This review contains spoilers
it was NOT that bad y'all....
[updated 10/18/21]
other m was trending yesterday and is still trending today because a popular YouTuber posted a hot take which started a huge conflict on gaming twitter so I wanted to write a more in depth opinion on the game as a whole coming from somebody who has been a fan of the franchise for 19 years and is also a woman (and I only mention this because it relates to the hot take I mentioned earlier)
The game mechanics in itself are ok, I've seen this game get compared to the likes of sonic 06 which is not true at all. Sonic 06 is glitchy, has shit controls, and for the most part is unplayable. other m is not only playable, but the game mechanics work fine for the most part, some instances of the fps sections are dodgy, the "pixel search" sections are unbearable without a doubt, and having player restricted to using the wiimote sideways is detrimental to the overall gameplay (this could have been improved with adding nunchuck functionality and having the same set up as prime 3), but there are a lot of good ideas introduced in the gameplay that work well, and some of those ideas have been implemented and fully realized in the mercurysteam games. This game is not a metroidvania, but neither is federation force or pinball (maybe hunters could be included in this too?) because these are all spinoffs (and i am with the majority who question the point of this spinoff in particular however I do commend sakamoto and team ninja for trying something new, as sakamoto said before, he wanted to create a spin off game that he would work closely with, with the primary focus of establishing the character that he himself created). Recognizing that this game is a spinoff is important as many critiques of the game is its lack of metroidvania elements. I'll conclude my thoughts on the gameplay of other m by saying that technically this is still my least favorite of the franchise when it comes to actually playing it, as I prefer the metroidvania nature of the other games by miles, including the mainline games and the prime series, but I still enjoy the game itself (in my personal tier list of all the installments of the franchise looks like other m being in c tier along with federation force, pinball, and hunters, with everything else above, the original first 2 would be below c tier as I believe they have aged too poorly and the remakes serve as proper replacements)
So, the story. I will mostly make comparisons with fusion and prime 3 as they all have similar story beats (working under the federation, adam, working with others instead of complete isolation, more focus on story as opposed to earlier installments). As many have said before, despite the game being heavily dependent on the story, the plot is loose, as in there is no satisfying conclusion with the main 3 conflicts, the deleter, MB, and Ridley, so the general consensus of players is that they felt that they gained nothing from the experience. The "imposter among us" ended up being James Pierce (who?). Many of us didn't even know that from our first playthrough or even 11 years later because it was never shown or even mentioned in the game itself, but hidden in the official guidebook for the game (god that is so fucking stupid). I have seen a couple of Metroid fans who said that perhaps it would have been more satisfying if Adam was the deleter instead, as he was kinda going behind everyones back anyways. I fully agree that this would have made more sense, however its obvious that the writers were trying to paint Adam as a heroic martyr (even though the characterization they wrote for him made him look like a dickhead). The conflict surrounding Melissa and Madeline Bergman could have been one of the more interesting plot points had they delved into that more, since MB was literally supposed to be a copy of Mother Brain yet Samus doesn't even get to handle MB herself. Madeline was most likely intended to have parallels with Samus since Madeline considered Melissa as her child and Samus had that incident with the baby metroid who imprinted on her, but this was a missed opportunity to make all of Samus' "the baby" monologues have more of a place other than the fact that this occurred right after Super Metroid. So about Ridley. While many die hard fans already knew that Ridley was responsible for the mass institution of Samus' home planet including her parents via the Zero Mission manga, this was the first time that fact is presented in a Metroid game. This confused casual players as to why Samus freaked out the way AND confused die hard fans as to why she would freak out after she's dealt with him several times before. I do however think that this "ptsd attack" is justified for a couple of reasons. A lot of encounters with Ridley before Super Metroid ended in him leaving the scene and not dying, or were just obvious copies of Ridley. In Super Metroid, Samus thought that Ridley was dead for good, so her seeing Ridley alive without knowing that he was a clone after Super Metroid and being