Format: Nintendo Wii
Developer: Team Ninja
Publisher: Nintendo
Release date: September 3, 2010
It’s all too easy for hardcore gamers to anticipate a game so badly that they instanly put pressure on it to be the “best game ever.” Never is this more apparent than with Nintendo’s first-party titles. Mario, Zelda, Metroid, each one tends to be hyped up to the highest degree. True, Nintendo generally rise to the occasion and deliver a spectacle most of the time, but that won’t always be the case. Along comes Metroid: Other M, Samus Aran’s latest adventure in the the 24-year long saga. It’s already been labelled as the best Wii game of the year by many, and it’s not even out yet. If that isn’t hype and pressure, then what is?
As much as I loved the Prime trilogy, Corruption did begin to lose the appeal somewhat. Retro Studios did a great job overall – Metroid Prime is one of the best Metroid games ever made, second (debatably) only to the ground breaking Super Metroid on the SNES, with a special mention to Zero Mission, but it was time to give someone else the chance to bring new light to the series. Cue Team Ninja, the developers of the hardcore action slasher Ninja Gaiden and beat ‘em up (sometimes volleyball) eye fest Dead or Alive.
Metroid and Team Ninja surely go together like cereal and milk. Ninja Gaiden is rock hard, Metroid tends to be a pad breaking challenge. Dead or Alive contains half naked, well-drawn chicks, Samus Aran can be just as appealing – she’s young, blonde and well shaped – in and out of the suit. So, does Metroid: Other M live up to the hype? That depends on how much you hyped it up! One thing is certain, Other M feels and plays very much like Metroid should feel and play, and that should certainly be enough for the hardcore.
The Other M story picks up directly where Super Metroid left off, making any Metroid fanboy’s jaw drop wide open with a breathtaking cinematic of Samus’ final fight against Mother Brain, won with the help of the self-sacrificing baby Metroid. Several days after escaping the destruction of Planet Zebes Samus receives a distress signal from a Galactic Federation vessel. Not being one to ignore a plee for help, Samus sets out to investigate the troubled ship. Here she teams up with a group of Federation soldiers, including Anthony Higgins and an ex-commanding officer of hers, Adam Malkovich – Flashbacks reveal Samus’ younger days and her relationship with Malkovich. At first there’s a question of trust. Can the Federation troops trust Samus? As the game moves on a much more important question arises, can Samus really trust the Federation troops?
Other M is set between Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion, meaning that we know the Phazon wars have ended, and the Metroids have been destroyed. The battle after this begins (and perhaps concludes) the X Parasite saga. What could Metroid: Other M possibly be about? To say too much is to spoil. The plot isn’t thrown into your face from the get-go. Instead a little more is revealed at stages throughout the game. Each time, Samus puts her own thoughts and feelings into the events as well as her past life.
Many Metroid-aholics may not have been too impressed with Team Ninja/Nintendo giving Samus a voice, but it’s possibly the best decision they could have made. She’s convincing, and brings more character to the woman we’ve known and loved for decades. If anything, the characterisation makes us love her more, as we see for the first time the vulnerability behind the mask, and her early days as a young girl trying to prove herself in a man’s world. Never before in Metroid has a story been this personal. It’s an aspect that’s well worth the journey alone, even if the overall story isn’t as strong as it perhaps could have been.
Working closely with the original creators, Team Ninja has given us a fusion (no pun intended) of the best that Metroid has ever had to offer. Prime’s first-person perspective makes a return, but only second to the third-person the franchise started out in. Finally, we get to ‘see’ Samus in action again, from various different camera angles and in the same environments we’ve become accustomed to over the years.
While running around and shooting monsters, the third-person camera alters to fit into the environment you are in, allowing you to see Samus perform every move. By pointing the Wii remote at the screen, the perspective turns to Prime first-person mode, allowing you to aim at specific targets as well as explore every corner of the area – without being able to move around.
Before coming into the game I was slightly worried how “seamless” the perspective change would be. While at first it does take time to adapt to the new control scheme, once you do you’ll learn to love it, and you’ll be switching between the two without a second thought. The third-person viewpoint works brilliantly with the D-pad controls, making jumping and combat very smooth. Once you’re in first-person mode aiming is as good as it is in Metroid Prime 3 (or the Trilogy boxset). However, the first-person view has the same issues Prime 3 had at times. Occasionally as you switch you may lose the cursor if you do it too fast.
Switching too fast is what you’ll want to do when many fights only give you a fraction of a second to switch to first person, get on target and fire a rocket. This isn’t always possible to achieve, especially when you’re inadvertantly aiming at the ceiling, and you’ll sometimes find you’ve lost the attack window during the process of re-aiming. You can imagine how difficult (and occasionally frustrating) this can be during the crowded battles! Because of this you will try and avoid first-person in combat as much as possible, opting for a fully charged beam and plenty of jumping around instead, until the big boys come along. Even then, most of the boss fights cater for a first-person missile attack if you’re quick and calm enough to switch perspectives. Of course, that is a part of the challenge.
