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Metroid Prime Remastered |OT| Once More Through Tallon IV

Chiggs

Member
Holy shit at the save pacing in Phazon Mines. Sheesh, games were harder back in the day.

Phazon Mines be all like:


"Hey, come deal with all these fucking invisible trooper pirates and super turrets, have a nice boss fight, then have some more trooper pirates and turrets, then enjoy this fight against an invisible mini-boss, okay...now for a puzzle where you can die by electrocution...alright, now you can save."

I have 7 energy tanks and when it was all said and done, I had 62 health left. Thank God I beat it, because I'm not sure I would have replayed all that. Easily 2 or 3 hours.

Not surprised to see a lot of people mentioning this area as a "fuck it, I quit" section.
 
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nkarafo

Member
Imagine making a game over 20 years ago whose gameplay still holds up till this day that it gets raving reviews without integrating new areas, new AI or layout.

That’s how great MP was and is.

Gameplay and game design is not something that ages the same way graphics tech does. Yes, there might be "outdated" mechanics or controls (due to obsolete gamepad designs) but other than that, i don't see how Metroid Prime was ever surpassed by anything modern. Even later Metroid games are not quite as good as MP or even Super Metroid for that matter.

Don't forget, as time goes by, games become more and more mainstream and "accessible". If anything, most of the time this hurts gameplay and game design, it doesn't improve it. Over simplifying things and making them more streamlined and easier to understand is not always a good thing, most of the times it makes a game worse. Games in the past were designed with a gamer perspective in mind, not the average Joe who can't separate a game from a movie.
 
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Larsowitz

Member
Dead Space is remade from the ground up in a new engine with all new assets, including some entirely new or reworked areas, changed weapon behaviors, different AI, different systems for spawning in enemies, a different level layout. It's very much a full remake in the same sense as the RE games.
However I could see comparing this to something like the Crash Bandicoot remakes. Even though those are fully remade in a new engine they stay so close to the levels, controls, and mechanics of the original that it feels in the ballpark to what was done with Metroid Prime.
That makes sense, thanks.
 
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Trunx81

Member
For me, it is. I was waiting for MP4 to get a switch but then Dread came along and this dropped out of nowhere.

I’ll grab a Mario game too. Maybe Odyssey, which I’ve played and loved.

The Metroid binge is set to begin though.
Same for me. I bought the Switch BECAUSE of Metroid 4. And look where we are now .. 7 years later.

In the meantime, I´m realizing how much I have forgotten from this game. Where to go? What to do? But it´s still easier than over 20 years ago on a CRT with controls that I, after playing only on PC since the Super Nintendo, had to get used to first. Just obtained the boost ball and I remember PRACTICING how to use it to get where I had to go. Now it just works.
 

Exede

Member
My son (13) started to play the game, so nice to see what he's doing in the game. He struggles with it more than with Dread. The lil one finished it in Dread Difficulty for comparison.
 

Demption

Member
I'm playing this game for the first time. I was sceptical when I read phrases like "feels like a modern game".

But I have to say this is fucking phenomenal game. It feels like a modern game but also something really unique, and....pure, i guess? How did this get made back in the day?
 

sandbood

Banned
I'm playing this game for the first time. I was sceptical when I read phrases like "feels like a modern game".

But I have to say this is fucking phenomenal game. It feels like a modern game but also something really unique, and....pure, i guess? How did this get made back in the day?
Modern games are mostly shite in comparison to Metroid Prime especially when it comes to map design.
ne1Oikt8FKMwUCrlFfgLkedR7NY3q-P2SYhFZn_zJXQ.png


Chozo ruins map
metroidprime_map_chozo.jpg

Metroid-Prime-Remastered-Main-Plaza-x-Transport-Map.jpg
 

Astral Dog

Member
Replaying Prime 1 after many years, i remember that guy who used to post here that always said Prime was the most boring game of all time lol

i don't entirely agree, but he was into something, exploration and atmosphere in Metroid Prime are its biggest assets, translating the Metroid essence into a 3D game and a first person shooter at that, is no easy task, and Retro achieved the impossible.
When it comes to action though, it strumbles because the action is not even average, but kinda bad, too simple and sluggish , i believe a fun Metroid game should have a healthy balance of action elements and exploration, and Prime1 goes too far into one side for me. So the game feels slow and not too exciting to play or battle enemies, the good news is that exploration is enjoyable enough to (almost) make up for it

