And this is the internet we're talking about, so of course there are also some who think that it is a viable excuse to murder thousands in blind nerdrage.
I often want to dissect these kinds of arguments about games, movies, etc., but by the time I get my hands on them its usually at the point where everyone either has a position already, or just doesn't care anymore. But this is probably the best time in Other M's life, so why the hell not!
In this post, I will be talking about Other M, and some of the arguments for and against it. Astute readers will notice by now that I tend to not do outright reviews of things here, per se, so don't expect one now. Expect as neutral of a presentation of the facts as I can give, appended with my personal views on each point afterwards.
It should go without saying that this will also touch on some spoiler territory. However, I still want this to be readable to those who have not played the game yet. So I will try a new system here. Each section will be preceded with a colored title. Each color will represent what kind of spoilers that section will contain: Green for spoiler-free discussion, yellow for minor and gameplay spoilers, such as when you get powerups or what bosses are in the game, and red for major plot-related spoilers. The final section will be headed with blue, and will contain my spoiler-free post finale and overall opinion. The idea is that you can freely skip around to the sections you want to read, while focusing on colors, and not spoilerific words. Let me know how it works!
There are a lot of things to touch on here, so lets start with the most obvious point, the gameplay.
Controls
The game is controlled with a single Wii Remote turned on its side, like an NES controller. This gets you through most of the game, but there will be times where you will want a 1st person view of your 3rd person surroundings. This is why you can point the remote at the screen to enter 1st person view, where you can lock on to targets, allowing you to fire missiles, find out what weapon breaks obstacles in your path, and make a boss' health meter display on the screen.You would think that 3D movement with a D-Pad would be awkward, and you would be right. However, the game is built around this fact, so nearly every area of the game is designed to work quite fluidly with 2D movement. There are still a couple large, open rooms that beg for an analog stick, though.
Overall, the controls work well here. But one of the minor complaints about the game is the desire for more buttons. As it stands, we have only four: pause/menu, attack, jump, and be a Morph Ball. And while this works, there were still times where I wanted just one more, so I could so things like fire missiles without having to go into 1st person and lock on to my target.
Layout
One of the bigger complaints is how linear the game is, and I must say that I completely agree with this sentiment. Now, those who have played Metroid Fusion will remark that linearity isn't necessarily all that bad. I'll go ahead and violently murder that argument right now by saying that Other M is more linear than Fusion. I'll let that sink in. Fusion had more exploration than Other M. Almost the entirety of Other M is spent following the one path available to you. There are times where you need to return to an older area with new powers, but you almost always return to these old areas via new paths. While some may like the lack of traversing old terrain, other, like myself, miss the free-form exploration.However...
Once you beat the final boss and the credits roll, you return to the game for one last mission, with all of your powers. And many of the missile tanks and such can only be picked up at this point. So while the mission sets you on one path to follow, you are still encouraged to freely explore for that 100% item completion. And that ends up being pretty fun... until you have a brief moment of brilliance and notice how each area is, in actuality, ONE BIG CIRCLE. There are a couple forks in the road, but the overall layout for almost every area is either a straight line or a big circle.
Gameplay (combat)
But of course, the important thing here is if the game plays well. And it does... for the most part. Since Team Ninja is responsible for this, it should be expected that the game will have lots of fast-paced combat. This is enhanced with all sorts of ninja moves for Samus: She can dodge incoming attacks (which instantly charges her charge beam), leap on top of her foes for a powerful attack, or rush in for a finishing move. All in all, combat is fun.Gameplay (puzzles)
But everyone needs a break from the chaos, and Other M still provides that. Sadly, this is hardly ever done with puzzles, but with three main "features." The first is cutscenes, which I'll touch on later, but the second are these odd slow-movement sections. Sometimes, Samus will enter a suspicious area, like the scene of a past battle, or a dark room that someone may be hiding in. At these points, you will move out of the fast-moving 3rd person view, and go into a slow-moving, over-the-shoulder view as Samus slowly walks through the area. Its supposed to build tension, as it gives a more personal view of the action and makes it seem like danger could be anywhere. But the effect was completely lost on me. I didn't feel more vulnerable during these sections. Instead, I felt completely safe. In these areas, the game also prevents you from using your weapons until danger is presented to you via cutscene. And I figured that if they're not letting me use my weapons, there must not be anything in these areas that need weapons used on them. I'm not sure how other people feel on this, but I do know that nearly everyone complains that these sections are just slow and tedious.The third point to bring up here are the "pixel hunts." During some cutscenes, Samus will hear a noise, or see something in the distance. The game then forces you into 1st person view, where you must point out what the game wants you to see so the cutscene may continue. A bad, but not awful idea in concept, but what really makes this terrible is how PICKY it all is. You will be forced to point out things like green liquid on top of green grass, or a person in a window so far in the distance that you can barely distinguish the person from the fixtures on the sides of the building. And the points you need to find pretty much ARE a pixel wide. One of the early ones involves a moving bush, but you can't just point to the bush itself. You need to point to the one specific tiny spot on the bush. I actually gave up on the bush, which was the first thing I checked, because nothing was happening. I tried again later, and it finally worked.