caught off guard makes sense, especially with "the baby" incident and being reminded of her past working with the federation being in the background adding to her mental state. Looking at the perspective of the writers, since they were trying to convey that Ridley is a big deal because he killed her parents, if Samus didn't give two shits about it then it would have made it seem like Ridley actually that big of a deal at all, so I understand that they might have adjusted the narrative to the audience while also including lore that dedicated fans already knew (but at the end both of these groups were displeased because of poor execution). And finally Adam...hmm... the main gripe with him among most is how instead of the traditional "Samus had all her powers but lost them from injury" its "Adam has not authorized the use of Samus' powerups". The idea of Samus being subservient is upsetting, especially since Samus has stated in Fusion that she is not fond of taking orders. Even more upsetting is the lack of reluctance she shows. However, this similar instance is seen in Prime 3, where she works under the federation with other hunters. She also doesn't really show any annoyance or rebel against the federation, because why would she? She willingly took the job because she wanted to keep the galaxy at peace as usual (and also for that fat check). Same here, she willingly decided to help the federation for the sake of the galaxy, so she complied with Adam's conditions for the safety of everyone on the ship. She actually does show a disdain toward's Adam's conditions in the Japanese version which does fit with her character in Fusion but we lost that in the American dub (several have said before but the original Japanese version of the script makes way more sense than the translations, but it doesn't fix the story entirely). The variable suit thing was fucking stupid there is no defending that. My biggest issue with the story personally is how they framed Adam, they made it seem like he didn't give a shit about Samus until the end where he died even though that probably wasn't the case. Especially the scene where he shot her in the back to "save her". I'm in the minority here when I saw that I think overall the characterization for Samus isn't too far off from what we saw in Fusion and the manga SPECIFICALLY for this situation that she is, and I say fusion and the manga because those are our only other indications of her personality (no, being badass and shooting things is not a personality trait). Sakamoto created Samus, so can we really say that he doesn't get Samus because we all had our own idea of how she was (stoic emotionless badass)? Perhaps the poor writing (from sakamoto himself + writing team) and execution does not do Sakamoto's idea of Samus justice. I firmly believe that it was not really Samus' characterization itself, but the characters around her that made her look bad, Adam, the fact that the game doesn't have her handle MB or Ridley herself, even the soldiers. The federation soldiers (not you Anthony I fucking love you) are oddly unwelcoming and even disrespectful towards her, it is not specified whether these were the same soldiers who she trained with or newer recruits, but if they were her fellow trainees then what's their problem? and if they were newer recruits, Samus is a celebrity and they should have reacted by bowing at her feet. These all make it seem like she's not even the central character driving the plot. My concluding thoughts on the story is that there are many flaws, but from my first playthrough I still got enjoyment out of it, seeing her past in the federation, her emotional vulnerability which I want to see more in future games, ANTHONY. Thats all I can say
I have some misc. opinions outside of gameplay and story, like this game is visually stunning especially for the wii, and also some less serious video game critiquey thoughts like how Samus was serving cunt in her zero suit and casual outfit in the ending, dont worry Samus I saw your channel boots! (I still believe she should have been at least as tall as Adam because she IS tall). And I also appreciate her butch moment from her flashbacks
My final statement is that if you were able to find enjoyment off of this game like I did, thats great! If you hate this game with a burning passion thats fine too since its justified! But this game is 11 years old and it is not worth bringing up in every conversation about Metroid or discussing its canonicity since it was never retconned by Nintendo and it was confirmed canon to the mainline games via Dread. Especially when we now have Dread, which utilizes ideas from other m and makes them even better, has a much better and impactful story, Samus in this game is oozing with personality, why waste time comparing it to Other M when Dread is so fresh and new? This while probably be the last time I will think about this game critically for a while, so from now on when I think of Other M I'll think of Samus' very stylish civilian outfit and my favorite Anthony Higgs quotes.