And that the sequels tried to adress this by introducing stronger combat elements, more boss fights, higher difficulty etc. that's why despite Prime 1 being the highest rated i though it was the weakest of the trilogy in some ways 🤭(not in soundtrack though 👌)
 
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Gambit2483

Member
Ordered a physical copy on amazon last week but now the ETA is unknown, and it's out of stock on the site. Hope they don't pull some bs and cancel these.

They did the same thing with Bayonetta 3 collectors edition and I ordered it immediately. I ended up canceling the order since it was in eternal limbo. Amazon really screws up Nintendo related preorders for limited availability items
 

DKPOWPOW

Member
I'm playing this game for the first time. I was sceptical when I read phrases like "feels like a modern game".

But I have to say this is fucking phenomenal game. It feels like a modern game but also something really unique, and....pure, i guess? How did this get made back in the day?
I remember an EGM review where the guy said it felt like he was playing the best game from 6 years in the future.

The game still feels modern in a lot of ways, but it holds onto it's 90s roots too. A lot of the times I get that Turok feel from it, the art and atmosphere.

Replaying Prime 1 after many years, i remember that guy who used to post here that always said Prime was the most boring game of all time lol

i don't entirely agree, but he was into something, exploration and atmosphere in Metroid Prime are its biggest assets, translating the Metroid essence into a 3D game and a first person shooter at that, is no easy task, and Retro achieved the impossible.
When it comes to action though, it strumbles because the action is not even average, but kinda bad, too simple and sluggish , i believe a fun Metroid game should have a healthy balance of action elements and exploration, and Prime1 goes too far into one side for me. So the game feels slow and not too exciting to play or battle enemies, the good news is that exploration is enjoyable enough to (almost) make up for it

And that the sequels tried to adress this by introducing stronger combat elements, more boss fights, higher difficulty etc. that's why despite Prime 1 being the highest rated i though it was the weakest of the trilogy in some ways 🤭(not in soundtrack though 👌)
Yeah. As much as I love the Prime 1, I feel 2 and 3 are better games. Prime 1 is the most consistent, but also somewhat least interesting one.

Echoes has this just overwhelming feel to it, but as you carry on it just gets better and better. Starts off slow, but ends as probably the best game in the Trilogy.

Corruption is more streamlined and fast-paced. The emphasis on the Wii controls made the combat and boss battles so good it just feels like it's on another level in that regard.
 

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
Only things I'd want improved/changed in 4 is the upgrades to not be so... power upy and old school. I mean I can deal with it for things like missile and energy tanks, though they could be made to fit in the world more too, but it was silly to for example have the actual suits just laying there as an icon. And I guess there's little reason to hold on to other kinda silly and gamey traditions like shooting door shields too. Missiles and such I get, which you only do once to break the seals anyway, but otherwise doors could just open as you get near, same as if you've already shot the shield first. And maybe not every planet/place has somehow come up with almost the same exact technology as everywhere else, lol, maybe in some places you'll need to somehow upgrade your clearance level and/or fool the sensors so they once again just open as you walk by without some physical new thingie.
 
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chaseroni

Member
Holy shit at the save pacing in Phazon Mines. Sheesh, games were harder back in the day.

Phazon Mines be all like:


"Hey, come deal with all these fucking invisible trooper pirates and super turrets, have a nice boss fight, then have some more trooper pirates and turrets, then enjoy this fight against an invisible mini-boss, okay...now for a puzzle where you can die by electrocution...alright, now you can save."

I have 7 energy tanks and when it was all said and done, I had 62 health left. Thank God I beat it, because I'm not sure I would have replayed all that. Easily 2 or 3 hours.

Not surprised to see a lot of people mentioning this area as a "fuck it, I quit" section.
I fucking love that part of the game, shit feels real dangerous there and heating up.
Love the finale too
 

MagnesD3

Member
I remember an EGM review where the guy said it felt like he was playing the best game from 6 years in the future.

