Review: Metroid: Other M

Going into the Other M, I'm sure plenty of fans had their butts clenched and defenses up. Metroid is one of Nintendo's original big three and even though in recent years it's seen a bit of a decline that didn't mean people weren't going to care that changes were being made to the beloved franchise. They were some pretty drastic changes, but depending on which side of the line you fall on, you may end up liking the series more.

Metroid: Other M (Nintendo Wii)
Developer: Nintendo/Team Ninja
Publisher: Nintendo
Released: August 31, 2010

The biggest question you should ask yourself if you're debating on whether or not Metroid: Other M suits your needs is "What do you value most about the Metroid formula?"

Do you like the exploration and collection?

Or are you generally interested in the world, the characters, and combat?

Of course this is also a question of game preference, but specifically for Metroid I think this is the best way to divide the series.  If it's the former then there's a high possibility you'll have some problems with Other M. A lot of the new ideas created specifically for this game focus on what Nintendo felt could be better improved from the Prime series. For example, a more streamlined world, simplified combat, and a better way to hook new players. If you're one of the people who aren't interested in any of these changes, then I hope I can offer you an alternative way of looking at the situation before you write the game off completely.

With a lot of these changes, you'll see that I spend a lot of time comparing them to the Prime series. Back when Metroid first made it's leap into the 3-d world, Metroid Prime set the standard while still capturing the look and feel of the original 2-d games. But while all the Primes were critically successful, there were aspects of the games that made it very difficult for new players and even tedious for the veterans. Some of these problems spanned across all three iterations and while the games differ thematically, from the surface they look strikingly similar. The hype behind the series waned a bit and I see Other M as Nintendo's efforts to appeal to a broader audience. So with that in mind I'm a bit understanding of the changes.

The first major tweak came in the form of the world design. I won't lie to you and say that the world in Other M is even close to as engaging as in any of the previous ones. It lacks a sense of scale not only in the world as a whole but each individual room as well. But with these alterations also came improvements. I wasn't nearly as frustrated with back tracking and traversing the environment. Most of the level design has you spit back to the beginning of a sequence or at least in the right direction. Yes, it's a far cry from the complexity of a Prime game, but for a core game focused at the Wii market, I think it balances the formula well enough. There are different and interesting locales as well as puzzles, sequences, and set pieces. Everything feels fresh and new, but that shouldn't be a surprise as the last ten years have been seen out of Samus' visor. Something that couldn't be done in the Prime Series were cinematic camera angles. But now that the player is given a different view, we're able to see Samus with all her bounty hunter moves. She jumps, twists, dodges, and even shoots from a crouch. These are movements only previously experienced in Smash Brothers. But also included are the screw attack and dash boots moments. I really missed those from before Prime. This is great for old and new players and I couldn't be happier to see Samus in this form. She looks brilliant in CG cutscenes and for a system severely lacking in horsepower, it's a great offering visually.

The second major change comes in the realm of story telling. Samus speaks in this game, among many other actions. Again, to be honest the story is not that amazing. This isn't a Bioware or Ninja Theory game. It's parts of Nintendo and Team Ninja. Story has never been their strong point. But having it as the reason why I'm running around completing objectives was immensely important in my book. I couldn't take another Metroid game where the objective was simply to collect a number of artifacts, regain my lost power ups, and kill the final boss. It gave me purpose in my game and I agree that some moments come off as awkward, like Samus breaking out of her normal stoic never faultering self. I'm just glad they didn't make Samus out to be this love stick young girl falling for her ex-superior officer. They hinted at it a few times, but thank God they didn't go there. There are plenty of things I would have done differently had I been writing the story, but that's not exactly something we need to talk about here.

What I can discuss is the somewhat unreasonable disgust for Samus not using her equipment even though she had it from the beginning of the game. Yes, it's true. Samus has her abilities from the get go. The game restricts her usage by factoring in a bullshit story tie-in about her waiting for authorizations from her commander. It's ridiculous. And it's only compounded with events like near-death running through a life sucking heat zone, only to turn on shielding after getting through it. But I think people are making way too big a deal about the game making sense and having believablitiy. That signature sequence was included in the game and I was glad to see it. When has Metroid ever tried to engage realism? I'd argue that it's just as dumb that she loses all her power ups at the beginning of every game, only to arrive at another deserted planet with another set of equipment conveniently placed around the world in puzzle form. I was tired of that formula and it's obvious that Team Ninja made a mistake that with the reasoning behind it. But if you really have complaints, they should be direct to the simplicity of power up discovery. There's no real moment where the world opens up because Samus discovered one particular item. And that is something that I missed.

But all that aside, we come down to my biggest concerns going into Metroid: Other M. The combat. The Wii Pointer controls were a question mark from the day they were announced. Would they work? And how troublesome would they end up being? Also I've never been a huge fan of Team Ninja action games. There are some key design choices they've made in the past and it would be a question of whether or not they'd find their way into the Metroid seires. All I can say is that the game is unmistakably Team Ninja. The way the character moved, the way she jumped in the air, even the way the monsters were designed showed Team Ninja's handiwork. But over all, except for a few awkward scanning scenarios and a couple vague horseshit combat sequences, Other M did not become as much of a nightmare as I feared it would. None of these sequences spanned the entire game and for that, I am glad.

The biggest addition to combat had to be the Missile Recharge system. When Samus ran out of missiles, all she had to do was "focus" (by holding down a button) and it would magically refill her shots and depending on the situation her life. It is not a perfect system. I realize it's flaws and the stupidity in logic. But I absolutely love it. In every other Metroid, a player had to run around killing enemies or finding a recharge station often times killing the pace. It's tedious and time consuming. Missile recharge cut out unnecessary foraging and let me focus on proceeding forward. If you ever played the original Metroid not in one sitting, you'll understand what I mean. Also gone is the tediousness of switching beams and equipping items. Again, I see this as a positive change.

So all in all, people are going to make their opinions. Some will not like the changes but Metroid has taken a different direction. I can understand people's worries, but there's nothing in the old games that couldn't be infused with the new formula in a future title. If the story was borked or if the world didn't capture your imagination, that's easily fixed. It doesn't conflict with anything that has been set forth now. But if something like combat didn't translate well or if it didn't capture the feel of Metroid, then I'd be a little worried.  As for the future of the Metroid Series, I see Other M as a necessary evolution to make the series relevant again. It broke some of Metroid's biggest traditions while keeping other ones. I can't go into detail for fear of spoiling some of the best sequences, but if you play all the way through, even after the credits roll, you'll know what I mean.

Score: 88
(80-89%: Great - Only very minor issues get in the way of greatness.)

David

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