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I’ve been waiting a long time for this. Ever since Metroid Prime 3: Corruption ended on a slight cliffhanger (provided you obtained the 100% completion rating) back in 2007, I’ve been wondering where exactly Nintendo and Retro Studios might take the series next. 18 years would follow, and that’s an awful long time to formulate an idea of what the perfect sequel might look like. Now that Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is finally here, it’s absolutely nothing like I’d imagined – and that’s a good thing. What Retro Studios has delivered might well be the studio’s finest work yet, and it’s certainly up there as one of the very best Metroid games of all time. Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Docked) I should say, however, that I think this game may prove divisive. Retro has successfully replicated that magical feeling of discovery from the GameCube original, but it’s also taken some pretty wild swings with Beyond’s new open-world hub, high-speed motorbike traversal, and yes, Galactic Federation companions. I’m not sure everybody is going to get along with it like I did, but what I do know is that Beyond feels like a natural evolution of Corruption. The Prime games have set themselves apart from the rest of the series by expanding Samus’ world to introduce more and more side characters, and this latest entry takes this concept further than ever. To illustrate, Beyond kicks off on the planet Tanamaar, with Samus fighting alongside a host of Federation troopers against an attack from Sylux and their Space Pirate cronies. It’s a great sequence to get reacquainted with your beam attacks, missiles, morph ball, and double jump before most of it gets ripped away in classic Metroid style. Y’see, following a confrontation with Sylux, Samus gets transported to the mysterious world of Viewros, seemingly alone in a hostile environment stuffed with creatures looking to kill you. What follows is an intriguing mystery that introduces the brand-new Lamorn race, which is essentially Prime 4's Chozo. Uncovering what happened to the Lamorn is a joy, and you don't need any prior series knowledge to enjoy this story. Phazon's out, Dark Samus is out, and Sylux gets enough screen time as the new Big Bad. Fans will adore it, but newcomers can get right on board, too. Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked) The first thing that leapt out when wandering around the lush opening section of Fury Green was just how beautiful Beyond really is. Environments and creatures are brought to life like never before, with accompanying lighting and particle effects making this the best-looking game Nintendo has ever published. The art design is simply astonishing, constantly compelling you to just stop and soak it all in, which was easy given how much there is to uncover with the Scan Visor. Go back to (the lovely-looking) Prime Remastered and you'll see just how much of a step up this is. The visuals are augmented by the incredible soundtrack, which is comfortably the best since the original Prime. You've likely already heard the Fury Green theme from trailers, but every major biome rocks its own awesome variant, from the thumping, electrically-charged Volt Forge to the calming, ethereal Base Camp. I quite literally sat for about 10 minutes just vibing in the latter, and with the combined effects of the art style and audio, it was the first of many moments where I thought, 'Okay, yes, this is a really special game.' It's the kind of thing you just know you'll be going back to in 10, 20 years' time. Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Docked) The enemies and boss characters are comfortably some of the best, most grotesque in series history, and the battles that ensue are equally thrilling and challenging. Even better, they're all completely new and don’t lean on nostalgia – sorry Ridley, maybe next time. There are loads of different enemy types, including the ferocious Grievers, the exploding Pyremite, and the deadly Psy-Bots. I only wish there was a 3D model feature like Prime Remastered to better appreciate their incredible designs. Provided you have the right setup, you can choose between two performance modes on Switch 2: Quality at 4K/60fps (1080p handheld) or Performance at 1080p/120fps (720p handheld). The bump up to 120fps in Performance Mode is certainly noticeable, but not half as much as the resulting downgrade in resolution. As such, I spent the vast majority of the time in Quality Mode; it looks absolutely gorgeous in 4K while docked, with performance that appeared locked at 60fps with no noticeable dips. Trust me, you’ll want the highest resolution possible for this game. Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Docked) You've also got several different control methods from the off, including dual-stick aiming and motion aiming. Opt for the former, and you use the analogue sticks for your movement, while gyro aiming can help with fine-tuning. Mouse controls are also featured for both options, so if you're playing with the Joy-Con 2 detached, you can put the right controller side-down to immediately activate mouse mode. It's a little erratic at first, so you'll probably need to bring the sensitivity down a bit, but it feels pretty great. Overall, my control method of choice remained dual-sticks with a Pro Controller, but all options feel perfectly viable. In typical Metroid fashion, you’ll be exploring various biomes throughout the world of Viewros, including the luscious forest of Fury Green, the frozen laboratories of Ice Belt, and much more. In addition to familiar abilities and armaments — missiles, grapple beam, morph ball — Samus gains a host of new psychic powers early on. This includes the ability to move devices remotely and open up paths, hurl your morph ball bombs at enemies and bomb slots from a distance, and directly manipulate the direction of your ‘Control Beam’ to hit multiple targets at once. Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked) In pre-release trailers depicting the psychic powers, I was worried that they might prove gimmicky, but this isn’t the case. It makes for some really cool sequences, including (but not limited to) the new Psychic Boost Rails, which hurl you around the environment on an almost-but-not-quite invisible path; perfect for locating those coveted Missile Expansions. Think of the Magatsu Rail from Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance, and you’re on the right track. Of course, you’ll also gain new weapons on your travels, and these work a little differently this time. In the past, you’d acquire new beams while your standard missiles would remain the default sub-weapon. In Beyond, your Power Beam is maintained throughout, while elemental beams — specifically Fire, Ice, and Thunder — are mapped to the missile input and require their own ammo called Shots. So, in addition to Missile Expansions, you’ll also be on the lookout for Shot Expansions. I was concerned this might limit my approach to battles if I’m constantly worried about running out of ammo, but truthfully, you’ll find so many expansions on your travels, depleting your supplies is never a major concern. Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked) Travelling from one biome to another is also a little (a lot) different this time around. A few hours in, you’ll gain access to Vi-O-La, an awesome futuristic motorbike that comes equipped with boost abilities and projectile weapons. It controls like a dream, too, with light touches of ‘L’ allowing you to slide and turn sharp corners at will. Upgrades found in the environment add more boosts to your arsenal, and soon you’ll be racing from one end of the hub world to the other in no time at all. Sol Valley itself is a pretty vast area, and at first it felt completely empty, but looks can be deceiving. In addition to connecting the major locations necessary to progress the story, Sol Valley also includes a bunch of Shrines (yes, there’s that Breath of the Wild influence), Galactic Federation debris sites, and dozens upon dozens of Green Crystal clusters that you simply drive through at speed to collect. Ultimately, including such a meaty open world amongst the usual labyrinthine biomes is a stroke of genius on Retro's part. Think about how previous Metroid games (or really any Metroidvania titles) work: completely different environments will be separated by a mere door or an elevator, and while this works perfectly well from a gameplay perspective, logically it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked) What Sol Valley demonstrates is that these games don't need to be confined to dense corridors for the duration of the experience. You can open up the world, make the biomes link together more logically, and still maintain the essence of that classic Metroid experience. I can't wait to see how it influences the genre going forward. Like the missiles, energy tanks, and whatnot, those Green Crystals found in Sol Valley are a finite resource. You’ll need to nab the whole lot to bag some sweet rewards, but the game introduces some neat little perks later on that make this a lot easier than you might think. Truth be told, this is possibly the most approachable Metroid game ever, since hidden Scout Bots located in each environment can also ping their radars and reveal the locations of any undiscovered items on your map. Granted, you won’t be able to activate these until much, much later in the game, but it makes chasing that 100% completion rating a lot more digestible than ever before. Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked) As you make your way across Viewros, you’ll also run into a handful of Galactic Federation troopers: Myles Mackenzie, Reger Tokabi, Nora Armstrong, Ezra Duke, and VUE-995. Honestly, none of them are even remotely as irritating as previews suggested, and I genuinely came to enjoy their presence. There are brief moments where one or two might join you in the fight, but these are kept to a minimum, and Retro wisely ditches them before they outstay their welcome. Overall, the dialogue is a lot stronger than anything seen in Corruption, and the voice actors do a wonderful job at bringing them to life. But this is also where my one little nitpick comes in. While exploring Sol Valley, Myles will occasionally ping you on the radio to let you know what you should be doing next. Whether it’s making your way to your next objective or heading back to Base Camp to activate a new beam upgrade, Myles is essentially Prime 4’s Navi from Ocarina of Time - always there to nudge you in the right direction. It’s not as frequent as you might fear — once you’ve heard him once, that’ll be it until your next major outing on Vi-O-La — but I’d love it if Retro Studios could add the ability to mute him completely. Sometimes I just want to ride around in peace, y’know? Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Docked) I did find myself longing for a couple of extra features: namely, the ability to change the bike's colour and to listen to some custom music while roaming about. Well, these are both here... if you buy the amiibo. The Vi-O-La figure unlocks skins for your ride, while Samus adds the Vi-O-La Radio, letting you toggle through a small selection of banging Metroid-themed tunes. It's frankly irritating that Nintendo decided to lock these features behind amiibo; they should have been in the game by default, no question. The Sylux amiibo apparently unlocks a specific cutscene early, which you'll otherwise need to 100% the game to see. All other Metroid series amiibo just play a random Metroid-themed jingle. At the time of writing, I’ve beaten the game with 100% items and 97% logbook scans, and this has taken me roughly 16 hours (don’t worry, I'm already looking for that remaining 3%). Keep in mind that I’ve sped through for review, so playing through at your own, slower pace could nudge your time to over 20 hours if you’re after absolutely everything; mainlining the story may shave it down to around 10 hours. Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Docked) I’d recommend finding all collectibles if you can, though, since this will uncover everything in the game’s Gallery section, which is filled with concept art from Beyond’s development – it’s a lovely behind-the-scenes look at a game that’s been heavily shrouded in mystery for years. ConclusionAfter 18 years of waiting, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond manages to replicate that magical sense of discovery from the GameCube original while pushing the series in some incredible new directions. Separating the main biomes with a vast open world sounds ridiculous on paper, but the slick traversal provided by Vi-O-La makes exploration more satisfying than ever. Combine this with the stunning art direction, ferocious new boss characters, and a surprisingly endearing squad of Federation troopers, and Beyond is quite possibly the boldest, most well-realised Metroid game to date. Make no mistake, the long wait has been more than worth it. Welcome back, Samus.

