With one critical exception which we’ll get to in a second, this is very literally the exact same game that it was all that time ago. But the actual core game here is identical to what you played in 2002. Every asset is either touched up and updated beyond recognition, or outright redone from the ground up. In terms of the graphics and visuals, this game goes far beyond a simple remaster. I’ve called the game a visual remake a few times already, and I want to explain that terminology, at least the way I see it, a little. It just serves to reinforce just how incredibly ahead of its time and future proof the core art style of Metroid Prime really was all that time ago to begin with. In this case, somehow, that did not happen. Usually, at least some of the original aesthetic ends up being diluted or compromised once more detail is added to an image (in part because very often, the original aesthetic exists the way it does because of the technical limitations of its time). The remarkable thing about it all is that while the visuals are updated to an absurd degree – this game is closer to Bluepoint’s Shadow of the Colossus and Demon’s Souls, or the just released (and excellent) Dead Space remake in terms of the visual facelift it got – all of that happened without the original art style or atmosphere or aesthetic being compromised at all. It is a very thorough, very comprehensive, very extensive visual remake. So overzealous is the update, in fact, that in the process, Metroid Prime Remastered ends up becoming one of the best looking games on the Switch, while being an update to a 21 year old GameCube game. Environmental geometry, lighting, particle effects, alpha and transparencies, textures, resolution, frame rate, meshes, everything is rebuilt to make Metroid Prime Remastered look like you remember the original game looking, but brought up to modern standards. The game’s visual facelift is so massive, so immense, that pretty much every single visual asset you can see or interact with in any capacity has been redone from the ground up. Metroid Prime Remastered almost feels like a misnomer. The game’s visual facelift is so massive, so immense, that pretty much every single visual asset you can see or interact with in any capacity has been redone from the ground up." " Metroid Prime Remastered almost feels like a misnomer. But they chose to go above and beyond, to deliver a truly definitive version of one of the most definitive games ever. In other words, Nintendo and Retro Studios could have quite simply taken the original Metroid Prime as is, maybe upscaled the resolution, made it widescreen, and make it run in 60fps, and it would still hold up. You can turn it on right now for the first time and within a few minutes, you may completely forget that you are playing a 21 year old game. In terms of gameplay, world design, music, storytelling, and even the graphics as already mentioned, it still holds up on par with, or beyond, most other modern games. The alarming thing about Metroid Prime is that it simply refuses to age. I brought up From Soft and Dark Souls earlier – playing Metroid Prime Remastered shows us just how much of its DNA was present pretty much wholesale in that, and so many other games. And the overall structure, design, and gameplay of the title was legendary, and ended up influencing countless games to come in the years and decades since. The storytelling went above and beyond most other games in the medium, presaging the rise of passive, interactive, and environmental storytelling techniques that future games such as Shadow of the Colossus, Prey, the Dark Souls games, as well as Nintendo’s own The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, would take cues from. The world design was a true 3D translation of the dizzying labyrinths of Super Metroid, but now in full 3D, seen through Samus Aran’s visor. The sound design was incredible, and thoroughly grounded you on the lost, alien, lonely planet you found yourself isolated on. No longer the best looking game ever, but a good looking game regardless). It looked so stunning, so gorgeous, that it was among the best looking games ever (and it the tech and art underlying it all was so far ahead of its time that even today, the original Metroid Prime holds up. Metroid Prime was a total, thorough, comprehensive, unmitigated truimph in pretty much every possible way. "The alarming thing about Metroid Prime is that it simply refuses to age." Against all odds, the new Metroid game, which had been turned into a first person shooter by a bunch of unknown Texans, was not only worth the franchise it came from (and which already included some of the most legendary and influential games ever created even at the time), but ended up being one of the best games ever. 21 years ago, Nintendo released what many consider to be the single greatest game ever created.
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