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Metroid Franchise’s Heroine Gets Personal. For decades, Samus Aran has been known as one of the first female protagonists in video games and one of the most enigmatic. Having traded her haunted past for the solitary life of a bounty hunter, Samus finally tells her own tale in this revealing, personal story of her failings, her flaws and ultimately her motivation. Metroid: Other M is an unprecedented collaboration that blends the slick, action-packed production of the world-renowned Team Ninja development team with the game design talents of the creators of the original Metroid. Metroid: Other M is a dramatic new direction for a legendary franchise and a bold new blend between cinematics, storytelling and the best in interactive entertainment.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
186 of 234 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Metroid: Other Movie - A Lifetime Channel Original,
By John (Spring Hill, FL United States) - See all my reviews
= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Metroid: Other M (Video Game)
*Introduction*
The Metroid series is one of Nintendo's finest, and the new entry, Metroid: Other M, is finally here. After the excellent first person Metroid Prime series by Retro was concluded, it was announced that Metroid was returning to both third person view and Japanese development. Many fans were made uneasy when it was announced that Team Ninja would be heavily involved in the project, but the fact that it was being headed by Yoshio Sakamoto, who has been heavily involved with Metroid from the beginning, gave hope that the game would live up to its classic name. Sakamoto promised that this game would flesh out Samus's character as the most story heavy Metroid yet, but has this decision ultimately backfired? *Story* The story is the most controversial aspect of this game. Rather than opt for the minimalist approach of the other titles in the series, Metroid: Other M inserts a full blown Final Fantasy XIII style cinematic experience. The story begins with a recap of the events that took place in Super Metroid's final moments and leads into Samus receiving a distress signal from a space station called "the bottle ship." She arrives to find out that the Galactic Federation has already sent a squad of soldiers, led by her old commanding officer Adam Malkovich. She ultimately joins up with them and politely agrees to follow Adam's orders. The most jarring aspect of the story is the way it fleshes out the character of Samus. While Samus has had spoken lines before in Metroid: Fusion, but they were never overly intrusive and didn't reveal a whole lot about her. However, in Other M, she not only talks, she talks a lot. For a series that has largely lived on letting the player form their own ideas about the character of Samus, this is a bit disconcerting. The personality she reveals as she narrates the storyline is bound to infuriate many fans who have long seen Samus as a stoic and strong individual who is in control of her emotions. Throughout the game, Samus has many flashbacks to her time in the Galactic Federation with Adam which portray her as an insecure little girl who has trouble handling the fact that she's a woman in a man's world. From giving a thumbs down as a salute, to her monologues about how father figure Adam is the only one who understands her, this becomes cheesy and embarrassing to watch. Back on the bottle ship Samus continues to act submissive to Adam as she instantly agrees to disable all of her abilities at his request with zero hesitation. Later on in the game, there's a scene where Samus is so frozen in fear that she is unable to do anything. Samus comes across as insecure, uncertain, and even submissive at times. Watching the story play out, it is incredibly difficult to believe that this could be the same bounty hunter who has courageously saved the galaxy on numerous occasions. In an attempt to make Samus more human and relatable, Other M goes overboard. It's one thing to have emotions. It's another thing to be crippled by them to the point of endangering lives. For a game series that has never had a lot of story and never really needed one, I have to question why the game creators felt the need to insert this melodramatic poorly plotted mess. The story is a major part of the game, and since you can't skip cut scenes, it is impossible to ignore. Once you complete the game, a cinema mode unlocks where you can re-watch all of the cut-scenes strung together like a movie. Whether you'd want to is another story. *Gameplay* The gameplay in M:oM is also a controversial element. Other M opts to use only the Wii pointer and nothing else for control. You hold it sideways like a NES controller leaving only the d-pad and two buttons for input. If you want to fire a missile, you have to rotate the Wii remote so it is pointing at the screen, which changes the perspective to first person. This shift is rather awkward, and you can't move while you are in this view aside from an awkward dodge maneuver accomplished by quickly shifting the pointer off the side of the screen. The controls aren't broken, but they are not particularly good, either. They work, but only just. The game itself plays more like an action game than a