I'll be honest with you: I skipped Primes 2 and 3. And the last two-thirds of 1. As many of our regular readers already know well, I'm not a first-person gamer...at all. I can totally acknowledge and respect them for what they are as quality games and what they achieved for the Metroid franchise, but they just weren't for me. So you might imagine my skepticism when it was revealed the next game in the series, Other M, would have a first-person component as well.

For whatever reason, I wasn't able to get into Nintendo's Media Summit back in March, and just couldn't squeeze it into our line-cutsies E3 booth appointment amid everything else being shown like the 3DS, Skyward Sword, etc. So when Nintendo invited me out to their office earlier this week for a personal demo and some hands-on with a near final build of the game, I was excited, but still a little skeptical about the game itself. I know many gamers out there are in the same boat for various reasons, if not the same as mine.

Since it was my first time, they were gentle, putting me into the first of their possible three save points for the session which was pretty early in the game; just after the first boss. They didn't make me use a remote condom though, so I pity whoever was up after my appointment.

I will not bore you with a recap of the story or any of that because a) you probably already know just much from any of the trailers or preceding impressions articles, and b) it'll help avoid spoilarz that could get me lynched, and c) I frankly don't remember all the names and details, because I was a bit preoccupied absorbing the experience and trying not to fail miserably that I couldn't stop and write it all down. What I can answer for you is what exactly Other M feels like to someone like me: a gamer with medium to good skill, doesn't care for first-person anything except my own real life eye sockets, and a fan of old school Metroid.

I feel just like this when I go out in public.

The biggest concerns I hear among gamers are about the controls; specifically the lack of nunchuk support. Who'd have guessed that making the controls essentially as complex as the SNES would cause the uproar it has? After an hour with them in a number of situations, you can rest assured that things do work just fine. A d-pad and analogue stick are essentially the same if you think about it: both are a representation of the YZ plane in 3D space. The only difference is the additional directional finesse afforded the stick, but in Other M's case, they have adjusted the sensitivity so it's pretty easy to predict and achieve any trajectory with Samus as you're playing. I can understand the criticism for not allowing the option of a nunchuk, but I can see now why they wouldn't, and in that regard, respect them for stubbornly sticking to their guns to deliver exactly the intended experience.

In a nutshell, these are the controls... tap A for the morph ball. You can set bombs as always, but you can also flat out jump in ball form. Is that new? D-pad controls movement, or during a fight, can serve as a dodge if pressed at the right moment. Dodging while charging your cannon will instantly and automatically fill the remainder of the charge, allowing for some interesting tactical uses for those skilled enough to pull it off with any consistency. The 1 and 2 buttons handle your firepower and jumping. If you find yourself in between enemy encounters and low on either health or missiles, you can do what they called "concentrate" by holding aloft your magic sword and saying "I have the powerrr!" Wii remote (vertically) and pressing the A button for a bit. It can recharge your missiles or renew a bit of energy, up to one tank full. Point the thing at the screen to enter first-person mode, where the A button becomes your firing, and use B to lock onto enemies OR pivot your view. You won't be able to go anywhere once you're in first-person mode, so make sure to put some distance between yourself and any approaching threats. It does alter the flow of things a bit, but it's kind of different from any other game I've played, so I can't say it feels "wrong" to be switching perspectives... just different. I found it fairly intuitive overall, and had no trouble with either mode and jumping right in, even as a n00b.

Community troublemakers beware: I am currently an understudy to add this to my banning repertoire.

The game also features a lot of contextual moves, including wall-kicks; jumping and hanging from the edge of a tiny chute that you can auto-morph into the ball and roll; grabbing a dinosaur-type monster by the tail, swinging it over your head and body slamming it across the room; or even something called a "lethal strike"—a scripted sequence triggered from combining a perfectly-timed jump and attack at/onto an enemy not unlike a brutality finisher in Mortal Kombat. The lethal strikes can help make shorter work of more difficult enemies that might take longer to bring down with standard run and gun techniques. It can work on larger enemies like mini-bosses too, though it seemed like I needed to get them in the mood first with some blasties to the face. The strikes I typically saw showed Samus mounting them from behind, reaching around their neck and then firing into the back of their skull to make all manners of mess. Knowing and making use of all the various contextual controls will be vital to finishing the game, so I was told.

Visually, the game is one of those stunners that likely makes you think two things: "Wow...this Wii game looks incredible" and then lamenting its potential had it been in HD. The textures are quite detailed, the lighting appropriately moody, and the models all well rounded. The camera is pretty different too, often framing the action or Samus in almost cinematic ways, but still in-game interactive. Some of the other visual effects such as the distortion ripples as a holographically shielded area becomes visible and reveals its true form are pretty nifty too. One of the more subtle examples include the transition from third-person to first. During the switch, the HUD bends from being flat on the screen to looking like it's being projected on the inside of Samus' round visor. It's not the size of the effects that counts, it's how you use them.

Flat HUD; bendy HUD. Also... look at the freaking detail in these swampy scenes!

Another thing I noticed was a hint of that explorative nature key to Metroid's allure. The early areas I played were about as linear as a typical dungeon in a Zelda game; you have a little freedom to deviate, but your overall path is pretty set. Granted, I was aboard a spaceship with limited dimensions, but with even a slight spirit of adventure you're likely to stumble on some hidden power-ups or paths. Hopefully later areas of the game will open up some of the restrictions and give a little deeper sense of being alone in the unknown.

Bottom line is that my skepticism going into the session was completely washed away in less than an hour. This game is going to have a lot of fans, and I am now one of them. Apologies for all the suggestive language; something about this whole situation is just very, very sexy. Must be the part about writing on a blog. Three and a half weeks, folks; then you can have your way with Other M too. —cortjezter