Everything you pointed out is just wish-washing over the terrible writing, man.
Taking Commands
Indeed, the sexist argument is just a load of bull - the problem is the nonsensical structure of this subordination. Adam treats Samus like an obstacle, and barely anything revealed about him in Fusion holds true. Excellent military mind? So there was a strategy behind obviously noticing Samus cook in the lava sector, and not allow her to use the Varia Suit? Why the hell did Samus turn it off to begin with? The answer: fake tension, simple. At the very least, Samus could've contacted Adam to SEEK permission, but as soon as mister Malko-suckit-vich is on her radar, Samus turns incompetent. That directly contradicts her usual willingness to ignore commands for the greater good.
In general, the whole "turn off your good stuff" ploy is probably one of the worst excuses to downgrade Samus at all. How could the Varia Suit, Morph Ball bombs (not Power Bombs), or the Grapple Beam hurt the others? Never explained, but we're supposed to accept it.
Too Emotional
That's one difficult topic. Samus might've been more impulsive in the past, but if we've learned one thing from her, it's that her determination is practically unbreakable. Her melancholic monologues are mostly pointless repeats of events the player had just afew minutes ago, and only serve as crutches because the situation in itself was badly enough designed to raise questions otherwise. I'm not denying her emotions, but the emotions she shows here are flat-out ignoring what Samus has been through. If anything, Samus would've properly analyzed everything and collected data before making baseless asumptions and whining about things that don't have any other impact on her, the story, or anything else.
The voice acting wasn't too bad, but Samus' voice actress was just plain terrible. She sounded way too monotone in general, and especially Samus' innate interest in biology was downplayed, because a curious Samus would've sounded much more lively, and killed the artificially creepy atmosphere.
The damn Ridley scene
This is what proceeded to make Other M look like a Hollywood-ified joke.
Look at ANY Ridley encounter after Metroid NES/Zero Mission! Did she lose it in Prime? He was evidently dead, after all. Did she lose it in Corruption? He was dead again, after all. Did Samus have a breakdown in Super Metroid, where Ridley not only returns, but also captured her dear Metroid larva? He was more than dead after Corruption, after all!
But no, we need some stupid trauma to make the boss fight more interesting! Yes, Samus remembers her childhood all too well, but the Chozo taught her to keep calm, because these memories are a weakness Ridley could exploit, otherwise. Besides, there was no reason for Samus to assume Ridley couldn't survive the Super Metroid fight (and imminent destruction of Zebes), either, considering he survived a planetary self-destruct bomb, the wrath of the Chozo, falling for a month, getting blasted to bits by a Phazon-enhanced Samus, and getting chain-destroyed by Phaaze's downfall. Ridley survived every single encounter, and Samus normally would be smart enough to at least suspect he managed to survive somehow.
Also, a simple scan of either the Choogle (or Little Birdie, if you prefer) or the Scorpion Lizard would've revaled the obvious DNA match. But for the sake of a surprise nobody needed, Samus was playing dumb.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Other M isn't a bad game by itself, but it openly contradicts, denies, and ignores MANY things from previous games for a terribly written, cinematic show-off. If this game was NOT part of the Metroid franchise, half of the problems would just disappear. But by wanting to be a Metroid game, and furthermore relying on MANY arbitrary callbacks to previous games, it DEMANDS a comparison, a retrospective review. But as it is, Other M not only ridicules all previous games with inconsistency, it also fails to deliver anything meaningful except for Adam's ultimately pointless death.
I agree with this ↑↑
I have played and completed (100%) every Metroid title, multiple times, except Other M! and it's not because I haven't tried. I have started playing through Other M 3 times and every time I get so annoyed that it's impossible for me to continue playing (I play for fun and it's not fun getting aggrivated over a game). I haven't tried my last playthrough and I really hope I'll succeed some day..
If it was possible to skip the cut-scenes it would be a lot easier for me to get through the game.
I don't really have a problem with the gameplay, it's a little bit too easy but I can live with that...
@Kaze_Memaryu
I'm not sure what you mean. I've never played Metroid fusion (I know, I'm sorry) but in Super Metroid I don't recall any enemies that didn't rush at me as soon as they got on screen. In fact, some would even come at me as soon as I got in the room, like sidehoppers and Metroids. If you don't want to kill enemies, you can skip them (unless they're a boss or miniboss) in Metroid, in Super Metroid, in Zero Mission, in the Prime games, and in Other M. If you want to kill them, you can.
"Most creatures are harmless and can be left alone without trouble, and as such don't need to be killed."
