Introduction
I've been a fan of the Metroid series since Metroid Fusion, and have followed it diligently ever since. With the exception of Hunters, which I felt was very hit-and-miss with the control and lack of any real plot, I've enjoyed every instalment of the series.
So, when Other M was announced, I was very, VERY excited. Whilst the Prime trilogy exceeded all expectations, it had been a very long time since a traditional 3rd-person Metroid game had been along. That it was for Wii heralded that it would be something special.
However, as time went on - and, since Nintendo like to announce these games ridiculously early, a lot of time went on - my initial euphoria started to whittle away. The more this game was revealed, the less I liked it, and the voice acting killed my excitement completely. All the same, I was determined to give it a chance - Samus Aran, as Nintendo's one serious female protagonist, deserved as much, and if there is one thing recent years have taught me, it is to never underestimate Nintendo.
So, I got this game on Friday, and neglected to play it on Sunday. It is now Tuesday, and I'm in a position to write a review. That should tell you something about how this review is going to be. Regardless, read on!
Storyline: 6.3/10
Other M is set shortly after Super Metroid - after a reflection of the game's final battle, Samus awakens in a Federation hospital. After the brief tutorial that follows, weeks pass, and she intercepts a distress signal coming from a Bottle Ship. Naturally, she goes to investigate, and quickly runs into the 7th platoon of the Galactic Federation, led by her former commander, Adam Malkovich. After an intense battle with a large creature, it is decided that Samus can remain onboard; provided, of course, that she follows Adam's instructions to the letter. He gives her her first mission - to reactivate the ship's electrical systems - and a long-term goal of searching for survivors and finding out just what the hell happened on the ship.
And the story goes from there. Snippets of information about the situation are revealed as Samus travels from save point to save point on the Bottle Ship, fulfilling her objectives, occasionally reminiscing on past events, and occasionally encountering other members from the 7th platoon. Despite its initial overwhelming mediocrity, Other M does manage to pack in a few surprising twists that aren't immediately forseeable and, whilst it hardly keeps you in suspense, it does manage to break free of the monotony and become quite the enjoyable experience at times - although it does leave a few issues unresolved.
However, in being the second-to-last game in the series, there is an immediate problem of an entry barrier to newer players. Players making Other M their first Metroid game are going to find it much like the sequel to a movie they missed, full of obscure references and not as enjoyable as it could otherwise be. Even those who have not played some of the earlier games, such as Metroid II, are going to find some of the game's more subtle references (in particular, the re-appearance of certain bosses) going straight over their heads.
As part of the series as a whole, Other M slots very nicely into it, explaining Samus' past and her relationship to Adam (I'll cover this in the next section) as well as linking to Super Metroid, providing a little background to Metroid Fusion that will completely change the way you interpret certain elements of it, and suffering from no continuity errors that will have long-time fans screaming in frustration.
Long-time fans of the series may even find sufficient reason to bump this score up a point; the storyline itself is not incredibly bad; in fact, for a Metroid game it is surprisingly detailed with no effort, considering the Prime series gives story in the form of scans and, asides from Metroid Fusion, no other game in the series has really bothered to explain events.
It is instead the way in which the story is told that makes it lacklustre. Much of the story is told in the form of flashbacks; it focuses on past events, rather than focusing on the here and now. If you take out the flashbacks in this game, you remove at least half of the story content.
It is not until near the end of the game where events finally start to make sense and the flashbacks dwindle away. Newcomers to the Metroid series may find the storyline to be worse than the score I have given it, because of the obscure references that are never really explained.
In short, perseverance and a reasonable amount of knowledge about previous Metroid games are both required to enjoy this game, as is a willingness to overlook the direction in which it takes Samus' character.
Characters: 4.4/10
In all of my reviews up to this point, I like to think I have always been fair, no matter what I think of certain characters. However, there is no excuse to be made for the characters in Other M.
The character portrayal of Samus Aran in Other M is, bluntly put, extremely sexist. Samus has received more character development in Other M than she has any other Metroid game prior, with the possible exception of Metroid Fusion. Other M does a fantastic job of giving us an insight into Samus' past, and her reasons for her attitude back then. However, it is how this has affected Samus' character in the present that drags this score right down to the point where it doesn't matter.
Samus' character in Other M is highly stereotypical and extremely weak. When she isn't moping about the baby Metroid that saved her life at the end of Super Metroid, she's thinking about Adam, and the decisions she made in the past regarding him. Its extremely depressing and highly repetetive, and not what you would expect from a strong and indepedant bounty hunter who has saved the galaxy numerous time up to this point. In particular, her fear of Ridley, who she has faced multiple times before this game in the timeline, is so totally out-of-character that it feels as though she is a completely different character.
Samus Aran's character has been, for the most part, largely left to the player's own imagination up to this point; however, what snippets that have been provided previously, as well as her chosen profession, would not lead you to think of the whiny, insecure and doggedly obedient woman who worships Adam Malkovich that you see in this game. Nailing her character down in Other M strips a lot of enjoyment from the game, unless you are new to the series and have not had a chance to form an opinion of Samus' character yet. Samus feels a great deal like a stereotypical teenage drama protagonist a lot of the time, or a particularly miserable CLAMP anime character.
