Zero Punctuation: Metroid Other M

[Coop83]

Friday the 24th? Hmm, interesting.

Nerds? Check!

I'll be there... here... whatever.

I wonder how a Metroid Game would look if they actually paid attention to your criticism, Yahtzee...

 

[epsilon246]

Samus says in the begining Ridley was gone without trace and that she believed it was over.

Merely stating this is no use. This is the thing which makes no sense, Samus should know by now that Ridley is too dumb to stay dead. She has killed him four times, most people take the hint after one.

Never mind the fact that Samus is described in the Metroid manual as the greatest bounty hunter in the federation, feared by even Space Pirates. Literally, even before the first game Samus was the baddest ************ in all of space.

The point is Samus believed he was gone without a trace (to be fair his remains were on zebes when it went boom) his apearance so she was caught off guard by his appearance.

Samus has horrible mental scars (and let's face it she'd have to be a psycopath not too) after the attack on k2-l, she is a badass certainly. Just one with issues.

 

[Myoukochou]

?they got Team Ninja to do a Metroid game? Eesh.

Disclaimer: I actually liked DOAXBV?it?s ridiculous, surprisingly difficult to get some of the more difficult suits (given, you know, several of the protagonist are mortal enemies who went to what they thought was a fighting tournament and instead ended up at a beach holiday? like I said, ridiculous!), but actually quite a pleasant and entertaining game, if about as deep as a saucer.

I wouldn?t let ?em do a game where you need to actually make sense of the plot, though. Or the dialogue or voice-acting. *snicker* I don?t know if they were responsible for those or just engine/design stuff, but if they were it would explain the smackdown here.

It certainly doesn?t sound like one of the better Metroids. This also, however, leaves me wanting to play Metroid Prime again.

And quite curious about what Yahtzee has in store for Friday.

 

[gphjr14]

Much more entertaining than the Mafia II review. Love where the little monster pops in to say "Chill out lady."

 

[sunburst]

Glad to see I'm not alone and that someone agrees with me that MovieBob isn't a Nintendo fanboy.

It must be hard to find people who agree with you since even Moviebob thinks he's a Nintendo fanboy. You mention his Game OverThinker series. Have you seen this one [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73toAMJ7rqY] where he imagines Shigeru Miyamoto as a "funny Japanese man" who created a magical place where his childhood home is still intact the way it was when he was a kid and his family dog has been brought back to life? Yeah.

PS: I'm a big Moviebob fan. I've seen all of his movie reviews, watched all of the Game OverThinker series and read his blog. I defended him in the comments for his review of The Expendables and I love his work in general. He's still a fanboy.

Brian Blessed inventorying Quaker Oats is the funniest thing I've seen in quite some time. Still, as funny and true as the video was, I kinda wish he'd have come up with some complaints we hadn't all already said a hundred times. I guess there's not much else to say since this one has been repeatedly picked to the boned but he usually comes up with a few insults I hadn't even imagined which makes it all the funnier.

 

[mr_rubino]

And geez, I could be more forgiving if people would just admit to certain things like Samus's meat-purse screaming for Adam's plasma beam everytime they're within 5 feet of one another existing.
But no, she's just being a good order-following soldier (which she has a history of being, of course), and of course it's RACIST and CULTURALLY INSENSITIVE to point this out because in Japan, a good wo-- er... subordinate knows not to put her armor on unless her boyfriend tells her to.

EDIT: Silly me, I accidentally reversed that last sentence. I said "if her boyfriend tells her not to." Momentary lapse.

 

[JediMB]

Merely stating this is no use. This is the thing which makes no sense, Samus should know by now that Ridley is too dumb to stay dead. She has killed him four times, most people take the hint after one.

The Prime games don't really count. Their stories will likely never be referenced in any of the main series games, and the Galactic Federation military (including its power armor designs) is vastly different in the Prime games when compared to Other M.

So, yeah, I'm seeing two timelines:

1: Metroid -> Metroid II -> Super Metroid -> (Other M) -> Metroid Fusion
2: Metroid -> Prime -> Prime: Hunters -> Prime 2 -> Prime 3

Not to say that Other M doesn't have its continuity problems in relation to Fusion. As much as I loved playing the game, the story totally screws over the fourth installment in the series, as it rips way too many plot elements straight out of it.