If you can believe it, we are very, very nearly at the official launch of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. It's a cross-generation release, but we always knew that this was going to be a big player for the Switch 2, making the most of the new hardware's beefed-up specs to squeeze the most out of the space adventure. The question is, how does it hold up? Our good friends over at Digital Foundry are here to answer just that. In the above video, the tech experts break down everything you need to know about the game's performance, and we've got the full rundown for you to read through below. So, let's dive right into it. Kicking things off with the visuals, DF states that the game is "truly beautiful". With crisp visor reflections, rain droplets and light peeking through cracks, the game is packed with more detail than ever before, and it's used to great effect. In terms of performance, we all know that MP4 offers two different options — 'Performance' and 'Quality' — though, according to Digital Foundry, things are a bit more nuanced in actuality. In Quality, the visor 'frame' and main image appear to be rendered separately, and while the real meat of what you're looking at "generally does read as a native 4K image", it's still "very much 1440p" (1080p in handheld). The sharpness is right where you'd want it, though, with DF calling it "the best image quality I've seen from a Nintendo game on Switch 2 thus far". 'Performance' mode drops the resolution down to 1080p (720p in handheld), giving everything a slightly softer look. That said, the presentation remains "sharp enough" and is still sharper and clearer than Metroid Prime Remastered was on Switch 1 by a "significant margin". But what about the much-discussed frame rate? You'll be pleased to hear that the 120fps promise (in the relevant mode) is delivered on, locking to 120, and holding it "with complete consistency" — bar the very odd, tiny dip when riding around the open world. And yes, the same level of smoothness applies to the 60fps mode. The truly "mind-blowing" feature, according to DF, is the HDR, which stacks up as "one of the finest HDR presentations I've seen in years, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the very best". So, expect those highlights to pop, and the shadows to deepen in docked. The same can't be said for handheld, mind you, where the Switch 2's native screen can't keep up. And finally, the load times are right where you'd want 'em, with door opening times much reduced from the previous entries. You can find the full tech review in the above video or over on Digital Foundry's new site. As for us, we were absolutely blown away by MP4, calling it "quite possibly the boldest, most well-realized Metroid game to date" in our review — read all about it below.