I don't know what games you're playing, but (especially in the 2D ones because of narrow places) many enemies, like sidehoppers and those horrible flying creatures who's name I can't remember, if left alone will follow you or swarm you and unless you keep running will catch up to you, and mess you up likely at an important time when you need to jump. Bad memories dying in Zero Mission because I needed to jump in tight space standing in lava or acid with flying enemies swarming me who I can't shoot and are stopping me from jumping. It's just terrible. Better to just kill them before they trap or hurt you. And its been like that in every Metroid game I've played (again, haven't played Fusion, or Metroid prime 2 so if its different in those two games I wouldn't know).
And nothing to discover? Rooms not shown on the map are mandatory and easy to discover? I don't think there's a single room not shown on the map in Other M that is mandatory. That's why it's not shown on the map! Its a secret! Although yes, until the aftergame most of them are missiles but there are still a good many others to find too. And yeah, the recharge mechanic makes it a bit less satisfying, although recharge takes long enough to do that it is very worth it to collect missiles. I would collect them just so that I don't have to recharge. because it's easy to die or take some huge damage because you were trying to recharge. I think they just put recharge in because of how enemies don't drop missiles, which are used a lot in the game. It's definitely not ideal for use in heated combat. Plus if you like to collect everything like me, then even if you think they're useless you'll have fun because some are pretty cleverly hidden, so that's satisfying.
@kukabuksilaks I actually played through the game twice, just to make sure there was no NG+ content. And while skipping the cutscenes would make the game a bit more enjoyable, the overall pacing just doesn't fit well. But we have that covered.
@Of_Folsense There's a huge difference. Look at crawlers, minicrabs, pod bugs, or even the flying turtles (whose names I can never memorize) - they all just do their thing, only becoming aggressive when you're getting too close. Of course Sidehoppers are barstewards, and they're always after Samus, just like Metroids (which even kill Pirates in Prime if you're out of range). But even the normally completely peaceful crawlers lose it as soon as Samus is in sight (the terrarium is a good example in Other M - the crawlers become hostile as soon as you approach the glass).
And that makes a huge difference. Other M takes the "Everything trying to kill you" trope to its ultimate by having primitive lifeforms act as if Samus was a sworn nemesis. Every other Metroid game has these harmless enemies to indicate that you're in an ecosystem. Other M entirely focuses on having Samus kill everything that moves because it's tracking her - that's not necessarily a bad thing, though. It underlines the threatening nature of abandoned laboratories.
About the map and secrets: I mean there's literally nothing but the intended path. No sidepath, no external room, no well-hidden tunnel - nothing at all. And not a single powerup in Other M was hidden well. They were so easy to find that I had every single powerup on my first playthrough without a single revisit, except for the post-game secrets (which are also not hidden at all).
Also, with regular enemies, it's sometimes hard to use recharge (especially Sidehoppers, Zebesians and War Wasps), but every single boss (except for Phantoon) is slow enough to make it easy to use.
One of the best things for me in Other M was the story. It was like a classic detective crime story. One stealth killer in your team. And victim by victim. Every time a team member dies you (can) ask yourself "Who is the traitor?" until the end of the game!!! For me the story is a very strong point in Other M, playing through the game for the first time was absolutely exciting. Also that little white furry thing that followed you around and evolved! Loved that part too! Best story in any Metroid game.
One of the other outstanding things in Other M were the cutscenes. 2 hours of finest quality cutscenes. Tell me about one Wii game with better cutscene graphics. I bought more than 170 Wii games and there is none.
The Ridley scene is great and makes sense if you know about the ending of Super Metroid, explained in the first post. People should read that carefully before posting more trashy opinions.
The third wonderful thing they've added was the voice acting, especially Samus' voice. I've played many games with terrible voice acting I wanted to mute. And then there's that carefully written deep character, full of soul, for the first time talking about herself, revealing her true identity. With an voice actress balls enough to add some feeling. It's not what everyone expected. But man, that IS Samus Aran! LIVE WITH IT or love that sexy beast!
Now things I didn't like. Just minor stuff really.
1. It was a space station. It's ok, but I'd love a Metroid of this kind on a vast alien planet... would have been more epic in my eyes.
2. The music. I liked the ambient stuff and it was great for atmosphere, but Super Metroid (you see I have to compare all Metroid games to the best one) actually had melodic and funky tunes that weren't out of place. Missed some of that in Other M. Music is also a category where I'd say even the Primes are stronger! Really, each Prime has some amazing tunes.
