Metroid Prime 4 is a graphical powerhouse on Switch 2 – and I seriously enjoyed its mouse controls

Those who have waited nigh on two decades for a brand-new entry in the Metroid Prime franchise will be more than happy with this fourth mainline entry.

Eight years after its initial announcement, we went hands on with Samus Aran’s latest first-person adventure with roughly 20 minutes of playtime.

Of all the new first-party titles revealed to be launching alongside Nintendo Switch 2, there’s something so comfortably familiar about Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. It’s inherently an original Nintendo Switch game enhanced for its upcoming sequel device, granted, but after playing it at a recent hands on event for around 20 minutes, the first thing that hit me was how much the experience itself represents a game with one foot in the past and the other in the present.

I say this because there’s nothing especially ground-breaking about what I did when assuming the role of gaming’s most famous female bounty hunter while trying to liberate a sci-fi base. The truth is, the wait for Metroid Prime 4 has been so long, it’s just good to be back after a nearly 20-year hiatus.

The first thing that struck me about playing Metroid Prime 4: beyond is just how gosh damn gorgeous the game is. While there’s been a tendency up until this point to assume that Nintendo is always trailing behind PlayStation, Xbox, and PC in the visual fidelity aspect of its first-party releases, this was the title that convinced me Nintendo has finally caught up to its peers in the graphical arms race.

Running on a 4K TV in performance mode at 120fps, this is one of the smoothest FPS experiences I’ve ever played on a console – let alone on one made by Nintendo. Obviously good graphics does not a good game make, but it’s certainly good to know that something as shiny and drop-dead gorgeous looking as this will be available relatively soon on Nintendo Switch 2.

In terms of the actual game itself, the demo I played took me from the surface of an arctic, snowy planet, to deep inside a series of base interiors where I was tasked with assisting in fending off an alien invasion. Though I would have liked to have tried it out using a gamepad, playing using a split Joy-Con setup was the only method available, which meant for the most part that pointing and shooting using the Nintendo Switch 2’s returning gyro controls felt natural. Shooting using the right Joy-Con’s analogue stick when in standard aim mode feels nice and responsive as it is, but when holding down the ZL button and moving my right arm to achieve pinpoint accuracy felt just as good.

It was around five minutes into my Metroid Prime 4 demo session that the Nintendo attendee informed me that, at any time, I could naturally switch from ‘button’ mode to ‘mouse’ mode instantly by simply resting the right Joy-Con downwards on the table in front of me.

Heading into the day I remained sceptical as to whether playing a Nintendo Switch 2 more like a mouse-and-keyboard setup would even work, but I just can’t deny how natural it felt to roll my hand along the desk to aim and pop off a few shots. Metroid Prime 4’s mouse controls not being sectioned off in its own mode will definitely make it a more tempting prospect for players looking to shake up their game-playing experience, and its integration is undeniably clean and non-invasive.

Prime example

Right now, outside of what trailers have already shown, there’s nothing particularly new or interesting about the story Metroid Prime 4 is telling from what I could see. It sits comfortably within the interquel timeline established by the previous Metroid Prime trilogy, only now there’s no sign of Dark Samus, and on your tail this time is rival bounty hunter, Sylax, who hasn’t been seen since Metroid Prime: Hunters on the Nintendo DS.

If you’re a Metroid lore fanatic I’m sure similar narrative treats and deep cuts lie in store. That said, if you’re someone a bit more like me who just wants to blast away funky looking aliens, scan all your alien surroundings, and morph ball your way through puzzles, Metroid Prime 4 has you covered – now in glorious 4K or 120fps.

My short demo culminated in a battle with a gigantic boss called Aberax, prone to shooting out waves of energy that I had to dodge – either by jumping over an energy barrier or hopping up off the ground and avoiding its shocks. Taking it down meant peppering the glowing weak points of its body whenever they weren’t glowing with energy, mostly playing out in a painfully by-the-numbers fashion.

That said, it could be the case that this is the very first boss of the game, hence why Aberax didn’t especially challenge me, let alone kill me. Was the fight epic in scope and thrilling enough to keep me engaged from start to finish? Absolutely, and that’s even before I’ve gotten a whiff of Samus’ new psychic abilities previously teased in the last trailer.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond takes the basic building blocks of Metroid Prime games past and coats them in a shiny new skin on par with the current generation of home consoles. For a lot of players, that will simply be enough. This is no doubt the best the series has ever looked, and it also helps that it plays smoother than ever – at least on the enhanced Nintendo Switch 2 version.

I’m still waiting to see what exactly will set the core experience apart from previous games in the Prime series, but I’m holding out hope that this will eventually come as we start to learn more about how Samus Aran’s new suite of psychic powers will work. Until then, Metroid Prime 4 is an unabashed sci-fi stunner, and is on course to be the Switch 2’s go-to graphical powerhouse this year.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is set to launch on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 later in 2025.