on all factions. Even then it can be hard to guess what the enemy will do. Strategy is 95% of the game but the other 5% is pure RNG.

I’ll explain, so the main gameplay here is an overhead turn based system. Your objective is always to either murder the enemy king, arrive at a destination, or seize a castle. You usually don’t have a timer on how long it takes to get there, you just have to complete the mission. Now where it gets tricky is each character has a different amount of movement options based on their class. You have to keep track of all of yours as well as the opponents.

Then adding onto that you are able to see how much damage your unit will deal to an opposing one and vice versa. This lets you pick who will fight and when to move each unit. Where the 5% luck comes in is that there are critical hits and misses. Either one can completely flip the tides of battle and any death will set you back in a major way. You should always try to have some leeway but that’s not going to be possible in some instances. So that’s when you just have to hope that your opponent doesn’t suddenly land a bit critical hit.

The game feels fairly generous so typically you’ll be the one landing criticals and dodging hits. Just remember that it can go the other way around as well. Between chapters it is important to visit the shop and the forge to keep your guys properly equipped. As soon as you unlock the silver weapons, you will want to put that on everybody. For that reason I didn’t spend any money until around chapter 20 and that’s when I started arming everyone properly. It really makes a huge difference.

In terms of who the best units are, I would say Titania and Marcia were my two MVPs. For most of the game I could send Titania into a 7 vs 1 fight and she would win. She is absolutely unstoppable. The only downside is it means she can be a bit of an EXP hog and so she hit her max level with around 10 chapters still to go. Still worth it if you ask me. Marcia is also super strong with incredible range. She isn’t quite as durable though so I always had to be careful with her.

Ike is naturally strong as well. He ended up being my third best fighter with the axe wielder in 4th. The beasts tend to be strong as well and you definitely want to use the guy who gives you two turns. Unfortunately the mages felt nearly useless in this one so I highly recommend keeping them on the bench. They’re just way too weak and can die in a single hit. Same for a bunch of the other fighters. I assume they get better over time but without a way to grind, it felt too risky. Fire Emblem titles always have some fighters who are stronger than others though so in this game Titania was just the right character to have around.

The main campaign should take you over 20 hours to complete so you are getting a lot of content right there. The flip side is that there isn’t a whole lot of replay value here without side modes. You could try playing through the game with different party members or some self inflicted challenges though. It’s fine though because when the main campaign is long then you don’t really mind all of that too much. A multiplayer mode would be pretty fun but odds are that you are playing this one for the big story.

Overall, This was a great game and it is definitely a top tier Fire Emblem experience! It really makes me hyped to get more Fire Emblem titles down the road. I’m really early on in my journey here so I really do need to fix that. Should I get the remake of the first game, the iconic Awakening, or the really controversial Three Houses? They’re all right up there but in the meantime I highly recommend picking this game up if you have the Switch Online. It gives you a whole lot of bang for your buck and is a really well crafted game.

Overall 8/10

Pokemon Go Update

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I have finally made it to level 75!! It took longer than I had initially expected with the 1000 great throws but it feels good to be up here. The next level will probably take around 2 months or so. The longest one is going to be walking 300KM. At least it’s spring/summer time so that should help out but that’s still not the kind of distance you cover in a day. I’m one step closer to making it to level 80!

Pac-Man Review

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Pac-Man is one of those games that is truly timeless. It’s been around forever and has been ported many times. The appeal is really easy to see. Who doesn’t want to be running around the mazes and chomping up ghosts right? There will always be a case to just play Ms. Pac-Man instead because the game is just better but it doesn’t make this game any worse. Objectively speaking this is still a very fun game all the way around. It may take you a little time to get used to it since the speed is slightly different than some other versions though.

The basic concept is that you need to eat all of the pellets in a level in order to keep going on. You cannot touch any of the ghosts or you will lose a life. You can eat power pellets though which temporarily make you invincible and allow you to plunge right through them. You want to use this strategically in order to complete the levels. Assuming you are playing for a high score, you also want to eat as many ghosts as possible with each power pellet because the points are super high.

For that reason you will sometimes not want to use a power pellet right away because only one ghost is in range. The amount of time you have to eat a ghost after using the power pellet will gradually get lower as you go through the levels. Occasionally there will be a throwback level where the pellets work perfectly again but on the other side you will go to levels where the power pellet doesn’t do anything. You want to really watch out for those stages.