There are even some first-person analysis sections where you’re stuck in visor mode until you click the exact tiny spot the game wants you to. Sometimes it’s never really clear where you’re supposed to click, so you could be stuck there for a while clicking every last millimeter of the area until you get lucky – an invisible hidden animal in the bush, or green blood on grass for instance!
Other M is the first in the series to feature a melee combat system. Using well-timed button presses, you can use the Sense Move by tapping on the D-Pad, which allows you to dodge enemy attacks. You can also perform a Counter Attack with the 1 Button, as well as utilise the Lethal Strike and the Overblast, both of which are for finishing off downed enemies. As cool as these look, they can be hard to pull off, and when they are achieved you’ll often put it down to pure luck. Many of the enemies seem to only go down for good by using the special attack, which can only be performed once you’ve battered their weak spot a few times. In some cases, the weak spot will have to be exposed first.
For instance, one modest sized metal rodent type has a big glowing red orb on his stomach. It slides at you very quickly, knocking you off your feet, and even unleashes its claw. It’s at this point where the weak spot is exposed. First you need to position yourself, and lure the enemy into launching this attack. Once he does, it’s a case of dodging and quickly blasting away at his stomach until it collapses. You then need to then press the action button to pull out the monster inside the metal casing and finish him off easily. If you’re good you can finish the fight in mere seconds with swift actions, otherwise you could lose your life many times trying to work it out and then pulling it off. Sometimes the game tells you that you must die first to find the solution. Trial and error battling is never fun, but luckily once you die a lot of challenging areas restart you at the beginning of the fight rather than the last save point, easing frustration. Once you master the combat, it does become very satisfying.
Luckily the boss battles aren’t as complex. That’s not to say they’re not challenging – it wouldn’t be Metroid if the boss fights didn’t get our pulses racing and our energy tanks on the verge of empty before the battle is won. However, they do have a standard formula to them, and it’s generally a case of taking aim at the stand-out weakspot and blasting at it until you get the chance to either 1) run in for the special attack, or 2) switch to first-person and use a missile or grapple on the exposed area. Whether it’s pulling out a fire monster’s tongue or blasting off the arms of the Industrial Robot, the fights are tense and exciting.
If you do get to low health, you can recharge Samus’ health slightly by pointing the Wii remote up and holding A. This can only work if you’re on your last tank and you have next-to-no health. As effective as it can be in the peace and quiet, it’s simply impossible to use during frantic fights (unless you get lucky), and as there are no health replenishment orbs, the chances of getting more health during a fight are slim to none. The exact same thing applies to missiles too. While this does become somewhat quicker once you’ve collected enough Excel Charges hidden throughout the game, it does prove frustrating when you desperately want to top up, only to have the whole of hell unleashed upon you by an angry giant.
Although the series has been the same since the early days, rewarding you with new upgrades as you defeat a boss, this time you are told when you can use your new items. There are no rewards for beating a tough boss other than personal satisfaction. After facing an impossible enemy / environment for five minutes, you’re then given permission from the Commander to use the upgrade – the Varia Suit in the heat area for example. After struggling through the heat environment for ages, the Commander finally gives her permission to use the suit upgrade – common sense Samus! Even if she does promise to go against her own rules and obey the Commander’s wishes throughout the quest. It may be an overused formula, defeating a boss for an upgrade, but that’s the way we love it, and that’s the way we want it to remain – It’s rewarding and gives you that added incentive to battle through the tough bosses.
There are no planets to explore this time, the whole of the game takes place on the vessel. Sounds dull, I know, but the large ship contains many different areas and atmospheres. Expect the usual ice, grassy and fire locations, in which you’ll need to obtain the suit upgrades to safely access some of the areas. For instance, the aforementioned Varia suit makes a return, allowing you to survive in the super hot Pyrosphere. There’s also the Biosphere, a tropical rainforest; and the Cryosphere, a sub-zero temperature biome. Each one containing their own unique enemies and boss to go with.
Thankfully, there’s still plenty of exploration, brain testing puzzles, as well as many hidden items to uncover throughout, including Missile extensions, Energy Tanks, Excel Charges and even four Energy Tank parts, which eventually make one once you’ve found them all – Zelda style. While these will be hidden behind structures (that can only be destroyed orreached by a specific beam or equipment) or in the walls accessible via Morph Ball mode, each one is indicated on your radar, so you’ll remember to come back later to pick it up once you have the necessary equipment. As nice as this is for the sake of ease, where’s the satisfaction of finding them for yourself?
The first few hours will pass by without too many exciting events, or plot revelations. You may even start to question whether you’re even liking the game or not. However, this can potentially be said for any Metroid though, and once you hit your stride there’s plenty of enjoyment to be had. While it does feel more like Prime than Super, it’s ultimately not as great as either. That said, it still feels and plays like the Metroid we love, and that’s good enough for me. As soon as the brilliant opening movie begins, Metroid fans will not care about anything else. Samus has returned. That’s the most important thing.
Awesome. Not the 10/10 I was expecting but still good.
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