Zero Punctuation: Metroid Other M

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Turbo_ski

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Dec 23, 2009
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Nintenfan81 said:
You're either going to ignore me completely or burn me to cinders, but I wanted to point out that Samus hadn't fought Ridly more than once at this point in the story.

Hilarious review as always!
except you would be wrong. Metroid and Super Metroid precede this game chronologically.
 

sunburst

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Mar 19, 2010
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Nintenfan81 said:
You're either going to ignore me completely or burn me to cinders, but I wanted to point out that Samus hadn't fought Ridly more than once at this point in the story.
She fought Ridley in Metroid, Metroid Prime, Metroid Prime 3 and Super Metroid. Metroid: Other M takes place directly after Super Metroid which takes place after the other 3. Why would you say something like that when you have no idea what you're talking about?
 

SAMAS

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Aug 27, 2009
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QUINTIX said:
I'm not sure why quote is not working...

But for those of you who mentioned moviebob... [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escape-to-the-movies/1982-Resident-Evil-Afterlife]

Go to the end.
Yes, he likes Other M. He says as much in the video mentioned before.
 

SAMAS

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BehattedWanderer said:
GloatingSwine said:
BehattedWanderer said:
88mph said:
the actual plot of the game is totally forgettable - as in it takes a back seat to the personal story of samus - one that some people including myself didn't quite appreciate, if you want to get into semantics

either way, once the game ended and you return to the ship, that is when i thought "now this is a metroid game", nobody there holding your hand spelling out every subtle feeling Samus might have, just the world of metroid and exploration

prior to the ending tho, the game might as well have been fan fiction on a forum
Out of curiosity, have you ever really been impressed by a Metroid story or plot, though? Even the highly touted Prime games have little in the way of memorable, distinct plot. Those particular plots took the backseat to exploration and reading. Super Metroid's plot was second to playing with your various new toys as you got them, and figuring out all the little nooks and crannies you could tuck into for loot. Story has never really been their focus, always being there casually, but background to wandering around finding new ways to go to different rooms in the places you've already been.
Which makes it all the more bizarre that they suddenly decided they needed an overblown cutscene fest with linear levels instead of, y'know, a Metroid game.
You seem pretty fixated on the fact that backstory and narrative was revealed through the use of cutscene, rather than...what? Reading it off of a scan? Hearing someone spout a single line of conversation before a shootout? Playing through three and a half other games that all come after the prequel you make to be your sendoff of a series to understand thoroughly what the inevitable fate of your protagonists are? Yes, it's weird seeing and hearing what's going on behind the visor, and it wasn't handled as best as it could have been, but actually having some exposition about the woman in the suit of power armor is a nice change from just assuming everything she does is on autonomic reflex of "beep! Beep! Shoot kill!*
Honestly, as a fan, I would have preferred better cutscenes. As much as I can understand and agree with what Team Ninja seemed to be trying, Even I admit they kinda messed up on the execution.
 

Space Jawa

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Feb 2, 2010
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Scrumpmonkey said:
Metroid is a girl? :p
I would assume some of them are, given the prescience of Metroid Queens.

GloatingSwine said:
epsilon246 said:
n most Metroid games he explodes, in Prime 3 he is actually completely disintegrated, and he still comes back for Super Metroid.
That was even after he got Balrog'd, wasn't it?

FallenMessiah88 said:
So it is decided then. Metroid: Other M is officially one of the biggest gaming shitstorms of 2010.
Of just 2010? What's the last game that generated these kinds of forum wars?

BehattedWanderer said:
I remember the torrent of bullshit that fell on Dom from Gears of War 2 because he actually cared about the welfare of his wife, and that while we all saw it coming, empathizing with him for the revelation of her fate was still a poignant moment.
It's fine that Dom cared about his wife, but as a soldier who has an assignment that could very well decide the fate of all mankind? Though honestly, Marcus should get more of the blame there for not getting Dom to focus on the big picture and letting his friend pretty much repeat his own mistake.
 

BehattedWanderer

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Jun 24, 2009
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SAMAS said:
Honestly, as a fan, I would have preferred better cutscenes. As much as I can understand and agree with what Team Ninja seemed to be trying, Even I admit they kinda messed up on the execution.
It's why I make the distinction of theory versus execution. There's a lot they did right, but the parts they did wrong have got the most attention.
 

