Metroid Prime Remastered: completed!
The very first time I ever posted to this blog, back in 2005, was to talk about Metroid Prime. Reading back, my writing skills were a little lacking, with the post being almost entirely descriptive. It appears that that was my second time of playing the game; the first time I’d got to a “plant boss” which I couldn’t defeat, whereas the second time I progressed past this for a couple of hours. Assuming that the plant boss was Flaahgra, that means that I’d hardly touched the game either time; I’d have managed to explore most of the Chozo Ruins, maybe, but probably barely got to Magmoor Caverns. It’s all speculation; I can’t remember 19 years ago.
It’s all academic now in any case. About a year ago, Nintendo released an updated version of Metroid Prime for the Switch, and I’ve been playing through it over the last month. The game structure itself is identical, but it’s had a major graphical revamp and (more importantly) controls have been adjusted. One thing I did recall about the Gamecube game was the difficulty I had in controlling Samus, not so much in terms of movement but in terms of looking around and finding enemies or points of interest. The new game allows you to use classic controls, but having tried these against the standard dual stick controls, there’s a night and day difference. I was able to get Samus to do what I wanted, and also look around to see what to do next.
And it was certainly worth looking around. The original game was known as being good looking on the Gamecube, but this remaster has had a huge amount of effort poured into it which makes the world look astounding. There’s so much detail to see and interact with; at times it seems a shame that the visor obscures your view a little so you lose some of the magnificence.
All the areas you explore are made of small rooms; there are no expansive vistas here. This is fortunate, given that you need to retrace your steps many times over as you unlock new doors and abilities; somehow they have made the world seem small yet simultaneously very expansive. This is helped by the variety in the levels – what my son would refer to as biomes – with snow and lava settings giving a diversity to the visuals.
What was interesting was seeing this very modern game with a slightly anachronistic structure. Defined save points, signposted boss battles, secret pickups and upgrades – after the freedom afforded in Breath of the Wild and other open world games, this seemed quite old fashioned … yet this was at times to its benefit, with genuine tension arising from exploring the world and trying to find the next save room.
Everything was cleverly designed. Enemies are varied and require different techniques to defeat (or, as you progress through the game, avoid and run past). Platforming and traversal, particularly in the morph ball, had a lot of thought put into it, especially the mazes on magnetic rails. When fighting a boss, I knew there was a way of avoiding attacks – even if I couldn’t actually do it consistently.
There are endless clever touches and one-off events. I particularly liked the room which held a hologram of the solar system.
Looking at this was pretty tense, because each time I scanned something new I thought enemies were about to attack. Tension was quite thick throughout the game, partially caused by the save system, but also because the enemies – particularly metroids – were generally quite unpredictable. I’m not a huge fan of scary games, but this just landed on the right side for me.
The scanning mechanic was a bit tiresome. Having to make sure you scan everything in order to get 100% completion, quickly became unrealistic after I forgot to scan one of the earlier bosses. That’s probably a good thing, as otherwise I imagine I would have become quite obsessed, and a final number of 99% is probably worse than the 91% I ended up with. I also didn’t find all the upgrades. Going by the HUD at the end, I estimate that there was one energy pack I didn’t find, and there must have been quite a few missile and power bomb expansions left unfound. I am also assuming [and I don’t want to know otherwise] that there weren’t map stations (to reveal unexplored rooms) in every region, since I only found them in three.
It’s taken me 20 years or 19 years or four weeks, depending on your starting point, but I have completed the game. I didn’t have much of an issue with any of the normal enemies, and faltered at only a couple of the bosses. The omega pirate took a few attempts before I realised that he was recharging his health from time to time. Meta Ridley just took far too long to kill. The first time I got to the core of Metroid Prime I had a single energy tank remaining, and died before I worked out how to do any damage. Otherwise, the difficulty was pitched exactly right to make it challenging but not disheartening.
Now to wait for the remaster of the second game.
