Zero Punctuation: Metroid Other M

[SL33TBL1ND]

Yeh, Metroid Prime 3 was much better.

But no Halo: Reach? Damn...

If he does he'll probably just say "Watch my old Halo review. Done? Good."

 

[BehattedWanderer]

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.

Well...GoW2 was a little different; plus one problem with introducing heavy emotional issues to a character is that it DOESN'T gel with the juvenile power fantasy of shooting people in the face. Like I said, the games industry has made a bad habit out of sidestepping any displays of negative emotions in our protagonists.

-looks at Rubino's post- I'll fully admit that the game had its problems (like Yahtzee said, give someone criticisms otherwise things will turn out bad): a little too linear, cut scene length was overbearing at times, monologues needed to be edited, voice acting for the minor characters was iffy, exposition dumps, melodramatic/cheesy moments happened ("you got no style!" -shakes head-), the plot was basic, and of course the scanning sections were annoying. However, I will NOT tolerate you bashing the game's fans and then acting like THEY'RE the strawmen. Hate to break it to ya, but they have as good of arguments as you, if not better. And last time I checked so-called "glass princesses" couldn't fight back against alien lizards despite being pinned and make space dragons force-felate their plasma cannons.

I'm pretty sure you're talking to Mr Robino for that last bit, to which I would advise quoting him that he might be aware of it. If, instead, you were directing my eyes toward his post, then I'll say instead that I am fully aware that the game had it's bad bits, but that the general outcry of "They gave her a weak character when they characterized her" is about as sensible as spraying Rat-flavoring all over your cock and presenting it to a snake.

He mentioned bad pacing, though, which intrigues and amuses me, because I can't really think of a moment aside from those asinine stalking sections where Samus marches stiffly around where the pacing was off at all. Same with bad storytelling, because, while thoroughly predictable, was no less mediocre than anything else currently on market.

 

[JackRyan64]

Wow, he really tore this one apart. I still wanna play it though before I form an opinion. MovieBob brought up some good points, but so did Yahtzee and, well, just about everyone else.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

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.

 

[GloatingSwine]

He mentioned bad pacing, though, which intrigues and amuses me, because I can't really think of a moment aside from those asinine stalking sections where Samus marches stiffly around where the pacing was off at all. Same with bad storytelling, because, while thoroughly predictable, was no less mediocre than anything else currently on market.

You don't think that entirely abandoned plot threads and all of the key story exposition being stuffed into one cutscene after the endboss is bad pacing?

Not being able to naturally conclude all of the story threads you've set up is one of the key indicators of bad story pacing, if you're left with threads hanging that you can't conclude as part of your story it means you fucked up, something should have been dealt with and you didn't do it. Also wrong is infodumping, because it means that you forgot to or couldn't figure out how to reveal that information during the course of the narrative, so you have to arrest the narrative in order to deliver a great wodge of exposition. Other M does this with critical narrative points after the narrative should be over. (Remember, this is a videogame, the conclusion of the narrative should be interwoven with the conclusion to the game, and that does not mean a whopping cutscene on the end. The way the end is handled is about the one piece of really good narrative in Halo: Reach).

 

[Flamma Man]

Portal, Half-Life 2, TimeSplitters, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Thief: The Dark Project, Deus Ex, System Shock II, Bioshock and a lot of others would all like a word with you.

You pretty much just listed a bunch of examples of FPSs that I like and wish more FPS developers would take inspiration from instead of anything that involves space marines or everything else Halo made "trendy" to this genre.

Thank god for companies like People Can Fly. (They're the ones that made Painkiller and are currently working on Bulletstorm right?)

What I was getting at was bob said that the FPS genre is the most uncreative which, using examples, is incredibly false.

And yes, more developers need to make more engaging and better written FPSs, but I think they're slowing getting it.

 

[QUINTIX]

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.

 

[GloatingSwine]

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.

 

[Flamma Man]

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...

 

[SyphonX]

This one actually made me laugh out loud.

I don't know why, but this bit:

"So you want to know who the traitor turned out to be? *Suspenseful Pause* .. "Well so the fuck would I."

I don't know why, but I found that hilarious.

 

[EvilYoshi]

Yes, Metroid Prime was the best one.

 

[sunburst]

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...

Seriously, you're surprised by this? What exactly were you expecting? He hates first-person shooters and absolutely loves retro-style 2D platformers. In that Heavens to Metroid video everyone keeps linking, he has an angelic hallelujah because Other M isn't first person. Sentiments like that really shouldn't be shocking anyone. It's one of the main reasons his opinions have been ignored by the detractors.

 

[ewhac]

Apropos of nothing, you guys [em]were[/em] aware that TomTom are in negotiations to use the voice of Brian Blessed in their GPS navigation products?

No, I'm not kidding... [http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/34502/tomtom-brian-blessed-voice-directions]

 

[Flamma Man]

Seriously, you're surprised by this? What exactly were you expecting? He hates first-person shooters and absolutely loves retro-style 2D platformers. In that Heavens to Metroid video everyone keeps linking, he has an angelic hallelujah because Other M isn't first person. Sentiments like that really shouldn't be shocking anyone. It's one of the main reasons his opinions have been ignored by the detractors.

I know I shouldn't be surprised but, but the way he puts it at the end of the video, it's as if he's stating it as fact.

I mean...jeez.

 

[sosolidshoe]

I would like to step in after the....13 pages of Nintendo fanboys vs everyone else which this review has no doubt generated to say this.

Ladies, gentlemen, it has arrived. We are in THE FUTURE. Yes, that's right, one can now craft a pithy remark regarding the relative stupidity of a person or thing by referring to an actual, physical, real-life robotic vacuum cleaner.

Or, in other words - get it up yae 1960's futurists, I am from the year 2010, and robots do my housework. Some of it. Poorly.

MY POINT STANDS DAMMIT.

 

[SAMAS]

1: He accuses the video of obsession with Sexualization, when the whole point of the video was that the charactization of Samus that people say has been "Raped" (actually said by Spoony) is an entirely fan-made projection. The only mentions of Sexuality are in respone to the accusations made by many critics and fanboys alike, even on this very thread (probably this very page).

There are clear indications of the characterisation we are supposed to have drawn for Samus from the limited details previously provided though. The original Metroid manual states outright that she is considered to be the best of the bounty hunters, who are only brought in when existing Federation forces are simply not up to snuff. Even before she saved the galaxy seven times over she was literally considered the single hardest person in the universe.

By people who didn't even know her gender. She's not the first character to have an exaggerated legendary status (that she actually lives up to for the most part, especially in the doing department).

Now I'm not saying Samus isn't a badass. Not even in light of this game. It's just that now we see that she does the job despite any fears and insecurities she may have inside, not due to a lack of them.

This is actually one of the first things established in the manga. Her public image is a different than how she acts when she's alone. It then goes on that she considers both sides of her as part of her whole being.

 

[Argol228]

Brilliant as always Yahtzee. I had my suspicions about this game to begin with.

awesomem review yahtzee, i had a feeling this would be rather crap.

it appears most of the other reviewers are being extra special nice to it for some reason..

I had my suspicions on Metroid Other M. Now that makes it 3:1 saying Other M is bad.

Good job Mr. Croshaw. And I can't wait for your extra punctuation column on this game.

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.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

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!*

 

[Towels]

*snip

 

[Nintenfan81]

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!