Review: Metroid Other M

Assassin Xaero

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Onyx Oblivion said:
*goes back to playing Prime Trilogy Collection*

If I didn't have this...I'd be very sad about Other M.

That said, I'll pick up Other M. Just for the story. Since it's the only Big N franchise that really has one worth delving into.
Kinda off topic, but it Trilogy worth it (if I can still find it somewhere)? I have all three already, loved the first but thought second was meh...
 

MasterV

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Adules said:
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.
Too big a comment but this man said it all. The game is also very very easy and very veru linear. And very boring. But I have to wonder in all the comments sections in every review I have seen (except this one so far), why does everyone blame Tema Ninja? Their influence is more on the action of the game, which isn't bad. Just MUCH easier than the Ninja Gaidens. Everything else is like Metroid:Zero Fusion.

Rainforce said:
so.....Metroid is now as degenerated as zelda? where have all the half-decent franchises gone :/
*still buys it, cannot believe it*
Indeed...:/
 

Turbo_ski

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Assassin Xaero said:
Onyx Oblivion said:
*goes back to playing Prime Trilogy Collection*

If I didn't have this...I'd be very sad about Other M.

That said, I'll pick up Other M. Just for the story. Since it's the only Big N franchise that really has one worth delving into.
Kinda off topic, but it Trilogy worth it (if I can still find it somewhere)? I have all three already, loved the first but thought second was meh...
if you already own the 3 games, the only reason to buy it would be for the wiimote capability in MP and MP2. Probably not worth it in that case, but totally worth it if you don't have MP or MP3
 

Zer0Saber

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Well, I've been Playing it, and It just doesn't feel right. Old school side-scrolling metroid= awesome, first person metroid prime= awesome, Other M is somewhere between that and I haven't been thrilled. I haven't been hating it, but still feel a little let down. Needing a commanders authorization to use Samus's abilities, I can get weapon use, They explain that,"This is a space station only use authorized weapons", but needing permission to use grapple, and the varia suit makes no sense. There's some bad writing and voice acting from time to time. In the old Metroids you where given a destination and you figured out how to get there. In this one you get lead by the hand from save point to save point. At one point going from save to save it lead me in a big circle, and at one point he authorized use of my speed boost. What the hell, I go to an area with nothing relevant in it just so a guy can phone me and say I can use speed boost. No health restoring items, I'm guessing to add some difficulty because combat is all auto aim and you can dodge everything by constantly tapping the d-pad. a couple scenes had me intrigued so I hope the plot gets better. "sigh" I just just know.
 

Zer0Saber

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Turbo_ski said:
Assassin Xaero said:
Onyx Oblivion said:
*goes back to playing Prime Trilogy Collection*

If I didn't have this...I'd be very sad about Other M.

That said, I'll pick up Other M. Just for the story. Since it's the only Big N franchise that really has one worth delving into.
Kinda off topic, but it Trilogy worth it (if I can still find it somewhere)? I have all three already, loved the first but thought second was meh...
if you already own the 3 games, the only reason to buy it would be for the wiimote capability in MP and MP2. Probably not worth it in that case, but totally worth it if you don't have MP or MP3
I bought trilogy even though I had the GC versions, so let me say this,"Wii = free aim while running" that alone made 1&2 better on the Wii.
 

Captain Magic

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You know, it just occurred to me that one tiny change to the story could have fixed Samus' terrible characterization. The only real reason for making her all whiny and submissive seems to be to make it believable when she follows Adam's commands on using abilities. Why not have it instead be that the federation designed a device to block her suit's powers? It makes sense with what we learned about the federation in Fusion that they would have created something like that, and now instead of Samus blindly following orders she can be pissed off and yelling at Adam to flip the switch as she's burning to death in a lava pit. And given the relationship that we know exists between Adam and Samus there could be some interesting character growth where they slowly build trust during the game and she starts gaining powers faster.
 

GoldenShadow

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It is a game, you can't start off fully powered. You have to build up slowly. Samus explains her actions. She agreed to follow Adam's orders. Self-handicaaping herself and she still kicked ass.

I've read Nintendo wanted to change more than the narritive up, they wanted to go against all of our expectations. How does Samus lose her powers? What would we normally expect that to happen? Well, it wasn't the usualy crash or explosion cliche like normal.

HEAVY POST GAME SPOILERS DON'T READ

Later on you are going to investigate Sector0 where Metroids are being grown. I was all ready for the classic Metroid shooting stage, but no Nintendo changed things up and ejected that whole sector and completely caught me off guard. I never saw it coming A lot of things were unexpectable. I thought the game was over when the credits rolled. I was a bit disapointed by the lack of a grand finale boss battle and escape routine. Then I get the biggest surprise that you get to go back and keep exploring aand then fight an awesome remake of a boss from Super Metroid, Phantoon, on the bridge of the ship. Then, a zero suit escape sequence! I love you Nintendo.

