After tiptoeing through an eerie, condensed part of Fury Green, I came across a crash-landed Galactic Federation ship, where I was immediately taken aback by the tonal whiplash. My way here was filled with hauntingly beautiful choral melodies and isolated exploration – it was vintage Metroid Prime. But now, it’s finally time to get to know specialist Myles MacKenzie, who introduced himself with this honestly cringey monologue (and if you don't believe me, watch it in the video version of this preview at the top of the page):
“Oh wow! Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. What a mess. You’re alone, on a planet, with no hope of survival. But, you’re also not sitting next to Phil anymore in that cubicle… So… Win?”
He didn’t leave a great first impression, but I was still intrigued to see where it went. Samus and Myles got swarmed by some jungle monsters, and it became my job to protect Myles from them. After a close-quarters firefight that concluded with shooting the vines holding up Myles’ ship, he awarded me with the missile upgrade for being his savior. “This is fine,” I thought. I prefer isolation in Metroid, but I don’t mind running into a character here and there to flesh out the story with some voice acting and cutscenes. But then…
“If it's OK with you, I’m gonna tag along. So, where to? It might be a good idea to check the map and get our bearings.”
I started to get a sinking feeling. In one turn, Samus not only gained an unwanted companion, that companion also instantly started chiming in on what I should be doing, like Atreus to Kratos in God of War, or Aloy to… Aloy in Horizon. The next 20 minutes of my demo ranged from mildly annoying to downright infuriating, as Myles constantly bombarded me with either awkward attempts at quippy humor…
“It’s about to get reeeeal nerdy in here!”
Unwelcome hints that directly defy Metroid’s spirit of exploration and discovery:
“Missiles are effective against a creature with a hard shell, you know."
He would scold me for not stopping to save my game:
“Samus, there's something interesting over there. Are you sure we don’t need to use that?”
Comment on everything I scanned:
“Can you read that? Does that say anything about this place? They really don’t want anyone in here. Must be a sacred space.”
State the obvious:
“I can see the door, Samus! Let's get out of here.”
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