The game still feels modern in a lot of ways, but it holds onto it's 90s roots too. A lot of the times I get that Turok feel from it, the art and atmosphere.


Yeah. As much as I love the Prime 1, I feel 2 and 3 are better games. Prime 1 is the most consistent, but also somewhat least interesting one.

Echoes has this just overwhelming feel to it, but as you carry on it just gets better and better. Starts off slow, but ends as probably the best game in the Trilogy.

Corruption is more streamlined and fast-paced. The emphasis on the Wii controls made the combat and boss battles so good it just feels like it's on another level in that regard.
Wow, I actually think Metroid Prime is significantly better than its Sequels (even though they are Good games). The pacing, the environmental variety, the world connectivity and the soundtrack all really sets it above the others.

Echoes is probably my least favorite but still Good, I remember thinking the art and the world just felt very bland, I didnt really enjoy the Light/Dark mechanics, thought the Dark world was a bit lazy with it just being the same room reused after an annoying loading screen. The Screw attack and bosses were fun but I hated how they gave it to you late game, it didnt see enough play.

Im currently playing Metroid Prime 3 for the first time and Im having alot of fun (im 70% through) its already my second favorite Prime game, I think it has a lot more interesting worlds to explore than Metroid Prime 2 but its somewhat linear, small and more disconnected making it feel less like a world, I dont think this really was a great move, to me this core to the Metroid Prime Experience but it is what it is. The motion controls work pretty well even though I prefer standard controls and it opens things up to some interesting enemy designs they can make for them and the grapple numbchuck mechanic can be pretty fun but I still think the game leans in too hard on them, theres alot of meh Gimmicks imo, I prefer my motion control usage to be very infrequent or not very involved personally. The boss's and lore have been really solid in this one though and Im glad you get the Screw Attack before the halfway mark this time so I actually can use it a little. One thing I think is a move in the right direction is how this game lets you use Energy Tanks for something other than health, it makes things less linear with decision making which is appreciated.

I think the biggest problems with the sequels so far is that they are pretty derivative in the wrong ways not really evolving older core mechanics in interesting ways and when they do something different it kind of leans away from what made the original such an Amazing game. My hope for Metroid Prime 4 is that they take big steps to Evolve Metroid Prime as a series, an Open World like Botw could do alot but I also hope they put new smart spins on some of the older moves that we havent seen before that really ADD and arent just a gimmick like Motion Controls. Also please give me something else besides Missile Upgrades, I hate that after the first 5 you feel nothing.
 
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Buggy Loop

Member
I'm playing this game for the first time. I was sceptical when I read phrases like "feels like a modern game".

But I have to say this is fucking phenomenal game. It feels like a modern game but also something really unique, and....pure, i guess? How did this get made back in the day?

It's mind boggling to be honest that we had this game in 2002.

I was here (well gaming-age) in 99 and for the gamecube unveiling at spaceworld 2000, the game had a teaser but not much to go with. Mostly ridiculed back then that Retro Studio went from Ravenblade demo to Metroid Prime. How the fuck that new team would handle a transfer to 3D on such a beloved franchise. E3 2001 came and it was again a teaser with not much to go on.

Screenshots like this would leak about what it was in Alpha
images


Spaceworld 2001 "trailer" looked rough (holy shit the meltdown we had for Zelda wind waker's look, for those that remember..)



Nintendo kept the lid close on this game and almost nobody had a clue going into fall 2002 outside of a LOT and i mean a LOT of pessimism for the game, especially on GAF (duh). I only remember that the first reviews for the game pretty much stunned everyone. "WTF, this is GOOD?" A lot of crow eating happened that day, including most nintendo fans too as really, anything presented before was really not super looking and nobody had any idea if Retro could pull it off.

Oh boy, did they ever.
 
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Buying this for sure, as I’ve really missed Metroid. Something that has become even more evident after playing the shit out of Returnal, which channels a lot of what makes Metroid tick.
 

SCB3

Member
If you're a true fan, you're double dipping ;)
It’s one of those games where I had to!

