Topic: "Metroid Other M" Review Wackiness *No Spoilers!*

[RichterB]

(No real spoilers in the following): Done--sort of. Before the ending where the % counter comes up, I got 83% of the items (including 69 missiles & 12 energy parts) in about 17 hrs. Then, when the counter came up, I was up to 93%. I'm now at like 98% or 99%. In essence, the game is about beaten. Some really nice surprises at the end, and also some anti-climatic things. Regardless, despite this game's imperfections, it's easily between an 87 and 93 out of 100 for a review score depending on how picky you get. I'm leaning toward 93% just because of what it did accomplish and how fun and engaging it was. The biggest success of this game, in my opinion, is the relaunch of Metroid in 3D beyond the conventions of the admirable but ran-its-course Prime saga. The biggest shortcoming is the overall lack of meaningful, fresh innovation in power-ups and thematic areas. (Fusion suffered from the same problem, and I wonder if that's a result of both of them being "relaunches" trying to reestablish the Metroid name. I hope so. Over three games, the Prime series went a long way in innovating the areas, but outside of the fantastic Boost Ball and maybe the interesting Thermal and Command Visors, there wasn't a ton meaningfully new in the Prime series, either).

[Profbeanburrito]

Just beat it at 100% and I have to say I was very impressed start to finish. I really hope Metroid stays with a good narrative. I think this may have taken top spot for me in the Metroid series. As much as I love Super Metroid, this takes everything it had and adds so much more. I just hope the next Metroid is just as good.

[X]

I've just gotten this game too and eventhough I'm nowhere near to being finished I already like what I see. To me, this game feels more like a true sequal to Super Metroid just because of that beautiful story intro we're subjected to. And since we have Samus' old CO, Adam Malchovick in this game, I can finally see the relationship between him and Samus and eventually what happens to him. Thae gameplay is almost what i was hoping for though it plays similar like Ninja Gaiden. And unlike my original expectations, the first-person mode is only about 40% while the other mode is 60%. All in all, I'm happy with this title and I kinda wish that Retro Studios did it in this way with the Prime series. If another 3D Metroid game comes out I'd have no problems if it was done in this style. It works for me. But I still think Samus' armcanon is still a bit too small for her arm. 

-X

[X]

I'd better update my feelings for this game since I'm further into it. A lot of what i said in my first post is acurate; story-wise and such. The gameplay too, but I do miss the life and ammo recharge elements that the enemies leave behind. It would make the game that much easier to get through without trying to manually recharge your life while in the midst of a battle with either enemies or bosses (That's just asking for trouble). I also prefer to find more of the items rather then Adam having to tell you to equip them at certain points in the game. But I guess it makes sense since these are the same items you aquired in Super Metroid and didn't lose them in an accedent lick in Prime or have them stolen like in Prime 2. Samus' suit could've also used abit more tailoring once you equip the Varia. As it is, it still looks like your basic chozo suit with just a different color. At least Prime got that one down. But I'm still playing the game and eventhough I'm cursing and cussing at some of the boss battles (Team Ninja is notorious for these), I'm still pumped up to go another round once my Wiimote is charged up. 

-X

[Inccubus]

I'd better update my feelings for this game since I'm further into it. A lot of what i said in my first post is acurate; story-wise and such. The gameplay too, but I do miss the life and ammo recharge elements that the enemies leave behind. It would make the game that much easier to get through without trying to manually recharge your life while in the midst of a battle with either enemies or bosses (That's just asking for trouble). I also prefer to find more of the items rather then Adam having to tell you to equip them at certain points in the game. But I guess it makes sense since these are the same items you aquired in Super Metroid and didn't lose them in an accedent lick in Prime or have them stolen like in Prime 2. Samus' suit could've also used abit more tailoring once you equip the Varia. As it is, it still looks like your basic chozo suit with just a different color. At least Prime got that one down. But I'm still playing the game and eventhough I'm cursing and cussing at some of the boss battles (Team Ninja is notorious for these), I'm still pumped up to go another round once my Wiimote is charged up. 