[updated 10/18/21]
other m was trending yesterday and is still trending today because a popular YouTuber posted a hot take which started a huge conflict on gaming twitter so I wanted to write a more in depth opinion on the game as a whole coming from somebody who has been a fan of the franchise for 19 years and is also a woman (and I only mention this because it relates to the hot take I mentioned earlier)
The game mechanics in itself are ok, I've seen this game get compared to the likes of sonic 06 which is not true at all. Sonic 06 is glitchy, has shit controls, and for the most part is unplayable. other m is not only playable, but the game mechanics work fine for the most part, some instances of the fps sections are dodgy, the "pixel search" sections are unbearable without a doubt, and having player restricted to using the wiimote sideways is detrimental to the overall gameplay (this could have been improved with adding nunchuck functionality and having the same set up as prime 3), but there are a lot of good ideas introduced in the gameplay that work well, and some of those ideas have been implemented and fully realized in the mercurysteam games. This game is not a metroidvania, but neither is federation force or pinball (maybe hunters could be included in this too?) because these are all spinoffs (and i am with the majority who question the point of this spinoff in particular however I do commend sakamoto and team ninja for trying something new, as sakamoto said before, he wanted to create a spin off game that he would work closely with, with the primary focus of establishing the character that he himself created). Recognizing that this game is a spinoff is important as many critiques of the game is its lack of metroidvania elements. I'll conclude my thoughts on the gameplay of other m by saying that technically this is still my least favorite of the franchise when it comes to actually playing it, as I prefer the metroidvania nature of the other games by miles, including the mainline games and the prime series, but I still enjoy the game itself (in my personal tier list of all the installments of the franchise looks like other m being in c tier along with federation force, pinball, and hunters, with everything else above, the original first 2 would be below c tier as I believe they have aged too poorly and the remakes serve as proper replacements)
So, the story. I will mostly make comparisons with fusion and prime 3 as they all have similar story beats (working under the federation, adam, working with others instead of complete isolation, more focus on story as opposed to earlier installments). As many have said before, despite the game being heavily dependent on the story, the plot is loose, as in there is no satisfying conclusion with the main 3 conflicts, the deleter, MB, and Ridley, so the general consensus of players is that they felt that they gained nothing from the experience. The "imposter among us" ended up being James Pierce (who?). Many of us didn't even know that from our first playthrough or even 11 years later because it was never shown or even mentioned in the game itself, but hidden in the official guidebook for the game (god that is so fucking stupid). I have seen a couple of Metroid fans who said that perhaps it would have been more satisfying if Adam was the deleter instead, as he was kinda going behind everyones back anyways. I fully agree that this would have made more sense, however its obvious that the writers were trying to paint Adam as a heroic martyr (even though the characterization they wrote for him made him look like a dickhead). The conflict surrounding Melissa and Madeline Bergman could have been one of the more interesting plot points had they delved into that more, since MB was literally supposed to be a copy of Mother Brain yet Samus doesn't even get to handle MB herself. Madeline was most likely intended to have parallels with Samus since Madeline considered Melissa as her child and Samus had that incident with the baby metroid who imprinted on her, but this was a missed opportunity to make all of Samus' "the baby" monologues have more of a place other than the fact that this occurred right after Super Metroid. So about Ridley. While many die hard fans already knew that Ridley was responsible for the mass institution of Samus' home planet including her parents via the Zero Mission manga, this was the first time that fact is presented in a Metroid game. This confused casual players as to why Samus freaked out the way AND confused die hard fans as to why she would freak out after she's dealt with him several times before. I do however think that this "ptsd attack" is justified for a couple of reasons. A lot of encounters with Ridley before Super Metroid ended in him leaving the scene and not dying, or were just obvious copies of Ridley. In Super Metroid, Samus thought that Ridley was dead for good, so her seeing Ridley alive without knowing that he was a clone after Super Metroid and being caught off guard makes