The game is just a lot of fun to play and you really feel good when you are able to outsmart the ghosts and get to the goal. There is a bit of RNG here but for the most part if you lose, that was really on you. You want to be careful about taking too many chances here because that just won’t end well for you. You get one extra life at 10,000 points. I want to say you get another one at 100,000 points but I’m not positive on that. So from that point on you need to be careful because you won’t be getting extra lives.

The fact that the level stays the same forever can be a bit misleading because it will make you overconfident. Just keep in mind that the ghosts will act differently. They also get gradually faster as the levels go on to the point where they will easily out speed you. During those times you definitely do not want to get in their way. A straight dash to the pellet will suddenly become a matter of life and death.

The soundtrack is fun. It’s not the type that will really stand out but it works out well as good background noise as you’re going through the game. The various sound effects are all pretty good. Then you have the bright graphics which work out well for the game. It makes the title seem very inviting all throughout the experience which is definitely a nice touch. It’s all the little things that add up together and make the game so much fun. It also goes without saying that the game basically has infinite replay value. As long as you are still alive, you have infinite chances to increase your score!

There is also a multiplayer mode in the game. That’s obvious enough where I almost forgot to mention it. Naturally that is a really fun addition as you compete for the score but ironically the multiplayer gets less fun the better that each player gets because you have to wait a long time for your turn. For that reason I always thought that it should alternate every level and then you keep going until the last person either runs out of lives or has passed the score of the eliminated player. It just makes a lot of sense to me. I suppose the counter would be that you are destroying the momentum of the first player but I don’t actually see a problem with that since it will be the case for both players.

Overall, Pac-Man is a game I’ve played in many different variations over the years. I can safely say that it always ages well and this one is no exception. If you have the Switch online then you definitely want to check this one out. It’s just a fun retro experience. Hopefully soon we will get a brand new Pac-Man game since the company is really slow about continuing the franchise. In the meantime, playing through the original adventure is going to have to do.

Overall 7/10

PAC & Roll Review

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It’s time for a classic Pac-Man adventure. I completely forget that this game even exists 90% of the time. I give it some props for having a real story mode but that’s about all that I can say in its defense. At the end of the day it still has some pretty major flaws. The game is fun to play through but only because I got it for a great price. If you paid top dollar for this back in the day then you would really be in trouble. There would just be no coming back from that so it would probably affect the score.

The general plot is that the ghosts of Pac Land conspire together to bring back the ultimate evil. A powerful ghost that had to be sealed away before he would destroy everything. He wastes no time in declaring battle against Pac-Man. Fortunately a fairy shows up and she knows how to handle this guy. All of Pac’s friends are taken down so Pac-Man is the last fighter on the planet. If he loses, then the world will truly be doomed.

You shouldn’t think too hard on the story though because it is absolutely true that it makes no sense. The fairy seems so powerful that she could defeat the main villain on her own so why is she even asking Pac-Man for help? It’s a little hard to gauge what is actually happening here when you take away the gameplay mechanics as well. I suppose none of that matters too much at the end of the day. Pac has a job to do and he’s gonna do it! Unfortunately in this tile which appears to be a full on reboot, Pac is more of a rookie and is super scared/startled the whole time. He’s really not sure what to do and is always on the back foot here.

The sound effects don’t do him any favors here as he sounds really whiny. The soundtrack in general is only okay. There are no tunes that you will be looking up later on. As for the graphics, at least those are okay. I like the various character illustrations and the effects within the actual gameplay are good too. The technical efforts aren’t as underwhelming as you may have guessed initially.

As for the gameplay, well it is a clear inspiration from Monkey Ball. You have to guide the ball that Pac is in through a variety of courses. It’s a cool concept but unfortunately this is controlled by the Stylus which does take some of the fun out of it. I’m sure it was hard to resist using this gimmick since the game was on the DS but man would it have been more fun without the stylus. You have to move really quickly through some areas so you are swiping at your screen a whole lot.

The game starts out real easy but I gotta admit that the fire world actually gets rather difficult near the end. Nothing that will stop you for long but at least the game isn’t a total walk in the park. There still isn’t a whole lot of replay value here but the game does have a few bonus levels and collectibles to grab. So if you want to 100% the game then you do have some bonus content here at least. The main campaign won’t take you longer than 3-4 hours so maybe this can buff the whole thing to around 6 hours.

