1. Myself, that just damns video games in general for having such a low bar. And imposing on a series as hallowed as this wasn't cool with Fusion, wasn't cool with Prime 3, and really not cool for doing it even more here.

2. Wait. Freaking out, just to have the men on the team save her, is some personality? And a reaction alone is not a personality. The whole game doesn't actually give her one. It just gives her lines and 2 dimensional motivations.

I went back and re-read parts of the Iwata Asks interview for Other M after beating the game with 100%.
For the record, I loved Other M especially for it's innovation, but I did  have this feeling that something was "missing"...

When I read the interviews again I got the impression that, at least on Nintendo's side, there were many people involved in the creation of this game who have mostly worked on handheld games in the past.
Even Sakamoto himself has made these kinds of games for the most part, even if some of them were on consoles. (AFAIK besides making the GBA metroids and recently Tomodachi Collection for the DS, he's only made the Wario-Ware games which are essentially designed for quick short sessions, be they on console or handheld.)

With that line of thinking, I thought that maybe I could sum up many of the common complaints against Other M under the category of being too much like a handheld game in design, scope and breadth. For me, that would account for the linearity, the frequent save points (which I actually appreciated very much), and the overall short length, and maybe even for the seemingly simplistic controls (which I also loved, in fact!) as well as the overall simplistic execution of the story.

I would also have liked to have more atmospheric music and probably some other quibbles I can't remember atm, but the biggest thing for me was the scope and breadth of the game (which, as said, would include the need for more exploration among other things).
I also kind of felt disappointed that I didn't get the chance to enter sector zero myself and "finish the job", and while I feel this was crucial for the game's narrative, it left me somewhat unfulfilled as a gamer, and this also goes under my "breadth" argument.

Throughout the "Iwata Asks" interview there was mention of the core concept of "an NES game with the latest technology" and while I haven't played too many NES games myself, I wonder if this concept also contributed to the smaller scope of the game...

The reason I am making such a big deal out of this is because I really want us fans to give the most accurate, coherent feedback to Nintendo so they don't shy away of making more metroid games in this style, since there was a lot to love about it!

Anyway I'd love to hear everybody's thoughts on my line of thinking. If it makes sense, that would indicate that if the core concept would change to a deeper "console-like" adventure, the other parts could be left in place and the result would be much more popular...

Sorry for such a long rant ;)   

"Throughout the "Iwata Asks" interview there was mention of the core concept of "an NES game with the latest technology" and while I haven't played too many NES games myself, I wonder if this concept also contributed to the smaller scope of the game..."

NES games were not smaller scope. Metroid 1 is a massive game. So was Zelda1 and 2. Mario 3 is still one of the biggest platformer games ever.

Perhaps is it the perception of smaller scope that was the problem here.

"Perhaps is it the perception of smaller scope that was the problem here."

--so you don't agree with me that this was a shortcoming of Other M?

I agree with you on Zelda and Mario 3 (without the whistles) but the first Metroid can be finished in 45 minutes.

Why are you assuming game completion time is the same as scope?

There ya go.  The reason why Samus took one hit from the ice beam.  Lots of things that are "new traits" for Samus that people don't like (she even fights for the attention of guys) are actually established traits from years and years ago.  But for people who've only played the games (or only played a few games), they feel betrayed by the character that's been Samus for over a decade.  It's like somebody who watched the old Batman tv show from the 60's being pissed when they find out that Batman is actually an vengeful psychopath.  I can understand where they're coming from but they didn't have the whole story.

60's Batman created "The Bat-Tusi" dance.  That makes him the definitive Batman.

And the manga may not be real canon.  I don't know.  Who knows what crazy shit goes on with Nintendo continuity.  All I know is that when the games weren't able to portray Samus with any sort of personality, the manga was the earliest attempts to fill in the blanks.  So, when Samus has post traumatic stress disorder, is obssessed with a baby Metroid, or something like that that's already been shown as part of her character, I'm willing to accept it a little more.

"60's Batman created "The Bat-Tusi" dance.  That makes him the definitive Batman."

Finally someone who recognizes the truth! no wonder those Nolan remakes were so universally panned :P

Yep pretty much this, I don't really get the whole issue with the game to be honest, I love it, my friends love it, the only complaint any of us had was the length but when we thought about other 2D Metroids their pacing was a lot faster and you could beat them within a few hours if you knew what you were doing.

People just seem really upset that they wanted retro's depiction of Samus rather than the original creators, which is normal since most of the western fans were brought in with Metroid Prime.