Ah yes, Metroid: Other M. A game which lives in infamy. "This game is an insult to fans", "this game does not deserve to exist", "we do not speak of Other M". Even when i was somebody who didn't really know anything about Metroid other than what was in Smash Bros, i have seen this game get trashed on for years. I have heard so much about this game and about how bad it is. So here we are now, i've played every 2D Metroid and i've played the Prime trilogy. As i do not care for the spin-offs, this is the last Metroid game on the list before Dread comes out.
....honestly, i'm mad. I'm mad because y'all lead me to believe this game is dogshit when it is actually a good and fun game. This review's gonna be a long one.
Let's get the elephant in the room out of the way: the story. The story is the biggest reason why Other M is so hated. Now, i must acknowledge that the localization of this game wasn't kind to it. It made a lot of changes to the script that honestly made for a worse story. But the localization is the version i played so i have to be fair and judge the game i was given. I'll make comparisons to the original Japanese script here and there but my review will not be based off the Japanese script. Anyways first things first, let's talk about Adam's role in the story and how Samus' progression is tied to his authorization. And i want to say that the amounts of complaints about this point are 100% overblown. See, before i played this game, i thought Adam would get on your ass for going off the beaten path or just doing something you weren't supposed to do. I've seen many "Adam didn't authorize that Samus" memes over the years so i thought that was something that could genuinely happen. But....it doesn't. Memes do have a tendency to overblow things but it goes to show just how much public opinion can affect someone's perception going into something. Anyways, the whole thing of Samus not using her abilities until Adam authorizes it makes perfect sense within the context of the story. This isn't like Samus' other missions were she's hired by the Federation and allowed to achieve her goals by any means necessary. Samus is there purely by chance and, given that she'll be working with regular-ass humans as opposed to the superhuman bounty hunters like in the start of Prime 3, it makes sense that Adam accepts her help on the condition that she follow his orders. The only time this gets dumb is when Adam basically waits until the last minute to authorize use of the Varia Suit. But everything else, i felt was reasonable. Of course, the Japanese version's reasoning for this being "Samus doesn't use her weapons out of spite" is better (and kinda funnier) but that's not the version i got.
And then there's the other aspect of Other M's plot: the supposed assassination's of Samus' character. I was keeping my eye on this because i've heard so many things about this......and by the end, i was kinda just rubbing my head about what exactly was supposed to be "assassinated" here. Was it Samus being subordinate to Adam? Well no, because Fusion established that Adam was the only guy Samus ever actually took direct orders from. Was it the supposed romance Samus had towards Adam? Well no because i never got the feeling that she felt that way towards him. Was it that it made Samus meek? Well no because she preforms fatalities on her enemies in this game. What's really left is the Ridley PTSD scene which i will admit was not good but it's not the fact that Samus had PTSD in the first place. I can buy that Samus had PTSD because honestly, PTSD isn't that simply in real life. It can relapse. The reason the scene sucks is because this is the first time we're actually seeing it happen because the rest of the games are hardly concerned with what goes on in Samus' mind (except Fusion, if only briefly). If other games showed us that Ridley still manages to instill some sort of fear in Samus or whatever, then maybe the scene wouldn't have come across the way it did. So yes, the infamous Ridley PTSD scene is bad but it's nowhere near as bad as everyone makes it out to be. And that still wasn't enough to make me feel like Samus' characterization was being assassinated and keep in mind i binged like the entire series over the past two months, so everything else is still pretty fresh in my mind. Again, the Japanese script does handle things better here but that's not what i played.
Honestly, Other M's plot as a whole is just average. I've seen significantly worse writing out there.
I spent two paragraphs defending the most hated aspects of Other M's plot and i'm well aware that's gonna get my Internet license revoked but please wait until the end of this review because now's the part where i talk about the gameplay. It's pretty fun. I've always preferred the 2D Metroid games over the Prime trilogy and main reason is that combat in the 2D games is so much cooler and faster. It feels good and the Prime trilogy didn't really capture the same feel (with the exception of Prime 3, it's the only one that managed). The combat in Other M is much closer to what i like about the 2D games so i liked it. The controls themselves do take some getting used to, sideways Wiimote is not optimal. I definitely would've preferred the Wiimote+Nunchuck. But (and your mileage may vary), i can adapt to most control scheme pretty quickly and it wasn't long before Other M's controls just felt natural to me. Even the whole "flip the Wiimote vertically to SearchView and use missiles" sounds awful on paper but i was surprised at how it just became second nature to me. Between all that and the satisfying SenseMoves, combat was pretty sweet and this culminates in the boss fights. They are so much fun. Never thought i'd see the day when i actually enjoyed fighting Phantoon.