If you are a Metroid Fan, Buy this. When you beat the game, you actually unlock Theater mode. You can play the whole game as a movie which last over 2 hours. It is a mix of the beautiful CGI and in-game cutscenes and even some gameplay
 

Blue_vision

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This is what I was expecting for the game, which is a shame. But I think the gameplay concept could work really well, switching between metroid-like platforming and metroid prime first person shooting. And it looks like the wii once again does it's wonderful job of having terrible controls. It's something worth exploring again, but so long as they do it in a different light, rather than a sequel. But the first person shooting parts definitely need to control exactly like Metroid prime.

I think it'd also be neat for a game to characterize Samus better, but not in this way. She needs to be very strong on the outside, even when not in her power suit, but still human underneath that. The story in Other M seems to turn samus not just into a distinct human, but a very whiny human with emotional issues.
But incorporating a better story into a Metroid game is probably a good idea, outside of all that scanning from Metroid Prime. But again, it'd only work if Samus was characterized well, which she really doesn't seem to be here.

So really, it's just a badly fleshed out good concept. I'd like to see another game using this general style/idea, but get a different team who is more concerned with substance than style. I can see the good in this, but only as a jumping off point. As such, I'm not buying the game.
 

FinalHeart95

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And the comments are an example of what happens when the hype train crash lands into the pit I like to call "being average".

The review said that the gameplay is fun, and even the story gets good, just the characterization and exposition is off. Since when does that make an "OMG GODAWFUL" game? I'll buy it for sure, just not expecting a masterpiece a la Super Metroid like it seems like everyone else was.
 

ZeroMachine

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FinalHeart95 said:
And the comments are an example of what happens when the hype train crash lands into the pit I like to call "being average".

The review said that the gameplay is fun, and even the story gets good, just the characterization and exposition is off. Since when does that make an "OMG GODAWFUL" game? I'll buy it for sure, just not expecting a masterpiece a la Super Metroid like it seems like everyone else was.
This game had hype?
 

Turbo_ski

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GoldenShadow said:
If you are a Metroid Fan, Buy this. When you beat the game, you actually unlock Theater mode. You can play the whole game as a movie which last over 2 hours. It is a mix of the beautiful CGI and in-game cutscenes and even some gameplay
Why would you ever suffer through that again?
 

Mangue Surfer

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So, they make samus a paltry blowjob dispenser.
Sad. She was one of the most strong female character in the industry.
 

Blue_vision

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FinalHeart95 said:
And the comments are an example of what happens when the hype train crash lands into the pit I like to call "being average".

The review said that the gameplay is fun, and even the story gets good, just the characterization and exposition is off. Since when does that make an "OMG GODAWFUL" game? I'll buy it for sure, just not expecting a masterpiece a la Super Metroid like it seems like everyone else was.
So people can't be disappointed that it's not a good game? People should be angry at a game if it's hyped to be amazing and it just ends at mediocre.

I like it's experimentation and the concept, but the game just doesn't work. From gameplay videos I've seen, gameplay just seems to be average and very annoying at times. The characterization of Samus is really pretty awful, but a better integrated story is a good point in the game's favour, still coming short at mediocre. I'd like to see it expanded upon, but don't try defending this game because it's just average. If we're getting a very big hyped up title, we have the right to fling shit at it when it comes back as an average game, with very poor characterization of a well established main character and a gameplay mechanic that still needs a lot of polishing.
 

FinalHeart95

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ZeroMachine said:
FinalHeart95 said:
And the comments are an example of what happens when the hype train crash lands into the pit I like to call "being average".

The review said that the gameplay is fun, and even the story gets good, just the characterization and exposition is off. Since when does that make an "OMG GODAWFUL" game? I'll buy it for sure, just not expecting a masterpiece a la Super Metroid like it seems like everyone else was.
This game had hype?
It's a Metroid game. It had hype.
Blue_vision said:
FinalHeart95 said:
And the comments are an example of what happens when the hype train crash lands into the pit I like to call "being average".

The review said that the gameplay is fun, and even the story gets good, just the characterization and exposition is off. Since when does that make an "OMG GODAWFUL" game? I'll buy it for sure, just not expecting a masterpiece a la Super Metroid like it seems like everyone else was.
So people can't be disappointed that it's not a good game? People should be angry at a game if it's hyped to be amazing and it just ends at mediocre.

I like it's experimentation and the concept, but the game just doesn't work. From gameplay videos I've seen, gameplay just seems to be average and very annoying at times. The characterization of Samus is really pretty awful, but a better integrated story is a good point in the game's favour, still coming short at mediocre. I'd like to see it expanded upon, but don't try defending this game because it's just average. If we're getting a very big hyped up title, we have the right to fling shit at it when it comes back as an average game, with very poor characterization of a well established main character and a gameplay mechanic that still needs a lot of polishing.
But people are treating it like a game that simply sucks. If they were saying "oh, well it should've been better, but it's still an okay game", that would be different and completely fair. It would also be different if they've played the game and think it sucks, because that's an opinion. However, I get the feeling that people are looking at a 3/5 review and saying "GAME SUX GAME SUX GAME SUX", when in reality the review wasn't all that negative.
 