Metroid game. Almost all of the exploration you would expect from the series is gone, and for the vast majority of the game you are restricted to a linear path where doors will often lock behind you to prevent revisiting previous areas. There are some hidden missile expansions and energy tanks along the way, but the game pretty much tells you their exact position once you clear a room of enemies. The game only opens up to allow free exploration at the very end. This exploration makes it very clear why they decided to restrict the main story line so much, because when you have a few options of where to go, every other area is "now loading" for ten seconds, especially when you use the speed booster. The combat in this game is very easy. Due to the limitations of using a digital control pad in 3d space, Other M includes a dodge move that occurs automatically when you are pressing a direction on the d-pad. This means you will almost never get hit by anything as long as you are moving around. Samus's gun also auto-aims, so most of the time you can just shoot blindly down a corridor and not worry about whether or not you hit anything. The only challenge comes from shifting to first person to fire a missile, which is only required for boss fights the majority of the time. This is more annoying and awkward than difficult, since it merely involves waiting until you have a large enough window of time to get a missile off without getting hit. Throughout the game, Adam restricts the use of Samus's abilities until he deems them necessary, which means no more finding your abilities along the way, and also leads to illogical moments such as Adam not deciding it was appropriate to authorize the Varia suit to protect Samus from heat damage until she is already most of the way through the lava sector taking heavy heat damage along the way. This approach also means that there are no substantial new powerups for Samus to acquire. All of the significant abilities Samus has in this game are repeats from Super Metroid. Also worth noting are frustrating sequences that involve freezing you in the first person perspective until you find some tiny hard to find object. Often you will pass the Wii cursor directly over the object you are supposed to examine without the game registering it, leading to a lot of time wasted passing over everything over and over in an attempt to find what you are meant to scan. These moments completely kill the pacing of the game. *Replay Value* After you complete the game, every door unlocks, and you are finally completely free to finish your collecting spree of leftover expansions. At this point, there is also an extra boss and epilogue sequence to find. However, this can all be done in less than twelve hours the first time through, and once you do, the only reason to replay the game is the hard mode that unlocks upon 100% completion. There is also a cinema mode and art gallery that unlocks. If you don't care about getting everything, a regular main story play-through only lasts around eight hours. *Graphics* The graphics look pretty good for a Wii game, but the actual art design is lacking. The game is filled with generic looking hallways and rooms that don't really stand out visually, and the themes never go beyond the typical generic fire, ice, and jungle areas. The only thing that stands out about them is the holographic effect that appears sometimes to remind you that these are only simulations on a space station. One high point of the visuals is that the animations are some of the most fluid I've seen on the Wii. *Sound* One of the most disappointing aspects of Metroid: Other M is that the game has almost no music during actual game play. The background noise consists mostly ambient sounds and, very rarely, one or two recycled tunes from past Metroid games. Expansions are also missing the familiar tune that used to play when you picked them up in other Metroid games. This is a very disappointing aspect of the game. The voice acting is alright, but it's not spectacular. Samus sounds monotone throughout the game and you'll be hearing her a lot. The sound effects for weapons and enemies are adequate. *Overall* In more ways than one, this game is a massive disappointment. The game is playable, but in a series as outstanding as Metroid, it sticks out like a sore thumb, and even taken on its own terms it fails to impress.
21 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
The Other Mediocrity,
By
= Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars
This review is from: Metroid: Other M (Video Game)
Move over, "Super Mario Sunshine." There's a new king of mediocrity in the world of almost-always-amazing-but-occasionally-not Nintendo. Okay, so maybe mediocre is a little too harsh for the description of "Super Mario Sunshine," but it's likely a tad generous for "Metroid: Other M"--Nintendo and Team Ninja's ambitious joint project. In the months leading up to its release, fans were promised that this entry would be both "the ultimate Metroid experience" and that it would be a "return to the series' roots." Unfortunately for fans, neither promise was fulfilled, as I found out for myself two nights ago when I finished it. In this comprehensive review, I will try to cover all of the game's major aspects, both the good and the bad.