As far as stuff that isn't the combat, one of the biggest complaints this game gets is that it's too linear and that you unlock new abilities when Adam tells you to and that there isn't really much exploring. But honestly, to me, it sounds like people are complaining that this game is something that it isn't. This game is not meant to play like a normal Metroid game. It's a more action-based Metroid, making it play like a normal Metroid game probably wouldn't have worked. Or maybe it would've. Either way, that was never the intent. The game is just different and i'm totally fine with that. And honestly, does it really matter if your abilities are "authorized" by Adam? Sequence-breaking aside, Metroid games have an intended point of when you're supposed to get each upgrade. Adam's authorizations are simply this game's intended upgrade points. You could replace those moments with a Chozo Statue that gives you the same upgrades in the exact same moment and it would not have changed a thing....except Varia Suit, that part's still dumb. Come the epilogue, you're free to explore the rest of the ship with all of your abilities, going into places you previously couldn't to 100% if you so wish.....just like.....in other Metroid games. Yeah i take it back, this game does kinda play like a normal Metroid game. It's still a different take, sure, but it works well. I get the linearity and lack of sequence breaks being an issue for some (even if the only game that was actually designed with sequence breaks was Zero Mission) but the rest? Yeah, y'all are just being mean.
As for my actual complaints with this game, the actual worst part of the game's writing is that the whole traitor subplot just kinda ends. Like it didn't matter. On the gameplay-side of things, i really would've preferred to see item and health pickups over "filp the Wiimote vertically and hold A to recharge" deal. Cause that makes the game a little too easy at times although maybe Hard Mode actually balances this out. I was gonna 100% this game but then chose not to because the item locators do jack shit. I spent like 30 minutes in one room trying to figure out where the fuck the item was before i just gave up. The forced SearchView and third-person angles where you walk slow are pretty cringe but most of them are frontloaded towards the beginning of the game so it wasn't a huge dealbreaker. Also the music. Man, and here i thought Super Metroid's music was unmemorable. In Other M, there is only one song, which just so happens to be the best rendition of Vs Ridley. It's pretty cool but it's the only song that exists. I could not tell you a single thing about this game's soundtrack besides that.
This game's good, 8/10, y'all are just mean, i hope Anthony makes another appearance in the future. He's cool.
....honestly, i'm mad. I'm mad because y'all lead me to believe this game is dogshit when it is actually a good and fun game. This review's gonna be a long one.
Let's get the elephant in the room out of the way: the story. The story is the biggest reason why Other M is so hated. Now, i must acknowledge that the localization of this game wasn't kind to it. It made a lot of changes to the script that honestly made for a worse story. But the localization is the version i played so i have to be fair and judge the game i was given. I'll make comparisons to the original Japanese script here and there but my review will not be based off the Japanese script. Anyways first things first, let's talk about Adam's role in the story and how Samus' progression is tied to his authorization. And i want to say that the amounts of complaints about this point are 100% overblown. See, before i played this game, i thought Adam would get on your ass for going off the beaten path or just doing something you weren't supposed to do. I've seen many "Adam didn't authorize that Samus" memes over the years so i thought that was something that could genuinely happen. But....it doesn't. Memes do have a tendency to overblow things but it goes to show just how much public opinion can affect someone's perception going into something. Anyways, the whole thing of Samus not using her abilities until Adam authorizes it makes perfect sense within the context of the story. This isn't like Samus' other missions were she's hired by the Federation and allowed to achieve her goals by any means necessary. Samus is there purely by chance and, given that she'll be working with regular-ass humans as opposed to the superhuman bounty hunters like in the start of Prime 3, it makes sense that Adam accepts her help on the condition that she follow his orders. The only time this gets dumb is when Adam basically waits until the last minute to authorize use of the Varia Suit. But everything else, i felt was reasonable. Of course, the Japanese version's reasoning for this being "Samus doesn't use her weapons out of spite" is better (and kinda funnier) but that's not the version i got.
