Did somebody say Phazon Mines? No? Well, great... There was one last major area to explore with one last Teleporter Key to obtain, before the game is heading into the big finale. And it all feels like a very intentional throwback to the original Metroid Prime with this particular setting...
Scans: 93%
Items: 67%
Jungle, ice, lava... Metroid Prime 4: Beyond certainly doesn't cover itself with originality when it comes to environmental themes. Maybe they should have called this game "New Metroid Prime"? Anyway, let's see what the Magmoor Pyrosphere, errhhh... the Flare Pool has in store. With some desert driving in between.
Scans: 81%
Items: 51%
Let's talk about the coolest part of the game so far, the Ice Belt. In old Metroid Prime fashion you'll find a sleeping laboratory there, but it leads to a different revelation...
Scans: 67%
Items: 27%
The next area you get to explore is the Volt Forge, which is mainly a mass production facility for the game's other big gimmick: the motor bike. So, I've proceeded with that part and did some first cruising through the desert of Sol Valley afterwards.
Scans: 44%
Items: 16%
Ah, well... let's just do this. I'm 90 minutes into the game, where I have played through both the intro sequence and the first area, which covers the demo and the previews. So, these are some very early impressions.
Scans: 30%
Items: 9%
A little late to the party... That's what you get when you pre-order from Nintendo directly. So far I've been an advocate of the My Nintendo Store, despite paying full prices, because you usually get a number of nice goodies, mint quality, and the game on time. However, they hate the idea of you getting the game a day early, so they always keep the deliveries very close to their chest. A little too close. And during the Christmas season, in the week after Black Friday no less, this backfired. My package was stuck in some delivery limbo, where nothing happened for 48 hours...
But I blame Nintendo here. They sent it too late without the necessary priority labels / fast shipping. So, I honestly can't recommend their shop any longer if you want to be playing on launch day. And yes, I could have just gone to some store and pick the game up there, but I wanted the additional goodies and this would have created some unnecessary back and forth. And after the mixed previews and reviews my excitement wasn't the greatest either, so I was able to wait two more days after having waited 18 years.
It only sucked that I had taken one day of vacation... But luckily I was able to move some hours around to have more time to play on Monday. I just hope they won't ever release a new Zelda game in December again, because I won't be as patient in that case.
Anyway, the My Nintendo Store sold the so called "Power Set" of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. It came with a big mouse pad, 61x35 cm, and a set of nine holographic cards. You also get a small key chain in a litte pouch with the game's logo on it, but that's the purchase bonus item that comes with any physical version of the game.
In addition, there are three amiibo: Samus, Samus on Vi-O-La, and Sylux. For some reason, the first two already were released alongside Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment a month ago, on November 6th, but I haven't touched them until today. At least they were delivered on time.
And they look really nice. Well, I personally find the normal Samus to be somewhat redundant, since we already got a very good looking version of that suit with Metroid: Samus Returns, but there is some extra detail with the purple psyschic power stuff and it has a different pose.
Their functionalities inside the game seem to be either useless or questionable, which is a problem with main Metroid games, it seems. Federation Force did it actually best with the paint jobs...
Now, I'm off to finally play the game. I'm not entirely sure if I want to do detailed blogging about my impressions and progress, now that I have effectively lost two days of potential play time, but let's see how I feel after the first couple of hours. It will be a shame if I don't, but in that case a late review will have to suffice.
Whether Koei Tecmo will keep expanding Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment after its free updates or not, they shouldn't move on to the next Fire Emblem Warriors just yet. Instead, they should stay on the project a little longer and bring Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity on the same page as its successor, via a shiny Nintendo Switch 2 Edition. This is a very common request, because a lot of people have not been happy with the performance of the original on the Nintendo Switch.
With such an upgrade the game would run in 4k and 60FPS, but since we're talking about a Nintendo Switch 2 Edition and not a mere free update, there also need to be some Switch 2 features to warrant it. One would be support for Game Share, which is an excellent addition in Age of Imprisonment that makes playing the coop mode much more enjoyable.
And the other would be increasing the number of enemies that are visible and ready to be attacked all across the board. The original game often only rendered a limited number of enemies, even when more were in the area. So, you might have 100 Bokoblins in front of you, but the game was only displaying 50 of them at once (just as an example). And the rest were popping in as the others got defeated. That's not a thing in Age of Imprisonment any longer and actually a very good feature for an upgrade, because it makes the game a lot more responsive and fun.
Still, this isn't much and like the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition of Animal Crossing: New Horizons this should come at the lowest price point, so only 4.99€ for the Upgrade Pack.
A free update that accompanies the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition could also address some other issues and omissions, which were left in the field after the Expansion Pass was finished. Plus, some improvements from Age of Imprisonment may also be implemented. Here are some ideas:
They could also finally make Astor playable in the post-game, but who am I kidding?
Well, Nintendo probably wouldn't release this all too soon, because right now they want to focus on Age of Imprisonment and don't take away from its sales. But in a year or so this could be a worthwhile addition to the ever-growing library of Nintendo Switch 2 Editions.