Adam Malkovich, Samus' former commanding officer, is also given a little bit of character, which helps explain Metroid Fusion if you have played the game and is nothing but a minor distraction for you if you haven't.
Another character is Anthony Higgs, who gets a few more lines in the game than the rest of the platoon, and who is spoken of by Samus. Much of the character development for characters in the game is done through Samus' narratives, which are frequent, but very weak.
Much of the development for the fourth and final character of the cast who has more than just a three-second appearance is left until the end of the game, where all is revealed. This character is perhaps the only reason I didn't give this game a lower score in this catergory.
There are some quite emotional scenes between the characters, which are occassionally extremely well-done but, overall, the negatives - Samus - far outweigh the positives, which have very little impact on or appearance in the game. In terms of characterization; Other M is better for newcomers to the series, rather than long-time fans who will already have an impression of Samus in their minds, which will be completely torn down by Other M's extremely weak and sexist version.
Gameplay: 8.0/10
The majority of Other M's gameplay is the 3rd person platforming that is synonymous with the Metroid franchise, only with full 3D environments. This works extremely well, and it works brilliantly. A 3D arena just makes things that much more interesting, as it allows you and your opponent that much more room to move, and the 3rd-person perspective allows you to witness the action from a distance and be a part of it at the same time, something that the Prime series lacked. Samus' acrobatic abilities are enjoyable to watch and extremely satisfying to initiate.
The gameplay remains the same as it has ever since the series began: you move from room to room, killing enemies that get in your way, solving the occasional puzzle, all to reach your next objective, at which point you are given another one. Once in a while, you unlock a new ability, adding another layer of complexity to the strategy required to take out enemies and solve puzzles.
Other M has included several new gimmicks to Metroid gameplay; most noticeably, it has removed enemy drops. No longer will you see a small glowing orb or missile that will restore you when you kill an enemy; instead you must use "Concentration", which restores your missiles and, when it is extremely low, your health. Whilst this feature makes the game more challenging at points, since it requires you to stand still - not something you can really afford to do in boss fights - it also makes it more frustrating, because it seems to be a step backwards from the system that was already in place. You can only restore health when in it is critical, and must find expansions to allow you to restore more than one energy tank: against bosses that hit hard, this is extremely redundant.
Other M also includes the "Sense Move" ability, which allows you to dodge oncoming enemy attacks if you tap the control pad at the right time. Whilst this sounds like a challenging task, it is in fact ridiculously easy to pull off, and makes the majority of the game extremely easy. The lack of restoration drops from enemies no longer matters, because you don't need them: you never get hit. Whilst it looks extremely flashy and is very satisfuing to do, especially against bosses, it starts to feel extremely cheap after a while, and makes the game far too easy. There are, however, moments in the game where you will die immediately if you don't use a Sense Move to dodge out of the way in time - for example, an enemy may jump out at you from behind a wall with the intention of ripping you limb from limb. If you don't press the button in time, it will, and you'll see the Game Over screen. The possibility of being killed at any moment will keep you on your toes.
In addition, Samus can also use the Overblast and Fatal Strike moves, with timing. Jumping over an enemy will sometimes allow Samus to jump on top of them and deliver a face full of energy. This is no more as effective as just standing in front of an enemy, using Sense Move to dodge its attacks and then blasting it, but it adds variety nonetheless. The Fatal Strike is what it sounds like - when an enemy has taken enough damage or is prone to attack, Samus can charge in and deliver a fatal strike in style. Some bosses can only be taken out with Fatal Strikes, and it adds a certain dramatic flair...although, again, against regular enemies normal blasting will work fine.
Whilst these flashy moves make Samus feel more like Bayonetta than anything else, they are an interesting addition, and add to the cinematic feel of the game.
The game also incorporates a first-person mode, taken straight from Metroid Prime: Corruption. This allows you to detect and target weak points of bosses and the landscape, and fire missiles. The problem? You can't move when you do so. This is a huge oversight, because quite often there isn't sufficient time to fire a missile, which may be essential to killing a boss. Those sections that require you to be this mode to kill things are all extremely frustrating, as well.
The Morph Ball makes a return (of course) and there are a few sections that require you to roll through gaps, pipes or mazes. These are particularly prominent when hunting for hidden items - quite often there will be a shaft you'll need to roll through, navigating various obstacles to reach your prize.
Scanning has also returned. These are by far the worst sections of the game; on occasion, the game will force you into first-person viewing mode and won't let you out of it until you find some ridiculously small and inconsequential detail in the landscape that you'll barely be able to see and scan it, with no hints whatsoever. Sometimes it is obvious what you need to scan; other times you could be looking everywhere and not find it for quite a while.
