I went into Other M expecting a really poorly written game with some competent gameplay. After all why wouldn't it be at least competent? No one ever seems to bring it up when discussing the game, and hey Team Ninja worked on this! You know Team Ninja, the devs of Ninja Gaiden and Nioh, one of the best action game studios out there.
Unfortunately, pretty much everything about the way Other M controls feels wrong. It really seems to me that Team Ninja made a slightly below average action game, and then were handed a memo that said "make it playable with a wiimote on its side lol," which caused them to squish every action down to a controller with a dpad and less buttons than a SNES pad.
The biggest issues with the control are the movement and the missiles. This is a 3D action game in which you use a dpad to move, analog isn't even an option. This leads to a crippling lack of precision when it comes to making jumps in 3D space and positioning yourself in combat. The dpad also acts as your dodge button so it's split between two actions during combat, neither of which it excels at. The other big issue is the missile controls. Let me just say up front, I have no problem with motion controls; they set the Wii apart from other platforms in a big way. One of my favorite uses of the Wii's motion controls is shooting with the pointer (shoutout Sin & Punishment), and Metroid Prime 3 proved they could work well for the franchise. The problem here is that in order to use missiles, one of your most basic combat options, you have to plant your character in place and point the controller at the screen. In a slow paced game this could work alright, but in an action game like this it not only kneecaps the pace of combat, it also makes the combat way more difficult than it needs to be.
I've mostly touched on the controls here with regards to gameplay, and they're not the only issue, but most other complaints feel like symptoms of this problem. Most enemies are annoying to fight, well that's partially due to the controls. Most bosses are bullshit, well that's because you have to use missiles constantly. Most of the level design is a pain in the ass, well that's because the platforming feels bad. I can certainly nitpick other things like the unintuitive map, the power bomb moment at the end, the backtracking which seems aggressive even for a metroid game. However, at the end of the day I think I could forgive most of its flaws if the controls didn't feel like you were playing The Devil's Bop It.
The writing is obviously terrible. You don't need me to tell you it's terrible, it's self evident. That's basically the only thing that ever comes up about this game in discussion now that we're a decade removed from it. It's character assassination. It paints Samus as a helpless, scared, obedient child in stark contrast to every other appearance she's ever made. I can't even be that mad about it though. If Metroid was still a dead franchise it'd probably be infuriating, but now it's just something to laugh at. Worth watching a cutscene compilation just to witness the most misogyny-drenched game Nintendo will ever release. Also the actual cutscene direction is bad too, legitimately nauseating at times.
Final verdict: it's bad, folks! Just not in the way that I thought it'd be bad. I don't recommend it to even the most diehard of Metroid fans. The little crumbs of fanservice aren't worth it.
Unfortunately, pretty much everything about the way Other M controls feels wrong. It really seems to me that Team Ninja made a slightly below average action game, and then were handed a memo that said "make it playable with a wiimote on its side lol," which caused them to squish every action down to a controller with a dpad and less buttons than a SNES pad.
The biggest issues with the control are the movement and the missiles. This is a 3D action game in which you use a dpad to move, analog isn't even an option. This leads to a crippling lack of precision when it comes to making jumps in 3D space and positioning yourself in combat. The dpad also acts as your dodge button so it's split between two actions during combat, neither of which it excels at. The other big issue is the missile controls. Let me just say up front, I have no problem with motion controls; they set the Wii apart from other platforms in a big way. One of my favorite uses of the Wii's motion controls is shooting with the pointer (shoutout Sin & Punishment), and Metroid Prime 3 proved they could work well for the franchise. The problem here is that in order to use missiles, one of your most basic combat options, you have to plant your character in place and point the controller at the screen. In a slow paced game this could work alright, but in an action game like this it not only kneecaps the pace of combat, it also makes the combat way more difficult than it needs to be.
I've mostly touched on the controls here with regards to gameplay, and they're not the only issue, but most other complaints feel like symptoms of this problem. Most enemies are annoying to fight, well that's partially due to the controls. Most bosses are bullshit, well that's because you have to use missiles constantly. Most of the level design is a pain in the ass, well that's because the platforming feels bad. I can certainly nitpick other things like the unintuitive map, the power bomb moment at the end, the backtracking which seems aggressive even for a metroid game. However, at the end of the day I think I could forgive most of its flaws if the controls didn't feel like you were playing The Devil's Bop It.
The writing is obviously terrible. You don't need me to tell you it's terrible, it's self evident. That's basically the only thing that ever comes up about this game in discussion now that we're a decade removed from it. It's character assassination. It paints Samus as a helpless, scared, obedient child in stark contrast to every other appearance she's ever made. I can't even be that mad about it though. If Metroid was still a dead franchise it'd probably be infuriating, but now it's just something to laugh at. Worth watching a cutscene compilation just to witness the most misogyny-drenched game Nintendo will ever release. Also the actual cutscene direction is bad too, legitimately nauseating at times.
Final verdict: it's bad, folks! Just not in the way that I thought it'd be bad. I don't recommend it to even the most diehard of Metroid fans. The little crumbs of fanservice aren't worth it.