Here is my critique of other M, abridged somewhat.
Pros:
Storyline is actually pretty good. It's a bit dramatic, but it's all skippable.
Timing of upgrades was quite good, I didn't get the feeling I was running all over the map to unlock areas.
Weapons were a good combination of puzzle and creativity, with a dash of bloom.
Cons:
The game just wasn't fun and here's why.
-Metroid in many ways is like original Zelda. A little known fact about Zelda is that every single screen has a single secret in it (apart from dungeons). With enough time and exploration, you could find something on every screen, and complete the game with your own deductive reasoning.
Other M fails at this completely. Areas are too large, and become tedious to explore. The first person style is an awkward mechanic for delivering a feature such as exploration.
-Many of the upgrades result from scripted events. This is another unsightly obstacle to the delivery of the exploration mechanic. Explorers often pull back from areas that might lead to scripted events. Believe, that we can see them coming a mile away.
-The game doesn't provide the same sense of cleverness and accomplishment. I like in 2d metroid that the first few times I see the flying scuttle crab, I pull out my ice beam and hose it, then jump on it and aim at the next. Eventually, I'm getting so familiar with it, I already have the beam switched while jumping to the first platform, snapping a shot at the crab before I land, immediately jump back to land on it while icing the next two crabs in mid flip. While there were 2d elements in O:M, none provided this same sense of agility and composure. By the time you get the split beam combined with ice, like in super metroid, you're timing that shot to hit all three, but you don't even bother using them as footholds because you're spinning jumping past them. You're just that good, and so is Samus. And that's a flaw. It's not that I can't play the "I'm so awesome" game, but it's because I can't play the "Samus is awesome" game.
-Way too many "monster introduction" sequences. Sure these guys look tough. But they've "sprung out from behind that breakable wall" about a dozen times now.
-No real feeling of isolation. They almost, ALMOST had it, what with people going missing, but the idea is shattered by the realization that these lush environments are basically just terrariums. Metroid, imo, had a great desolate planet atmosphere. O:M? It was very lifeless, and this is a problem I'm seeing grow within other games too, such as Resident Evil. Stop putting culprits for me to peg to the corkboard. Umbrella/HumanColonyProject is experimenting on things when everything goes sour. Oh there's a stronger enemy here? It's probably because these ones were tested upon longer, or a violent mutagen accelerated growth. Just stop. Where is the magic? Resident Evil 1 is a good game because of the voice acting...no wait.. RE1 is a good game because it was HAUNTING. Metroid in the same way was haunting. You're on an unfamiliar planet, exploring its very depths and soul, and the mysticism of long forgotten artifacts and civilization brings a very spooky and isolating feel to the game. O:M fails in this regard as many games do nowadays. Maybe one day people will snap out of this and fire that creative buzzword-game-designer.
Unless either Nintendo or Team Ninja even understand what it is about their older games that made them successful, please just revamp super metroid, or original metroid, please, thanks.