As you might expect, Samus have various power-ups that will be unlocked by Adam as the situation requires it: stronger beams, super missiles, speed boost, etc. All of these will be familiar to fans of the series, and all will give you a new edge - in this respect, Other M is quite a balanced game. Every time Adam allows you to use another ability, you're going to need it in order to defeat what is going to come.
Puzzles are surprisingly challenging, at least at first: the answers are often very obvious, but extremely difficult to spot. You may be required to activate and de-active holograms to find things that weren't previously there, blow holes in walls; you might not even be able to overcome the puzzle you're trying to do at that point; you may need a certain item first. At some point, Other M will catch you out and have you stumped about what you're supposed to do before everything finally clicks into place as you experiment.
There are a LOT of item expansions in this game. Energy Tanks have been split up into Energy Parts, which you need to gather four of to get a whole tank, there are upgrades that allow your beam to charge faster and for Concentration to restore more energy tanks when you use it, and Missile Tanks now only grant you ONE extra missile, instead of five. There is a lot in this game to find.
There are a few bosses in this game; many are from past Metroid games, and will delight fans. They are never particularly challenging, but they do require a certain strategy to take down, and will do more than the average amount of damage. They are often several times your size, as well.
In terms of length and difficulty, Other M suffers in exactly the same way as every other game that is a part of one of Nintendo's flagship series has suffered from from the Gamecube era onwards: not enough of either. The only difficulty in Other M is locating what you need to scan in the highly annoying scanning sections, and in making sure you don't go everywhere when you switch from 3rd person to 1st person. Including cutscenes, this game will take you a minimum of 8 hours to finish, provided you don't go item hunting. There is a post-game boss, as well as a Hard Mode, but if you're the kind of gamer who expects to get the a lot out of your games the first time you play them, you'll want to avoid this. Other M is do-able in under a week if you play it even casually.
Other M's gameplay is quite interesting in that it is very hit-and-miss. The 3rd person sections are brilliant. The scanning sections are an annoyance. The first person shooter adds another dimension to the game and capitalises on Prime's success, but those sections that force you into the first-person mode are just as frustrating as the scanning sections are.
If the mandatory first-person sections and scanning sections were any more prominent, this game would have been marked down - whilst they add variety, they feel more like a nuisance, and break-up the action. However, the majority of this game is classic Metroid gameplay in a 3D environment, which works better than it sounds. The changes to the system that has worked for years (particularly the Concentration gimmick) are unneccessary, but they don't have a massively negative impact on the game.
Controls: 6.1/10
Other M's controls work surprisingly well. In 3rd person mode, you hold the Wiimote on its side, using the D-Pad to control Samus. Whilst the D-Pad may sound ill-suited for moving around in a 3D environment, it actually works very well and, despite its size, it won't wear a hole in your thumb. It feels very natural and is easy to use - the A button is for Morph Ball, and 1 is using to fire. Tapping the D-Pad in any direction at the right time will implement Sense Move.
Flipping the Wiimote vertically puts you into first-person mode, which handles exactly the same as Corruption did. However, the transition between the two is not as smooth as it could be, due to the Sensor Bar. You'll need to experiment quite a bit to ensure that the Sensor Bar will pick up that you've changed your Wiimote's angle immediately, and that your targeting reticule won't go flying off the screen - its extremely awkward, and those few second spent fumbling could cost you
There is no denying that the controls would have been so much better if they had utilised the Nunchuk as well for movement (whilst the D-Pad works, a Control Stick for a 3D environment is definetely better, and its just what people these days are used to), or even the Classic Controller - the Wiimote alone does only a satisfying job at doing what other controllers can do so much better. There are no resounding glitches in either the 3rd or 1st person controls, however.
Graphics: 9.1/10
Definetely one of the finest-looking games on the Wii to date, Other M is absolutely beautiful to behold.
The character models aren't too distorted, whilst they have that anime-feel, a reasonable amount of realism has been maintained. Mercifully, Team Ninja didn't play about with Samus' figure, either. The in-game graphics are not too far off of the cutscene graphics. On occasion, the transition is so smooth that you might not actually notice that its gone into a cutscene. A lot of the cutscenes use in-game graphics, and the few that don't are nearly indistinguisable. A notable amount of effort has gone into making this game look fantastic.
It captures that lonely Metroid feeling perfectly, with just the right amount of lighting in the darkened, narrow corridors you'll spend the majority of your time travelling down. There are moments when the scenery changes completely; for example, one sector is covered in ice, and these areas also look absolutely fantastic. For fans, seeing some of the recurring bosses and enemies in 3D will be a treat, as well. Certain areas will remind them of past locations, yet feel entirely new at the same time.
However, there are occasions when zooming in on things that they can be a little blocky, and some of the landscapes - particularly the corridors - are lacking in detail. The Wii is also capable of much more than this, and the near-anime art-style may not appeal to everyone. Whilst the presentation is fantastic, there is always room for improvement.
