Metroid: Other M Review

by Harry Sheridan

July 13, 2015

Nintendo Wii

 

Going into Metroid: Other M, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. Often regarded as the black sheep of the Metroid franchise, Other M is generally disliked amongst Metroid fans for various reasons. As a Metroid fan who had never played the game, I thought that I owed it to myself to at least try it and decide for myself whether it was as bad as people say or if all that negativity was hyperbole.

 

Presentation

The presentation in this game was generally really good. The game’s visuals were great both in real-time and pre-rendered scenes. The game did a good job of creating a variety in environments (jungle, lava, ice, etc) and enemy designs were top-notch. The game’s soundtrack was generally very good, although some songs stuck out more than others (such as my personal favorite, “Vs. Ridley”).

 

Gameplay

Other M’s gameplay was very interesting, since it plays like a 2D Metroid game in a 3D space (if that makes any sense). Personally, I thought this was very cool, because it felt very similar to classics like the original and Super Metroid but also managed to feel new and unique. Now, my biggest problem with Other M was definitely the controls. Instead of using the Wiimote and Nunchuck, as I would’ve preferred, the game has you use the Wiimote turned on its side. This several problems, such as movement being limited to just the D-pad (which can make things difficult in a 3D environment) and a severe limit to the number of usable buttons. In order to compensate for these problems, the dev team came up with game mechanics such as “Sense Move” and first-person aiming. Sense Move made it so you could dodge enemy attacks with relative ease by moving quickly in either the right or left direction just before an enemy hits you. This mechanic certainly achieved its purpose, which was to make up for the limited movement controls. Now, on the other side of that coin is the first-person view for missiles. You see, in order to use missiles in Other M, you have to turn your Wii mote towards the screen and aim using motion controls, as the view switches from third-person to first-person. This may not seem like much of a big deal, but it can make things fairly difficult in combat situations, where you need to constantly switch views and control schemes in order to fight. To be fair, despite the annoying controls, Other M’s gameplay was generally very fun and engaging. Like I said before, it was like revisiting classic 2D Metroid, but with some modern twists.

 

Story

Now, this is where a lot of fans get their jimmies all rustled. I’ve seen people claim that Samus’s characterization in the story ruined her as a character and that Other M’s story ruined it as a Metroid game. Obviously, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but I’m sure you get the point. I really didn’t think Other M’s story was nearly as bad as people say it was. In fact, I thought it was alright. Nothing spectacular, but it was pretty decent. It gave us an interesting glimpse into Samus’s past, which was told through cutscenes and her own internal monologue, and honestly managed to kept me on my toes with all its twists and turns. My only problem with Other M’s story is that it strayed pretty far from your standard Metroid game, foregoing the sense of isolation and claustrophobia and focusing on plot and the characters’ relationships to each other; but even then, it wasn’t that big of deal. Other M forged its own identity by being a very story/character-driven game in a series that generally isn’t.

 

Difficulty & Length

Having played through the game on the default difficulty, I found that the game was generally pretty easy. Regular enemies usually weren’t tough to kill and I was able to figure out most of the puzzles relatively fast. Really, the only parts of the game that stand out as being particularly difficult were the mini-bosses. While most were easy, there were some mini-bosses, such as the Asborean and the Rhedogian, that proved to be fairly frustrating (though I suppose that was the point, considering their “mini-boss” status). As far as length goes, this was a pretty short game. I beat it in around 9 hours (~2 of which were cutscenes), which isn’t bad considering I bought it for ~$10.

 

Overall

Going into Other M, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I knew that despite it getting generally good reviews from critics, many fans of the series were unhappy with how the game turned out. Coming out of Other M, I found that it wasn’t nearly as bad as people make it out to be and while it may not live up to its predecessors, it’s definitely a good game in its own right. Despite its flaws, such as an annoying control scheme, I enjoyed my time with Metroid: Other M and would recommend it to anyone looking for a fun game to play.

 

Rating: Good/10

+Nice visuals and great soundtrack

+Fun gameplay

+Decent Story

+The Baby

-Annoying controls

-Annoying mini-bosses

-Kinda short