Other M is sort of the Alien Resurrection of the Metroid series, I suppose.

 

[epsilon246]

When phazon is invloved nothing makes sense, and a planet blowing up is more than a few degrees! Have you played super metroid? The explosion was gigantic. Samus says in the begining Ridley was gone without trace and that she believed it was over. In the article in which a veteren suffers from ptsd watched the scene he said that barbeques cause him to have attacks now but he still has them every so often. Samus has ptsd; this is cannon she can fight it if she's ready, like that veteran, she can fight it and battle. But she wasn't ready to fight ridley and that is why she panict (why can't i spell that right now?).

But why does she have PTSD now? Why did she show no trace of it the other times she fough Ridley? As someone else said it would make sense if Ridley got PTSD but Samus has killed Ridley so many times now it should be virtually routine for her. I mean how would people react if Batman suddenly started whimpering and crying when he see the Joker?

I thin the main reason people are angry is that Samus has always historically been used in debates to show that Videogames aren't misogynistic, but after Other M that arguement doesn't hold up.

The other times Samus knew (or at least suspected) she was going to have to fight Ridley. So she was ready, also the encounters were months apart atleast. In the manga Samus did break down when she saw Ridley again, but with the help of the chozo recovered and was ready for him the next time they faught (zero mission). As for batman that was only in the first film, we know how that turned out.

I don't really think it is misogynistic. Samus is devoted to Adam? Her parents were killed when she was a child and she sees him as a father, the script was written by a Japanese man and in japan respect for your elders is normal. She doesn't do anything unless told to? 1: she is part of a military mission and is former military so she is aware hat fllowing orders is essential, 2: Adam is her client and she is obeying the wishes of her client like a proffeshional.

 

[latenightapplepie]

The brief image of Brian Blessed had me in stitches. Good job.

 

[Anggul]

I completely agree that the voice acting was absolutely rubbish and dead for Samus.

The gameplay, on the other hand, is fun and the switch from third to first person is pretty much instantaneous, and it's really not hard to get used to it and utilize it quickly.

So yes, I agree with much of what was said, but also disagree with a lot, overall it's a good game, but you first have to get used to the very different control system, which can get rather annoying. Also, can anyone say they're not happy to see her putting that power suit to good use in some good close combat?

Oh and I agree with him entirely that the hazard protection part was utterly ridiculous, as is the whole system of 'permission to use' bar a couple.

 

[ender003]

I really dislike how the video pops out now.

 

[Tharticus]

What Screw Attack thing was Yahtzee referring to at the end of the vid?

Either that's a pun of the Metroid series or to the Game Overthinker's video on "Heavens to Metroid" on screwattack.com.

 

[Guy Montag]

It didn't take Yahtzee to point out the absurdity of this game. Regardless of whether you agree or not with the whole review, giving Samus a voice was an incredibly difficult task that demanded carefulness. And having your armour fall off repeatedly to satisfy Team Ninja's hormones was anything but careful. Same with having a nervous breakdown at the sight of Ridley. Hamfisted metaphors for motherhood didn't help either. The incredibly awkward toggling between first and third person didn't help gameplay.

This game sucked is what I'm trying to say.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

Pretty funny, but unfortunately I've stopped caring about anything on the Wii (save for Epic Mickey but that's different) a long time ago. I was kind of hoping for an Unwound Future review but then again I really don't want anything bad to be said about my beloved favorite franchise ever so I guess it's best that I don't know his opinion on it.

Also, Metal Gear Solid is named after a boss you only fight once in each game.

What Screw Attack thing was Yahtzee referring to at the end of the vid?

I'm guessing it means "screw" as in "sex" due to the apparent over-sexualization of Samus... but then again I'm a high schooler...

 

[GloatingSwine]

The Prime games don't really count.

There's only your sayso for that. The clear production intent is for all of the Metroid games to take place on one timeline. Different visual design in the Federation troops is not enough to base a continuity break on, most military forces have quite a number of different systems which do similar jobs, and that's even within one branch of a service.