Sound: 2.8/10
Other M is let down considerably in the sound department. The soundtrack is remarkably weak and forgettable, and quite often you can barely here it. It barely contributes to the atmosphere of the game; which is owed almost entirely to the graphics. Unlike past series, where the music has been an important factor, in Other M it has been sadly neglected in favour of absolutely terrible voice acting. Few of the classic Metroid themes return, although those that do are remixed very nicely. But they, too, suffer from the lack of presence that the soundtrack in general does.
The voice acting in particular is what earns this game such a low score in this area - I thought I'd heard the worst voice acting had to offer when I played Final Fantasy XIII. However, this takes the crown. Samus' voice is as weak and shaky as her character is - in fact, it is one of the primary reasons that her character portrayal in Other M is so sexist. Samus' voice actor is a constant presence, and her monologuing is excessively miserable and generally ear-splitting. Samus' voice actor has very little in the way of emotion; she sounds extremely bland, save for when she is screaming or whining. She does not do Samus' character justice by any standards, and really lets this game down.
The Other voice actors are passable, and what few lines they do have are often packed with emotion (or, in Adam's case, lack of emotion, which enhances his cold appearance and attitude towards Samus) and aren't so bad that you'd want to cover your ears with your hands.
Unique/Extra Features: 4.1/10
Other M does not bring anything new to the tables in terms of gameplay, asides from Sense Move, Fatal Strike and Overblast, all of which make it feel more like an action game than a platformer. The power-ups and the majority of the enemies and bosses have been seen before, and the contributions it makes to Samus' character are, overall, better left unsaid. As far as extras go, it has a single post-game boss which won't mean much to anyone who hasn't played Super Metroid, as well as a Hard Mode if you finish the game 100%. Its just like any other Metroid game, really.
Replay Value: 7.0/10
I'd say replay value for this game was about average. The addition of a Hard Mode may warrant a second playthrough, and you're given the option to skip cutscenes, which for some moments is a blessing that can't be put into words. Its a short, easy game and whether or not you'd play it again will depend on what type of gamer you are - some like short games they can plough through very quickly, others won't touch games like that after the first time they play them through. Once you know what to look for in the scanning sections and how to overcome the not-so-obvious puzzles, you'll only finish it faster, as well.
Overall: 6.0/10
Yet another example of why graphics alone do not make a game great - Other M looks fantastic, its possibly the best-looking Wii game to date. That core Metroid gameplay is still there despite the changes, and the nods it makes to various installments in the series will delight long-time fans. It fits nicely in the grand scheme of things, as well.
However, there have been some serious, serious blunders in this game. First and foremost is what has been done with Samus' character - it is undeniably sexist, and that alone is going to be enough to put a lot of people off. Gone is the strong, independant bounty hunter and galactic saviour; in her place is a whiny, overly emotional woman in a skin-tight bodysuit and armour who wouldn't be so out of place in a 1940s movie or a CLAMP anime.
The storyline is very flashback focused, and a large part of it depends on prior knowledge. If you haven't played at least Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion, the two games this one is set between, you're going to miss things, and its not going to have as much of an impact on you. If you HAVE played those two games, or any of the other Metroid games, you'll have likely formed your own interpretation of Samus' character by now and will have it completely ruined by the shoddy job done in this game.
The storyline isn't excessively bad; it has some surprising twists and, despite being more present now than it ever has been before, its not overly intrusive; it doesn't interrupt the game every five minutes.
With the exception of those moments where you're forced into things, there isn't anything hugely wrong with the gameplay. It manages to capture that classic Metroid feel, and some of the new innovations make the game a lot more enjoyable. But some of them make it a real chore to play and extremely frustrating.
So, Other M gets a lot of things right. However, it gets an equal, if not greater, amount of things wrong, which hold it back and, really, make it quite a mediocre game overall. If you're willing to overlook the absolutely diabolical way in which Samus is portrayed and concentrate on the gameplay, and are willing to put up with the occasional annoyance in said gameplay, then I wouldn't discourage buying this; it has a very cinematic feel, doesn't completely destroy the core Metroid gameplay (just its leading lady) and, at times, can be a very enjoyable experience. If you ignore the storyline entirely, this game still falls slightly below the Prime series, but its still an enjoyable experience.
For newcomers to the series: there are better Metroid games you can pick up than this one. As I've said, if you haven't played Super Metroid at the very least, you're going to miss things, and it WILL make a difference. Metroid Fusion, as a sequel, might be better put off until after you've played this, but if you're making this your first Metroid game it'll be like coming into a movie when its halfway through. You'll leave with more questions than you had to begin with.
If you're the sort of person who likes their games to last longer than 8 hours and be slightly challenging, avoid this like you would a real Metroid; you'll find neither challenge nor a long lifespan in this, unless you insist on gathering up all the items.
Nintendo gambled with the Prime series, and it paid off. They gambled again with Other M, and this time the payoff was considerably smaller. Its a gamble whether you'll enjoy this game or not - the question you should ask yourself is this: How many flaws am I willing to overlook?
Either way, Other M is a mediocre game, and a missed opportunity. With a few tweaks, it could have been so much more than what it is. As it is, it could very well be regarded as the worst game in the series.
