Review: Metroid Other M

[Daystar Clarion]

And the annoying thing is, Bobba Fett isn't a character, he's some sort of cult idol that Star Wars fans nerdgasm over depsite doing nothing except die and Ripley was just as terrfied of the xenomorphs as Samus was of Ridley.

Ripley was terrified of the Xenomorphs. Visibly, at least. But do you see her cowering at the sight of them in Aliens? No, she learns how to use the weapons available to her and by the end of the film is walking straight into the middle of their nest. And when the queen follows her out, she doesn't freeze up, she goes to get the loader so she has weight to put behind her threat of "Get away from her you B****!"

Compare to Samus, who over the course of seven games took on Ridley multiple times without a problem, then suddenly in MOM she freezes up at the sight of him for some reason.

If you're trying to compare Samus and Ripley, they go in opposite directions.

Samus has never had any past characterisation, she didn't have a character, she was a female Masterchief, sure she kicks arse but there's no substance, I'm not a massive Metroid fan so I'm not that butt-hurt about this as all the 'real' fans are, MOM may not have done it in the best way, but at least Samus actually has a character now.

 

[Phuctifyno]

I must say I really enjoyed this game... after the credits rolled and it turned into a real Metroid game.

We all knew deep down that a cinematically driven character piece in a Metroid game would be terrible and ignorable at best. And ignore it I did; I don't need Nintendo's desparate attempt to reinvent it's coolest franchise and appeal to chelsea wearing teens (and morons who think flawed characters automatically equals good writing) to tell me who Samus is. The real bug in this game is that it's missing two keystones that the franchise is normally best at: isolation and exploration. The game is totally linear and you're constantly in contact with other characters, stripping this game of everything (except fun combat) that makes Metroid great. I'm level headed enough to be okay with Nintendo wanting to experiment; I just hope they don't consider this a "new direction" for the franchise.

But like I said, after you complete the story (in under 10 hours, too) and the credits roll, it sets you out to free roam the map and dig for all the things you missed before, and also throws in a very awesome boss fight to boot. I know it turns out to be for a stupid story driven reason in the end, but at least it stops trying to conrol everything you do for a few damn hours. So yeah, the story is shit, but it's over quick, and then the game gets pretty good.

So I think Metroid fans should definitely give this a try, just be ready to spend a lot of time with your eyes facing your brain and don't take it too seriously.

 

[Gizen]

... Oh, of course. You're absolutely right, sir. It's not this game that's the problem. It's us plebs who've only played the games and see Samus as an assertive, resourceful, self-sufficient and courageous space explorer and bounty hunter, and not the brooding, insecure, impotent, co-dependent, self-doubting, vulnerable, delicate flower that she's actually been this whole time, which we'd all know if we'd read the manga like you real fans. Thank you for enlightening us with your wisdom.

No, it's that you can't see that just because Samus isn't invincible and actually has issues to deal with, that doesn't make her any less assertive, resourceful, self-sufficient, or courageous. She asserts herself when she essentially tells Adam to fuck off and starts using her abilities on her own. She's resourceful everytime she DOESN'T use her abilities, because that's actually what being resourceful is about, making the best of what you have. The more you have, the less you need to rely on every resource. Once you have the screw attack, how often do you really need to use most of your other attacks? How often do Overblasts and Lethal Finishes get used when all the enemies die in one attack? She's self-sufficient in that she never asks for help, not once, even when Ridley's wrecking her, and she still spends the vast majority of the game alone kicking ass all by herself. And she's courageous when even after Ridley's surprised her, traumatized her, and just all in all freaked her out, she still turns around and faces him anyways, and kicks his ass.

She's most certainly not impotent, otherwise she wouldn't have won in the end. She's hardly co-dependent when she functions just fine before and after everyone else is dead. And she's hardly delicate, what with all the ass-kicking that she does. And just because she does some brooding, has moments of doubt or weakness, that doesn't mean she IS weak, or that she's always insecure. Everybody has their moments of weakness, that's called BEING HUMAN. And half the point of this game was to humanize Samus, which wasn't going to happen if she just went around being awesome 24/7.