BehattedWanderer

Fell off the Alligator.
Jun 24, 2009
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Space Jawa said:
Scrumpmonkey said:
Metroid is a girl? :p
I would assume some of them are, given the prescience of Metroid Queens.

GloatingSwine said:
epsilon246 said:
n most Metroid games he explodes, in Prime 3 he is actually completely disintegrated, and he still comes back for Super Metroid.
That was even after he got Balrog'd, wasn't it?

FallenMessiah88 said:
So it is decided then. Metroid: Other M is officially one of the biggest gaming shitstorms of 2010.
Of just 2010? What's the last game that generated these kinds of forum wars?
BehattedWanderer said:
I remember the torrent of bullshit that fell on Dom from Gears of War 2 because he actually cared about the welfare of his wife, and that while we all saw it coming, empathizing with him for the revelation of her fate was still a poignant moment.
It's fine that Dom cared about his wife, but as a soldier who has an assignment that could very well decide the fate of all mankind? Though honestly, Marcus should get more of the blame there for not getting Dom to focus on the big picture and letting his friend pretty much repeat his own mistake.
So him being a soldier makes it more bearable? Top tier bounty hunters just get the shaft, eh? That they start out alone means they get to stay alone, not allowed to form meaningful attachments?

Yeah, I'll stop that now. Take that a bit sarcastically, if you don't mind.
 

Tharticus

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Dec 10, 2008
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Argol228 said:
You guys and everyone else that watches ZP reviews for anything other then comedic entertainment are idiots in need of culling. Her monotone is a suitable tone considering she is a lonely bounty hunter with the weight of the universe on her shoulders and she has lost everyone that she was close to. Family, the chozo, the baby metroid. You guys have to realize Yahtzee exaggerates everything. this game is not bad just because one guy rants about it for comedic effect.
Oh, I'm a idiot? Mr. Croshaw nails almost everything on the head. Graphics and gameplay aside that it's good, it's only the long cutscenes, the boring monotone, monologues that then calls "Baby" a thousand times, Electra complex, and the cutscene that feature Samus quake in her boots for seeing Ridley.

You may not see Mr. Croshaw's review as serious, I played Other M before his review, as well as the other Metroid games.

Simply don't judge a book by it's cover.

Also, something tells me you didn't play Other M.
 

Ericb

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Sep 26, 2006
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This review makes me think about the interview with the developers of this game.

I did want to believe that those guys weren't just fulfilling some contract-binded marketing for the game, but alas, employers they were and creators they very little could be.
 

Death God

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Jul 6, 2010
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Great review but I still love the game. Though you are right about the cheesy dialogue and the suit "magically" falling off ALL THE TIME!
 

Fire Daemon

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Dec 18, 2007
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Flamma Man said:
QUINTIX said:
I'm not sure why quote is not working...

But for those of you who mentioned moviebob... [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escape-to-the-movies/1982-Resident-Evil-Afterlife]

Go to the end.
...

Wow.

Just...wow...I didn't even notice that...

He honestly thinks that this game is BETTER than the Prime series? I mean, there's opinion and then there's just...
MovieBob has always had some extreme fanboy issues but they've only really become a massive detractor after he was picked up by Screwattack, for me anyway. Recently he seems to be going on tirade about how much he hates FPS and it culminates in his most recent episode where he flat out states that FPS are the reason for all of gaming's problems, without actually saying why of course. It comes to no surprise to me that he hates the thought of Metroid being an FPS, probably sees it as some sort of mutation of a beloved childhood franchise or something.

Anyway, as for the game and the review; Yahtzee seems to have pretty much hit the nail on the head. A lot of people are trying to avoid the pathetic characterization of Samus by saying that it takes her from a 1D character to a 3D character which is pretty much false, it takes her from a silent 1D character to a 1D character that bitches a lot and needs saving from the final boss, and that this is good writing. It isn't good writing folks, it's terrible. She's a whining ***** who exposits everything, basically becomes a damsel in distress during the cut scenes but turns into the hero during gameplay. The story is contrived and tries to cram it's imagery and metaphors down our throats and generally treats us like morons. That's bad writing folks, it's really bad writing and as Yahtzee is a published Author while Moviebob and his ilk are not I know who I'll trust in regards to story. Not to say that Yahtzee is always 100% right, however here he definitely has more credentials than Moviebob and random Nintendo fanboys.