I've been a fan of the Metroid series since Metroid Fusion, and have followed it diligently ever since. With the exception of Hunters, which I felt was very hit-and-miss with the control and lack of any real plot, I've enjoyed every instalment of the series.
So, when Other M was announced, I was very, VERY excited. Whilst the Prime trilogy exceeded all expectations, it had been a very long time since a traditional 3rd-person Metroid game had been along. That it was for Wii heralded that it would be something special.
However, as time went on - and, since Nintendo like to announce these games ridiculously early, a lot of time went on - my initial euphoria started to whittle away. The more this game was revealed, the less I liked it, and the voice acting killed my excitement completely. All the same, I was determined to give it a chance - Samus Aran, as Nintendo's one serious female protagonist, deserved as much, and if there is one thing recent years have taught me, it is to never underestimate Nintendo.
So, I got this game on Friday, and neglected to play it on Sunday. It is now Tuesday, and I'm in a position to write a review. That should tell you something about how this review is going to be. Regardless, read on!
Storyline: 6.3/10
Other M is set shortly after Super Metroid - after a reflection of the game's final battle, Samus awakens in a Federation hospital. After the brief tutorial that follows, weeks pass, and she intercepts a distress signal coming from a Bottle Ship. Naturally, she goes to investigate, and quickly runs into the 7th platoon of the Galactic Federation, led by her former commander, Adam Malkovich. After an intense battle with a large creature, it is decided that Samus can remain onboard; provided, of course, that she follows Adam's instructions to the letter. He gives her her first mission - to reactivate the ship's electrical systems - and a long-term goal of searching for survivors and finding out just what the hell happened on the ship.
And the story goes from there. Snippets of information about the situation are revealed as Samus travels from save point to save point on the Bottle Ship, fulfilling her objectives, occasionally reminiscing on past events, and occasionally encountering other members from the 7th platoon. Despite its initial overwhelming mediocrity, Other M does manage to pack in a few surprising twists that aren't immediately forseeable and, whilst it hardly keeps you in suspense, it does manage to break free of the monotony and become quite the enjoyable experience at times - although it does leave a few issues unresolved.
However, in being the second-to-last game in the series, there is an immediate problem of an entry barrier to newer players. Players making Other M their first Metroid game are going to find it much like the sequel to a movie they missed, full of obscure references and not as enjoyable as it could otherwise be. Even those who have not played some of the earlier games, such as Metroid II, are going to find some of the game's more subtle references (in particular, the re-appearance of certain bosses) going straight over their heads.
As part of the series as a whole, Other M slots very nicely into it, explaining Samus' past and her relationship to Adam (I'll cover this in the next section) as well as linking to Super Metroid, providing a little background to Metroid Fusion that will completely change the way you interpret certain elements of it, and suffering from no continuity errors that will have long-time fans screaming in frustration.
Long-time fans of the series may even find sufficient reason to bump this score up a point; the storyline itself is not incredibly bad; in fact, for a Metroid game it is surprisingly detailed with no effort, considering the Prime series gives story in the form of scans and, asides from Metroid Fusion, no other game in the series has really bothered to explain events.
It is instead the way in which the story is told that makes it lacklustre. Much of the story is told in the form of flashbacks; it focuses on past events, rather than focusing on the here and now. If you take out the flashbacks in this game, you remove at least half of the story content.
It is not until near the end of the game where events finally start to make sense and the flashbacks dwindle away. Newcomers to the Metroid series may find the storyline to be worse than the score I have given it, because of the obscure references that are never really explained.
In short, perseverance and a reasonable amount of knowledge about previous Metroid games are both required to enjoy this game, as is a willingness to overlook the direction in which it takes Samus' character.
Characters: 4.4/10
In all of my reviews up to this point, I like to think I have always been fair, no matter what I think of certain characters. However, there is no excuse to be made for the characters in Other M.
The character portrayal of Samus Aran in Other M is, bluntly put, extremely sexist. Samus has received more character development in Other M than she has any other Metroid game prior, with the possible exception of Metroid Fusion. Other M does a fantastic job of giving us an insight into Samus' past, and her reasons for her attitude back then. However, it is how this has affected Samus' character in the present that drags this score right down to the point where it doesn't matter.
Samus' character in Other M is highly stereotypical and extremely weak. When she isn't moping about the baby Metroid that saved her life at the end of Super Metroid, she's thinking about Adam, and the decisions she made in the past regarding him. Its extremely depressing and highly repetetive, and not what you would expect from a strong and indepedant bounty hunter who has saved the galaxy numerous time up to this point. In particular, her fear of Ridley, who she has faced multiple times before this game in the timeline, is so totally out-of-character that it feels as though she is a completely different character.
Samus Aran's character has been, for the most part, largely left to the player's own imagination up to this point; however, what snippets that have been provided previously, as well as her chosen profession, would not lead you to think of the whiny, insecure and doggedly obedient woman who worships Adam Malkovich that you see in this game. Nailing her character down in Other M strips a lot of enjoyment from the game, unless you are new to the series and have not had a chance to form an opinion of Samus' character yet. Samus feels a great deal like a stereotypical teenage drama protagonist a lot of the time, or a particularly miserable CLAMP anime character.