[img src="http://www.comicsninja.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/boba_fett_21.jpg" /]

In Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Boba Fett wasn't a person. Oh sure, he LOOKED cool, but he never acted awesome in the slightest. He was given no personality, he never had any particularly awesome action sequences, and he went out like a complete and utter chump. Boba Fett was infinitely better after they actually gave him some CHARACTER. And I'm not talking about Episodes 1-3, I'm talking about things like the short story of him from Tales of the Bounty Hunters, where they made him a real person, and still managed to make him absolutely kick ass, which is much what they did with Samus in this game. She still does all the ass-kicking, and looks awesome doing it.

I'm not going to bother quoting your picture of what's her name from Twilight, because she doesn't deserve to even have her face posted once, let alone twice, but are you really trying to compare Samus, who even at her most vulnerable still kills fierce aliens without a second thought, and has no problems at all moving on without Adam, especially considering she's the one who left when they had their falling out, to what's-er-name, who literally can't do anything on her own, and wants to commit suicide when the sparkly vampire leaves her? How can you be so STUPID? Get this through your thick skull, not everyone who has an emotional problem is a blight on society. Grow the fuck up, and get over this whole 'feelings are for sissies, babies, and whiners' bullshit, it makes you sound like a little kid.

Are you really trying to defend this creative decision?

What is it you care about, exactly? The character of Samus Aran, or the fluff you've been spoon-fed by third-party manga writers who want to make a quick buck on your devotion to this series? It seems like you're more interested in preserving the "vision" of these merchandisers than what Samus actually stands for among thousands of gamers--that being not a hollow vessel, but a genuine symbol and model of assertiveness. Not aggression, not "badassery," but assertiveness. You're putting her obnoxious daddy issues over an ideal that people can aspire to, just because some publisher says they're canon?

Actually, personally, I disliked the manga, but reading it does help understand what the angle is that they're going for here. And here's the thing, being a hollow vessel is exactly what you're arguing she should be. Your claiming she should be an ideal, not a character. That would make her nothing more than a hollow vessel to put forth that ideal. What exactly is it that you expect her to do? When Adam tells her to obey his orders the very first time, do you expect her to tell him to fuck off? And then what? Adam is forced to tell her to get off the ship for getting in the way of a military operation? And if she pushes the issue and refuses, all the soldiers are forced to turn on her for going against them and putting their mission in jeopardy, forcing Samus to kill, or seriously injure the very people she's there to help and rescue? What do you think would happen if you charged into a military zone with god knows how many weapons, and they told you to drop your weapons, you think they would accept any answer other than 'Yes, sir'? You think being assertive means never having any doubts, never being concerned over what other people say? There just isn't any other way to say it other than no, you're wrong.

Somebody can be worth aspiring, can still be a symbol, can still represent admirable traits worth aspiring to, while still being a flawed human being. Not even the best of role models are perfect.

For everyone who points to the Manga:
Who the fuck cares about the Manga, I expect her to be a faceless bounty hunter the way she was in EVERY SINGLE GAME! If you are fine with Sakamoto raping this character, it is your decision, but thinking we are not allowed to critisize this game because the manga ruined her character before the game is just pathetic.

Oh, every single game huh? I guess if you completely ignore Fusion, Zero Mission, and the opening sequence to Super, I guess you'd be right, but then, that wouldn't be every single game, now would it?

 

[Endocrom]

Wow, it's been so fun watching the arguments in this thread, please keep it up!

...And why did they not get Jennifer Hale to do her voice again?

Maybe I'm drawing a blank here, I know she's a great VA but what exactly did Jennifer Hale do other than generic "damage taken" grunts and the taunts in Brawl?

 

[Swarley]

It's funny, because I see so many people on this site scream about how bad silent protagonists are, but then when they take one of them and give them a personality they ***** and moan because its not how it used to be.

 

[ejb626]

Wow, it's been so fun watching the arguments in this thread, please keep it up!

...And why did they not get Jennifer Hale to do her voice again?

Maybe I'm drawing a blank here, I know she's a great VA but what exactly did Jennifer Hale do other than generic "damage taken" grunts and the taunts in Brawl?

Jennifer Hale didn't do the taunts in Brawl that was Alesia Gildewell

 

[Endocrom]

Jennifer Hale didn't do the taunts in Brawl that was Alesia Gildewell

That makes my point even better. Other than the grunts, what did she do?

 

[Plurralbles]

I'm just checking here, was Steve kidding when he said you can use your powers when your boyfriend says it's alright?