First, I'll go over the story, since Nintendo has made it evident that this is one of the most important parts of the game (don't worry, I'm not going to spoil any of the surprises). The game starts off with an amazing CGI cutscene, depicting the end of the climactic showdown between Samus Aran and Mother Brain at the end of the SNES classic, "Super Metroid." After Mother Brain's destruction, the game fast-forwards a little bit to Samus recovering from her battle and setting off once again to search for any, new bounties. Suddenly, she receives a distress beacon, which she immediately follows to a giant space station, called "The Bottleship." After landing, Samus meets up with her old squad, of which she was a part in her earlier, military days. The squad is led by her former commanding officer, Adam Malkovich. Deciding to join forces, Samus assists the group in finding out what has happened on the station. That is when her adventure begins. Throughout the game, Samus continuously has flashbacks that are meant to flesh out her history for the gamer. These are done through the use of CGI cutscenes, like the one in the introduction. These cutscenese all look fantastic; it's obvious that Nintendo made this a priority in helping tell Samus' story. Nintendo has never been known for story-intensive games, which is why this change-up is a little bit refreshing. However, in every cutscene I saw, I never found myself actually liking Samus any more. Mostly, this is because she is depicted as a rebellious punk in her youth. Also, as each flashback unfolds, Samus gives the narration, which is overly melodramatic and only carries a tone of depression. Yes, as a kid, Samus was rebellious and bitter, and now, she just mopes around all the time, speaking poetically to everyone, who will listen to her. How is that likable? How is the player supposed to connect with such melancholy? It's as if her true mission is to make every gamer as depressed as she is.... I think we may be onto something here. Additionally, the present story aboard the Bottleship takes far too long to develop. It does start to pick up toward the end, but in all honesty, it's a bit silly. Although Nintendo went to great lengths to make story a much more important factor than in past games, this one mostly fails to have any resonation with the player. Next, I will discuss graphics and sound. In all fairness, for a Wii game, "Other M" looks okay, but when you compare it to other first-party games on the console, it doesn't meet the bar (it's amazing what developers can do with the Wii's graphical power, when they actually try hard). Also, the character designs look atrocious. I understand that the team probably wanted a simpler look, since "simplicity" was the main theme Nintendo wanted to incorporate for this game, but why change the look of characters just for the sake of making changes? Regardless of the team's intentions, the characters and creatures look terrible, with absolutely no detail or life to them. Unlike the excellent Prime trilogy and Super Metroid, "Other M" has absolutely no memorable music or atmosphere. Maybe I'm just spoiled by the Prime games, but it's very hard to accept downgrades of this number and magnitude. If you played the original Prime, you may remember what it was like exiting the claustrophobic, fiery Magmoor Caverns and stepping out into the wide-open, chilly Phendrana Drifts; there is no such moment or any of the Primes' other great moments in "Other M". Also, you will not find any of the near-perfect level and creature designs found in "Super Metroid." As for the voice-acting, Nintendo has not made many strides in catching up to the rest of the industry. I normally would not ridicule Nintendo for this, because they did try, but because they insisted on making this such a story-intensive game and because there is so much dialogue, I have to place it in the equation. In both the areas of graphics and sound, the Metroid series has taken a major step backwards. Lastly, I will discuss the game play. For most Nintendo games, this section would take up the majority of a review, but in the case of "Other M", it gets an equal share. I won't say whether that was a slam or a compliment. After finishing the game, I still can't quite figure out who this game was meant for. On the one hand, it seems like Nintendo wanted a "simple" feel, forcing players to hold the Wii remote horizontally, without the use of the Nun chuck. On the other hand, the movement and combat that's required all feels more complicated and extremely awkward, especially at first, when the player is trying to adjust to the controls. If this was a true return-to-roots sidescroller, this control setup would work, but because players are often running through 3D environments, it becomes nearly unmanageable. The nun chuck attachment would have certainly remedied this offset. Regardless, combat can be real pain. Without a doubt, the most frustrating part of combat is firing missiles. In order to fire them, players are forced to turn the Wii remote and point it at the screen, switching the