So I finally started the Remaster today in a car trip and it plays and looks fantastic, all those memories from Xmas 2003 came flooding back, I will say, the first couple of hours are kinda rough with no save points, I know the saving part is a part of Metroids difficulty but it was a little unfair that I had to play nearly 40 mins without any before getting the missiles and Morph ball first
 

ADiTAR

ידע זה כוח
It’s one of those games where I had to!

So I finally started the Remaster today in a car trip and it plays and looks fantastic, all those memories from Xmas 2003 came flooding back, I will say, the first couple of hours are kinda rough with no save points, I know the saving part is a part of Metroids difficulty but it was a little unfair that I had to play nearly 40 mins without any before getting the missiles and Morph ball first
You can save on the ship. Also the game is kinda easy on normal, for me at least, I'm going in on hard this wknd. I found out that scans transfer over, so it'll be more streamlined, I just need to not forget the ice bats and the aqua drones or something.
 

Gambit2483

Member
I'm starting to understand the digital argument. Amazon has gone to shit of late.
RkI7SKn.png
Amazon is a joke. How the hell does something like this even happen?? I swear it'd always an issue with their Nintendo products

I'm going to see if I can preorder from gamestop....sheesh
 

v1oz

Member
Only things I'd want improved/changed in 4 is the upgrades to not be so... power upy and old school. I mean I can deal with it for things like missile and energy tanks, though they could be made to fit in the world more too, but it was silly to for example have the actual suits just laying there as an icon. And I guess there's little reason to hold on to other kinda silly and gamey traditions like shooting door shields too. Missiles and such I get, which you only do once to break the seals anyway, but otherwise doors could just open as you get near, same as if you've already shot the shield first. And maybe not every planet/place has somehow come up with almost the same exact technology as everywhere else, lol, maybe in some places you'll need to somehow upgrade your clearance level and/or fool the sensors so they once again just open as you walk by without some physical new thingie.
I dunno if you've noticed but if you look very closely at the remaster there is a slight change to a more a cartoony and less gritty visual style compared to the Gamecube original. This makes the non realistic 'gamey' aspects far less incongruous with the presentation.
 
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Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
I dunno if you've noticed but if you look very closely at the remaster there is a slight change to a more a cartoony and less gritty visual style compared to the Gamecube original. This makes the non realistic 'gamey' aspects far less incongruous with the presentation.
Not seeing that, I think it was pretty cartoony already with closely following previous Metroid creature designs and what not. Still it doesn't make much sense for the varia suit or whatever to just be that screw attack lightning symbol metroid logo thing showing up out of nowhere after a boss fight and not even show up magically where the boss was exactly a la Zelda or Castlevania or whatever. Maybe in Prime 4 it can be justified as, Idk, using the killed off bosses' energy or an energy source they were using to restore/upgrade your functions. Idk, just anything to ground it a liiiiiitle bit more.
 
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DeVeAn

Member
Holy shit at the save pacing in Phazon Mines. Sheesh, games were harder back in the day.

Phazon Mines be all like:


"Hey, come deal with all these fucking invisible trooper pirates and super turrets, have a nice boss fight, then have some more trooper pirates and turrets, then enjoy this fight against an invisible mini-boss, okay...now for a puzzle where you can die by electrocution...alright, now you can save."

I have 7 energy tanks and when it was all said and done, I had 62 health left. Thank God I beat it, because I'm not sure I would have replayed all that. Easily 2 or 3 hours.

Not surprised to see a lot of people mentioning this area as a "fuck it, I quit" section.
I just did this section and yeah brutal.
 
While semantically you must be right and they probably thought of it that way, it's technically not a port, it's the emulated Wii version with heavy tweaks here and there, which I'm fine with, honestly, equally to SM3DAS games, they're emulated but some heavy changes were made in the interface to make them look maybe to Switch, also textures are just in another level on sharpness compared to original released.
That's not correct. Skyward Sword was ported, doesn't use the emulator they used for Super Mario Sunshine on Super Mario Collection and the studio behind it was the studio that did Twilight Princess HD on the Wii U a few years back. It runs natively, it's just that the game didn't re-enter "production" at any point during development, so they only touched up things, unlike with Metroid Prime where they updated their tech, and touched everything up.