When Metroid Prime 4: Beyond landed with Retro Studios back in 2019, we're not sure anybody was truly shocked by this turn of events. Retro is, after all, the original developer of the Prime series, and while many of the veteran team members have since left, the sheer quality of the fourth entry on Switch 2 demonstrates that the studio is still one of the very best in the business. The folks over at Retro didn't do it alone, though. As highlighted in the game's credits sequence, many separate companies lent their talents to the development of Prime 4, including Next Level Games and Virtuos. Next Level Games, as you may know, is already familiar with the Prime series, having worked on Metroid Prime: Federation Force for the 3DS in 2016. As of 2021, it's a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nintendo alongside Retro Studios itself. The specific developers at Next Level Games credited as helping out on Prime 4 were Matt McTavish, Cavin Yen, Mark Blanchin, and Christopher Rice. Here are the teams listed in the credits: Retro Studios Next Level Games Virtuos Territory Studio Waterproof Keywords Studios Liquid Development Volta AMC Studio GameSim Smoking Gun Interactive Forge Studios Red Hot CG Original Force Devoted Studios Room 8 Studio Next Gen Dreams Mock Science Cup of Tea Formosa Interactive House of Moves Meanwhile, longtime producer Kensuke Tanabe at Nintendo also provided the text for the in-game scans, while Samus herself is now voiced by Erin Yvette with motion capture by Krystle Martin. Fans of the series will know that Jennifer Hale had previously provided the voiceover for Samus in the original Prime trilogy. In our review for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond for the Switch 2, we said that it "manages to replicate that magical sense of discovery from the GameCube original while pushing the series in some incredible new directions", awarding it a score of 9/10.