Adam Malkovich, Samus' former commanding officer, is also given a little bit of character, which helps explain Metroid Fusion if you have played the game and is nothing but a minor distraction for you if you haven't.
Another character is Anthony Higgs, who gets a few more lines in the game than the rest of the platoon, and who is spoken of by Samus. Much of the character development for characters in the game is done through Samus' narratives, which are frequent, but very weak.
Much of the development for the fourth and final character of the cast who has more than just a three-second appearance is left until the end of the game, where all is revealed. This character is perhaps the only reason I didn't give this game a lower score in this catergory.
There are some quite emotional scenes between the characters, which are occassionally extremely well-done but, overall, the negatives - Samus - far outweigh the positives, which have very little impact on or appearance in the game. In terms of characterization; Other M is better for newcomers to the series, rather than long-time fans who will already have an impression of Samus in their minds, which will be completely torn down by Other M's extremely weak and sexist version.
Gameplay: 8.0/10
The majority of Other M's gameplay is the 3rd person platforming that is synonymous with the Metroid franchise, only with full 3D environments. This works extremely well, and it works brilliantly. A 3D arena just makes things that much more interesting, as it allows you and your opponent that much more room to move, and the 3rd-person perspective allows you to witness the action from a distance and be a part of it at the same time, something that the Prime series lacked. Samus' acrobatic abilities are enjoyable to watch and extremely satisfying to initiate.
The gameplay remains the same as it has ever since the series began: you move from room to room, killing enemies that get in your way, solving the occasional puzzle, all to reach your next objective, at which point you are given another one. Once in a while, you unlock a new ability, adding another layer of complexity to the strategy required to take out enemies and solve puzzles.
Other M has included several new gimmicks to Metroid gameplay; most noticeably, it has removed enemy drops. No longer will you see a small glowing orb or missile that will restore you when you kill an enemy; instead you must use "Concentration", which restores your missiles and, when it is extremely low, your health. Whilst this feature makes the game more challenging at points, since it requires you to stand still - not something you can really afford to do in boss fights - it also makes it more frustrating, because it seems to be a step backwards from the system that was already in place. You can only restore health when in it is critical, and must find expansions to allow you to restore more than one energy tank: against bosses that hit hard, this is extremely redundant.
Other M also includes the "Sense Move" ability, which allows you to dodge oncoming enemy attacks if you tap the control pad at the right time. Whilst this sounds like a challenging task, it is in fact ridiculously easy to pull off, and makes the majority of the game extremely easy. The lack of restoration drops from enemies no longer matters, because you don't need them: you never get hit. Whilst it looks extremely flashy and is very satisfuing to do, especially against bosses, it starts to feel extremely cheap after a while, and makes the game far too easy. There are, however, moments in the game where you will die immediately if you don't use a Sense Move to dodge out of the way in time - for example, an enemy may jump out at you from behind a wall with the intention of ripping you limb from limb. If you don't press the button in time, it will, and you'll see the Game Over screen. The possibility of being killed at any moment will keep you on your toes.
In addition, Samus can also use the Overblast and Fatal Strike moves, with timing. Jumping over an enemy will sometimes allow Samus to jump on top of them and deliver a face full of energy. This is no more as effective as just standing in front of an enemy, using Sense Move to dodge its attacks and then blasting it, but it adds variety nonetheless. The Fatal Strike is what it sounds like - when an enemy has taken enough damage or is prone to attack, Samus can charge in and deliver a fatal strike in style. Some bosses can only be taken out with Fatal Strikes, and it adds a certain dramatic flair...although, again, against regular enemies normal blasting will work fine.
Whilst these flashy moves make Samus feel more like Bayonetta than anything else, they are an interesting addition, and add to the cinematic feel of the game.
The game also incorporates a first-person mode, taken straight from Metroid Prime: Corruption. This allows you to detect and target weak points of bosses and the landscape, and fire missiles. The problem? You can't move when you do so. This is a huge oversight, because quite often there isn't sufficient time to fire a missile, which may be essential to killing a boss. Those sections that require you to be this mode to kill things are all extremely frustrating, as well.
The Morph Ball makes a return (of course) and there are a few sections that require you to roll through gaps, pipes or mazes. These are particularly prominent when hunting for hidden items - quite often there will be a shaft you'll need to roll through, navigating various obstacles to reach your prize.
Scanning has also returned. These are by far the worst sections of the game; on occasion, the game will force you into first-person viewing mode and won't let you out of it until you find some ridiculously small and inconsequential detail in the landscape that you'll barely be able to see and scan it, with no hints whatsoever. Sometimes it is obvious what you need to scan; other times you could be looking everywhere and not find it for quite a while.
