Consoles are consoles and PCs are PCs. I’ve always held this belief steadfastly, which is why the hybridization of the two in the form of the Steam Deck has always given me, in the common vernacular, the ick. I have a lot of games on the Epic Games Store thanks to its various giveaways, and the idea of effectively jailbreaking my Steam Deck (billed as a PC in your hand) to play them just puts me off. And yes, I know I say Metroid Prime 4 in the headline. Let me take you along with me on a narrative journey first.
To me, PCs are for high-end, extremely intense competitive gaming where every frame is do or die, and consoles are for sitting on your sofa and enjoying yourself. Reductive? Maybe. Accurate? Possibly. Related to Metroid Prime 4: Beyond? Look, I’m getting there. The point is, because I have always considered the separation of console and PC as sacred, I could only see the mouse functionality of the Nintendo Switch 2 as a silly gimmick. Now, after going hands-on with Metroid (see, was that so tough?), I finally see the light.
The Switch 2 Fixes One Of Console Play’s Biggest Weaknesses
Part of the problem was, until I held the new Joy-Con, I couldn’t separate them mentally from the old ones. I know the original reveal said they were bigger, but how bigger even is bigger, really? The old Joy-Con were so tiny they hurt your hands if you gripped them for too long, and even the thought of using them as a mouse was enough to give you cramps. These new ones feel so much more comfortable, though, that I can see myself actually using them as mice deliberately, not just once or twice to test out a funky new mechanic.
It’s in part because of this mental block over the whole Joy-Con as a mouse thing, and in part because I see PCs and consoles as distinctly different creatures, that I didn’t imagine the most obvious use for a mouse when attached to a games console – shooting. The Switch 2 lets your left-hand move Samus with your thumb as you would on a console, while your right hand rolls around and aims as you would on a PC. It’s mouse + keyboard, minus the keyboard. It’s genius.
Where the Steam Deck feels like the unholy entanglement of PC and console, the Switch 2 mouse feels more like a true union of the two disparate ideals. Wandering around with my left hand taking away the fiddly bit of PC play, while my right hand added a sense of accuracy and control that a console could never feel like unearthing gaming’s missing link. Metroid Prime 4 will probably be my most memorable game of everything I played during my Switch 2 hands-on, because it not only fixed a problem I didn’t know existed, but fixed a problem that if I did know it existed I would have stuck my fingers in my ears because it ran counter to my core ideology. Now, I’m a believer.
There is an obvious flaw that, as a console (and therefore a ‘sit on the couch’ machine), you won’t necessarily have a desk to hand. With Drag x Drive, I found my own legs were a suitable enough surface, though that was more about motion than precision. A coffee table or lap tray might be needed to play Metroid Prime 4 this way, but I do suspect this is the way it was meant to be played.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Is An Aesthetic Showcase For The Nintendo Switch 2
With just a short playable section, I didn’t get much opportunity to see exactly what Metroid Prime 4: Beyond will be like. As I cover in my overall Switch 2 impressions, it looks exquisite. Metroid Prime 4 looks like a triple-A game, not just Nintendo’s version of one we’ve grown accustomed to. There’s a coolness to the way the metal shimmers, Samus more imposing without her vaguely angular figure. I played in Quality mode at 60fps, and everything looked sleek and smooth. For those with more technical tastes, it will be fascinating to see this one cranked up to 120fps.
Aside from that, I shot some bad guys, unlocked some doors, morphed into some balls (just the one). It’s Metroid. It was a more linear section, even for Metroid Prime, with a classic ‘shoot the weak points’ battle at the end, and the whole thing feels even more cinematic than usual for a series already so used to making its visuals sing inside limited hardware. I didn’t leave with a fantastic idea of exactly what Metroid Prime 4 is, but I did leave feeling this will be a big game to watch in order to understand what the out-of-the-gate capabilities of the Switch 2 are.