sense, especially with "the baby" incident and being reminded of her past working with the federation being in the background adding to her mental state. Looking at the perspective of the writers, since they were trying to convey that Ridley is a big deal because he killed her parents, if Samus didn't give two shits about it then it would have made it seem like Ridley actually that big of a deal at all, so I understand that they might have adjusted the narrative to the audience while also including lore that dedicated fans already knew (but at the end both of these groups were displeased because of poor execution). And finally Adam...hmm... the main gripe with him among most is how instead of the traditional "Samus had all her powers but lost them from injury" its "Adam has not authorized the use of Samus' powerups". The idea of Samus being subservient is upsetting, especially since Samus has stated in Fusion that she is not fond of taking orders. Even more upsetting is the lack of reluctance she shows. However, this similar instance is seen in Prime 3, where she works under the federation with other hunters. She also doesn't really show any annoyance or rebel against the federation, because why would she? She willingly took the job because she wanted to keep the galaxy at peace as usual (and also for that fat check). Same here, she willingly decided to help the federation for the sake of the galaxy, so she complied with Adam's conditions for the safety of everyone on the ship. She actually does show a disdain toward's Adam's conditions in the Japanese version which does fit with her character in Fusion but we lost that in the American dub (several have said before but the original Japanese version of the script makes way more sense than the translations, but it doesn't fix the story entirely). The variable suit thing was fucking stupid there is no defending that. My biggest issue with the story personally is how they framed Adam, they made it seem like he didn't give a shit about Samus until the end where he died even though that probably wasn't the case. Especially the scene where he shot her in the back to "save her". I'm in the minority here when I saw that I think overall the characterization for Samus isn't too far off from what we saw in Fusion and the manga SPECIFICALLY for this situation that she is, and I say fusion and the manga because those are our only other indications of her personality (no, being badass and shooting things is not a personality trait). Sakamoto created Samus, so can we really say that he doesn't get Samus because we all had our own idea of how she was (stoic emotionless badass)? Perhaps the poor writing (from sakamoto himself + writing team) and execution does not do Sakamoto's idea of Samus justice. I firmly believe that it was not really Samus' characterization itself, but the characters around her that made her look bad, Adam, the fact that the game doesn't have her handle MB or Ridley herself, even the soldiers. The federation soldiers (not you Anthony I fucking love you) are oddly unwelcoming and even disrespectful towards her, it is not specified whether these were the same soldiers who she trained with or newer recruits, but if they were her fellow trainees then what's their problem? and if they were newer recruits, Samus is a celebrity and they should have reacted by bowing at her feet. These all make it seem like she's not even the central character driving the plot. My concluding thoughts on the story is that there are many flaws, but from my first playthrough I still got enjoyment out of it, seeing her past in the federation, her emotional vulnerability which I want to see more in future games, ANTHONY. Thats all I can say
I have some misc. opinions outside of gameplay and story, like this game is visually stunning especially for the wii, and also some less serious video game critiquey thoughts like how Samus was serving cunt in her zero suit and casual outfit in the ending, dont worry Samus I saw your channel boots! (I still believe she should have been at least as tall as Adam because she IS tall). And I also appreciate her butch moment from her flashbacks
My final statement is that if you were able to find enjoyment off of this game like I did, thats great! If you hate this game with a burning passion thats fine too since its justified! But this game is 11 years old and it is not worth bringing up in every conversation about Metroid or discussing its canonicity since it was never retconned by Nintendo and it was confirmed canon to the mainline games via Dread. Especially when we now have Dread, which utilizes ideas from other m and makes them even better, has a much better and impactful story, Samus in this game is oozing with personality, why waste time comparing it to Other M when Dread is so fresh and new? This while probably be the last time I will think about this game critically for a while, so from now on when I think of Other M I'll think of Samus' very stylish civilian outfit and my favorite Anthony Higgs quotes.