Aside from the normal rolling around gameplay, you also unlock two power ups later on. One of them makes you heavy so you sink into the water for ocean levels and the other one makes you light so you can actually glide around a bit. They don’t change things up too much but at least it’s something. The game also does have boss fights. You fight the same ghost the whole time but the battles themselves are different each time. You have to grab 3 power pellets and then tag the ghost.

The fact that you need 3 of them at once to deal any damage to him does give the villain some extra hype. He squanders it all by the end naturally but up until that point at least the reputation is deserved. This is also one of the only games I can think of where the villain has a game over theme. Every time you defeat him it plays and this isn’t just one note or anything like that. It’s an entire jingle so that was absolutely funny no matter how you slice it.

The game is a complete comedy so you shouldn’t expect any of the characters to look particularly cool. Gone are the days of the classic World series which had its share of humor but also balanced things out with a real plot. Maybe that’ll come back at some point and in that case I would be there day 1. There are a lot of things you can do with Pac-Man and yet the company is basically content to just make a bunch of remakes right now. Digging up ancient spinoffs is all that I can really do in the meantime.

Overall, This isn’t the kind of game I can really recommend but if you see it around for $5-$10 then you may as well pick it up. There’s no real downside to it at least and the gameplay itself is fun. The stylus may hurt but the core concept is still solid. The title is just so short though, you should make sure that you really understand this before you pick up the title. Then you know the risks and are all set to make the purchase. I really hope we get a real new Pac-Man game one of these days though.

Overall 6/10

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Review

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Mario has returned with another epic adventure. The first film was a great experience from cover to cover and I can safely say that is true of this one as well. Now I do have the first film over this one in virtually every area, however I want to emphasize that it’s very relative. This film keeps pace very well, it’s like comparing an 8.4 to an 8.2. The first wins but it’s not a landslide and so I have high hopes for the next installments here.

I feel like the trailers were intentionally vague about the plot so I’m going to do that as well. The general story introduces us to Rosalina, the most powerful princess in the cosmos and one of the strongest Mario characters in the lore. She can use the Power Cosmic to take most opponents down but a new threat has arrived to the universe, Bowser Jr. Mario and friends will have to keep him from rescuing Bowser because then the universe will truly be doomed. Mario and Luigi have their adventure while Peach and Toad tackle things from a different angle. Can they succeed?

Separating the main cast into two plots is a double edged blade because that does mean that we don’t get to see many interactions with Mario and Peach for a while. I get that this helps to prevent Peach from upstaging Mario in a combat sense but they tend to have a fun dynamic when side characters aren’t teasing Mario all the time. Unfortunately this doesn’t completely work because Peach’s plot ends up being much more interesting than Mario’s. The stakes are higher and we have some really good fight scenes in there.

Lets zoom out a bit to the film at large. The soundtrack is very good as you would expect. We have a number of Mario songs that show up from time to time. You may not have the emotionally powerful Hero song like in the first title but the film keeps you energized throughout. The pacing is very fast for this film which is always a good thing since it lets the title cover a whole lot of ground in a very short amount of time. I’ve seen 2 hour films that couldn’t cram in this much content.

The animation is really excellent just like you would expect. The characters are true to life and look like they just came out of a video game. Characters like Rosalina and Peach always have a lot of poise and elegance in their actions as well while someone like Bowser gets to look chaotic. So the film looks good and I’d also say the script is generally fun. The film is prioritizing a good time over any serious developments so I wouldn’t expect many scenes of depth compared to the first one. Mario and Peach certainly had more heartfelt moments in the first film like when Mario was worried that he couldn’t be the hero that they all needed. There is a bit of an emotional plot going on with Bowser Jr. and Bowser though. I dare say that’s probably the only plot that really hits home in that regard.

The film doesn’t delve into the horrors of crude humor either which is always good. Yes, the film can be rather silly but it’s in harmless ways. The only jokes that just didn’t work for me is the film’s obsession with messing with characters’ eyes. I dunno there’s a scene where a character’s eye gets stretched and another where one is licked and I dare say it might make you cringe just a little because of how uncomfortable it feels to see that. Not in a content warning kind of way but just in a “That was strange” kind of thing. Not to make a mountain out of a molehill but yeah sometimes the film needed to take a bit of a step back.

If the film has any issues it’s really just that it tends to run the jokes into the ground. You may find it funny for a second when Bowser is trying to play nice but ends up losing his temper. Then the joke happens again within a few seconds and you might let loose a nervous chuckle. Then it happens a third time and you’re completely over it. A similar issue happens within the first after credits scene where you have a decent gag but it just keeps going on and on. Sounds a bit odd when the film itself is so short but maybe they just wanted to really make sure that the kids understood the joke. Not a big deal, but that’s the kind of thing that separates a reasonably funny film from a hilarious one.

