Metroid Prime 4 doesn't stand up to Nintendo's best

"Nintendo has a long and celebrated history of doing things its own way. During the original Switch era, going back to Super Mario Odyssey in 2017, Nintendo has focused on bringing open-world style exploration elements to many of its major releases. That strategy has worked very well, breathing new life into storied franchises like Donkey Kong, Mario Kart, and The Legend of Zelda. But it hasn't quite added the same revolutionary touch to Metroid Prime 4."

"In all of the other games that got the open-world-style treatment, those elements were additive to the experience. Exploring vast stretches of Hyrule in Breath of the Wild, for example, inevitably led to some kind of new discovery - a shrine to crack, a korok to uncover, or a treasure to find. We had never seen Hyrule rendered like that on a Nintendo console, and it was neat to traipse about it and take it all in."

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond arrives after a long, difficult development cycle and contains some bright spots but largely shows its age. Nintendo introduced open-world-style exploration across major Switch-era titles, notably Super Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild, to breathe new life into franchises. That approach revitalized Donkey Kong, Mario Kart, and The Legend of Zelda through additive exploration that rewarded discovery. In Breath of the Wild, exploration led to shrines, koroks, and treasures and presented Hyrule in an unprecedented way on a Nintendo console. Those successes contrast with Beyond's inability to add a similarly revolutionary touch to Metroid Prime 4.

Read at The Verge