I'm treating Metroid Prime: Remastered as a boring task like washing the dishes or doing paperwork.
The game released over two years ago on the Nintendo Switch, and there's nothing forcing me to play it except my curiosity.
Reddit threads about playing video games and keeping up with your backlog as an adult always end up with someone karma-farming in the comments with a reply like "Games aren't homework. If you don't want to play or are not having fun, don't play it." I could agree with these people, but then I'd also be wrong.
I'm not having fun with Metroid Prime: Remastered. I bought the game because I expected to feel excited about the masterpiece it supposedly is, since the original is the best-rated Game Cube title ever on Metacritic and this Switch remaster has a solid score of 93. On Destructoid, we gave it an 8.5 review score, saying it's "worth your time and cash."
Turns out Metroid Prime: Remastered is as fun as feeling sick during a swing ride. Its narrow passages make me feel claustrophobic. I feel trapped by Samus' suit. The first-person controls on a console are something I'll never get used to. And the non-linear exploration isn't my favorite way of playing any video game. I'll still force myself to play and finish it, though.
What makes me stick to the game isn't peer pressure or avoiding the feeling that I've wasted money on it. It's just curiosity.
Playing with a different mindset
Behind the endlessly respawning swarms of War Wasps and long corridors that lead to early dead ends, there's something in this game a lot of people love. My hope is that he empathy of trying to look at the game through someone else's point of view will make me see Metroid Prime: Remastered in a way I haven't yet. Maybe the fun is in getting lost because I will be happy when I find the right passage. Or despite all the optional content, the fun is in blitzing through rooms of enemies and getting to the main areas quickly. I don't know yet.
I want to explore the game and discover what makes people have fun with it, even if I don't feel the fun. I also like building that empathic connection with things like listening to death metal albums my friends send me, or watching movies I'd never pick if other people didn't tell me it's good.
That empathic connection is buried in what's a mostly unfun game for me, yes, but it's probably worth the price. I'll figure it out. It's not like Metroid Prime: Remastered is a painful experience. It's just boring and sometimes annoying, but I can handle being bored.
We all play boring games
While we think we should have fun all the time with video games, it doesn't happen. There are a lot of unfun moments in games that still keep us playing, and we do that because we know there will be a bigger payoff down the road.
If you've ever played a sixth ranked match of Dota 2 or LoL after a five-loss streak, you know it's not fun, but you still want to play it for mastery or to challenge yourself. I've played the arena brawler Battlerite with friends just to get together online, despite thinking the game is mid. I've farmed PVE maps for countless hours in Guild Wars 2 because I wanted legendary gear, and it wasn't fun at all. You surely had similar experiences farming gear in World of Warcraft, gathering materials in Genshin Impact, and completing the battle pass in Fortnite.
Playing because it's a habit is also incredibly powerful. That's how some people get to the tens of thousands in Candy Crush levels.
Chasing fun when in a video game is a trap. If we, as busy adults with family duties and jobs, think a game is only worth it if it's fun, we're setting ourselves up to be disappointed because not every game comes with that quick dopamine hit. This mindset can get us quickly into a spiral of questioning, "Ok, is this fun? Am I having fun? What is fun? Am I supposed to have fun now? Why am I not having fun? If I'm not having fun, are video games not for me anymore?"
How about games that are boring before they're fun? Veteran players of Diablo, Path of Exile, Pokémon, and many RPGs hate the campaigns and stories that block the endgame. But if everything was always maxed out and unlocked by default, would it be fun for new players to jump into the endgame with no experience or effort at all?
My curiosity with Metroid Prime: Remastered is paying off. Killing enemies and navigating the map will always be an annoying obstacle instead of fun, but I like figuring out the game like a puzzle and realizing where I have to go next to progress in the game. When I finally get to the right room and get a power-up, I understand why some people like playing it.
I also feel like it only happens because Metroid Prime: Remastered is a great game. I don't think I'd force myself to complete a bad game. Or maybe I would just like to learn what makes it so bad.
So, don't start a game or keep playing it, chasing fun. Instead, be open to the experience and think about whether there's anything else you value while playing. It can be getting together with friends despite playing an online game you suck at, or reliving the past by playing your favorite childhood game, or even exploring a complex RPG plot like a book.
The post Metroid Prime: Remastered reminded me fun isn’t the only reason to play a game appeared first on Destructoid.