In general Bowser’s portrayal is on the weaker side here. They lean way too far on him just being absolutely wishy washy. He goes through too many character arcs here to the point where it weakens him. The film needed to either lean one way or the other and as you watch the film you’ll see what I mean. He’s just trying to be too many things at once and is a decent reason why the Peach plot was more interesting.

Bowser Jr. is definitely a highlight here. This is easily one of his best portrayals and the guy can really fight. He’s shown to be considerably more powerful than Mario and Luigi. Based purely on this film he may be the most powerful character in the film series. Typically the heroes have to rely on him getting careless in order to really make a dent. There are some other villains like a snitch but for the most part this is Bowser Jr’s show with Bowser as more of a sidekick.
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For the heroes, well Mario is a solid lead as always. He’s your well rounded every man who is doing his best to save the day and be a hero. Mario is very confident at this point without being a braggart and gets the job done. In a way you sympathize with his just wanting to have good friends while everyone’s teasing him about getting a girlfriend. Mario isn’t in any rush no matter how much the other characters pester him.

Luigi is solid as well since his scaredy cat persona isn’t played up too much. Asid from a joke near the beginning of the film, it’s really not that relevant. He gets a good hit on Bowser Jr during the opening fight and in general gets a lot of great lines. He’s sort of portrayed as the witty bro in this dynamic with Mario and I like that approach.

Yoshi gets quite a lot of screentime and is a fun addition to the cast. I do wish he could talk though as it would open up a whole lot of other possibilities for the character. Regardless, I was satisfied here and he got a lot of good moments. My only nitpick would be how he is written out of the final fight. It would have made way more sense to let him get involved and even in a power level sense would have been good.

Power level issues don’t tend to hurt a film’s score and this one is no exception. However, it is certainly noticeable how the writers didn’t really care about power levels at all. Mario and Luigi consistently look very weak and out of their league in any encounters with the big villains and then suddenly in the climax they are looking way better than they should. If you always thought that Bowser was stronger than Mario, a decent amount would agree. Mario usually wins through his resourcefulness and agility. If you said Bowser Jr was stronger than Mario, well people would probably laugh, but perhaps not so much after this film.

I have to be honest though, Rosalina’s role is a little disappointing here. The character herself looks great. She has a lot of confidence and tremendous ability as you would expect. She has a ton of power and experience so I have absolutely no issues there. Unfortunately she just doesn’t get as much time to show off as she should and there is one scene that absolutely makes her look far weaker than she should be at this point in her career. From a plot perspective it makes sense to write her out but this was not the way to do it. There are two dicey instances for her, the first not being as bad as the second but they’re both rough.

Meanwhile Peach looks great but runs into a similar issue. She is simply too powerful. The films always have to find ways to avoid her being in the big rumbles so this one also has a reason to keep her out of the final climax. It’s a shame too because I feel like she would be able to dish out a whole lot of damage. In this film we see her take on a whole army and she has some of the best physical feats in the film. In terms of brute strength it’s almost like she is up there with Bowser. The film may be called Super Mario Galaxy but by the end you end up wanting a Peach film so we can really see her fight at length.

The film also has some guest stars and while Nintendo themselves spoiled this in a poster, I’m not going to do that. I’ll just say that the main guest star is a lot of fun. I was just a little disappointed that he did not get a single fight scene. That didn’t make sense. Yes, he’s far more powerful than any Mario character so you don’t want him to trivialize the whole thing but a single fight scene could have still worked. There are other quick easter eggs and fun characters running around so you should keep your eyes sharp. Each moment is a whole lot of fun.

The film has two after credit scenes here and as per usual you have the comedy one and the plot one. The comedy one’s okay, you might crack half a smile before the scene starts to drag on and you just shake your head. The second scene is excellent though. It gives me a lot of hope for the third film to the point where I dare say it will end up being the best one in the series. Unless the series really messes up, this will be tremendous!

If I had just one item on my wishlist for the next film, it would be for Nintendo to let the characters take more actual damage in the next film. While the fights look really good here, there does tend to be a bit of a floaty vibe throughout. You don’t really feel the damage half the time and the characters are more or less still at full power by the end of each engagement. Give us an emotional scene with Mario using the last bits of strength to deal the finishing blow to the opponent. I think you can do this in a way that’s not too scary for the kids while still being impactful. Just look at the Sonic films. They target a similar audience but are a million times more intense and have crazy good plot developments within them. I know it’s not realistic to try and pass the Sonic films but you can try to be on that track.