The Pokémon Company has revealed yet another new Mega 'mon arriving in the Pokémon Legends: Z-A Mega Dimension DLC, but more than that, it has revealed a whole new type of Mega Evolution. Mega Lucario Z is the latest Fighting- and Steel-type Mega Evolution to join the line-up, boasting a swanky blue and yellow look as well as some particularly fetching fringe work. This marks the debut appearance of Z Mega Evolution — a new take on the mechanic that sees Pokémon able to fire off their moves quicker, but also burn through their Mega Power at a faster rate. Pokémon that undergo a Z Mega Evolution might not be best suited for long battles, then, but they'll likely pose a good way for wrapping up fights with a decisive victory. Here's the official rundown of Mega Lucario Z and a handful of snaps from The Pokémon Company: Images: Nintendo Mega Lucario Z will arrive with the other new Megas in the Legends: Z-A DLC on 10th December.

As a part of today's Mega Dimension DLC news, The Pokémon Company revealed Legends: Z-A's next Mystery Gift Code event, and it's not one to be missed. The event is live in-game right now. All that you need to do is head to the 'Mystery Gift' menu and select 'Receive via Internet' to get involved. Right off the bat, you'll be rewarded with special Mewtwonite X & Y Mega Stones, and you'll also unlock the new 'Project M' side mission, which sets you on the path to catch — you guessed it — Mewtwo! You need to have rolled credits to access the gift, but no end date has been revealed for the event at the time of writing, so you've got plenty of time to get there if you're still exploring Lumiose at your leisure. And yes, while the news was broken in today's Mega Dimension dump, the event is available for everyone with the base game.

