Metroid: Other M
Nintendo Wii

There are Other games available

The XY Review with Ian

This game was a big ball of exploding mess! I didn’t get on with it at all. It stirred gaming emotions which I’ve not experienced before, complete and utter irritation of the highest order, not just in one area but in every area imaginable.

It felt pedestrian, it had so many environments and rooms which had nothing to see, do or kill in them, the story equals nil and switching the controls between 1st and 3rd person – well don’t get me started on that. It fell down on every level; I couldn’t find a redeeming feature about it.

Other M sits between Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion and opens with a cut scene showing the final battle with Mother Brain at the conclusion of Super Metroid. Samus, our female protagonist, receives a call from the good ship bottle and finds some old buddies of hers aka The Galactic Federation 07th Platoon complete with Anthony Higgs and Adam Malkovich who tells his team “don’t talk to her, she’s a girl!” But lo and behold Samus proves her worth and reluctantly Adam brings her back into the fold and needs her help to explore new areas.

The big innovation, the big wowsy wowser for this new title was the control mechanism. The ability to play, shoot and move in 3rd person and then switch to static 1st person to hunt, interact and blast the juice out of some of the larger baddies was so slow that when toggling between the two states you’d get swarmed by either minor irritating enemies or snapped in half by some of the bigger enemies. It actually became a hindrance and I actively chose not to go into 1st person unless I absolutely had to in order to progress within the game for the sake of this review.

Did you know there wasn’t one company behind this creation? Oh no, there were three: Nintendo (producer and designer), who asked Team Ninja (with their Ninja Gaiden engine) to the party and D-Rockets (cut scenes and CG work) who were also asked to come and play. The story/cut scenes were way too long, my interest waned very early on in the game and sadly I didn’t care about the plot; but for those of you that might care... if you complete the game and have been a very good gamer, you can unlock a two-hour film presentation which contains every cut-scene shown during the game to keep and treasure forever and ever.

I’ve entered other series late on (Resident Evil, Grand Theft Auto and StarCraft) and have been not only hooked by them but also encouraged to explore previous titles in their back catalogues. Other M is the 11th in the Metroid series but as first experiences go I’m afraid 10, 7, 4 or 2 will not find a happy home with me.
Playing the game actually began to anger me at times, there were some walls (metaphorical and literal) in the way and no obvious route to proceed forcing you to go back and just get more frustrated. The power ups are infinitesimal and barely have any impact when you do find them and so aren’t worth searching for.
The final nail in the Other M coffin is there is a game-breaking fault in some of the games. Due to a coding error, you could stumble upon a bug which makes it impossible to finish the game and unlock your two-hour presentation without starting over or using an earlier game save, then how sad would you be?
I have nothing more to say.

The XX review with Tracey

Grumpy old Ian! A couple of his points are worth consideration but is Metroid: Other M really the awful anger inducing game he describes above? Actually, yes but it’s not all bad news.
Sci-Fi and film fans will find plenty here to enjoy from the very start. The cut-scenes are epic, beautiful and lengthy. The artwork and graphics are a heady mixture of Dan Dare and StarCraft whilst the dialogue and vocal performances, albeit a touch hammy is the first we’ve had in the Metroid series, allowing game fans to gain a fleshed out insight into bounty hunter Samus’s backstory and emotional wellbeing. Though I question how tough or defiant a bounty hunter she really is as she mopes around her melancholy memories, I found the cut scenes to be a welcome break from the constant exploration and shooting. Some might find these scenes over long but there’s some real craftsmanship here with interesting camera angles and lighting to create a desolate mood and remind you of your purpose.

Your purpose of course is to investigate a mysterious distress call from “Bottle Ship” and without a difficulty setting, will instantly sort the casual from the hardcore gamers. It still has the feel of early Metroid titles but Samus can now fully explore the surroundings (not that there’s anything to interact with unless it’s integral to the game). Throughout the game, the camera doesn’t move or change direction when using the D pad and the Wiimote on its side. As you run around dodging giant pink eyed flies, a quick flick of the wrist takes you into first person mode and instantly you’re seeing the world through Samus’s visor. Initially this is great fun and an innovative balance between action and examination as you point the Wiimote at the screen but in combat this flipping between perspectives isn’t fast enough nor does it allow for smooth or precise engagement with baddies. In short, it just does not work. There goes another distress call though it’s not so mysterious this time. It’s you wailing in frustration of only being able to move your head in 1st person meaning you’re usually completely open to attack. The ‘auto aim’ feature is great if you’re able to stand facing the right direction but far too many times to mention, I found myself beginning to have fun fending off swarms of enemies in 3rd person then I’d have to switch to 1st person to shoot a specific target in order to move on and whilst rooted to the spot, would find myself utterly overpowered by enemies I only had a chance of fighting in 3rd person! There is an option when you get to your last molecule of life of being able to recharge to carry on fighting but I defy anyone to be able to stand around long enough to do this in the heat of battle so found this completely useless. I can’t help thinking that this game demands a strong and accurate fighting system, which cannot be achieved solely with the Wiimote. Did Nintendo forget that the Wii comes with a nunchuck?

Another element of not having fun is seen when after finally managing to get your head around the awkward controls, you have to spend a considerable amount of time progressing through an area, only to find you can only go so far before retracing your steps and refighting all the baddies you’ve got rid of once on your way back through. It’s like being on the beach and running to the sea in order to wash sand off your feet. Fine once you’re in the sea but the walk back undoes all the good work. Unlike the beach walk, your mum isn’t sat on the prom with a towel ready to make things all better. Here you just die. Though you come back with full life when you die, the feeling of progression is hard to come by and any sense of satisfaction is quickly stripped away. There are moments of brilliance, especially when in Ball mode as the surprise elements and design of the tunnels are a joy but not enough to make up for the fact that despite having a full bag of tricks (which you can’t use half the time as Samus has chosen to only use items when authorized by Adam – so much for girl power, more big wuss hiding in a metal shell) it feels limited in what you can do.

I found the overall pace to be quicker than Ian suggests and you get a lot of game for your money here. Sure there were annoying elements but I can’t help feeling that there’s a great game hidden in here that could have been brought to life with a better use of the Wiimote and nunchuck. The decision had already been taken to make this very different to other Metroid titles so why not go the whole hog and forget the old school controller feel and make the most of the amazing power of the Wiimote and nunchuck? Nintendo prides itself on innovation and I hope this opens the floodgates for a range of titles that are more demanding of the player and push the boat out emotionally and dramatically, however, the story element here with amazing cut scenes should have been a balance to the gameplay, not the most impressive element. Fans of the series will feel like they have been spoilt with the story but the addictive and impressive gameplay element just isn’t there.

Metroid: Other M is available from Play and all good retailers