For a certain cachet of gamers, the most exciting Nintendo game of this year doesn’t have karts or smash-happy apes in them, but space bounty hunters. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond has been a long, long time coming, but it’s set to arrive as a key cross-gen game for both Switch and Switch 2 later this year.
Our hands-on came with the Switch 2 Edition of the game, which will be available separately or as a paid upgrade from the base Switch version of the game.
That gives a number of enhancements, though, with the game able to push a 4K 60fps output or 1080p 120fps to TV (stepping down to 1080p60 and 720p120 when in handheld mode). It’s a real sign of the performance bump that the Switch 2 offers, and works in tandem with the refined visual style, scope and performance that Retro Studios is likely getting out of the original Switch.
We played through the opening stage of the game, as Samus descends to the planet’s surface and finds a bunch of Galactic Federation troops besieged by those dastardly Space Pirates once more. It’s an action-packed and combat-heavy opener, but still gives a little time to make use of Samus’ trademark morph ball mode and her scanning visor, both of which will feature much more heavily when digging into the broader game.
Of course, combat makes this an ideal slice of the game to test the different control options that Switch 2 offers. Just in terms of gamepad controls, we’ve come a long, long way since the original GameCube game and the Wii ports both having… atypical control schemes. This immediately feels like a more contemporary first-person shooter set-up, albeit with a lock-on feature using the left trigger instead of aim-down sights, but this also enables a free aim mode. Jump is also on the left bumper, while the right trigger and bumper are used for Samus’ standard beam and missiles.
Locking onto an enemy also enables a motion controller free aim mode, which will be great for boss battles. Lock onto them so that your strafing and dodging is kept relative to their movement, and then aim for their weak spots as they emerge.
It’s a good set up, but honestly, it pales in comparison to flipping the right Joy-Con 2 on its side and using mouse mode instead. So long as you’re playing with detached Joy-Con 2, you can do this at literally any time, the Switch 2 just knowing when the controller switches orientation and is on a surface, and entering mouse mode, and vice versa.
This just offers so much more natural precision, as PC gamers are well aware. Aiming is easier for keeping enemies in your crosshairs, and leading their movements across the screen – handy when firing slowish rockets their way – but you also still have enemy lock on and free aim when you are holding the left trigger.
It quickly became my preferred way to play through this hands-on session, skewing my senses in a way that made it difficult to go back to gamepad controls. This won’t be for everyone, though, and if you’re playing in handheld mode, with a Pro Controller or even with Joy-Con in their grip, there’s no mouse mode for you. I was also playing in an idealised table/desk setting, and while mouse mode can work great on your trouser legs or sofa arm, that’s less ideal, as anyone who’s living the PC TV life will tell you.
What we saw was just a brief glimpse from the game’s opening. The battles against Space Pirates were fun and it built up to a battle against a Metroid-infested boss, which trapped us in an arena and had us dodging energy waves, charge bolts and more while we targeted weak spots that it struggled to keep covered up.
The climactic moment came after defeating the boss, as more Space Pirates emerge alongside a rebel bounty hunter, blasting an artefact that lends Samus the psychic abilities that were teased in the gameplay reveal from last week. Those will have an integral role through the game, both for the environmental puzzling and the combat
For now, though, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is easily one of our most anticipated games for the Nintendo Switch 2. It’s sure to be a great experience on the original Switch as well, but pushing the graphics to higher levels and the mouse mode are the cherry on top.