Because if he wasn't kidding... I..I...Yeah.

There's way too much woman for one man to handle... Surely she's not tied down in the game. Unless he dies a horribly graphic death, of course : )

Team Ninja should keep their hands off of established franchises.

 

[Lunar Templar]

for those of you that DON'T get it, i present this
http://metroid.retropixel.net/comics/metroidmanga/
the manga giving Samus's back ground your welcome

Manga -> Metroid -> Metroid Prime -> Metroid Prime Hunters -> Metroid Prime 2: Echoes -> Metroid Prime 3: Corruption -> Metroid II: Return of Samus -> Super Metroid -> Metroid: Other M

Assuming that "The Manga" is canon, there's seven games that take place between it and MOM. Seven games in which she's blown up entire planets, kicked Ridley's butt several times over, and become one of, if not the, greatest weapons the G-Feds have in their fight against the Space Pirate menace.

pretty sure the Manga is is canon, could be wrong, but doubt it

 

[Lunar Templar]

I'm just checking here, was Steve kidding when he said you can use your powers when your boyfriend says it's alright?

Because if he wasn't kidding... I..I...Yeah.

There's way too much woman for one man to handle... Surely she's not tied down in the game. Unless he dies a horribly graphic death, of course : )

Team Ninja should keep their hands off of established franchises.

don't worry, Adam dies, has to if he's the AI in her ship in fusion

 

[Rainforce]

So, I played the game.
I was surprisingly ok with the gameplay, but what really hits my nerve is the storytelling.
PLEASE, samus, if you say the word "baby" once more I throw my Wii directly at Sakamotos head, you just say it that often.
all the talk about the baby, and then a distress Signal called "Babys cry"? really? and then further chewing on it because we need to explain why its called that? REALLY? also the explanation for the thumbsdown. EH?
Wouldn't we have a better plot if the choice of words wasn't that repititive and the explanations werent THAT stupidly blatant?

so I say, gameplaywise its good and can be fun, but the storytelling is just MEH and not on the level it could be.

 

[droppingpenny]

Oh, every single game huh? I guess if you completely ignore Fusion, Zero Mission, and the opening sequence to Super, I guess you'd be right, but then, that wouldn't be every single game, now would it?

Zero Mission= Bastardized Version of The first Metroid, don't care, never will. Just a crappy remake of a classic.
Fusion= Bastardized Version of Super Metroid, which is a watered down version of the first game. Don't care never will. It isn't even a real Metroid game.
Opening to Super Metroid ... yeah it is just an opening, the rest of the game Samus is a faceless asskicking *****, she never freezes in fear, when she sees Ridley, never cries for Adam, never does anything to contradict her character that was defined by her Actions until that point.
Other M = Taking the concept of Metroid Fusion to the Nth degree, while ignoring all other games except the opening to Super Metroid.
I'm just baffled how a third Party developer can do the game series justice, but the original creator can't.

 

[Denizen]

And thus the blemishless quality of the metroid franchise comes to an end...

Thanks Nintendo, I can save that $50 for something else now.

*looks on steam for some good deals to escape thinking about "the latest metroid game"*

I joined this site just so I could talk about Other M. For the most part I agree with the review, but i have to say that this is the most terrible metroid game to come out so far, rivaling only Metroid Prime Hunters.

The combat is solid, for the most part, except it honestly feels better suited for something like a Mega Man game, rather than a Metroid game. The constant high intensity, fast paced combat would be fine, except the game sacrifices atmosphere and exploration at the same time, making it feel more like a quick paced action title, than an actionadventure/puzzle title. In previous games, especially Prime, you could stop and breath in the beautiful environments. A combination of beautiful map designs, music, and graphical effects would either build incredible environments, or create intense suspense. But in Other M, we have linear, uninteresting, tedious level designs, which are just generic and boring. But of course, worse than anything, is the absolutely terrible plot. I disagree with the review on the point that it gets better, because for me, it was consistently horrible. I am against the idea of fleshing out Samus's personality, as I prefer the games to be mysterious with minimum dialogue (like a solo journeys through beautiful and hostile scifi worlds). So, yeah I am against the concept to begin with, but this character is just plain awful. It's horrendous. She is not bad ass in the slightest, her "introspective depth" is shallow and obnoxious, and she is completely submissive. The story is riddled with cliches, characters are terrible, writing is bottom tier, and worst of all, there is zero subtlety. So, in my opinion, this game sucks in almost every way. Don't buy it, because not only is it a waste of money, it supports the idea that this game is a good idea. If they make a lot of money on this piece of shit, then they might be convinced to continue the franchise in this direction.

