Yesterday I finally received my Ebay special of a new copy of MoM for $35 total. :)

I then spent about 3hrs playing last night and let me say... wow. Its a great game. All you whiners about the story or voice or lack of having to find the upgrades. Relax, step back and reevaluate your real concerns.

Just because it doesn't follow the Metroid formula 100% doesn't detract from it being a great Metroid experience.

We have to realize a few things.

1. Just because Samus is an awesome warrior doesn't mean she can't be feminine. You don't have to be a woman who acts like a 'man' / dyke (no offense intended) to be a powerful individual. Samus is still presented as the premier bounty hunter she is, but she clearly has a past (after all she was trained somewhere) and has normal feelings as any rational human would. Its not uncommon for a strong person who typically is a leader in their sphere to become a 2nd in command when a person who has always been their 'dad' / leader through a large part of their life. That's simply normal behavior and is easily expected in this game based on the history given to Samus.

2. The idea of restricting her full armory makes as much sense as her losing all abilities to some petty attack at the beginning of each game. Actually, being restricted by a higher ranking officer makes more sense as she readily moved back into the soldier role upon meeting up with her old 'daddy figure' and commander.

3. power-ups, sense of accomplishment. pfft whatever. You still find power-ups, you still get missiles, energy, as well as other enhancements. You still have to backtrack and search around the place. You still have areas you must go back to later once you've gotten a particular upgrade, its all still Metroid-esque. While I'd prefer the homage to the classic music that's payed when you find something, it doesn't make it a unfinishable game.

In fact, the only real complaint I have is that I'm sure the control scheme of wiimote/nunchuk would have been far better. It would have also allowed pointer accuracy to killing stuff in the 2D mode vs just button mashing. Simply a better experience IMHO.

In the end the gameplay is fantastic, the story is interesting, and it clearly IS a Metroid game. Granted, I still have a long ways to go, but, if the only potentially irritating thing that lays ahead is her meltdown, then its still a >8.5 game easily and one that I will definitely not regret purchasing/playing.