Topic: Metroid: Other M Hype/Discussion Thread (MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS SO BE CAREFUL)

considering how much of this series is based on totally arbitrary decisions it's not worth examining the plot this much. for instance, the only reason the morph ball exists is that animating samus on all fours would have been impossible. the ice beam is a similar story, it allowed them to create makeshift platforms using much less memory than new maps. bosses come back every time because they're fun to fight. you can try to rationalize it but in the end it's a nintendo game, and like other nintendo games fun comes before logic.

Nevertheless, I shall attempt it.

Thus begins the descent of Chicken Brutus.

In fact, for being a fan of star-wars, including the role-playing game, Extended Universe and others games, they, unlike Star Trek, never try to explain why those magical bull tech works. They simply works. Like the Morphball. Or the Ice Beam. Tell me how you can make a energy ray that is at 0 Kelvin, that blows just many laws of physics, but then, its simply works.

So I've really liked this game so far but what I assume to be the last major area of sector 1 where you go through that lab and walk to the same area slowly TWICE while going through room after room after room without nothing interesting happening (outside of some broken containers and books), your friends saying NOTHING outside of cutscenes was a dumb idea, even if the boss fight was pretty great.

thank you. i so agree.

Ok, I have completely annihilated the game with 100% on two separate files now. I must say that although I love it and would definitely rate it at the top of the Metroid pile, there are a few things that could have been tweaked in order to create "the perfect Metroid experience."

1.) I would have loved to have had a scanning feature on par with Prime's; a lore book to fill up from scanning your environment would have been great and added extra replay value.

2.) Exclusion of those slow, over the shoulder scanning/"chase" sequences. I found them kind of boring and deterrent from the action.

3.) More game. Other M is tragically short. I've had it for 3 weeks and I've already filled 2 points up to perfection? No. I would have added two more sectors -- expanded the extremely short desert area into its own sector and also added maybe a water themed sector so that that gravity suit could have gotten some more use.

4.) (SPOILERS) I would have had Kraid be the optional final boss instead of Phantoon. Yeah, it was really cool that he reappeared in the game after a long absence but what about Kraid? At one point he was as important as Ridley, serving as a main boss of the series but after Super Metroid (chronologically) we never saw him again. It's been over 15 years now, Nintendo? What's the deal? Is he dead or what?

Other than that, I must say that this game has been a fantastic play. What would you change about Other M if you had the chance to do so?

i consider the lack of scanning one of the high points. it was great while it lasted, but i'm done with it. if i scan another insignificant monitor in the background for a totally banal bit of information my head will explode.

i think the re4 segments were a good idea that was badly executed. they put you in that viewpoint to build up tension but nothing ever really happens... if they ratcheted up the scares it probably would have been much clearer what they were trying to do there. it should have been the case that whenever the camera went to that position you thought to yourself "oh sh*t... what's about to happen?" instead of "oh sh*t... this again..."

the length is just fine for me considering that this is really another 2D installment more than a full 3D one, and none of the sidescrollers have gone beyond a few hours of playtime. so in a way other m is already the longest 2D metroid there's ever been.

my own complaint is that the environments fell a little short of what i was expecting. not that any of them are bad, but they're just not varied enough. if they make a sequel that uses the same engine they'll have more time to spend on art direction, also it probably won't be set on a ship again any time soon, so the odds of stronger environments would be pretty good.

that and the music... i want to say that it's good and bad at the same time. everything's a little too hypnotic and cold, which works extremely well sometimes and gets boring other times. it's nice to give other composers a try but it's clear by now that kenji yamamoto does it best.

They couldn't remove her suit in Fusion because, drum roll, it was fused to her after her encounter with the X. That implies that up until that point it could be easily removed.

Also, @badmouthsadmouth
Totally agreed on all accounts (although, SPOILER, I rather liked Phantoon as the final boss. He fit really well into the atmosphere)

I'm playing the Prime games now and...wow. The art direction is just so above Other M. Don't get me wrong, Other M has some very cool environments and enemy designs, but Retro's sci-fi environments trump pretty much all other sci-fi environments--in any medium.

I have to admit, when I first went to Sector 3 I thought "so will I spend forever in this sector too?" and went through the "Adam Malkavich is a jerk that doesn't give you the Varia suit for forever" part of the game I heard about I was starting to feel things were getting a bit predictable (outside of that awesome boss). Then Adam's like "yeah, can't go there, let's go to Sector 2!" and for some reason I thought that was really clever. For...some reason.

So I got around to buying this game...and it is just a whole lot of fun. The First Person mode works greatly and makes battles more exiting. I cant wait to finish it, it is just plain awesome. At first I was disappointed with how linear it was, but the combat and the action make up for it. The fast pace fits it very well.

@ Kid_A I went back and tried to play the original Prime after finishing Other M and I got as far as that annoying hornet boss near the beginning and peaced out. There's just something about some of the bosses in that game that make me want to give up rather than try and try again, as I did with a couple in Other M, Super Metroid, and all of the 2d games. Not sure what it is...

I'll agree that the environments are more detailed and beautiful to look at in Prime though, but I do prefer the enemy designs more so in Other M. I like the pretty colors. =)

Metroid: The Life of Anthony

The cover can have him saying "Remembuh me?".

I prefer dreariness when it comes to Metroid, but I will say the Prime games could learn a lesson from Other M's smooth-as-silk combat. I never had an issue with the gamecube control layout (which most people did) but it never feels as slick as Other M or any of the 2D games. Another thing Other M has going for it is that it doesn't have any filler. As good as the Prime games are, they all have some BS scavenger hunt toward the end in an attempt at lengthening the game. I'd gladly give up a few hours of pointless backtracking if it meant I'd have a more all-around enjoyable game. Other M didn't have any of that--front-to back, I'd say its one of the stronger Metroids in terms of pacing.

kinda sad. i wrote a review and noticed this: http://www.amazon.com/Metroid-Other-M-Nintendo-Wii/product-re...

look at the breakdown of scores and you'll see that most people actually gave it a 5, yet it's weighed down by the crowd that gave it 1. i don't understand these people; if you don't like the game that's fine, but do you have to be such a baby that you want it to go down as a failure for everyone else? what do they think they'll gain from lowering the average score?

i've had enough arguing over metroid the past few months for one lifetime, so i really don't care at this point, but i've never seen anything like the reaction people have had to this game. it's one of those things that reminds me to get off the computer and do something constructive, so there's a happy ending here

Have Anthony and not Samus?

Man, that's sexist. 2/5

I think it's confirmed that if you give a game that doesn't blatantly suck a 1 your opinion no longer matters.

Yeah. I mean there's always some good, helpful user reviews on Amazon but you've always got to watch those 1 star reviews.

http://wii.ign.com/articles/112/1122068p1.html

You guys really need to check this article out. It's about Other M and it's called 'Killing Samus'.

That's the most horrible piece of journalism I've ever read.
It seems like a person that gets paid to write something like this should at least have to play the game first. Okay, maybe she played the game. She sure didn't pay any attention to the story at all though, having been mistaken about pretty much every plot point she brings up in the article. Well done.