view to first-person. And because the Wii remote is the only controller allowed, the player cannot move while in this view. Also, the player cannot fire missiles at will. Instead, he or she has to hold the "B" button to lock onto a creature or destructible structure and then fire. Obviously, this can cause problems in intense firefights, in which missiles are required. You can literally lose one or two seconds in the process of switching to first person, actually locating the enemy, locking onto it, and firing the missile (or in some cases, charging up a shot to fire a super missile). Another complaint about the combat is auto-firing. Because of the strange 2D-meets-3D setup, players are forced to fire at enemies automatically, using the "A" button, without any precise aiming required. Yes, this is simple, but because enemies aren't always visible on the screen, auto-firing won't always detect them. Aside from combat, another sore spot for the game play is the process of regenerating health and missiles. In past Metroid games, players could destroy enemies, which would then drop items that Samus could use to recharge herself. In "Other M", however, enemies do not drop anything when they are destroyed. Instead, if the player wants to recharge Samus' missiles, he or she has to hold the Wii remote up and hold the "A" button. After between three and five seconds, Samus' missiles will be completely replenished. In the same manner, Samus can replenish her health, but there's a catch--in order to recharge Samus' health, the player has to come within an inch of dying (about 30 HP), and after three to five seconds of holding down the "A" button, Samus' health will only partially replenish itself. In the case of most battles, this becomes problematic, since most enemies aren't going to stand around to let the player replenish his or her health. It's obvious that the developers had the mindset that if the player's energy gets too low, then he or she deserves to die. However, you can replenish both Samus' health and missiles at navigation stations, which are also used to save your progress. Just hope that you can always make it to the next station before your health gets too low. Lastly, exploration has been largely scaled back. For some people, this may be more of a preference than a complaint, but because this is a Metroid title, I felt it was worth taking into account, especially since players were promised that this would retain all of Metroid's core elements. As for what does work, there are new moves made especially for this game: sense (a quick, evasive action), lethal strike, counter-attack, and overblast). All of these work well and become almost automatic for the player, thanks to Team Ninja's expertise with Ninja Gaiden's combat system. "Metroid: Other M" is an ambitious change to the familiar Metroid formula. It seems like there were opposing viewpoints for what should be done with the series, instead of a united, cohesive effort. "Other M" could have been an amazing game; I'm almost sure of it. I think that if Nintendo and Team Ninja were intent on working together on this project, they would have been better served choosing one control layout--either simple, 2D side-scrolling or full 3D exploration, with the nun chuck. Instead, what we have is a mish-mash of good and bad ideas, mixed with underdeveloped visual design and audio, and wrapped up in a mostly bland story. To me, it is shameful that Nintendo would allow this series to take such a fall, especially since the Nintendo development team behind this is the same team responsible for all of the early 2D Metroid classics, as well as Metroid Fusion for the Game Boy Advance. I sincerely hope that Nintendo learns from this mistake. If the company can retain its focus on solid game play and take gentle, productive steps on injecting more presentation value, I think it can keep its key franchises fresh, while making sure that gamers always see what makes each one so special.
11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Wasted Potential,
By
= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Metroid: Other M (Video Game)
For the last 10 years, Nintendo has been constantly changed what Metroid is supposed to be. Metroid Fusion attempted to follow in the footsteps of the original trilogy that creater Gunpei had made, although he had intended it to never be more than a trilogy, and Nintendo did at least wait until his untimely death to continue the series. Metroid Prime, however, at Miyamoto's request, was changed from the original idea of a Third Person Shooter (which would have been closer to the Metroid style) to a First Person Shooter. The term First Person Adventure was made up to fool people who weren't into shooters but were curious about Metroid or had been fans. Despite hesitation by the fans that a change might ruin the series, they were surprised at how well it was done. Meanwhile, Fusion was chided because it was too linear, although there's nothing inherently wrong with linearity and a great many games followed such gameplay and it led them to greatness.