March 2024 Update – Dondoko Crossing
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has been delivered but I won't be starting it for a while, I expect I'll still be playing LADIW for most of March.
Playing BACKLOG
I've reduce this list a fair bit to just focus on games that I want to play, time is limited so I need to be more selective.
Mario vs. Donkey Kong (Switch): COMPLETED!
Donkey Kong ’94 on the Game Boy is one of my favourite platformers. After the first four levels, which are the same as the original Donkey Kong arcade game, it becomes this massive puzzle platformer with a very agile Mario up against Donkey Kong. Mario vs. Donkey Kong, the Game Boy Advance sequel, was also great, but it introduced levels with mini Mario toys in it that you have to help to the exit in a very Troddlers/Krusty’s Super Fun House sort of way. I didn’t enjoy those as much, but the majority of the levels are in the “original” style so it was fine.
Later follow-ups focus almost entirely on these mini Mario type levels and I lost interest in the series. While I’d love a new one just like Donkey Kong ’94, that isn’t happening so I took a punt on this – a remake of the GBA game. And, as it turns out, it’s bloody good.
Of course, it’s pretty much the same game as it was before, only with extra polish on the graphics. It was too long ago that I played the GBA version to remember how the puzzles were solved, so it’s nearly new to me anyway.
If you’ve never played any in this Mario spin-off series, then the purpose of each small level is to firstly get to the key and drop it into a keyhole, followed by another short level where you have to rescue a mini Mario toy. Puzzles come in the form of coloured switches that make platforms, barrier and ladders appear (or disappear), conveyor belts, lasers, and various enemies you have to avoid or make use of as steps. Mario has various jumps and backflips and can handstand so feels really athletic. Not quite Mario 64, but fun to throw around the screen. The gameplay remains intact from the GBA game, but added cut scenes and improved music help make it feel like a new game.
Now Nintendo, make another one only without the mini Marios. Thanks xx.
Superliminal (PS5): COMPLETED!
Imagine a cross between that weird hypercube animation optical illusion thing and The Stanley Parable, and you’re some of the way to understanding Superliminal.
Like The Stanley Parable, it’s a narrative discovery game in a series of corridors, offices, warehouses and… other places. Whereas Stanley is trapped in a Groundhog Day style scenario, your nameless hero here is inside a dream which has been engineered to help them deal with something in their life. So, almost the same thing.
However, Superliminal is much more of a puzzle game, in a similar sort of way that Portal or Q.U.B.E. is, but the puzzles in this game are based around perspective. Objects can be resized, or sometimes reshaped, by how you pick up and drop them. For example, if you pick up a box, it’s quite small, but if you place it down in front of you it will actually be dropped in the distance at the size it appears to you, meaning that you then walk up to it and it has become larger. It’s tricky to describe, and to make use of at first, but it’s Very Clever. You can then use this larger box as a step up or something.
The other main puzzle thing is to line up seemingly random markings, like paint or shapes, so that at a certain angle they become an actual object. In one room, for instance, there are various parts of a cube painted on walls and pillars. If you stand in the right place, the cube becomes whole and grabbable, for use in another bit of the puzzle. I’ve seen this sort of thing in other games (most of the environmental puzzles in The Witness are a similar mechanic), but it is still Also Very Clever.
Things get mixed up as you progress through your dream therapy (which itself goes a bit off the rails – I think the current gamer terminology is “the backrooms”), with items not being able to move in certain ways, or they duplicate when interacted with, or fall apart. Later still there’s some playing with walls and doors, with doors becoming walls and vice versa as perspective or proximity changes, or simply because you’re “reading” their colour “wrong”.
Disappointingly, there aren’t any toilets in the game when it really looks like there will be some, but other than that it’s a pleasant, stress-free brain scratcher that makes your eyes go a bit weird. It’s also pretty funny, in the doctor’s tapes you find to listen to, the GlaDOSy “guide”, and various whiteboards, posters and items you find along the way. Superliminal is only a few hours long, but, like all the other games I’ve mentioned, well worth playing.
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