Samus not using her weapons until authorized might be offensive, but it's not actually sexist.

I think the sub-bosses in this game are harder than the big ones. That thing you had to save Anthony from kicked my ass a few times, but i breezed through that grapple-lava monster (which was an epic fight aside from that)

Sub-bosses have to be fought repeatedly

A lot.

I just got the game and played for about an hour and half..I like so far but I wish they switched to nunchuck and remote control  scheme but other than I'm fine with everything else

Quick review of the game from me:

( ) Pluses:

- Love the ship and armor in the game, at least there's light on the visor like in Super;
- Theater Mode is a great feature. More games should have a mode like that (MGS3 is the only other one?);
- I love the fact that Samus is as weak as in the old games. Two or three hits and you already have an Energy Tank used! Ouch;
- Lots of cool bosses (always too easy to beat though, but at least there are a lot of them);
- The environments are great, though you can't see most of the good looking stuff because the camera is sometimes too far away from Samus' model. First-person view comes into play!

(-) Minuses:

- The final part after defeating that giant green lizard thingy I won't spoil;
- Speaking of that part... Oh wait, that was the ending? WTF was that all about? Who's that Colonel dude? Who's the Deleter (I just want a confirmation of who or what it was, I have my idea)?
- Samus freaking out when she sees that purple lizard again (trying not to spoil here). I can assure you that I wouldn't have made Samus act like that when she sees him again, I would have made her attack him until he's dead FOR GOOD;
- Another thing about the story, it sucks that they tell you Samus' past is going to be revealed to us in this game, but it felt like they selected some random past events and put them in the game only so this game's story could make sense. There was no backstory about the Chozos and she only tells us that she lost her parents when she was very young once at the beginning of the game... to who again? We, the long time fans, know about it, but we never saw a cutscene about it or anything. Maybe it would explain the part about the purple lizard a bit better if you ask me;
- In other words, the story is pretty disappointing. A lot more telling than showing. More of a retake of Fusion's story than new stuff it seems too;
- Cartoonish style of graphics is a bit disappointing, but no deal breaker for me;
- No music at all. I mean, there are just none and we all know the Metroid games have excellent music all the time;
- It doesn't feel satisfying when you get the upgrades. Also, NO TYPICAL "ITEM GET" FANFARE! I was mad when it never played in the game;
- The game was extremely short. It felt like a handheld Metroid, but on consoles;
- The controls could have been a little bit more dynamic. Luckily, they slow down time when you switch from sideview to first-person view, but it can still get tricky sometimes. A little more "Sin & Punishment" style of controls would have worked great for this game I think. I mean, the nunchuk gets bundled with the Wii, no?

So anyways, I didn't have lots of expectations from the game because I only spoiled the E3 trailer. What I got was an interesting take on the Metroid gameplay and story, but in my heart I consider this game like a spin-off more than anything. It's like the Legend of Zelda: Oracle games made by Capcom, they're different views on the top-down Zelda games with lots of tricky features added like the rings and all. I just can't believe they'd want to make this game canon. Though I'll say this, if they decide to make a Metroid movie, this is how I'd want to see it. The format they created is great and it's one of the best first cinematic experiences on the Wii. But next time Nintendo, stay Nintendo and try not to copy the PS3 or whatever?

Just got the game, and I'm up to the second navigation booth in Sector 1.

So far everything has made perfect sense, and Samus characterization is one of the best, if not the best, characterization i've seen in any video game this gen so far. She's still bad-ass, but at the same time, she has a sense of respect, loyalty and for the plethora of mixed emotions inside of her, she handles it pretty well (much better than a lot of regular people would). 

I'll give more impressions as I go further into the game, and Samus characterization, but so far, I'm really enjoying myself with it, and with the game overall (outside a minor annoyance when it comes switching to FPV, but that will pass with time).

I must agree a bit with this. I believe the big problem is that it was a Japanese developed game. Yes, I seem to have a problem with Japanese games this generation. And it's been bad for me because I used to like everything Nintendo did in the past gens (even the GameCube brought nice things to the video game world), but it's the first time in a long time that I'm starting to wonder "what are they doing to my favorite franchises?" It started with Brawl, then Mario Kart, etc.... I must admit that I'm a bit scared to see how Skyward Sword is going to turn out.

Anyways, I'm not saying Metroid was never Japanese, but with what Retro brought to the table and for the franchise as a whole (after three successful games), it's a bit hard to go to a sudden over simplified type of gameplay and anime style of story. For some strange reason, the Japanese devs like to use concepts and ideas that are just not up to date with the western world. The lame fade-in and fade-out anime cliches in the game, I've noticed them, and a bunch of other things like the "Matrix" slow-mo moves, etc.. That's a bit too much for a somewhat serious story and universe that is the Metroid one.

If they would have shipped this game as a DS or 3DS title, I guess it wouldn't have been so bad. But the problem is that this was a console release and let's just remember how grandiose and enormous in scale the Prime games were...

By the way, for how long was Other M in development? That might clear some of my thoughts a bit.

People seem to forget something real important about Samus' portrail in the Primes series.

The reason the Prime series are a side-story is simple: it contains no character development. It's not relevant at all. To say the portrail of Samus is correct there, makes no sense. Nothing happens to the character, so how... can it tell you anything about the character, or what she's really like?

The Prime series developed Samus's character in very appropriate and subtle ways. The best I can think of is in the first game, at the very end if you had 75 % item collection, when she's got her helmet off and is watching the temple collapsing. She looks on as if shocked for a long time, then closes her eyes in resignation and sadness.

It was great because it was subtle but said everything it needed to.

In Iwata asks they said they started to put together the action parts and cinematic parts at the end of 2008. So my guess is they started early 2008 or late 2007.