Overall, This is definitely a great film. Yes, it may be less ambitious than the first film in terms of adding in really emotional moments and serious stakes but it makes up for that with fun. Someone once said that the film has amusement park pacing and while that is usually seen as an insult, I take it as a complement. The movie is always moving forward and is not interested in taking any breaks. It will just keep on going full speed and you’ve gotta respect that. I’ll be here week 1 for the next film as soon as it’s ready and I definitely recommend watching this one right away.

Overall 8/10

Pokemon Go Update

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I have now reached level 74! Those 250 quests really took a super long time to get done so it feels good to have that accomplished. The next level shouldn’t be quite as hard since the great throws will go by quickly. Should have it done sometime in April and then I’m one step closer to the final max of Level 80!

Balloon Kid Review

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Balloon Kid is one of those games that is perfectly serviceable. There’s nothing really wrong with it but it also doesn’t have enough actual good elements to really get it going. So what you end up with is a rather forgettable experience. A modern remake of the game could really end up being a whole lot of fun as it would at least be a bit longer. This game is under an hour long with no real replay value in terms of a post game or anything like that. So that puts it behind the action right from the jump.

The game starts with a little boy being carried off into the winds on his balloons. His sister must now rescue him by using her own mastery of balloons in order to follow him. Alas, this will not be very easy. There are a lot of monsters running around and different natural obstacles. The world itself appears as an enemy and balloons are rather unpredictable. Can she destroy all of the monsters and save her brother in time? She will have to really push her own abilities to their very limit.

The game doesn’t really have many cutscenes or anything like that so for the most part you’re just going through the levels until you clear the game. The controls themselves are rather simple. You want to hold onto the balloons and use them to go above and under objects. At times you will need to discard the balloons entirely so that you can pass a tight space. Then you will put them on once again. You do this by digging into the ground. Or at least that’s what it looks like, technically you are probably pressing air into the balloons.

I didn’t actually realize this at first so I died a few times until I realized what was going on. The game has some reasonable difficulty as a result of this because you have to be reacting quickly. If you are slow to react then you will really be in danger here. So keep your guard up at all times because if you don’t, then you’re gonna be in a jam.

I did appreciate that we had real boss fights here. For a little while there I was not expecting any so that was a welcome treat. The boss battles feel a bit like a Mario or Sonic fight as you have to jump on the enemy and then use your momentum to dodge their counter attacks. That’s why if the game had just been longer then this could have probably reached the next level as a 7.

The graphics are okay at best but not really my style. It’s all due to the color though as you don’t get to see all of the fun colors the way that a GBC title would have been able to unleash. The soundtrack is also more on the forgettable side. So you’re really here for the gameplay 100%. The rest of the areas will just have to suffice in the end.

If you have the Nintendo Switch Online then you should check the game out since it’s free with the service anyway. That said, if you are looking to pick this game up, then I wouldn’t really recommend that. You are just not going to have enough content to really justify it in the end. You’d have to be a really incredible game to be worth it even at lasting less than an hour. In a way it just goes to show how high the expectations are. Most people wouldn’t bat an eye to spend $10 on a quick lunch that will only last 15 minutes as opposed to a 60 minute game that you can replay as much as you want in the future. It’s just different expectations there.

Overall, I had a good time with Balloon Kid but it was definitely a brief time. I can see the vision of how this kind of gameplay would be fun for a whole title though. Just look at Flappy Bird. In a lot of ways this game is super similar because you are trying to go above and below the obstacles. If you bump into something or go too low then you lose. It’s a really creative style and you can’t 100% cheese it the way that you can for some Kirby games. I’ll definitely be ready if we get any more Balloon titles.

Overall 6/10

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Review

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Metroid Prime fans have been waiting a very long time for this game. We got the first trailer back in 2017 after all and even then it ended up taking another 8 years to come out. After all that waiting you would certainly be expecting an absolutely top tier experience. Well, ultimately I thought it was pretty good but I suppose it would be a bit underwhelming considering all the time that has gone by. It’s a good game but an ordinary one at the same time. You’ll be able to blast through the content and so in the end I would recommend it but definitely keep your expectations at the baseline.