3. The other category where the Prime's are stronger is game length/content/hidden stuff. Yep, I wish the next Super Metroid or Other M is more the size of a Prime game.
Metroid: Other M (メトロイド アザーエム Metoroido Azā Emu?) is an action-adventure video game for the Wii developed by "Project M", a team which consists of staff members from Nintendo, Team Ninja, and D-Rockets. A part of the Metroid series, it features gameplay in both first- and third-person perspectives, and is the first installment of the franchise to feature melee attacks which could only be executed when an enemy's health was reduced to a certain degree. Other M was released in North America on August 31, 2010, Japan and Australia on September 2, 2010, and in Europe on September 3, 2010.
Impressed with the 2004 action game Ninja Gaiden, series co-creator Yoshio Sakamoto approached Team Ninja to develop Other M, while D-Rockets was brought in to handle the in-game cutscenes. The development team employed a simple control scheme to make the game more intuitive and attractive, and gave significant focus on plot and characterization, with extensive usage of cinematics and voice acting. In the fictional chronology of the Metroid series, Other M is set between the events of Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion. The story follows bounty hunter Samus Aran, who investigates a derelict space station along with a Galactic Federation platoon, which includes her former commanding officer, Adam Malkovich.
Other M has met with polarizing reviews. Though it received an aggregate score of 79% on both GameRankings and Metacritic, with much praise to its gameplay, graphics and overall atmosphere, significant criticism was raised towards its plot, dialogue, and cutscene length, with Samus' characterization in the game considered a negative deviation from the series' norm. Other M received an Editors' Choice Award and the award for "Coolest Atmosphere" of 2010 from IGN, was nominated for Best Wii Game of the 2010 by GameTrailers and picked by Wired as one of the best games of the year, but was also chosen as one of the worst games of the year by Entertainment Weekly and Attack of the Show!, and as the third "Biggest Disappointment of 2010" by Game Informer. It was the third best-selling video game in Japan during its week of release, and it was the ninth best-selling game in North America during September 2010. The long-term sales numbers were considered disappointing by Nintendo, however, as the game sold a half a million copies in North America by November 2010.
I feel like I've said more than enough regarding Other M in the past. But I'll just sum up my feelings about it.
It had a great, simplified control scheme and fairly nice graphics (although a bit too "standard sci-fi" compared to the Prime Trilogy's imaginative worlds, creatures, technology, etc.) but everything else leaves much to be desired. It really relied too much on fan service (Super Metroid this, Super Metroid that, "hey its that boss from one of the older games!") instead of creating new and memorable things.
The story was alright, but compared to the previous game: Prime 3, it felt very watered-down and basic. You don't get to know any of the characters, and therefore you don't care what happens to them. Anthony is probably the only one who has any shred of likability, but still you barely find out much about him and Samus' shared past.
Insert rant about hating Samus' characterization here
All in all Its a pretty okay game by itself, but a horrible Metroid one.
I'm not going to get into commenting on Other M's reception. I do believe the game did reveal how much of the fanbase is disingenuous and how many are limited in what they like in the series. Whoever dropped out after Other M, I'm glad that they are out. Whoever still complains about the game now near exclusively doesn't do any good either. I will say, after my most recent run, Other M is the most flawed Metroid game I've played, but with that said it is one of the Metroid games I genuinely enjoy. I've done probably around 40 completions in the game, second only to my favorite game in the series. A part of me wants to attribute my issues in my most recent playthrough to rust, since it had been months since I had touched the game. Story-wise, I would like to watch the Theater Mode again soon to see how I feel now. If there's one aspect I think I'll always rank Other M very high in though, it'd be its presentation. I don't think there's been a Metroid game that looks as great or is as detailed as Other M. All of Samus Aran's animations in particular blow the cap off of what the series has done previously in my opinion. Right now, Other M sits just above the Prime Trilogy in my personal rankings for the Metroid Series, which puts it in the lower half. I do think though it'll be very easy for me to put Other M back in my Top 5 with another run or two.
"The secret to ultimate power lies in the Alimbic Cluster."
Well I didn't play the entire game, so I can't really weigh in on the storyline, but I played a demo of the game and it controlled terribly, the 3D parts felt very clunky and I had trouble getting used to the combat elements. I feel like if the game wasn't trying to hybridize Classic and Prime style it would be better. Either make it 2D Classic style (or even 2.5D Classic style, that would be interesting to see) or 3D Prime style, don't try to blend them together.