Counter-Strike may be a quarter of a century old, but it remains one of Valve's biggest money-spinners on Steam. Counter-Strike 2 – the latest iteration of the free-to-play team-based shooter – makes its money from chests, which cost around $2.50 to open. Incredibly, some of the skins found inside said chests can fetch over a million dollars online – so it's little wonder that, on average, players pay real-world money to open around 70,000,000 chests every month. That's over $175,000,000 of revenue coming in every 30 days – so you'd expect the person who created the game to be utterly minted, right? Wrong. Speaking to EDGE magazine, Counter-Strike creator Minh Le reveals that he effectively gave up what would become a billion-dollar money-making machine when he joined Valve back in 2000. In fact, when it came to selling up, Le readily admits he had no idea why Valve thought the game, which began life as a Half-Life mod, was worth anything: Le also reveals that he was happy to take any amount of cash at the time, as his own situation was somewhat precarious: Le has never revealed what Valve paid him for Counter-Strike, but admits that it wasn't enough cash to retire there and then. In fact, as part of the arrangement, he became a Valve employee, which was something he could only have dreamed about prior to Counter-Strike being made. In 2006, Le left Valve and has since worked on the likes of Rust and Black Desert Online. He's now working on a new tactical FPS of his own creation, Alpha Response, at Ultimo Ratio Games. While he's continuing to chart his own path in game development, Le admits there are things he wishes had gone differently. "I do have some regrets," he tells EDGE. "A lot of the people who I still keep in touch with at Valve, I kind of notice that they're really well off financially."

A full Trophy list for Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma has been uncovered, suggesting that the highly rated RPG is ready for release on PS5. Guardians of Azuma is the latest instalment in Marvelous' Rune Factory series, having launched for Switch 2, Switch, and PC back in June of this year. Funnily enough, the game was actually age rated for Sony's current-gen system before it had even released, leading many to believe that its Nintendo-focused exclusivity was timed. Of course, six months of that supposed exclusivity will be up this week — so we could be seeing an official announcement before the year is out. If you're wondering what kind of RPG Guardians of Azuma is, it's got a flashy action combat system built on top of town-building and farming elements. There's also a heavy focus on forging bonds with a colourful cast of characters. Again, it received very positive reviews from both critics and players, with our pals at Nintendo Life giving it an 'excellent' 9/10 in their Switch 2 review. Are you interested in playing Guardians of Azuma on PS5? Daydream about your ideal anime-styled spouse in the comments section below.

Work on the movie adaptation of a smash hit co-op shooter Helldivers is now well underway. Justin Lin of Fast & Furious fame will direct the film, based on a script written by horror movie veteran Gary Dauberman. He’s best known for writing the screenplays for It and Annabelle. As you’d expect, the film will be released by Sony Pictures Entertainment, with PlayStation subsidiary PS Productions overseeing the project. Additional organisations involved will include Lin’s own Perfect Storm Entertainment. While we don’t know much about the plot itself, Starship Troopers will likely be a massive inspiration, as Helldivers is effectively a video game adaptation of the 90s hit. We’d expect a blend of comedy and action, although Dauberman’s involvement does potentially hint at some horror elements as well. Lin is not a gamer, and he apparently leaned into that with his pitch for the project. According to the Hollywood Reporter, his goal is to flesh out the overall fiction of the franchise and “find the humanity” in the characters. Of course, he already has an existing relationship with Sony, as he’s also been hired to direct the live action adaptation of anime One Punch Man. There’s no word on any casting decisions or a target release date just yet, but it sounds like this project is moving along pretty quickly, so don’t be surprised if we get a lot more news soon.

There's newfound hope the Splinter Cell Remake will one day release, as the project's first game director has rejoined development on the title three years after his departure. David Grivel posted to his LinkedIn profile one week ago that he was "very happy to announce that I'm rejoining Ubisoft Toronto as Game Director on the Splinter Cell Remake! A very special team and project to me." Drivel served as game director on the Splinter Cell Remake project up until 2022, at which point he left to work on Battlefield 6 at EA. He then went back to Ubisoft Toronto to work on an unannounced game in May 2024, then left again late last year to join a developer named Worlds Untold, which was quickly shut down. Drivel now finds himself back on the Splinter Cell Remake three years later. Officially confirmed in December 2021, the remake of the first Splinter Cell title has not been seen outside of the most minor updates. The return of David Grivel may boost development efforts, however.