-X

That's pretty much my opinion so far. The item drops should have been put in instead of the charging thing cause it makes the enemies less important. Or the charging thing could have been new abilities like the Accel items. BTW, I haven't heard anyone mention this, but there is another big plot hole with the power up system. To put it bluntly, why did Samus keep all her upgrades, but not any of her capacity upgrades? Did she purge her suit of all those energy tanks and missile tanks out of respect too? Not upgading the the suit's appearance once the Varia upgrade is on was just plain lazy. I know for a fact they had plenty of space to add an alternate character model. I can imagine some enterprising game hacker fixing this problem in the not too distant future at least.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

I always figured she sold the energy and missile tanks for money.
After all, the GFeds probably pay well, but not THAT well.

[X]

I think the Galactic R&D would pay extremely well for some of that chozo tech. I also think that Samus would rank in a heck of a lot of credits doing bounty hunting.

-X

[RichterB]

BTW, I haven't heard anyone mention this, but there is another big plot hole with the power up system. To put it bluntly, why did Samus keep all her upgrades, but not any of her capacity upgrades? Did she purge her suit of all those energy tanks and missile tanks out of respect too? Not upgrading the the suit's appearance once the Varia upgrade is on was just plain lazy. I know for a fact they had plenty of space to add an alternate character model. I can imagine some enterprising game hacker fixing this problem in the not too distant future at least.

What about the Power Suit? I have heard some talk over the net about the Varia Suit issue, but the bigger (or more nitpicky) issue in my mind is the Power Suit. As far as I'm concerned, she starts out with the Varia Suit in Power Suit colors. When she activates the Varia Suit, it's just bringing the proper colors in. Because the Power Suit has way different shoulder pads for one. But I digress... (Unrelated, but devs said they filled the disc more or less to the max with the CG cinemas). As for the expansions being lost--plot hole or she purged them all fighting/getting pounded by Mother Brain. Take your pick.

Speaking of the item drops vs. Concentration issue you brought up earlier, yeah, they should have both. I think the reason they got rid of item drops was for game balance ironically enough. Consider the one problem with item drops: you can get stuck in an area without any missiles. (which results in either grinding it out finding enemies to blast or in a worse case scenario, halting your ability to advance altogether). I think they wanted to avoid that scenario, while giving an extra challenge feature.

This game isn't without its shortcomings, but I think the good outweighs the bad in the name of pushing the series forward. The authorization thing and Adam's orders suck some wind out of it, but the basic gameplay is a good template. Give me a more open world the whole time, Chozo elements, more new areas, and new meaningful/groundbreaking/series-evolving power-ups in the tradition of what the Space Jump, Speed Booster, Grappling Beam, and Spider Ball did for the series, and we're on our way to the best Metroid.

[Inccubus]

What about the Power Suit? I have heard some talk over the net about the Varia Suit issue, but the bigger (or more nitpicky) issue in my mind is the Power Suit. As far as I'm concerned, she starts out with the Varia Suit in Power Suit colors. When she activates the Varia Suit, it's just bringing the proper colors in. Because the Power Suit has way different shoulder pads for one. But I digress... (Unrelated, but devs said they filled the disc more or less to the max with the CG cinemas). As for the expansions being lost--plot hole or she purged them all fighting/getting pounded by Mother Brain. Take your pick.

Speaking of the item drops vs. Concentration issue you brought up earlier, yeah, they should have both. I think the reason they got rid of item drops was for game balance ironically enough. Consider the one problem with item drops: you can get stuck in an area without any missiles. (which results in either grinding it out finding enemies to blast or in a worse case scenario, halting your ability to advance altogether). I think they wanted to avoid that scenario, while giving an extra challenge feature.

That's a good point about the Power Suit/Varia. The design they used looks like a cross between the Power Suit & the Varia Suit.
They should have stuck to the existing design for the sake of consistency. I maintain they were lazy about the suit models because when you run the ISO through a scrubber program to remove the junk data it shrinks to less than 4 gigs. There's no way 2 extra skins for Samus would have taken up remotely close to 800+ MB. So the developers are full of crap on that one.