Following that, Retro was left to their own devices to persue the Prime trilogy, and Classic 2-D Metroid was handed to Sakamoto, who decided he was going to rewrite the series as he saw fit. This much was proven with the complete retcon of the original game in Metroid: Zero Mission. Sakamoto has stayed true to his vision of taking the once beloved series and turning it on its ear. He changed Samus from a mysterious Bounty Hunter who always got the job done, into a ditsy blonde who makes seemingly ridiculous mistakes like taking her suit off before checking she was in the clear. Well, Metroid: Other M follows that new tradition nicely. One of the problems with Metroid Prime 3 was that Samus felt left out in all the scenes because she never spoke (although she has had written dialogue in previous games). Perhaps in an attempt to change this, Samus now never shuts up. At every opportunity she will release a deluge of backstory showing flashbacks, fears, and enough emotional issues to make Freud giddy with delight. Along with her lengthy emotional baggage, Samus is teamed up with the oh-so-common politically correct group of Federation Soldiers, who've traded in their now familiar white armour for a strange blue one. Anthony Higgs, the token black (no offense) with a BFG and a penchant for wit that will remove all severity from most any scene he's in. Then you have the asian with his glasses, the good ol' boy with his beard and mustache, the paranoid hacker, and a traitor in their midst. On top of all that, you have the suddenly father-figure of Adam returning from Metroid Fusion where so many had presumed he was a former love interest. Sakamoto pulled a curve ball there, but the idea is still there and neatly tucked away into yet another of the many flash backs, though I shall not spoil it for those inclined to play it. Oh, and do be on the look out for Samus' new magical mole/beauty spot which comes and goes from scene to scene. And marvel at how predictable the plot gets, and cringe at how broken Samus has become, constantly seeking acceptance and no longer independant (or even raised by the Chozo, who've vanished from the game). And do, oh yes do enjoy watching Samus switch off all her upgrades and powers 5 minutes into the game until she is "authorized" to use them, even if that means going into situations she is technically capable of dealing with yet can not. And by all means, I do suggest people give it a try, but nothing more than a rental, unless you just HAVE to have the game. There's little replay value, although once you beat it you can go back in and find a secret boss and an extended ending sequence. But be forewarned that it won't be available on Hard Mode, not that I mind cause I think the Hard Mode was rendered pointless (and I've never cared for them at any rate). But let me explain. If you want to play this, do it for the gameplay itself and try very hard to ignore the backstory which contradicts so much that came before or the fact that Metroid suddenly feels very Japanese, though Samus was never meant to be. The gameplay is mostly solid. The third person action is smooth and responsive and very, very enjoyable. The gameplay graphics are vivid, crisp, and very well done on the Wii, though I can't say it's the best looking game I've ever seen on it. The enemies are so perfectly rendered, looking exactly like they did in Super Metroid or Metroid Fusion or whatever game many of the enemies originated in. Which isn't to say the new/original enemies look bad, cause they certainly don't! The Power Suit and Varia Suit look well made, the silly "butt" the Prime suit had is now gone.. pity the useless Zero Suit returns, and looking tackier than ever. Samus comes across as a big blue Barbie Doll, and about as well endowned... Sorry, getting carried away again. The "auto-lock on" during normal gameplay is not as bad as some had feared and in fact mades the gameplay that much more frantic when you've got too many targets to lock on accurately. The items are fairly well hidden even though you will be told something is in the room on occasion (Super Metroid and Fusion both had that though, so no saying it's a new feature); you still have to figure out how to find them and some are decidedly cunning. The first person gameplay is a little.. out of place, but I suppose that can't be helped. Also, gone are the once myriad power-ups dropped by baddies to restore health and ammo, instead Samus has Concentration (which is kind of silly and absolute rubbish if you need the health in a boss fight). The music, what there is, is well done and very fitting with its ambient feel. No, by all means, the gameplay is not that bad, and I mostly enjoyed that. It's just that the very heavy hand of Sakamoto in the direction he's taken the series is hard to ignore and it feels like it is weighing the game down. That's the big hurdle a fan has to get over to enjoy this title, and I have to say I think it's a bit too big for me to manage. And though he was attempting to Japanify the game, as it has never been all that popular in Japan, has failed miserably. I guess he didn't realize that if 7+ games over 20 years hasn't swayed the general populace, than no amount of eye candy (which Samus has decidedly become) is going to change the fact that they just don't care all that much. In fact, I do believe the game has had terrible sales in Japan, though I don't know all the figures. I am glad I did not have to pay $50 USD for this, because it certainly wasn't worth it. But if you can find it cheap, it's not too bad, in the end. If nothing else, at least we have Anthony Higgs, and the hidden boss fight is probably the most satisfying piece of fan service the series has ever seen, and certainly the only kind I like seeing.. none of this "oh no, my suit came off" rubbish of later games.
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