And then there's the other aspect of Other M's plot: the supposed assassination's of Samus' character. I was keeping my eye on this because i've heard so many things about this......and by the end, i was kinda just rubbing my head about what exactly was supposed to be "assassinated" here. Was it Samus being subordinate to Adam? Well no, because Fusion established that Adam was the only guy Samus ever actually took direct orders from. Was it the supposed romance Samus had towards Adam? Well no because i never got the feeling that she felt that way towards him. Was it that it made Samus meek? Well no because she preforms fatalities on her enemies in this game. What's really left is the Ridley PTSD scene which i will admit was not good but it's not the fact that Samus had PTSD in the first place. I can buy that Samus had PTSD because honestly, PTSD isn't that simply in real life. It can relapse. The reason the scene sucks is because this is the first time we're actually seeing it happen because the rest of the games are hardly concerned with what goes on in Samus' mind (except Fusion, if only briefly). If other games showed us that Ridley still manages to instill some sort of fear in Samus or whatever, then maybe the scene wouldn't have come across the way it did. So yes, the infamous Ridley PTSD scene is bad but it's nowhere near as bad as everyone makes it out to be. And that still wasn't enough to make me feel like Samus' characterization was being assassinated and keep in mind i binged like the entire series over the past two months, so everything else is still pretty fresh in my mind. Again, the Japanese script does handle things better here but that's not what i played.
Honestly, Other M's plot as a whole is just average. I've seen significantly worse writing out there.
I spent two paragraphs defending the most hated aspects of Other M's plot and i'm well aware that's gonna get my Internet license revoked but please wait until the end of this review because now's the part where i talk about the gameplay. It's pretty fun. I've always preferred the 2D Metroid games over the Prime trilogy and main reason is that combat in the 2D games is so much cooler and faster. It feels good and the Prime trilogy didn't really capture the same feel (with the exception of Prime 3, it's the only one that managed). The combat in Other M is much closer to what i like about the 2D games so i liked it. The controls themselves do take some getting used to, sideways Wiimote is not optimal. I definitely would've preferred the Wiimote+Nunchuck. But (and your mileage may vary), i can adapt to most control scheme pretty quickly and it wasn't long before Other M's controls just felt natural to me. Even the whole "flip the Wiimote vertically to SearchView and use missiles" sounds awful on paper but i was surprised at how it just became second nature to me. Between all that and the satisfying SenseMoves, combat was pretty sweet and this culminates in the boss fights. They are so much fun. Never thought i'd see the day when i actually enjoyed fighting Phantoon.
As far as stuff that isn't the combat, one of the biggest complaints this game gets is that it's too linear and that you unlock new abilities when Adam tells you to and that there isn't really much exploring. But honestly, to me, it sounds like people are complaining that this game is something that it isn't. This game is not meant to play like a normal Metroid game. It's a more action-based Metroid, making it play like a normal Metroid game probably wouldn't have worked. Or maybe it would've. Either way, that was never the intent. The game is just different and i'm totally fine with that. And honestly, does it really matter if your abilities are "authorized" by Adam? Sequence-breaking aside, Metroid games have an intended point of when you're supposed to get each upgrade. Adam's authorizations are simply this game's intended upgrade points. You could replace those moments with a Chozo Statue that gives you the same upgrades in the exact same moment and it would not have changed a thing....except Varia Suit, that part's still dumb. Come the epilogue, you're free to explore the rest of the ship with all of your abilities, going into places you previously couldn't to 100% if you so wish.....just like.....in other Metroid games. Yeah i take it back, this game does kinda play like a normal Metroid game. It's still a different take, sure, but it works well. I get the linearity and lack of sequence breaks being an issue for some (even if the only game that was actually designed with sequence breaks was Zero Mission) but the rest? Yeah, y'all are just being mean.
As for my actual complaints with this game, the actual worst part of the game's writing is that the whole traitor subplot just kinda ends. Like it didn't matter. On the gameplay-side of things, i really would've preferred to see item and health pickups over "filp the Wiimote vertically and hold A to recharge" deal. Cause that makes the game a little too easy at times although maybe Hard Mode actually balances this out. I was gonna 100% this game but then chose not to because the item locators do jack shit. I spent like 30 minutes in one room trying to figure out where the fuck the item was before i just gave up. The forced SearchView and third-person angles where you walk slow are pretty cringe but most of them are frontloaded towards the beginning of the game so it wasn't a huge dealbreaker. Also the music. Man, and here i thought Super Metroid's music was unmemorable. In Other M, there is only one song, which just so happens to be the best rendition of Vs Ridley. It's pretty cool but it's the only song that exists. I could not tell you a single thing about this game's soundtrack besides that.
This game's good, 8/10, y'all are just mean, i hope Anthony makes another appearance in the future. He's cool.
ULF
2 years ago
The traitor subplot sort of resolves ingame. If you enter the lab after the cutscene where you see the deleter and MB facing off before the screen blacks out. You'll see who the deleter was if you scan him.