Unlike The Legend of Zelda, the Metroid series has a continuous storyline. And while it's not the most accurate with its continuity, it always creates the question of how did Samus lose all her power-ups from the previous title. Some Metroid games try to answer this, some don't.
Well, luckily for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, it doesn't really have to give an explanation, because Samus simply lost all her previous upgrades alongside the P.E.D. at the end of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. It was similar after Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, where the third game gave you some starting equipment and then went from there. There is no need to take away the basics, like the Morph Ball, with every new game.
Metroid Prime 4 might do something similar. They've shown us what's likely the beginning sequence and you already have the Varia Suit, Missile Launcher, Charge Beam, Morph Ball, and Bombs. The last one wasn't showcased, but you can still see the three dots in the HUD for them while Samus is in Morph Ball mode:
Of course, it could be that Sylux then hits you hard with the Shock Coil and you lose all that as well, but this is getting old and it's generally more interesting to get new abilities instead of items that you've already collected two or three times before in the Prime series.
What's already interesting is the D-pad selection in the lower left corner of the HUD, which is different from the previous games. In both Metroid Prime and Prime 2 you had the visors there, while it showed the beam selection on the right side. Here there is only one selection and it includes the Missile Launcher:
This tells me that this time we're not going to swap between different beams, but secondary weapons, which may all use different types of ammunition. If this were about different types of missiles, then it wouldn't say "Missile Launcher", but only "Missiles". So, this is likely about other weapons.
This would be similar to Metroid Prime Hunters, and therefore not too surprising, since this game will feature Sylux as a primary antagonist. But we're not going to get six alternative weapons this time, only three. Still, those might come from other hunters, though this is what they already had done in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, where you've obtained new weapons and abilities from Rundas, Ghor and Gandrayda, like the Plasma Beam.
Speaking of the Plasma Beam, with a secondary weapon system it's likely that the beams will stack in this game, like they did in Prime 3, where the Plasma and Nova Beams upgraded the basic Power Beam. I personally prefer such a system, because it's not much fun to have the Power Beam as your default weapon throughout the entire game. And it makes you truly feel more powerful. But if you can now swap your missiles to something else, Metroid Prime 4 may offer the best of both worlds, stacked beams and the strategic choice of swapping weapons.
Beam combos could also still work, but what combo you get will now be based on your secondary weapon, not the beam. So, if you want the Super Missile, you swap to the Missile Launcher (instead of the Power Beam). And so on. It makes sense and could become the best system in the Prime series.
It's also of note how you instantly swap to the Scan Visor, like there is a dedicated button for it. The D-pad is still briefly visible during that, but doesn't show the Missile Launcher any longer. So, it could be that it will also let you select between different visors when you hold down that visor button, which would be similar to the beam selection with the Dual Sticks control scheme in Metroid Prime Remastered. This control scheme is probably also the reason why'd they want to avoid having two selections at the same time again, because that right analog stick should be free for aiming.
Well, this is all just speculation, of course, where they've shown us only the most basic action. But the idea alone that the Missile Launcher is part of something that you can swap, already sounds quite promising. Let's hope that Nintendo won't wait too long until they reveal more.
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