The new upgrade for Red Dead Redemption is out today on all platforms, and while the game is now live and playable on Xbox Series X|S, the upgrade path from the old Xbox 360 version isn't working for lots of players - and there's some confusion as to why at the moment. When the team at Rockstar announced this new version of RDR last month, they said that "current owners on PS4, Nintendo Switch, or the digital backward compatible version on Xbox One will be able to upgrade digitally for free". However, right now, lots existing owners of Red Dead on 360/Xbox One are being asked to pay the team's introductory 50% off discount for the new version. To be clear, Rockstar's initial wording on this (as you can see up above) suggests that the back compat version will get a free upgrade. However, after doing a little digging, we're noticing that people who bought this RDR/RDR2 bundle from 2023 (when the PS4 version of RDR came out) are getting free access - whilst owners who bought the 360 version on its own years ago (like yours truly) are being asked to pay up. Heading over to the game's subreddit only leads to even more confusion. This post, where a fan asks Rockstar Support about the issue, shows the developer saying that the new upgrade is not free for 360 owners - even though on a technical level, the only version of Red Dead Redemption on Xbox prior to this upgrade was indeed the 360 game. It's worth noting that this is just one Rockstar Support response and may not be accurate. There's a whole discussion further into that thread about what's going on here, with lots of different suggestions and interpretations. One responder shows evidence of their 2023 bundle purchase working for the free upgrade, which again adds to the theory that it's this specific bundle that's providing free access on Xbox Series X|S for now. So, this could all be one big glitch and older 360 owners will soon get free access - or this whole upgrade path may only apply to newer purchases of Red Dead 1, syncing up with the PS4 and Switch releases from 2023 onwards. Honestly, we're just about as confused as anyone right now, but the long and short of it is that if you can't get in for free just yet and you own the old 360 version, it's worth waiting to see if Rockstar comes out to clarify the situation.

Ahead of launch later this week, Xbox and Activision have given us a closer look at the multiplayer maps coming to Black Ops 7 Season 01 - with four new levels coming to the Game Pass FPS later this week. The maps in question are Fate, Odysseus, Utopia and Standoff; the latter being a returning classic from 2012's Black Ops 2. You can take a look at the four new additions in action up above, and we'll chuck some descriptions for them down below as well: These four multiplayer maps arrive alongside some new Zombies levels, weapons, operators and progression improvements; which we've detailed elsewhere at Pure Xbox in our broader Season 01 overview. We'll throw the team's full Season 01 roadmap down below anyway, so you can get a quick glimpse at what's arriving both later this week and during the mid-season update. Black Ops 7 Season 01 begins on December 4th, free for existing owners and Game Pass Ultimate subscribers across Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC.

Nintendo has been releasing all sorts of software and firmware updates recently, and it's now rolled out an update for its Nintendo Today! mobile application. The app, which provides daily updates from the world of Nintendo, has today been updated to Version 2.2.0. It's currently live on iOS, with the App Store page also revealing "what's new". This includes a new Donkey Kong theme (seemingly inspired by the recent release Donkey Kong Bananza). Along with this, the app is now also avaialble in Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore. Image: OatmealDome (via social media) If you haven't already downloaded this app, once again it offers regular updates on "all things Nintendo" including Switch 2 news, game information, videos, comics and even some Nintendo trivia and history. It's also got a built-in event schedule, marking significant Nintendo events including releases, special occasions and in-game events. In case you missed it, Nintendo recently released an update for its Switch and Switch 2 mobile app adding some new features. You can find out more in our previous story.

Think every little secret about Street Fighter II has been discovered? Well, you'd be wrong, as a new debug menu has been found in the 'Turbo' version of the game. TurboAnnihilate is the one who made the discovery, unearthing a debug menu for sprite scaling and rotation. To access this menu, TurboAnnihilate says: This begs the question – were there ever any plans to add sprite scaling to the game? This effect is seen in titles like Art of Fighting and Fatal Fury, so it would be interesting to know if Capcom was experimenting with a similar approach for Street Fighter II.