As for the Item drops, I would have just implemented the system from Prime. That was a good item drop system.
Samus practically starts with the charge beam after all. The drop rates in Prime never really had you stuck somewhere for lack of missiles and the enemies in Other M are fairly plentiful. It might have required a little adjustment of the drop rates, but it would have been worth it just to give you a little something more to do. It does get a little boring running down a corridor blasting everything in line of sight and ignoring everything else. After all why bother killing enemies if they give you nothing. Hell, now that I have the screw attack I just jump down halls destroying anything that might get in my way with no though of any critters left behind.

This game isn't without its shortcomings, but I think the good outweighs the bad in the name of pushing the series forward. The authorization thing and Adam's orders suck some wind out of it, but the basic gameplay is a good template. Give me a more open world the whole time, Chozo elements, more new areas, and new meaningful/groundbreaking/series-evolving power-ups in the tradition of what the Space Jump, Speed Booster, Grappling Beam, and Spider Ball did for the series, and we're on our way to the best Metroid.

Agreed. ^_^

[PFG9000]

I finally beat this today.  Still need to get 100% of the items though.  I like all the references to older games, and I like that they tried some new things, but the story is just too quirky and, well, Japanese for me.  They overdramatized so much that I just ended up cringing at what were supposed to be the most meaningful parts of the story.  Overall, I think it's one of the weakest games in the series.  I wasn't all about Prime 3, and I don't think this is quite as low as that one in my book, but Other M is well below Metroid, ZM, Fusion, Super, and Prime.

[X]

I finished this game about a week ago. It's the shortes of all the 3D Metroid games, but the story ties in nicely for both super Metroid and Metroid fusion. Though I think in terms of metroid fusion, this entry opens up some plotholes and reintroduces some bosses that were from fusion, but were first introduced in fusion.

-X

[ShinAkumaXX]

No, people knew she was a




But Other M turned her into a

I truly LOL'ed. I do like the game. I think it's sort of lame how she's takin' orders. Can't use items till authorized? Oh here's my gripe! That sound effect I love more than any other sound effect in any game. The noise it makes when you find a new add on, IS GONE! WTF? I could say maybe it adds to the fast paced nature of the game by removing it... NO! LAME!!! I hope they put it back in the next game. It's quite handy to refill your missile supply on the fly, but seems odd at first. I'm merely probably 2 1/2 hours in. I'm sure I'll like it just fine. I'm sure there will never be a Metroid game I like as much as Super Metroid, but probably everyone here thinks that.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

Yeah the item jingle is gone, and is replaced by the 'sound effect' instead.
The 'sound effect', I believe, is used in Metroid Fusion when you get Missiles and powerups.  They saved the jingle for when you pick up big upgrades off of the CoreX parasites.

[X]

The item jingle may be gone in Metroid: Other M, But they've still kept it in Ys 7. so if you want to hear it again, play Ys 7. 

(The jingles a vurtually identicle if you haven't noticed already  )

-X

[ShinAkumaXX]

Oh lord how I wish I could play Y's 7. I don't have a PSP. I am refusing to buy one as I don't wanna get sucked into collecting and playing another system. Too bad as the PSP has TONS of amazing looking games right up my alley. It's just that its a hand held. I just don't get into hand held games. I have a gameboy advance and NEVER touch it. This might gross some people out, but it's in the bathroom with Dr. Mario in it. In place of a magazine. I wish the PS2 would of lived on a few more years, then we might of gotten Gradius Collection and Dracula X Chronicles on it. Though I still have firm belief we should of. They would of been fantastic PS2 offerings. Fucking Konami!!! Well I will have to be content with Y's 6 and Book 1&2. The only Y's I've played and loved. I wish Falcom would make a Y's for 360, but the market for it would be tiny. One of my gaming dreams was to have the book 1&2 on PS2 or better yet all the Y's Japanese PS2 releases to be put out in America. Well glad to hear I'll get the Jingle on big power ups at least! I like Other M so far, but could it have been just a bit sexier graphically? I mean it looks good but I think they should of squeezed a bit more out of the wii. The enemies look good and so does samus, but some of the backgrounds seem a bit dull. Not to be a dick but come on.