So, I've played and beaten all three games in the Prime trilogy, but I never did finish Metroid Other M. In fact, I think I was only three hours into the game before I stop playing it in favor of something else I was sidetracked on.
Needless to say, I started playing it again today and WOW, the game is freaking fantastic! I'm enjoying it so much I had to come find a forum to talk about it with others. It's just a really great game in all respects. The gameplay is pretty good considering you're using the sideways Wiimote. I do think it would have benefited from using a Nunchuk as well, but it is what it is.
The story isn't captivating but it's better than average in my opinion. It's good enough for what the game is, and the cinematic flare really brings the franchise to new heights. One thing I like in particular is the whole concept of the biosphere. I really enjoy being in a rain forest one moment, then inside a space station with tunnels and corridors the next. I've got to say, this is fast becoming one of my favorite Wii games, and I just wanted to know if I'm the only one who feels that way. Do I think it measures up to Prime? Hmmm, that's a pretty high bar to reach, and I probably need to finish the game before reaching a conclusion, but I will say that it's not far off the mark.
All have sinned and fall short of Gods glory. Wages of sin is death. Romans
God so loved the world He sent His only Son- whoever believes on Him has eternal life. Unless you believe, you will die in your sins. Whoever believes, rivers of living water flow within them. John
And she is apparently completely freaked out by Ridely.
Let's put this into perspective.
Before Other M, we have never seen Samus show any emotion during the game. There may be little bits here and there, but other wise, nothing. She is always seen as behind the visor. For the first time in a Metroid game, we were shown Samus. Not Samus the bounty hunter but Samus.
Now, her backstory is that her parents, and her entire colony were killed by Ridley.
Let us say – for the purpose of this discussion – that Other M was the first confrontation Samus had with Ridley. You see your parents murderer right before your eyes. Obviously nobody here I'm pretty sure can put themselves in those shoes, but I bet she wouldn't be a stone cold woman who just takes the fact that her parents killer is standing right before her.
Now, in the Metroid timeline, Other M occurs after Ridley has been defeated many times. So not only are you, again confronting your parents killer, you are also confronting him after the belief that he has once been defeated again. Now put her position within the context of Other M. She has been ordered around by a superior, Adam, and most likely that hasn't happened in a long time. As we see in Other M, this causes her to re-live memories of her past. Starting out as a space person (or whatever they called it.)
Additionally, she has just been a 'mother figure' to the baby metroid. Why do you think they included that in the opening scene? The affect that being saved by her 'child' would have not only brought back memories of familial relationships, but (and I'm having a wild guess here), but I don't think she survived Ridley's attack on her colony by sheer luck.
This would surely bring memories of her past colony, her dead parents to the surface as well. The cutscenes (and I'm going off what I remember, so I may be a little cloudy), but her actions were very abrasive. She was a rebel. Why do you think that is. A character, who hasn't had any real adventures yet, with her only major memory that we know about being the death of her parents and the destruction of her colony.
Not only when confronted by Ridley is she reduced to a whimpering child, an embodiment of her past and current turmoils, but she also is under the belief that one of her friends was killed right before her eyes, similar to her parents.
But hey, she hasn't shown emotion before, so why should she now?
Other M may have been a bad Metroid game, but it is the best story that has ever been in a Metroid game, and I would go to say that Other M produces one of the best protagonists in a video game.
QUEEN OF SASS
It's like, I just love a cowboy
You know
I'm just like, I just, I know, it's bad
But I'm just like
Can I just like, hang off the back of your horse
And can you go a little faster?!
One thing I like in particular is the whole concept of the biosphere. I really enjoy being in a rain forest one moment, then inside a space station with tunnels and corridors the next.
Someone's never played Fusion, they did the exact same thing in that game.
stopped reading at the suggestion of a male gamer controlling a female character being sexist
It's not that. Supposedly, it's sexist because a female character takes orders from a higher-ranking male character.
Both arguments make about as much sense though.
Have yet to finish the game, but bought it on the cheap, and I think its a respectable game, I do however hate the voice acting/writing, its so monotonous and drab, and overly descriptive. Otherwise the game is great, and a steal!
Have yet to finish the game, but bought it on the cheap, and I think its a respectable game, I do however hate the voice acting/writing, its so monotonous and drab, and overly descriptive. Otherwise the game is great, and a steal!
By any means, I wouldn't argue that the game is perfect. However, the voice acting, and I think it's just me, but I absolutely love the voice acting of Samus in this game.
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Topic: Metroid: Other M – A Retrospect View
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