Fresh previews just dropped for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, that big Nintendo holiday blockbuster we still haven’t gotten a dedicated Direct for, and they document a troubling discovery. At least for the game’s opening areas, the stoic bounty hunter Samus Aran isn’t alone. Instead, she’s accompanied by what is reportedly a very annoying Galactic Federation trooper named Myles MacKenzie. A new trailer reveals he’s not the game’s only sidekick, either.
“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?” That’s apparently how Myles introduces himself in Metroid Prime 4, according to a recent IGN preview. Metroid fans are used to quiet, creepy adventures investigating strange mysteries on alien planets. The last thing most of us want is an NPC constantly babbling nonsense in our ears.
But it sounds like that’s exactly what Myles does, at least in the early part of the game. He sounds full of cringe-y, MCU-style quips and the most obvious tips, like telling you to use missiles to damage armored enemies. “I was in complete disbelief at how Myles was constantly talking during gameplay, to the point where I dug around the settings menu to see if I could tone it down,” IGN‘s Logan Plant writes. “The only option I found was to mute voice acting entirely…”
Not good! Potentially even worse, Myles isn’t alone either. A new trailer today revealed even more trooper companions:
The overview introduces three additional humans Samus will come into contact with, seemingly in different parts of Metroid Prime 4‘s world. With previews stating that the game features four main biomes forking off of the central desert hub area, this heavily implies that Samus will be working with one of the stranded troopers in each of the different areas.
“Like Samus, some Galactic Federation troopers were also transported to Viewros,” we learn from the new trailer. “Follow distress signals to help the troopers, and occasionally battle alongside them. They can provide useful upgrades. Teamwork is key if any of you hope to escape the planet alive.”
Will they all be as chatty annoying as Myles apparently is? Hopefully not. It’s still a major red flag, though.
VGC‘s Andy Robinson was equally critical of Metroid Prime 4‘s opening hours, finding an escort mission that required him to defend Myles particularly off-putting. “By itself, these feel like pretty uninteresting mechanics,” he wrote. “But inside a Metroid game, it feels particularly disappointing. Beyond’s opening section felt like a solid, if predictable, Prime game drenched in a puddle of gameplay and narrative tropes, each sabotaging what makes the franchise beloved by fans. Metroid games are essentially sci-fi horror, but so far, Beyond feels like Indiana Jones – and not the good ones, either.”
You don’t have to be a diehard Metroid fan to be turned off by overly yappy NPCs. God of War‘s Atreus constantly interrupting quiet moments with unwanted hints was one of the bigger knocks against Ragnarök until an option was later patched in to make his suggestions less frequent. Even when the writing isn’t annoying, I still get tired of NPCs constantly talking to fill the lulls between action. Just because nothing is happening in the game doesn’t mean nothing is happening for me as the player.
We’ll find out if it’s as big of a drag in the rest of Metroid Prime 4 once it’s out on December 4. And if it is, well, I hope Retro Studios is already working on a way to patch in an option to cut Myles’ mic.