This said, there's a tidbit about this port that goes in the direction of emulation, the GC/Wii GPU dependencies (TEV Pipeline) weren't done away, instead they opted to create a translation layer for those calls. I still wouldn't call it emulation seeing as TEV was fixed function and I doubt translating those into shaders is demanding, might even be something pre-baked seeing the results are finite but yeah.
Holy shit at the save pacing in Phazon Mines. Sheesh, games were harder back in the day.

Phazon Mines be all like:


"Hey, come deal with all these fucking invisible trooper pirates and super turrets, have a nice boss fight, then have some more trooper pirates and turrets, then enjoy this fight against an invisible mini-boss, okay...now for a puzzle where you can die by electrocution...alright, now you can save."

I have 7 energy tanks and when it was all said and done, I had 62 health left. Thank God I beat it, because I'm not sure I would have replayed all that. Easily 2 or 3 hours.

Not surprised to see a lot of people mentioning this area as a "fuck it, I quit" section.
I remember that area/sequence.

To be honest, I'm fond of it, I think it added character. Don't remember losing, just the streak without being able to save.
 
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Kataploom

Gold Member
That's not correct. Skyward Sword was ported, doesn't use the emulator they used for Super Mario Sunshine on Super Mario Collection and the studio behind it was the studio that did Twilight Princess HD on the Wii U a few years back. It runs natively, it's just that the game didn't re-enter "production" at any point during development, so they only touched up things, unlike with Metroid Prime where they updated their tech, and touched everything up.

This said, there's a tidbit about this port that goes in the direction of emulation, the GC/Wii GPU dependencies (TEV Pipeline) weren't done away, instead they opted to create a translation layer for those calls. I still wouldn't call it emulation seeing as TEV was fixed function and I doubt translating those into shaders is demanding, might even be something pre-baked seeing the results are finite but yeah.

I remember that area/sequence.

To be honest, I'm fond of it, I think it added character. Don't remember losing, just the streak without being able to save.
Interesting, I swear I saw a technical analysis from DF or someone else claiming it's half emulated too.
 

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
It’s been fun reading through the commentary as people are either discovering or rediscovering the game. That’s about all I can do right now since I’m waiting for the physical copy :-/

I am really excited to see what they do to spruce up Echoes, though, and I hope the wait isn’t too long. I think Prime 1 is the best of the trilogy, but Prime 2 was amazing for how downright oppressive it felt. Segments like the underwater area and some of the early dark world areas felt genuinely dangerous to explore and the game really had no interest in holding your hand through what was a pretty treacherous game. Kind of crazy to me that it got made in the first place, but I loved it. I seem to recall hearing that they toned down the difficulty in the Wii re-release, so hopefully they’ll give us the option to use the default difficulty as well.

Also: asked this earlier, but… is there any support for the GC controller in Remastered?
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
Can't wait for my physical copy. What a year for gaming so far!

Nintendo reminding everyone why their games are the actual pinnacle of gameplay.
 
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NeoIkaruGAF

Gold Member
Metroid Prime’s general design puts most modern AAA+ productions to shame.
The attention to detail in each and every room to guide the player’s interest is stunning. Replaying Prime for the umpteenth time, I get the complaints about Dread being “too guided” even less. Prime is structured in pretty much the same way. There isn’t a single square meter in this game that doesn’t show a purpose. Everything, everything is where it is for a reason.

It’s a game from another era, sure, but it’s impressive how it trusts the player’s intelligence. Nothing is spoiled to you before you can even approach the problem at hand. There’s a million hints scattered everywhere in the scans, and they do tell you a lot if you pay attention, but they’re never too explicit while at the same time never being as obscure or deliberately obtuse as in your average FromSoft game.

I feel they could have done away with the original’s most glaring sins, mostly the absurd respawn speed of some enemies in literally adjacent rooms. Ghosts, air pirates, turrets, drones - all of these will be back way too quickly when you’re just trying to understand where to go next, or you’re in the middle of an item clean-up of the area. I guess this had something to do with the system‘s memory back in the day, but today they could have softened it a bit.

