I think Team Ninja should gets some props for that smooth-as-silk if repetetive and mostly unchanging 3rd person combat system. And I think the whole 'giving Samus a voice' thing was not Ninja's fault (I mean, since when did they feel like females in games needed personality?). Instead, the blame, I reckon, should fall sqaurely on the shoulders of the man who has been there since the beginning. He who oversaw every Metroid game oustide of the Primes.
Sakamoto.
It was he who expressed his aim to give Samus more personality, make the story more involved, and generally give the material for this week's ZP vid.
The game would have probably been better if Team Ninja were left to it, but the collaborative effort left the game seeming confused, as though it wants to be Metroid Gaiden between cutscenes and a boring space soap opera in the cutscenes.