Thread: Metroid: Other M

Got the coupons in my email today so I went ahead and picked up a copy of the game before heading off to class. Hopefully I'll get to play it tonight. I'll post my thoughts on it once I am able to play it for a decent amount of time as well.

So I got to actually play the game for a few hours so far (been extremely busy this week) so I'll post some of my thoughts so far.

The controls are a little awkward at times just because you are using a D-Pad to move on a 3D plane and it isn't always easy to make fluid movements. The First Person controls are actually a downgrade from the Prime series since you have to lock on to targets with the B button in order to even fire missles. That in itself isn't the problem but comes when actually locking on to enemies can sometimes take awhile or stays locked on to something else or the wrong enemy you are actually aiming for. Nothing that can't be overcome with more practice though, just an adjustment like many of the controls for Wii games. Wall jumping is like made for noobs now and is extremely easy. You have to be a moron to not be able to wall jump now. Basically you hold any one direction on the D-Pad and just hold that way and continue to press jump and you'll climb the walls that a made for wall jumping.

Controls aside though, I am enjoying the game. There are some moments when in the story it forces you into your visor to look around and you have to find stuff. At first it might be annoying, but so far it has been mostly just something insanely small or hard to see at first and you'll get moving again in the story. Once you know what to look for more I think it'll become easier. There are other parts of the story that it makes you walk really slow which I hate simply because movement is with the D-Pad like I mentioned before and using nothing but the D-Pad kind of sucks moving at that pace walking around and looking for hidden goodies. Which brings me to the sound. The new item/upgrade sound has been changed from the classic Metroid sounds and sounds completely horrible.

Now on to some of the story elements that the review Wats posted has issues with.

*************SPOILER ALER***************

Just so everyone sees it and doesn't want to read this there is a big spoiler alert so you have been warned.

I actually don't have a problem with the story. The review called Samus a whiny brat, emotional, and basically a pussy and a push over. I disagree after seeing the plot. You find out that Samus lost both of her parents when she was young (like 14 I bleive they said). She was a member of the Galactic Federation at a young age and most of the men didn't really treat her well because of her age and the fact she was a woman. Adam (the guy you take your orders from) was in charge of her unit and was actually the only one to treat Samus with some respect and decency towards her. She actually states that he was like a father to her.

So a young girl who is angry at the world for losing her parents and is a rebel because of it and struggles to fit amongst her fellow soldiers who already hate her sounds like a good enough reason to me for the way she acts in game. It didn't really change my percetion of Samus because she is still a badass now, and now everyone knows it.

Now, the reason for her choosing to not use certain abilities also makes sense to me. As of now you don't know what is on the ship that you are on, so you are limited from using some of your abilities because you don't want to harm any humans that might be looking for help. Other items, you simply don't have (from what I've seen) and you acquire like normal as you progress throughout the ship.







***************END SPOILER*********************

I will say it is annoying though having to wait for Adam to authorize use of your beams and other gear sometimes when it seems pretty clear that you could use the upgrades. However, it just adds more of a challenge to the game so it isn't that bad to deal with.

Overall, I am enjoying the game and some of the different twists you need to interact with 3rd and 1st person views. You don't get 100% free roam, but you do get free roam of the sectors that your abilities give you access too. The only time I have seen you not able to back track is because the story prevents you from doing so in some way really or something gets destroyed, or damaged, or whatever. The maps do seem tighter in the actual areas that you move around in but that is because well you are a space ship with tight corridors. Plus it feels more like the classic Metroid that way I think.

I'll try to post more when I get more play time in.

Originally Posted by PizzaSHARK!

I've considered picking up a Gamecube solely for Metroid Prime. It was a fantastic game, and the lock-on system worked amazingly for removing a lot of the inherent flaws of FPSes on consoles (having to use lousy gamepads instead of mice.)

I saw the commercial for Other M earlier today, and the only thing I could think of was, "wow, that game's graphics are dated."

If you want to try the Prime series, you might just try getting a Wii. You can get all 3 on 1 game disk now and they updated the controls from the GC games to work with the Wii Remote controls.

As for Other M, it's the Wii, it isn't meant to be top of the line. The graphics are good still just not super like the PS3 or the 360. It is a good game and I am enjoying it.

And? See that just irritates me. I love Nintendo's stance on graphics. Games don't have to look real to be good. That's why they don't update the graphics. Game play is still more important than looks. I hope Nintendo never gets HD quality graphics, and sticks to what matters most.

Originally Posted by Adretheon

Games don't have to look real to be good.

Agreed...there are even people here at TPG who won't even try HL1 simply because of the graphics, which is just nuts. It's a great game.

Originally Posted by Adretheon

And? See that just irritates me. I love Nintendo's stance on graphics. Games don't have to look real to be good. That's why they don't update the graphics. Game play is still more important than looks. I hope Nintendo never gets HD quality graphics, and sticks to what matters most.

Glad I'm not the only one who sees it that way. Graphics really don't bother me at all no matter how new some of the technology is. As long as the story is good and has the gameplay to go with it I'll generally be happy.

Nintendo is upping the graphics though for their next hand held with the Nintendo 3DS. Just because it is 3D though, doesn't mean it'll be super HD anyways though since it is still a hand held system. Just makes me wonder what they plan to do with their next console though.

Originally Posted by Guyver

Agreed...there are even people here at TPG who won't even try HL1 simply because of the graphics, which is just nuts. It's a great game.

That is sad. I'd play it if I could remember where I put my original CDs for it.

On another note, "beat" the game last night and then beat it, beat it 100% complete today. I say that because you can't get 100% when you "beat" it the first go through and see the credits. You go back to the ship you are on and can collect everything you missed since it is all on your map now and you FINALLY get your power bombs (you literally don't get them for use until during the boss fight before the first credits so that makes it impossible to get all the items before that) so that makes things a little easier as well. There is also an additional boss and the traditional run out before the planet/space ship blows up shortly after this time. No additional credits just a final, small cut scene and your completion shown to you.

If you get 100% of the items you also unlock Hard Mode. Pretty good game, might have to write up a full review about it later.