I also want to address the Real Women Never Wear Dresses [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RealWomenNeverWearDresses] trope that this thing is likely going to come down to, if it hasn't already. I hate that female characters have to have 'male' attributes to be considered a positive role model. She can't bake, clean, be a mother, wear dresses, have any real weaknesses and can't dare have high levels of affection otherwise she be considered sexist. I hate that for two reasons, one) it encourages cookie-cutter characters, and 2) it's complete bullshit. A good aversion of this trope is found in Sailor Moon and I actually have to recommend checking out a couple of episodes of the original Japanese version because it's interesting stuff.

Anyway, defense of Samus' new character direction seems to be falling back to this with people claiming haters don't like her because she isn't there vision of a 'perfect female protagonist' and for a female to be a liked character she has to be as close to a 'male character' as possible. Bullshit I say. Samus has gone to far into the deep end and isn't hated because she has weaknesses and emotions, but because she is those weaknesses and emotions. She has become a ball of angst and whining which is what people hate, not because she doesn't fit into the preconceived notions of what a 'feminist' female character should be.
 

Moromillas

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May 25, 2010
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Argol228 said:
You guys and everyone else that watches ZP reviews for anything other then comedic entertainment are idiots in need of culling. Her monotone is a suitable tone considering she is a lonely bounty hunter with the weight of the universe on her shoulders and she has lost everyone that she was close to. Family, the chozo, the baby metroid. You guys have to realize Yahtzee exaggerates everything. this game is not bad just because one guy rants about it for comedic effect.
My thoughts exactly.

I had the opportunity to play the game before this review. It's a real shame that so many would see the game as "crap" rather than see that the video is critiquing the game, because it's his job to nitpick and be very critical of a game, hence video game critic.

I really enjoyed playing other M and would have never guessed that there would be such an opinion on the voice acting, as she spoke very honestly and intelligently. "Robotic" or "dry" voice? "Over the top emotional"? No, I don't think so, she was very composed and her responses were very human.
 

roxtrox7

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Aug 25, 2010
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A great video, it's just a shame that they ruined Samus character. What Yahtzee said was right, she just was a woman in previous games. I always respected her character since she managed to be a woman without being one of the god awful stereotypes in the entertainment industry. I'll just go play Metroid Fusion to remember how she used to be.
 

KzoR

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Sep 16, 2010
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I couldn't stop laughing. Yay for screwing up yet another game series. Good job Yahtzee!
 

LtFerret

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Jun 4, 2009
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I'm a huge Metroid fan but even I agree with everything Yahtzee said. Which is suprising since i've been disagreeing with a lot of his reviews lately.
 

Dangerious P. Cats

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Dec 21, 2008
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You know I could have also guessed from the box art that Samus' armour was going to fall off every 5 minutes. There are seemingly 2 picturs of Saumus, one where she is not wearing her armour and another where we can see her through her face through her armour.
 

Nostalgia

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Mar 8, 2009
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Admittedly, I didn't get into the Metroid franchise til just last year. I played Prime and then Fusion and enjoyed both, but I'll never understand why people almost exclusively compared this game to the Prime trilogy rather than what Metroid originally was and what even the gameplay currently pays homage to. The Prime series was the first drastic step towards drastically changing the gameplay and the reason why I think people universally accept it here in the West because we're comfortable with this style of play already. Admittedly, Retro did an amazing job regardless to keep Metroid's original feel, but if it weren't for a comfortable controller and the level of detail/execution, I would have gotten frustrated with its slow, clunky controls and annoying camera.

Haven't people been asking for Nintendo to do something radically different anyway? Be careful what you wish for.

I am pretty much indifferent to this whole squabble of RUINED FOREVER! [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuinedFOREVER] probably due to my limited time in the fanbase, so to speak. I don't see Samus' character getting ruined probably because I don't feel the connection with what little there was to character her by and therefor, don't care too much, but this thread sounds nothing more than a raging feminist column.