Welcome to The Escapist, congratulations, you have said it all.

 

[Tminusfun]

You give Nintendo too much credit. They didn't make these gameplay changes in Other M for the sake of advancing gaming as an artistic medium, they did it in a cynical attempt to appeal to the Japanese market that was never much into Metroid.

For all the talk about how it's "evolving" the series, there's nothing new about Other M's gameplay. It's really just a dumbed down Ninja Gaiden without camera control. Nintendo played it safe by borrowing from everybody else. This ins't innovation, it's plagiarism. If they really wanted to be bold, they would have built upon what made the previous Metroid games so successful regardless of how it would have been received.

Auto-targeting is dodgy, and switching to an immobile first person perspective is just jarring, especially when then game forces you to do a pixel hunt and scan for some obscure clue in the background.

And if Nintendo really wanted to make a next gen Metroid, then why not take advantage of the nunchuck?

The exploring feels tacked on, and there's no sense of "iceberging" like there is in 1, Super Metroid, or Metroid Prime. Now you just follow painfully linear directions and maybe go to a bonus room. The level design is also pretty bland, and it isn't helped by the boring ambient sounds. Combat is also a chore, especially when you kill all the enemies by jumping on them and shootting their heads, and don't forget that you can't use your missiles without that awkward first person switch. And because of regenerating health, there's no real tension to the fights.

What upsets me is that people are praising these just because they're different from the other Metroid games, and calling it "innovation". Nintendo didn't innovate with Other M, they borrowed well-worn elements from other 3rd Person 3D action titles and diffused some Metroid elements within them, at the expense of a richer, more idiosyncratic experience that is synonymous with the name "Metroid". Sure, you can praise it for being different from the other games in the series, but what good is that if the game loses it's soul, along with everything else that made it unique.

I refuse to believe it's because the traditional Metroidvania formula is stale. Shadow Complex, the recent Castlevania titles, and scores of popular indie games like Cave Story and VVVVVV prove that you can still create an exciting Metroidvania without unnecessary change and still deliver riveting experience. This was Nintendo's chance to give Metroid a return to form after the linear nature of Prime 2 and 3, and they blew it.

Samus Characterization is abysmal. She's always been portrayed as stoic, but she's had a consistent characterization throughout the series. Soparing the hatching in Metroid 2 and donating it to science in Super Metroid demonstrated her compassion. And don't forget that she was visibly saddened by the destruction of the Chozo Temple at the end of the first Metroid Prime game, and mourned the deaths of her fellow bounty hunters at the end of Prime 3. She's always been shown as a strong and compassionate character, who certainly wouldn't break down in front of Ridley and need a token black sidekick to save her. That characterization via her actions, not to mention the backstory-via-scans in Prime, were a much better way to tell a story in a Metroid game, and it worked.

The reason there's so much backlash against Samus' characterization in Other M is because after 25 or so years of her being shown as confident, silent, compassionate, and determined, it strikes many fans as downright illegitimate to have her suddenly full of seld-doubt. Why should a woman who single-handily saved the galaxy on her own with steely confidence suddenly want to go back in time and have her former commanding officer want to do all her thinking for her? Why is she freezing up in front of Ridley and flashing back to her childhood after years of killing him? It's hard to see the consummate professional of all the other games suddenly turn into a anime character that gives all anime characters a bad name.

It also makes her look like an idiot. Why would she trust the Federation in Fusion after going through this?

And the art direction was just bad. The character models all looked like Dead or Alive rejects.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

the series before Prime HAS sold well in Japan. I say go right ahead; the North American market isn't the only one on the planet.

 

[Gizen]

Zero Mission= Bastardized Version of The first Metroid, don't care, never will. Just a crappy remake of a classic.

Fail. Zero Mission is the one game in the entire series that comes the closest to emulating Super Metroid. And, it may be hard to accept this, but the original Metroid hasn't actually aged very well, and Zero Mission was superior in pretty much every possible way.

Fusion= Bastardized Version of Super Metroid, which is a watered down version of the first game. Don't care never will. It isn't even a real Metroid game.

