I'm almost done with Prime 4 and...
At this point, all that's left of the game besides the Great Mines is some endgame cleanup. While I still like Metroid Prime 4 and think the posts calling it the "worst Metroid game ever made" are a tad hyperbolic (Other M and Federation Force still exist, people), it's bar none the worst Prime game and a large downgrade over what came prior. Even if they have more divisive elements, like Prime 1's artifact backtracking and Prime 2's brutal difficulty and constantly switching between the light and dark world, they at least have way higher highs and much more intricate design. Prime 4 is just...consistently average at everything it does, and nothing more. Like a student who does the bare minimum to get passing grades but never truly excels in any way.
The gameplay is fun and solid, the environments look nice, it probably has the most impressive visuals of any Switch game so far and it has the same skeleton as prior Prime games. But some of the design decisions in this game truly has me scratching my head. What makes Metroid games the most satisfying is how you slowly get stronger as the game progresses, but the way you get the upgrades in this game just feel super strange. Like, why do you not get the thunder shot until the THIRD visit to Volt Forge? Plus, the environments are just so linear and funnel you down the same narrow path along with constantly holding your hand with the NPCs, which makes what could have been otherwise memorable environments just kinda feel forgettable. Like, this game goes against the idea of what a Metroidvania is, let alone any Metroid game, by removing the feeling of discovery to give you baby's first Metroid game. It's even MORE linear than Prime 3, which was already the most linear Prime game, which is truly saying something. The only area that remotely stands out to me so far is Ice Belt, because it doesn't hold your hand much, lets you get the tokens in any order and you backtrack through the area in a really cool way (pun fully intended.) I just wish the rest of them were more like it.
And while the green crystal upgrades and overworld are good ideas on paper, the overworld makes getting between areas way too tedious (why there's no fast travel in this game is beyond me. They really blueballed me hard with that "teleporter" chip) and the crystal upgrades are kinda underwhelming. More damage with your primary fire is good, but then you just get a slightly better control beam, something you barely use outside of certain puzzles or bosses, and then a tracker for the remaining crystals, which are nowhere near as exciting. What about taking less damage due to enemies doing a crapton of it in this game? Or even giving you a new ability, like???? Plus, Plus, the random NPC chatter you can't turn off is beyond annoying. MYLES PLEASE SHUTUP I KNOW WHERE I NEED TO GO JUST LET ME EXPLORE DAMMIT. And for being marketed as the new big bad and even getting an Amiibo, Sylux barely shows up and is a large downgrade over previous villains like Mother Brain, Ridley, Dark Samus and Raven Beak.
Sorry for the long wall of text lol. When this game first came out I waited a while until the discourse died down to play it so that it didn't color my enjoyment of the game. And while I do still enjoy it as a playable, functioning FPS game...idk, as a Metroid game, it's probably the most underwhelming one I've played since Other M (even if it's still considerably better.) At this state, I probably wouldn't give it higher than a 7/10. Which is almost unacceptable for a game we waited this long for. I just really hope Retro takes the feedback to largely improve upon the next game, since they can do better and have proven as such in the past with the OG Prime Trilogy.