Metroid Prime 4 held one of its most controversial features because it was so slow.

The team is behind Metroid Prime 4: Beyond The game's hub world design has revealed that it was the result of its time in development hell. The newest in Retro Studio, first announced in 2017 Prime The franchise was in development for so long and with so few updates that it became a running joke among fans. It seems that the long dev cycle took its toll on the game's design as well, as the team didn't want to delay fixing one of the things again. Metroid Prime 4: BeyondThe most controversial features of

While it received generally favorable reviews, Metroid Prime 4 It is the lowest-rated mainline game in the series, continuing the trend of declining review scores with each subsequent release. At launch, the game was sitting at 81 on Metacritic, and it has dropped slightly to 78, and its user score, 8.2, is also the lowest in the franchise. One of the most common criticisms is this Metroid Prime 4The open world approach feels flat and, for many, outdated, and now it's clear why that might be.

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Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Review – The most disappointed I've ever been with a video game

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is a beautiful game with some exciting action, but it's hard to find too many positive things to say about it.

Nintendo didn't give Metroid Prime 4 a proper open world because it spent too long in development

In an interview with Famitsu, shed some light on Nintendo Metroid Prime 4development, how its long delay affected its world design. Basically, how the team was inspired Breath of the Wild A new generation of open worlds has begun Zelda Wanted to include games and similar elements Metroid. At the same time, the developers thought that the freedom of a completely open world did not match the original mechanics. Metroid Prime He became known for the series. As a compromise, Nintendo opted for a central, semi-open hub surrounded by several linear areas, but by the time it realized the tide had changed, and modern gamers now appreciated the open world more than ever, development had already taken too long.

Nintendo confirms Metroid Prime 4: Out of Timeline status

As Nintendo put it, “players' perception of open world games changed” after Retro Studios took over the game. But since the team had already restarted once, “backtracking development was again out of the question,” so it stuck to its old approach of combining open world with classics. Metroid gameplay. The desire not to delay the game again is understandable, with an 18-year gap in between Metroid Prime 4 And the final mainline title, but the decision to keep the old, old, world design may not have worked in Nintendo's favor.

There are some fanse said Metroid Prime 4 In what feels like a one-way nostalgia trip, it strongly evokes the first three Metroid Prime games, but its adherence to these elements is also one of the biggest things holding it back. The Hub World design may not have been as controversial when Nintendo first announced the title in 2017, though it's impossible to say with any certainty, but the extra time hasn't helped. Games and people's expectations of them have changed a lot since then, so the linear, limited exploration that once felt like a throwback now feels stuck in the past.

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Nintendo admitted in the interview that shooter and action games are faster now than in 2017, which is at odds with the classics. Metroid A trick to unlocking areas by upgrading Samus' abilities. It's unclear whether the team will incorporate what it learned from the experience into the next game. Rumor has it Metroid Prime 5 It will start development soon if it hasn't already, but fans won't hear anything about it.