Beyond Hands-On - Samus's Psychic Abilities Are More Than A Gimmick

Quick Overview

The hands-on preview of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond confirms that Samus's new psychic abilities, including the Psychic Beam, Psychic Bomb, and psychic-powered object manipulation, feel natural and enhance the classic exploration and combat loop, despite the demo being restricted to an initial tutorial section and a single combat encounter.

Key Points: The demo showcased Samus's new Psychic Abilities, including Psychic Beam, Psychic Bomb, and telekinesis-like object manipulation. The movement style and environmental interactions maintain the familiar feel of Metroid Prime games, but with added psychic depth. Samus acquired an Energy Tank and the Psychic Visor during the tutorial section (05:17). The Psychic Bomb functions like a charged Power Bomb but is manipulated telekinetically (07:09). The demo featured combat against Federation Technicians and a large boss named Carvex, which required using the new psychic powers to expose weak points (06:28, 06:47). The game environment, Fury Green, features lush, overgrown, realistic art styles contrasting with the previous cartoony Mario Kart 8 footage shown for comparison (01:01, 03:43). The preview was limited to the first few areas, concluding with the Carvex boss fight and an encounter with Specialist Myles MacKenzie (05:30, 06:27).

Context: This video provides a hands-on preview of the recently revealed game, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, which was playable at a debut event 18 years after Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. The preview focuses heavily on demonstrating Samus Aran's new Psychic Abilities, which she utilizes alongside her traditional armaments in the alien, jungle-like environment of the planet Viewros, interacting with a Galactic Federation Engineer named Myles MacKenzie.

Detailed Analysis

The preview confirms that Metroid Prime 4: Beyond retains the core first-person exploration and combat loop of the Prime series while integrating new Psychic Abilities. The demo begins with a tutorial section where Samus gains the Psychic Visor and learns to use telekinesis to grasp and move objects like Motes into sockets (01:27, 02:22). This ability is immediately applied to solve puzzles, such as activating a gate by moving a Mote (02:27). Samus also gains new powers like the Psychic Beam, which functions as a charged attack, and the Psychic Bomb, a telekinetic version of the Power Bomb that can be aimed remotely (07:04). Combat sequences involve fighting new enemies like the Glottagropper and Technicians, culminating in a boss fight against the sentient, carnivorous plant Carvex (06:28). The environmental design on the planet Fury Green is highly detailed, featuring lush, overgrown, realistic organic structures, which the narrator compares favorably to the art styles of current-gen consoles. The demo concludes after Samus rescues Engineer Myles MacKenzie and defeats Carvex, hinting at a larger, more open-ended exploration structure than previous linear Prime installments.