Story
Now here is where things start getting ugly. You can tell rather quickly that Other M is mainly focused on its story. More accurately, it is focused on Samus, and her womanly emotions and such.Whoa, hey, calm down. I'm not saying that emotions are for women, or that women are emotionally fragile or anything. I'm saying that this is how the game portrays Samus. The game focuses on her feelings on losing the baby Metroid, her relationship with Adam, the stress her life has been placing on her, her relationship with Adam, and her relationship with Adam, too.
Yes, Adam, her former Commanding Officer from when she was in the Galactic Federation, is a major plot point here. This man dictates how Samus acts for the entirety of the game ok wait a minute
Fans of the Metroid series know that there has been little characterization done to Samus over the years, but what little has been done all points to how she still has a sensitive side, but it is all under thick layers of badassitude at all times. She is a cold, mission-oriented, strong galactic savior, who just happens to be female. She still has strong morals, but she also has a very strong will, and will act on these morals for the good of the universe. And she never takes no guff from nobody, instead choosing to be her own solo force of good.
But in Other M, she is portrayed as a fragile woman who will instantly submit to a group of men. Yes, one of these men is very important to her, but it is also vaguely hinted at that this man is THE REASON SHE LEFT THE GF AND BECAME A SOLO BOUNTY HUNTER IN THE FIRST PLACE.
...Sorry, got off track. I'll get back to that later.
Anyway, story, yeah. Other M is set shortly after Super Metroid, and Samus is still running hot on vengeance and sorrow for the baby Metroid. She picks up a distress call from a space station and immediately goes to investigate. Shortly after arriving, she runs into a small group of GF soldiers, lead by Adam, the man she used to serve under and who is apparently a huge father figure to her. The rest of the game revolves around Adam telling Samus where to go, what to do, and what weapons she may use, with some flashbacks peppered in for good measure. Granted, she volunteered to work for Adam, but at some points, it gets a bit silly. Which leads into my next point:
Authorization
In Other M, you do not lose your suit's upgrades and find them again later. Instead, Samus always has her upgrades from the very start. However, Adam tells Samus that he does not want her using her full arsenal, out of fear that she may accidentally harm the other troops or the civilians that they are trying to save. So Samus strips herself down to the most basic of powers, and keeps everything else turned off until Adam says she can use it.This is my biggest issue with the game. Now, I fully understand why Adam doesn't want Samus using things like her Power Bombs or Wave Beam, as they could very easily accidentally harm others, and if I were in Adam's shoes, I'd probably make the same call. But you see, the issue here is that this also extends to things like the Ice Beam, which all the other troops get to use LONG before Samus can. Or the Grapple Beam, which is purely used for transportation. Or the VARIA SUIT, the thing that makes her NOT DIE. You seriously have to go through about half of the entire lava sector, just taking damage continuously, until Adam gets off his ass and says "oh hey, Samus, your Varia Suit will protect you from heat!" (I'm very serious when I say that he actually tells her what the Varia Suit does.)
...Just... why? Why would Samus even turn that off? Why would Adam wait so long to give her authorization for that? Why would Samus WAIT for that authorization? Not only does this make little to no sense, but it even flagrantly goes against BOTH characters' personalities! Adam wouldn't let any harm come to his troops, and since when does Samus just lie down and let some man cause her pain?
Yeah, I went there.
More story
You eventually find out that this station, called the BOTTLE SHIP, and yes it is really in all caps, has been experimenting with bioweapon research.