Okay, now, not only are you just trolling me, but you're doing a bad job of it and making it too obvious. When someone calls Super Metroid a watered down original Metroid, you know they're full of shit.

I'm just baffled how a third Party developer can do the game series justice, but the original creator can't.

Retro isn't 3rd party.

 

[droppingpenny]

Fail. Zero Mission is the one game in the entire series that comes the closest to emulating Super Metroid. And, it may be hard to accept this, but the original Metroid hasn't actually aged very well, and Zero Mission was superior in pretty much every possible way.

It wasn't, it just had many unnecessary changes, the original plays much better and is more challenging, while Zero Mission is too easy.

Okay, now, not only are you just trolling me, but you're doing a bad job of it and making it too obvious. When someone calls Super Metroid a watered down original Metroid, you know they're full of shit.

Super Metroid is not nearly as challenging as the Original, and it has roughly as much content as the Original. Therefore it is the watered down Original. Try to play the Original I am sure you will die a lot of times, since you are used to Super Metroid.

Retro isn't 3rd party.

Retro Studios was an independent developer when Metroid Prime was created and therefore Third Party.

 

[Gizen]

It wasn't, it just had many unnecessary changes, the original plays much better and is more challenging, while Zero Mission is too easy.

The original's difficulty comes from the fact that the vast majority of the enemies were ridiculously cheap, being able to hit and kill you through the wall while you're changing screens and can't move, as well as the fact that they can chew through your health in seconds while the grind to recover health takes ages. On top of all that, any time you start or continue the game, your health starts at a fraction of it's total, even at the very beginning of the game, which means the first thing you have to do is grind for health. These may all make the game more 'challenging' but in a deeply negative way that is in no way good. It's possible to make a game hard without stupid shit like that.
Also, Zero Mission on hard is capable of wrecking you pretty fast.

Super Metroid is not nearly as challenging as the Original, and it has roughly as much content as the Original. Therefore it is the watered down Original. Try to play the Original I am sure you will die a lot of times, since you are used to Super Metroid.

I've played every Metroid game, original include. I'm aware of it's difficulty. That said, challenge and challenge alone does not make a game superior, especially when the challenge is a result of bullshit reasons. Furthermore, Super Metroid had considerably more content than the original Metroid. For that matter, so did Zero Mission.

 

[Genixma]

I joined this site just so I could talk about Other M. For the most part I agree with the review, but i have to say that this is the most terrible metroid game to come out so far, rivaling only Metroid Prime Hunters.

The combat is solid, for the most part, except it honestly feels better suited for something like a Mega Man game, rather than a Metroid game. The constant high intensity, fast paced combat would be fine, except the game sacrifices atmosphere and exploration at the same time, making it feel more like a quick paced action title, than an actionadventure/puzzle title. In previous games, especially Prime, you could stop and breath in the beautiful environments. A combination of beautiful map designs, music, and graphical effects would either build incredible environments, or create intense suspense. But in Other M, we have linear, uninteresting, tedious level designs, which are just generic and boring. But of course, worse than anything, is the absolutely terrible plot. I disagree with the review on the point that it gets better, because for me, it was consistently horrible. I am against the idea of fleshing out Samus's personality, as I prefer the games to be mysterious with minimum dialogue (like a solo journeys through beautiful and hostile scifi worlds). So, yeah I am against the concept to begin with, but this character is just plain awful. It's horrendous. She is not bad ass in the slightest, her "introspective depth" is shallow and obnoxious, and she is completely submissive. The story is riddled with cliches, characters are terrible, writing is bottom tier, and worst of all, there is zero subtlety. So, in my opinion, this game sucks in almost every way. Don't buy it, because not only is it a waste of money, it supports the idea that this game is a good idea. If they make a lot of money on this piece of shit, then they might be convinced to continue the franchise in this direction.

So it's basically the DMC2 or the Matrix Revolutions of the series. Just smile and pretend it never happened.

 

[cefm]

As hard as it was to accept that somehow Samus "lost" all her cool powers between each sequel, it's fucking apalling that Nintendo thought they could make us buy that she HAS them but meekly declines to use them until her boyfriend says it's OK. This is worse than making Greedo shoot first.

Goddammit Nintendo - is there no franchise you can't ruin with your creepy/wierd Japanese cultural miscues?