If you'd noticed, few people complain about the narration. They complain about the delivery, as in, the acting, the portrayal of the characters, and so forth. People can drone all they want about how much more cinematic and engaging elaborate movie scenes and voiced dialogue make a video game, but plainly and simply, it's a lot easier to fuck up, and the vast majority of video games, if not absolutely all of them, do so in some way.
In my opinion, what few attempts at plot Metroid had previously made were generally good, because they weren't elaborate; we typically got a limited perspective from a character that was surprisingly introverted and thoughtful, but also generally light on words. We were allowed to get in Samus' head, but only so far as to make us wonder more about what motivated and drove her. What was more important, more immediate, were her surroundings, the conflict she faced, and when that conflict was front and center, Samus was all action; any wonderings or hesitation at that point were contributed by the player. I felt it worked in the context of the games, and for the most part, all it was was text on a screen over a few stills.
Something video games as an industry have lost is realization that high production values are not what makes good, engaging video games; it's the presentation of the concept, the ability to grip the player and make them feel like they're a part of the adventure. Imagination still has a place in this industry, because if it can get our minds working on their own, we're engaged in the experience. The harder developers try to impress us, the more they serve to take us out of the experience. Video games rarely feel "natural" anymore; you can tell it's trying to get a reaction out of you. This is a bigger rant than this game, certainly, but it's still related to it: Metroid M's biggest failure was ultimately that it took us out of the game with its shallow attempts to impress us. It wasn't something the series needed, and indeed, it isn't something most games need.