 

[GloatingSwine]

The point is Samus believed he was gone without a trace (to be fair his remains were on zebes when it went boom) his apearance so she was caught off guard by his appearance.

He was gone without a trace after Prime 3. He still came back.

Also, I've already addressed her previous reaction to Surprise Ridley, she started shooting him.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

When phazon is invloved nothing makes sense, and a planet blowing up is more than a few degrees! Have you played super metroid? The explosion was gigantic. Samus says in the begining Ridley was gone without trace and that she believed it was over. In the article in which a veteren suffers from ptsd watched the scene he said that barbeques cause him to have attacks now but he still has them every so often. Samus has ptsd; this is cannon she can fight it if she's ready, like that veteran, she can fight it and battle. But she wasn't ready to fight ridley and that is why she panict (why can't i spell that right now?).

But why does she have PTSD now? Why did she show no trace of it the other times she fough Ridley? As someone else said it would make sense if Ridley got PTSD but Samus has killed Ridley so many times now it should be virtually routine for her. I mean how would people react if Batman suddenly started whimpering and crying when he see the Joker?

I thin the main reason people are angry is that Samus has always historically been used in debates to show that Videogames aren't misogynistic, but after Other M that arguement doesn't hold up.

The other times Samus knew (or at least suspected) she was going to have to fight Ridley. So she was ready, also the encounters were months apart atleast. In the manga Samus did break down when she saw Ridley again, but with the help of the chozo recovered and was ready for him the next time they faught (zero mission). As for batman that was only in the first film, we know how that turned out.

I don't really think it is misogynistic. Samus is devoted to Adam? Her parents were killed when she was a child and she sees him as a father, the script was written by a Japanese man and in japan respect for your elders is normal. She doesn't do anything unless told to? 1: she is part of a military mission and is former military so she is aware hat fllowing orders is essential, 2: Adam is her client and she is obeying the wishes of her client like a proffeshional.

Like Bob said, I think this game has revealed some VERY troubling ideas of what a lot of gamers and even game critics/commentators ACTUALLY think about gender in gaming. Samus doesn't present herself as Gordon Freeman with boobs nor is she a Commander Shepard who, let's face facts, is a Gary Stu/Mary Sue in EVERY sense of the term. She instead is portrayed as a troubled soul who has all kinds of insecurities, doubts, and fears and despite (and indeed possibly BECAUSE of those) she overcomes her adversities and grows. I can't really name a LOT of heroines in gaming that have been portrayed like that, especially in recent memory.

 

[GloatingSwine]

Ouch. But somebody on IGN already talked about how Team Ninja basically murdered Samus as a character; what's next, a Tomb Raider game in which Lara keeps crying for daddy? Bayonetta needing a man's help to survive a fight?

With Team Ninja's attitudes towards women MANIFESTLY OBVIOUS in every game they've ever made, who thought it was a great idea to make them create a game around gaming's most iconic kick-arse heroine?

I could not agree more. You are taking some of the most anti-feminine people in history and making them direct Metroid. This is a joke.

On the other hand, two of the hardest bosses in videogames have been female characters in Team Ninja games (Alma and Alpha 152). They're actually not opposed to having women kick ass. As long as it's your ass.

 

[Char-Nobyl]

I think I finally figured out what this game most closely reminded me of:

Take the film 'Terminator.' Now take the rarely-speaking avatar of death and make him give impassive internal monologues for most of the movie complaining about how Skynet didn't like the macaroni art he gave him for father's day, or how he missed Lil Termie's dance recital or some shit.

That is Metroid Other M. Suddenly, it seems like the stories of previous games did reasonably well because THEY DIDN'T LET SAMUS OPEN HER DAMN MOUTH. That's both admirable and horrifying: the Metroid series is succeeding *despite* their main character.

 

[joemegson94]

Nintendo- making the same game over & over & over since 1985. The broken record of the gaming industry.

Piss off, how is Other M the same as, say, Twilight Princess. In fact, how is it the same as Prime 3, or the other metroid games?

Anyway, this was the first ZP in a while that made me laugh out loud (a lot of times).
It's a great game, but the voice acting is terrible.