As you might expect, Samus have various power-ups that will be unlocked by Adam as the situation requires it: stronger beams, super missiles, speed boost, etc. All of these will be familiar to fans of the series, and all will give you a new edge - in this respect, Other M is quite a balanced game. Every time Adam allows you to use another ability, you're going to need it in order to defeat what is going to come.
Puzzles are surprisingly challenging, at least at first: the answers are often very obvious, but extremely difficult to spot. You may be required to activate and de-active holograms to find things that weren't previously there, blow holes in walls; you might not even be able to overcome the puzzle you're trying to do at that point; you may need a certain item first. At some point, Other M will catch you out and have you stumped about what you're supposed to do before everything finally clicks into place as you experiment.
There are a LOT of item expansions in this game. Energy Tanks have been split up into Energy Parts, which you need to gather four of to get a whole tank, there are upgrades that allow your beam to charge faster and for Concentration to restore more energy tanks when you use it, and Missile Tanks now only grant you ONE extra missile, instead of five. There is a lot in this game to find.
There are a few bosses in this game; many are from past Metroid games, and will delight fans. They are never particularly challenging, but they do require a certain strategy to take down, and will do more than the average amount of damage. They are often several times your size, as well.
In terms of length and difficulty, Other M suffers in exactly the same way as every other game that is a part of one of Nintendo's flagship series has suffered from from the Gamecube era onwards: not enough of either. The only difficulty in Other M is locating what you need to scan in the highly annoying scanning sections, and in making sure you don't go everywhere when you switch from 3rd person to 1st person. Including cutscenes, this game will take you a minimum of 8 hours to finish, provided you don't go item hunting. There is a post-game boss, as well as a Hard Mode, but if you're the kind of gamer who expects to get the a lot out of your games the first time you play them, you'll want to avoid this. Other M is do-able in under a week if you play it even casually.
Other M's gameplay is quite interesting in that it is very hit-and-miss. The 3rd person sections are brilliant. The scanning sections are an annoyance. The first person shooter adds another dimension to the game and capitalises on Prime's success, but those sections that force you into the first-person mode are just as frustrating as the scanning sections are.
If the mandatory first-person sections and scanning sections were any more prominent, this game would have been marked down - whilst they add variety, they feel more like a nuisance, and break-up the action. However, the majority of this game is classic Metroid gameplay in a 3D environment, which works better than it sounds. The changes to the system that has worked for years (particularly the Concentration gimmick) are unneccessary, but they don't have a massively negative impact on the game.
Controls: 6.1/10
Other M's controls work surprisingly well. In 3rd person mode, you hold the Wiimote on its side, using the D-Pad to control Samus. Whilst the D-Pad may sound ill-suited for moving around in a 3D environment, it actually works very well and, despite its size, it won't wear a hole in your thumb. It feels very natural and is easy to use - the A button is for Morph Ball, and 1 is using to fire. Tapping the D-Pad in any direction at the right time will implement Sense Move.
Flipping the Wiimote vertically puts you into first-person mode, which handles exactly the same as Corruption did. However, the transition between the two is not as smooth as it could be, due to the Sensor Bar. You'll need to experiment quite a bit to ensure that the Sensor Bar will pick up that you've changed your Wiimote's angle immediately, and that your targeting reticule won't go flying off the screen - its extremely awkward, and those few second spent fumbling could cost you
There is no denying that the controls would have been so much better if they had utilised the Nunchuk as well for movement (whilst the D-Pad works, a Control Stick for a 3D environment is definetely better, and its just what people these days are used to), or even the Classic Controller - the Wiimote alone does only a satisfying job at doing what other controllers can do so much better. There are no resounding glitches in either the 3rd or 1st person controls, however.
Graphics: 9.1/10
Definetely one of the finest-looking games on the Wii to date, Other M is absolutely beautiful to behold.
The character models aren't too distorted, whilst they have that anime-feel, a reasonable amount of realism has been maintained. Mercifully, Team Ninja didn't play about with Samus' figure, either. The in-game graphics are not too far off of the cutscene graphics. On occasion, the transition is so smooth that you might not actually notice that its gone into a cutscene. A lot of the cutscenes use in-game graphics, and the few that don't are nearly indistinguisable. A notable amount of effort has gone into making this game look fantastic.
It captures that lonely Metroid feeling perfectly, with just the right amount of lighting in the darkened, narrow corridors you'll spend the majority of your time travelling down. There are moments when the scenery changes completely; for example, one sector is covered in ice, and these areas also look absolutely fantastic. For fans, seeing some of the recurring bosses and enemies in 3D will be a treat, as well. Certain areas will remind them of past locations, yet feel entirely new at the same time.
However, there are occasions when zooming in on things that they can be a little blocky, and some of the landscapes - particularly the corridors - are lacking in detail. The Wii is also capable of much more than this, and the near-anime art-style may not appeal to everyone. Whilst the presentation is fantastic, there is always room for improvement.