The story starts with a big battle between the Federation and Sylux’s goons. Samus is able to easily overpower him but then gets stranded on a planet along with a few other soldiers. Samus will have to find several teleporter keys as well as a mythical fruit in order to get off this place. Unfortunately it is loaded with powerful monsters everywhere and Sylux is still on the loose. This may finally be a job that Samus cannot complete on her own. Will she be able to trust these other soldiers to help her out or will she be forced to tackle all of the responsibility on her own?

The game puts a lot of stock into Samus being the chosen one, a hero beyond all measure. Honestly I wouldn’t even say that’s a bad thing. She is clearly a cut above the rest and as the various games have shown she is able to incorporate a ton of different dna and special abilities without side effects. In essence she is the ultimate battle soldier and this game does a good job of showing how powerful she is. This can be a double edged sword though. For example, Sylux is never portrayed as being a real threat to her.

Likewise for the rest of the villains. This is clearly an easier battle for her than the last 3 Prime games and the only reason the situation is tough is because getting off the planet will require more than super strength. Her allies help out quite a bit and so that ties the whole adventure together. It just makes this an uphill battle for the villains since they are the ones on the back foot the whole time. They are never even close to making a play.

That being said, I still like Sylux. He gets some good dialogue at the end and has a good design. His boss fights are also fun except the final boss which gets a bit rough. This ties into the gameplay itself. You have to use both joysticks to aim which makes it hard to also shoot. I had to hold the controller in a bit of a weird way in order to land all 3 and it didn’t really feel natural. I think there should have only been one control stick to move and then the rest goes as normal. It felt like they had to nerf the lock on feature here in order to make the final boss more of a challenge.

To be clear, they definitely succeeded. It was a really tough final boss and one that absolutely kept me at the edge of my seat. I died several times there before I was finally able to win. Ironically the first phase is the toughest one while the next two go by very quickly and easily. In general the game is easier than the first 3 Primes but not insultingly so. I would say the difficulty is reasonable enough so long time fans will have a good time.

The main gameplay is still the classic first person style where you can shoot your energy blasts or missiles at the opponents until they go down. You will unlock different elemental attacks as you go forward and will get other kinds of power ups. It’s all pretty familiar if you have played the previous titles. In a lot of ways this one is trying hard to be a total formula game without trying to go beyond that. Fortunately the gameplay is fun enough where you won’t mid the repetition too much but there are some areas where the game isa bit dated.

The biggest example is not having any fast travel. There is a lot of backtracking here and it feels completely unnecessary. You should be able to cover larger chunks of ground without taking so long. Then you also have the green crystal grind at the end. I made sure to hit all the green crystals I could as I went through the game but wouldn’t go out of my way for others either. So then at the end I would do the main grind. It won’t take you longer than 2 hours or so but it just feels like a pointless grind. Why even include it?

The Prime games always have a bit of a collectathon at the end so it felt like this game was just adding one to continue the trend instead of actually getting real hyped for it. Not the best way to go. The desert definitely could have been handled better and the bike would have been more fun if it was faster. It goes by slow enough where that just adds to the tedious nature of it. A rare mistake from Nintendo. So the game had its issues like this but on the whole it was fun.

The collectibles are pretty easy to find with how well the map is labeled. Additionally, the power ups do help to make you feel a lot stronger. The puzzles are much better than in previous games and so for the most part it did feel like Nintendo thought this one through. Just one or wo quick fixes would have done a lot to make the game reach the next stage.

The graphics are definitely real solid. Metroid has never looked sharper and that is something I can say with 0 reservations. I did appreciate that we got more voice acting here. The side characters were all rather weak though. I much preferred the aliens and metahumans from Prime 3. I don’t know why you would go back to normal humans. Still, we got more of a plot than I was expecting even if it would vanish for large portions of time.

The soundtrack is also solid although it doesn’t match the previous games. For example you won’t be hearing anything that launches you out of your seat the way the Dark Samus theme did in the second game. That one is just hard to beat. So it was good all around but like in other areas, Prime 4 was unable to pass the third game here.

Overall, Metroid Prime 4 is a pretty good game. I had a good time with it. The title is fairly short as you will definitely manage to beat it in under 10 hours. Getting all of the collectibles and such will likely take this to around 15 hours or so but even then it won’t be extending things a whole lot. There isn’t a ton of replay value here unless you really like the story. For that reason you may want to wait for a bit of a discount. I’m always glad to see Samus though so hopefully this time the wait for Prime 5 is a lot shorter.

Overall 7/10