That first dive into Phazon Mines was much worse on GameCube, believe me. Fighting that Power Bomb miniboss without free aim was the worst thing in the game. I remember failing that battle at least twice, that’s about half an hour lost each time if you want to rescan everything along the way.
 
Interesting, I swear I saw a technical analysis from DF or someone else claiming it's half emulated too.
It's the claim that the GPU/TEV Pipeline code is still within the game code that most likely throws people that way, but even if that's true, it's still a misconception to say there's anything remotely similar to emulation involved.

There are better terms to support that claim such as calling it a wrapper or a compatibility layer. And, although keeping graphics bits "as is" is not that common, developers will leave as much code virtually unchanged as possible in any direct port/multiplatform release. This sometimes means similar processes to this just not on the graphics side of things.
 

SteadyEvo

Member
The wait for the physical release is killing me. This game will take me back to a happier time in my life. Such fond memories. Can't wait for the 22nd.
 

GametimeUK

Member
The fact this game is like 20+ years old and still feels new whilst standing out from the crowd in areas of its design is staggering. It speaks to longevity of some of these older games design philosophy. All it took was a lick of paint and a modern control scheme.

Not every story needs to be spoon-fed to me. Trust me to explore and drop me in a world to take in at my own pace without ripping me out of it with cutscenes and dialogue where I become inactive for 5 minutes at a time whilst watching a movie.

I love all types of games and that's including the "cinematic" type, but damn it's just nice to have a bit of variety in the "Triple A" space.
 
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Stratostar

Member
Not much I can say about this masterpiece that hasn't already been said, but I gotta say I've been enjoying reading all the reactions and impressions from first-timers just as much as I've been enjoying playing through the game again myself. Truly one of the finest single-player experiences ever crafted, and a masterclass in atmosphere and game design. Worth every penny.
 

SCB3

Member
I ordered a switch and dread just now. I’ll download Prime when it gets here.

I think I’ll play Dread first but I’m still undecided. Just figured I’d save the best for last unless there is any reason not to.
Dread is a fantastic game, one of my GotY when it came out, I almost bought a OLED for it alone, enjoy!


Back to Prime, I just beat Flaahgra (I've always hated this boss!) and got the Varia suit, just checked a 100% guide and I have everything so far from pure memory (not bad considering I've not played Prime since the Trilogy release on Wii which was what 14 years ago?), loving this again so far, its really well done
 

Chiggs

Member
YtyN5e7.jpg


Final Thoughts:

Pros:
  • Beautiful visuals and immaculate audio.
  • Incredibly atmospheric.
  • All of the areas are a pleasure to explore.
  • Space Pirates are thoroughly vicious...especially those yellow pricks.
  • Decent enemy variety.
  • Meta Ridley makes you think he's a wimp, then he lands on the ground and shit gets real.
  • Final boss is extremely satisfying.
  • Dual analog controls = :messenger_sunglasses:

Cons:
  • Backtracking inflates the play time by about 3-4 hours.
    • While it's fun to grab new/hidden items, and access previously closed-off areas, the journey there isn't always that entertaining.
      • This is where Metroid Prime 2 blows the doors off Metroid Prime; the backtracking is handled better.
  • Chozo Ghosts = :poop:
  • Not enough boss fights.
    • Again, an area where Metroid Prime 2 shines bright like a 💎.
  • Not enough puzzles.
    • Another area where Metroid Prime 2 = :messenger_ok:.

All in all, a fantastic effort well worth the $40. If Metroid Prime 2: Echoes doesn't receive the same treatment, then it's a crime against humanity. Metroid Prime 3, on the other hand, whatever...:messenger_tears_of_joy:
 
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Mozzarella

Member
Alright so i have been playing this game as of lately and omg its even better than i remember, i like the new controls and the visuals and atmosphere are so good.
I'm near the end, acquired all upgrades, and this is a masterpiece, i previously rated prime a 4/5 but now this is a total 5/5 imo, total masterclass in game design.
 
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