
Originally the controls for Metroid Prime on GameCube were so clumsy and awkward that its fans had to argue it was not an FPS at all, but something else, such as a first-person puzzle game. It’s all logically laid out to reflect the story and setting, but the world mirrors your progress in a brilliant way: Rooms that once took toil and grit to get through can soon be zipped through with the help of a newly obtained skill or weapon. A flowing fountain babbles down the side of a sunny sanctuary hall a furnace chamber pumps heat through conveniently morph-ball sized vents to other areas a lab deep underground holds experiments in tubes that act as jump-scare time bombs. Each room has a purpose and a name, with details that make no two places quite alike.

There are so many things to laud in Metroid Prime, but its biggest accomplishment is Tallon IV itself.