Which always works so well, right?!
Now, bioweapon research is highly illegal. The GF has all sorts of laws against it and shit. So of course this ship is owned and operated by the GF. That just makes sense.
Seriously, did these people learn NOTHING from their history classes?!
So it turns out that the only survivor on the ship is Madeline Bergman, head scientist and chief of operations on the BOTTLE SHIP. Good ol' Ms. B decided that it would be an awesome idea to genetically modify the "Zebesians" (race that the Space Pirates are) along with all sorts of other hostile creatures that went down with Zebes after Samus got a little pissed off and destroyed everything.
DESTROYER OF WORLDS
But hold on. Ms. B isn't stupid or anything. She figured that it would be a good idea to make a computer system that could control these creatures and keep them in check. So she created one supermassive computer AI and called it "MB." And for a while, things were good.
Oh, shit, wait, no. Ms. B was also genetically breeding and modifying, wait for it... METROIDS.
OH SHIT, SON.
Turns out that MB was also made into a human-looking cyborg body thing, in order to forge a motherly bond with a Metroid, like what happened with Samus. It also turns out that Ms. B built MB out of data collected from, wait for it... Mother Brain.
I KNOW, RIGHT?!
So long story short, everything predictably went to shit once MB got pissy and realized that she was better than the humans surrounding her. That's right, the AI built from Mother Brain turned into... Mother Brain.
SERIOUSLY. HISTORY BOOKS. READ THEM.
Oh, and the Metroids? They were modified to be immune to cold. Because its not a good living weapon unless it has no weaknesses! Or, y'know... a reliable way to control it in case of an emergency.
Oh, but don't worry. You never get to see them. The game makes a huge deal about going into "Sector 0," which is apparently a full replica of Tourian and is filled with Metroids. Y'know, nothing big, just exactly what any Metroid fan would love to play in.
But just before you get to enter it, Adam shoots Samus in the back, goes in by himself, and gets the entire sector to self destruct.
NO METROIDS FOR YOU
Oh, wait, shit, no. Hold on.
You then proceed to hunt down MB, who I think was supposed to be in Sector 0, but now isn't? Anyway, you find her, and she sends a Queen Metroid after you. Who sends Metroids after you as you fight her. But these ones aren't immune to cold, for some reason. Anyway, you save the day, and then there's a long and clunky ending sequence that doesn't really accomplish much of anything.
I'm sorry to write such a long recap, but I had to illustrate how the already loose narrative just kinda... falls apart even more near the end. There are holes, there are tangents, and there are contradictions. And it just gets worse the farther in you get.
But those who have played the game will notice that I left something out. Something big. Something that is the cause of the biggest collective fanbase panty-bunching I have ever seen. I have decided that this gets its own section.
...Wat
As should be painfully obvious at this point in the series, Samus meets and does battle with Ridley. But she does something odd first...She shits herself in fear.
The implication is that she has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which makes sense. Ridley killed her family and has haunted her for years now. But here's the thing...
Samus has defeated Ridley on at least four separate occasions at this point: She defeated him AND his robot double during her first mission, she defeated him enhanced with robotics and weaponry in Prime, she defeated him while falling down a shaft in Prime 3, and she outright killed him in Super Metroid. Samus should have no reason to fear this beast. She knows his every move, she has had lots of experience fighting him, and she knows she can win. Sure, she could just be shocked to see him alive again, but the paralyzing fear she displays here is clearly more than that. I undertsand that PTSD is a rough thing to deal with, but this is goddamn Samus Aran we're talking about. In all the adventures we've shared with her, NOTHING has shook her like this. She has always been collected enough to deal with any situation she is faced with, including Ridley appearances. So why does this happen now? At best, this is just clumsy writing.
The self destruct sequence has been activated
This is getting a bit long, so I'll stop now. There is more I could talk about, but I've covered the important bits. So what is my overall opinion of Metroid: Other M?Its a decent game. It plays well, and has some fun bits. Its not necessarily a good Metroid game, but its still decent on its own. My recommendation is to play it through once real quick to get a feel for it, and if you ever want to replay it later on, just skip all of the cutscenes. Without all that obnoxious, poorly-written plot in the way, you actually have a mostly enjoyable game on your hands.
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