Sound: 2.8/10
Other M is let down considerably in the sound department. The soundtrack is remarkably weak and forgettable, and quite often you can barely here it. It barely contributes to the atmosphere of the game; which is owed almost entirely to the graphics. Unlike past series, where the music has been an important factor, in Other M it has been sadly neglected in favour of absolutely terrible voice acting. Few of the classic Metroid themes return, although those that do are remixed very nicely. But they, too, suffer from the lack of presence that the soundtrack in general does.
The voice acting in particular is what earns this game such a low score in this area - I thought I'd heard the worst voice acting had to offer when I played Final Fantasy XIII. However, this takes the crown. Samus' voice is as weak and shaky as her character is - in fact, it is one of the primary reasons that her character portrayal in Other M is so sexist. Samus' voice actor is a constant presence, and her monologuing is excessively miserable and generally ear-splitting. Samus' voice actor has very little in the way of emotion; she sounds extremely bland, save for when she is screaming or whining. She does not do Samus' character justice by any standards, and really lets this game down.
The Other voice actors are passable, and what few lines they do have are often packed with emotion (or, in Adam's case, lack of emotion, which enhances his cold appearance and attitude towards Samus) and aren't so bad that you'd want to cover your ears with your hands.
Unique/Extra Features: 4.1/10
Other M does not bring anything new to the tables in terms of gameplay, asides from Sense Move, Fatal Strike and Overblast, all of which make it feel more like an action game than a platformer. The power-ups and the majority of the enemies and bosses have been seen before, and the contributions it makes to Samus' character are, overall, better left unsaid. As far as extras go, it has a single post-game boss which won't mean much to anyone who hasn't played Super Metroid, as well as a Hard Mode if you finish the game 100%. Its just like any other Metroid game, really.
Replay Value: 7.0/10
I'd say replay value for this game was about average. The addition of a Hard Mode may warrant a second playthrough, and you're given the option to skip cutscenes, which for some moments is a blessing that can't be put into words. Its a short, easy game and whether or not you'd play it again will depend on what type of gamer you are - some like short games they can plough through very quickly, others won't touch games like that after the first time they play them through. Once you know what to look for in the scanning sections and how to overcome the not-so-obvious puzzles, you'll only finish it faster, as well.
Overall: 6.0/10
Yet another example of why graphics alone do not make a game great - Other M looks fantastic, its possibly the best-looking Wii game to date. That core Metroid gameplay is still there despite the changes, and the nods it makes to various installments in the series will delight long-time fans. It fits nicely in the grand scheme of things, as well.
However, there have been some serious, serious blunders in this game. First and foremost is what has been done with Samus' character - it is undeniably sexist, and that alone is going to be enough to put a lot of people off. Gone is the strong, independant bounty hunter and galactic saviour; in her place is a whiny, overly emotional woman in a skin-tight bodysuit and armour who wouldn't be so out of place in a 1940s movie or a CLAMP anime.
The storyline is very flashback focused, and a large part of it depends on prior knowledge. If you haven't played at least Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion, the two games this one is set between, you're going to miss things, and its not going to have as much of an impact on you. If you HAVE played those two games, or any of the other Metroid games, you'll have likely formed your own interpretation of Samus' character by now and will have it completely ruined by the shoddy job done in this game.
The storyline isn't excessively bad; it has some surprising twists and, despite being more present now than it ever has been before, its not overly intrusive; it doesn't interrupt the game every five minutes.
With the exception of those moments where you're forced into things, there isn't anything hugely wrong with the gameplay. It manages to capture that classic Metroid feel, and some of the new innovations make the game a lot more enjoyable. But some of them make it a real chore to play and extremely frustrating.
So, Other M gets a lot of things right. However, it gets an equal, if not greater, amount of things wrong, which hold it back and, really, make it quite a mediocre game overall. If you're willing to overlook the absolutely diabolical way in which Samus is portrayed and concentrate on the gameplay, and are willing to put up with the occasional annoyance in said gameplay, then I wouldn't discourage buying this; it has a very cinematic feel, doesn't completely destroy the core Metroid gameplay (just its leading lady) and, at times, can be a very enjoyable experience. If you ignore the storyline entirely, this game still falls slightly below the Prime series, but its still an enjoyable experience.
For newcomers to the series: there are better Metroid games you can pick up than this one. As I've said, if you haven't played Super Metroid at the very least, you're going to miss things, and it WILL make a difference. Metroid Fusion, as a sequel, might be better put off until after you've played this, but if you're making this your first Metroid game it'll be like coming into a movie when its halfway through. You'll leave with more questions than you had to begin with.
If you're the sort of person who likes their games to last longer than 8 hours and be slightly challenging, avoid this like you would a real Metroid; you'll find neither challenge nor a long lifespan in this, unless you insist on gathering up all the items.
Nintendo gambled with the Prime series, and it paid off. They gambled again with Other M, and this time the payoff was considerably smaller. Its a gamble whether you'll enjoy this game or not - the question you should ask yourself is this: How many flaws am I willing to overlook?
Either way, Other M is a mediocre game, and a missed opportunity. With a few tweaks, it could have been so much more than what it is. As it is, it could very well be regarded as the worst game in the series.