hi everyone, i'm not the most loved user on vgc, especially the nintendo forums, mainly because i don't have much nostalgia for the nintendo brand, nor their ips. Though there is one franchise from nintendo that i love, and that i always will love, and its Metroid. Recall from E3 2009, Metroid Other M was my most anticipated game (yes a WII game), and i had been craving more 2D action since Metroid Zero Mission the the GBA. The game ships on August 31, but i had the chance to play it since early friday due to homebrew. Before anyone attacks me and calls me a pirate, well, i did pre-order the game from amazon, and i will keep my copy for collection purposes (i own all metroid games). So enough with meaningless stuff i will start my final thoughts on the game, any questions i can answer, i hope to avoid any possible spoilers.
Summary: Started the game on Friday, Ended the game on Saturday. Total Play Time was 14:07 with 98% of the items collected.
Story: By now you pretty much all know that the game was made for the fans to know more about Samus Aran's past, and especially about a certain character named "Adam".The story starts off as Samus gets an emergency distress signal from a ship in outer space, and goes to help. The whole game takes place in the bottleship, which is divided into 3 Sectors. The first hour/hour and a half there is so much dialogue, that it won't seem like a metroid game. I didn't have fun, and i was questioning most of the story, but the story picks up. I wanted to know more, about what was happening. The game gives you cues, about a conspiracy, and the player (me), wanted to know about it. Theres a huge discovery made at 3/4ths of the game, that could be used to expand the Metroid universe. even though the voice acting was meh, the story while very cliche, gets the job done. Fans have to understand that this game was created to give Samus a backstory, so that she means something more than a bounty hunter. And to that purpose, the game achieves it goals. This makes a very promising universe which could be expanded, with the galactic federation.
CGI: WOW, the recreation of the end boss of Super Metroid (mother brain), is all you need to see. Its a love letter to metroid fans. I don't remember any nintendo game in the last 5 years, or pretty much EVER, to have as many CGI scenes as Metroid Other M. That gives the game a cinematic style, which is enforced by the 2D gameplay.Wish Nintendo did this more often on their games.
Graphics: The game is marvelous, the game looks very good for a WII GAME (yes i said it). Throughout the game i only suffered slowdown maybe once or twice, where the framerate was noticeable slower. Loading screens are practically nonexistant, none of that you have to shoot and wait 3 to 5 seconds for doors to open a la metroid prime.
Controls: The game is played with the wiimote, much like an nes game. Press 1 to shoot, press 2 to jump. This works wonders in paper, but not in execution. For example the game is based on a 360 degree movement for Samus. When enemies surround her, and you want to shoot one of them, you cannot choose who you shoot unless you go into first person mode which is triggered by pointing the wiimote at the screen. It is very clunky to suddenly change from third person to first person in a matter of seconds, because the enemies do not slow down. So you can only shoot and hope the automatic shooting mechanics kills the enemy you wanted to kill. I have no issues on the controls, other than the 1st person mode, i somehow believe the shooting in first person to be annoying, and frustrating when compared to Metroid Prime 3.
Gameplay: The game clearly shows the influence of Team Ninja on Metroid Other M. Anyone familiar with Ninja Gaiden will get a deja vu, the moment Samus has to evade, evade, evade, evade, and shoot. The constant moving around, and shooting, as well as the sexy finishing moves, were clearly influenced by team ninja. Also the fact that in certain rooms you have to kill everyone in order to open the door reminded me of Ninja Gaiden. Powerups have been a staple in Metroid games. In this game you start with all your equipment but are not allowed to use them for one of the most stupid reasons in video game history, though its not meant to be taken too seriouly, and it didn't bother. Missiles and the grapple beam. can only be used in first person mode, through the lock on feature, and it works efficiently, but not excellent, more work could be done. A fan favorite, the shinespark is back, as well as other moves in the game. The game has an efficient map, which tells you to go from point A to point B, in a linear fashion, it is very hard to get lost. One complaint that i had, is that after a FMV, the game turned into first person view to get me inside the action, but i could only aim, and you were stuck in aiming mode, until you scanned the correct spot, totally kills the intense emotion built up by the previous FMV. I almost forgot, the game has an automatic reload for missiles, you cannot run out of them, so shoot them without fear. you reload by holdin the wiimote vertically and pressing A. The same thing can be done with your health, say you're running low with 30 HP, and are about to die, you can heal yourself by doing the same thing, though it takes around 5 seconds. Take that with a grain of salt. I believe the game is balanced (enemies deal heavy damage), so it didn't bother me.
Boss Fights: Metroid is known to have crazy bosses, and this game is no exception. Lots of bosses, and very familiar ones are present. Upgrades are not earned by beating bosses like in metroid tradition, but rather through authorization. Some Fights require you to switch from third to first person, and it is very frustrating since it aint as fluid.
Items: Only Missile and Tank Expansions, as well as some that make you charge your beam faster. though tanks only come in sets of 1 instead of 5 like in all previous metroid games. Tank Expansions come in both full, and in parts (zeldafied), in which 4 parts, make a tank. One thing that i will mention is that its impossible to get 100% without beating the game at first, which unlocks a known powerup for samus that opens doors. Also once the game is clear, the map points out all the missiles and tanks you missed.
Difficulty: I died probably 7 times throughout the game. I believe the game is on the very top of metroid, in terms of challenge. Enemies deal alot of damage if one is not careful, and since they don't leave any healing items, the only way to heal is through a save point (ala castlevania). There was this certain enemy at the end of the game, that was ffrustrating battle because of the camera angle, but other than that, the game offers a challenge. Hard Lock is unlocked after 100% is achieved in normal mode.
Complaints: the voice acting sometimes got in my nerves, samus gives one line with emotion, and is very believable, but then delivers another one that sounds like if the voice actor was reading the script with no emotion. Forced to switch from third person to first person mode in order to shoot a missile. Some of the backstory was pretty pointless. The game could have been much better if they would polish the combat a little bit, as well as the pacing of the game. Too many story thrown at you at the first hour, as well as at the end. It felt like i was playing a resident evil game instead of a metroid game, no shit. There are some scenes in the game that are just so plainfully bad, i don't want to spoil, but there are plenty. Sometimes the story is trying so hard to personafy Samus.
Music: the music has some remixes from old songs from previous games, that are very well done, as well as the title screen song. But other than that i thought the music lacked the atmospheric sounc that Metroid Prime, and Super Metroid had. It decent, just not the best.
Unlockables: Gallery and Theather mode are unlocked when the game is finished. Hard mode is unlocked when 100% item completion.
Final thoughts: I tried to avoid any spoilers, and gave a positive impression which the game left me with. Any questions, just ask and i will answer. I finished my playtime around 14:07 hours, with 98% of the items. I had huge expectations for this game, and most were met, but they weren't exceeded. Its a very capable Metroid game. Though it is not the killer Metroid game i was looking for. We should be thankful to nintendo that they managed to create a 2D metroid game with insane production values, and that they are trying to make the franchise more relevant. The game started out very differently, but that "metroid" feeling comes midway through the game, and that is one feeling that not even castlevania nor copy cats like shadow complex can copy. Though i love castlevania and shadow complex as well. Support the dying metroid style game and buy this game. I rate it an 8.5. Mario Galaxy 2 is still the best Wii game of the year, but Metroid Other M, gave me hope that there is a future for Samus Aran.
