Metroid Prime brings joy that needs no further elaboration.
I'm somewhat biased on this topic, but I approach every new game in a series that I care about with apprehension.
Prime 2 was the best in the series, IMO. Prime 3 I think had the best set of abilities and upgrades, but there was way too much talky-talky and "ok, go here now." I recently tried to replay Fusion and the fucking story ... just constant interruptions to tell me where it wants me to go and give exposition that I've heard repeatedly already.
Then there's Dread. Ugh. Finished it and had absolutely no desire to ever play it again. I know there are some sequence breaks possible (including scripted ones) but I found the entire game uninteresting and even if there were parts I liked, I'm not redoing those stupid fucking robot hide and seek sections.
So hopefully there's less story and more explore-y in Prime 4 but I'm skeptical.
I greatly enjoyed Dread, and enjoyed the twist behind the conversations with AIdam. I understand the apprehension, but Prime 1, at any rate, did an excellent job of letting the player unearth the plot at their own pace through the scans, which the trailer prominently showed off.
The formula established in Prime 1 and 2 was perfect: scan the lore if you want to, watch a very small handful of short cut scenes when beating bosses.
There were just too many bits of story in 3 constantly breaking the flow of the game, and I found the other bounty hunters kind of forced and uninteresting.
Prime 2 has an oppressive atmosphere and feeling of utter aloneness that most games cannot even dream of. Which also makes it a chore to play a lot of the time. One of those situations where what makes the game great also makes it terrible. Still love it though.
Prime 3 is just proof that most people suck at games. Suddenly the control scheme for the first 2 games was "impossibly awful" and they had to fix it by making it so dependent on the Wii that now it'll never be playable outside it. And yeah, it spends so long talking that it can never build any atmosphere, because the moment it starts to someone else breaks it.
Yeah, that's what I find enjoyable about it -- the dark world, even after I've played through it a half dozen times or more, is just so uncomfortable and isolated. Even when you're at full power it's always unpleasant.
Probably the closest thing I've experienced to that in another game is Darkwood.
Darkwood is a great comparison. I've got a few more itching in my head but I can't bring their name to the front.
But both are games that I love the memories of and feel the urge the replay regularly, but then the actual playing is a stressful experience that is often unfun. Yet I'd not want it changed it anyway because that would take all of what's good about it away.
I'm somewhat biased on this topic, but I approach every new game in a series that I care about with apprehension.
Prime 2 was the best in the series, IMO. Prime 3 I think had the best set of abilities and upgrades, but there was way too much talky-talky and "ok, go here now." I recently tried to replay Fusion and the fucking story ... just constant interruptions to tell me where it wants me to go and give exposition that I've heard repeatedly already.
Then there's Dread. Ugh. Finished it and had absolutely no desire to ever play it again. I know there are some sequence breaks possible (including scripted ones) but I found the entire game uninteresting and even if there were parts I liked, I'm not redoing those stupid fucking robot hide and seek sections.
So hopefully there's less story and more explore-y in Prime 4 but I'm skeptical.
I greatly enjoyed Dread, and enjoyed the twist behind the conversations with AIdam. I understand the apprehension, but Prime 1, at any rate, did an excellent job of letting the player unearth the plot at their own pace through the scans, which the trailer prominently showed off.
The formula established in Prime 1 and 2 was perfect: scan the lore if you want to, watch a very small handful of short cut scenes when beating bosses.
There were just too many bits of story in 3 constantly breaking the flow of the game, and I found the other bounty hunters kind of forced and uninteresting.
Prime 2 has an oppressive atmosphere and feeling of utter aloneness that most games cannot even dream of. Which also makes it a chore to play a lot of the time. One of those situations where what makes the game great also makes it terrible. Still love it though.
Prime 3 is just proof that most people suck at games. Suddenly the control scheme for the first 2 games was "impossibly awful" and they had to fix it by making it so dependent on the Wii that now it'll never be playable outside it. And yeah, it spends so long talking that it can never build any atmosphere, because the moment it starts to someone else breaks it.
Yeah, that's what I find enjoyable about it -- the dark world, even after I've played through it a half dozen times or more, is just so uncomfortable and isolated. Even when you're at full power it's always unpleasant.
Probably the closest thing I've experienced to that in another game is Darkwood.
Darkwood is a great comparison. I've got a few more itching in my head but I can't bring their name to the front.
But both are games that I love the memories of and feel the urge the replay regularly, but then the actual playing is a stressful experience that is often unfun. Yet I'd not want it changed it anyway because that would take all of what's good about it away.