Blue_vision

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FinalHeart95 said:
But people are treating it like a game that simply sucks. If they were saying "oh, well it should've been better, but it's still an okay game", that would be different and completely fair. It would also be different if they've played the game and think it sucks, because that's an opinion. However, I get the feeling that people are looking at a 3/5 review and saying "GAME SUX GAME SUX GAME SUX", when in reality the review wasn't all that negative.
I haven't seen people saying it sucks. I've seen people criticize it's flaws and then yelling at it for not being good. I'd say that's a reasonable thing to do.
 

ZeroMachine

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FinalHeart95 said:
ZeroMachine said:
FinalHeart95 said:
And the comments are an example of what happens when the hype train crash lands into the pit I like to call "being average".

The review said that the gameplay is fun, and even the story gets good, just the characterization and exposition is off. Since when does that make an "OMG GODAWFUL" game? I'll buy it for sure, just not expecting a masterpiece a la Super Metroid like it seems like everyone else was.
This game had hype?
It's a Metroid game. It had hype.
Blue_vision said:
FinalHeart95 said:
And the comments are an example of what happens when the hype train crash lands into the pit I like to call "being average".

The review said that the gameplay is fun, and even the story gets good, just the characterization and exposition is off. Since when does that make an "OMG GODAWFUL" game? I'll buy it for sure, just not expecting a masterpiece a la Super Metroid like it seems like everyone else was.
So people can't be disappointed that it's not a good game? People should be angry at a game if it's hyped to be amazing and it just ends at mediocre.

I like it's experimentation and the concept, but the game just doesn't work. From gameplay videos I've seen, gameplay just seems to be average and very annoying at times. The characterization of Samus is really pretty awful, but a better integrated story is a good point in the game's favour, still coming short at mediocre. I'd like to see it expanded upon, but don't try defending this game because it's just average. If we're getting a very big hyped up title, we have the right to fling shit at it when it comes back as an average game, with very poor characterization of a well established main character and a gameplay mechanic that still needs a lot of polishing.
But people are treating it like a game that simply sucks. If they were saying "oh, well it should've been better, but it's still an okay game", that would be different and completely fair. It would also be different if they've played the game and think it sucks, because that's an opinion. However, I get the feeling that people are looking at a 3/5 review and saying "GAME SUX GAME SUX GAME SUX", when in reality the review wasn't all that negative.
The only things I ever heard Metroid fans say about this game were either
A) I'm worried this will suck
B) I'll give it it's fair shot or
C) I don't even want to try it.

I don't call that hype. I called that nervous anticipation.

And people aren't saying "GAME SUX" because they saw an average review. They're weighing the probably near infinite amount of info they can get on the game from the internet with a review that reinforces opinions they already had about the game, therefore they decide that they would probably not like it. It isn't some blind opinion.
 

WanderingFool

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I actually think this is what the series needed, change things up, try new things. Sure, alot of it didnt work out as planned (understatment, im sure) but what would happen if we didnt have people willing to make the next leap? So yeah, Other M is not a great game, but it is advancing the series. I honestly hope for this being the stepping stone for the return of the traditional metriod style gameplay, and away from the FPS prime trilogy. Sure, it could be a step backwards, but does that mean a bad thing always? Just look at the Sonic series, they hadnt had a good 3D game since adventures. I also like the idea of adding the story to Samus, but I dont really like anonymous characters, I like to have some idea where they come from, helps to connect better.

Captain Magic said:
You know, it just occurred to me that one tiny change to the story could have fixed Samus' terrible characterization. The only real reason for making her all whiny and submissive seems to be to make it believable when she follows Adam's commands on using abilities. Why not have it instead be that the federation designed a device to block her suit's powers? It makes sense with what we learned about the federation in Fusion that they would have created something like that, and now instead of Samus blindly following orders she can be pissed off and yelling at Adam to flip the switch as she's burning to death in a lava pit. And given the relationship that we know exists between Adam and Samus there could be some interesting character growth where they slowly build trust during the game and she starts gaining powers faster.
I agree with this completely. They could have kept her a badass if they would have went that route, and is it racist to say its probably a Japanese thing? Probably is...

Mangue Surfer said:
So, they make samus a paltry blowjob dispenser.
Sad. She was one of the most strong, not sexualized, female character in the industry.
I was going to say something about this in reference to the internet and porn, but that should be a known fact already...

*Edit*

Canadian Briton said:
Good review but the real question everyone is asking is ,who is the MBD? (Mysterious Black Dude)
The first to die? isnt that how it works in the movies?
 

PlasticTree

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You sound a bit too much like you're just reading from a paper (even though you do, of course), which makes your review a bit stale, in my opinion. Nonetheless, the review itself was good and informative, so: huray for Steve. Also, bonus points since this is still one of your first video reviews on the Escapist.

Personally, I won't be getting this one. I love Metroid, but the story and the whole Samus-gets-to-be-a-Final-Fantasy-character-stuff...no. I'm just too afraid that it'll destroy the experience for me, both for this game and for all the other Metroids that are yet to be released.