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[HeavyMetalLover91]

Oh, absolutely. There are plenty of worse games. THOUSANDS of worse games.

... But I've never played a game more disappointing and upsetting.

It's like how you can have a friend who always gets in trouble and has a bad reputation; you expect that. But when you see someone you admire and respect slip up, what they do may not be as bad, but you're far more disappointed in them, because they honestly should have known better.

I respect that opinion, I feel the same way. Well, I don't hate it as much as some of the people on here but it certainly wasn't the game it looked to be all the way back at E3 '09.

I just think that the negative over-discussion of Other M will make Nintendo think that we don't want anymore Metroid, which just isn't the case. I'd love a Metroid V or Prime 4 but I can't see it happening if there's constant bashing of the most recent entry, no matter how deserving it may be :/

 

[Garlador]

I respect that opinion, I feel the same way. Well, I don't hate it as much as some of the people on here but it certainly wasn't the game it looked to be all the way back at E3 '09.

I just think that the negative over-discussion of Other M will make Nintendo think that we don't want anymore Metroid, which just isn't the case. I'd love a Metroid V or Prime 4 but I can't see it happening if there's constant bashing of the most recent entry, no matter how deserving it may be :/

In my honest opinion, I think the only reason there remains constant bashing of the game is because it's the last impression of the Metroid universe Nintendo has really given us. We have nothing else NEW to discuss, so it has become years of discussing the pros and cons of Other M.

I think that once Nintendo gives us something new, discussion will move to that new game (either as a satisfying restoration of greatness, or a new punching bag).

Capcom did this when DMC3 came out and all the bad of DMC2 was quietly and thankfully forgotten. We had a new great game to play; no need to dwell on the prior mistakes anymore.

We just need a "DMC3" to come in and change the discussion.

 

[TheSpaceBetween]

Fusion is certainly the most interesting Metroid he worked on since Metroid (because really he didn't work on Metroid II, did he?).
The thing I see is that while Fusion was good for what it was (the very first 2D Metroid in a fucking long time with plenty of interesting stuffs), the whole station being a recreation of SR388 is disappointing.
In Sakamoto's games we only do 2 environments : Zebes and SR388.
That in something like 5 games.
I mean we do more than that in Prime Hunters.
I don't know about you but I'm a little fed up with these 2 places.
Also Prime 2 is the best but on GC; Prime 3 is fantastic, the best part of the Trilogy disc even.

No, he didn't work on Metroid II as far as I know. But what difference does it make that the BSL is mimicking SR388? The actual environments looked nothing like Metroid II, or any other Metroid for that matter.

Yet you omit the Bottle Ship from being an original environment, when it isn't based off Zebes or SR388 (outside of Sector 0 which is never seen), but rather a vessel for propagating bioweapons (including Metroids).

Don't even get me started on Prime Hunters... You want to talk about a bad Metroid campaign, Hunters is it. It makes Other M seem like a masterpiece.

 

[Mael]

No, he didn't work on Metroid II as far as I know. But what difference does it make that the BSL is mimicking SR388? The actual environments looked nothing like Metroid II, or any other Metroid for that matter.

Yet you omit the Bottle Ship from being an original environment, when it isn't based off Zebes or SR388 (outside of Sector 0 which is never seen), but rather a vessel for propagating bioweapons (including Metroids).

Huh the bottleship really is based on Zebes because that's a breeding ground for Mother Brain and the zebesians (or so they call the space pirates now, thanks again for shitting on better Metroid games).
You're essentially traversing a mockup of Zebes in Other M like Fusion did with SR388, in that regard it's following the same template.
It's ungodly boring because there's no surprise and we're actually never going to see another place that's not based of these 2 templates.
In Sakamoto's Metroid world, there's only 2 places : SR388 and Zebes.
If you don't see what's wrong with that I guess you don't care about the exploration part of Metroid.

Don't even get me started on Prime Hunters... You want to talk about a bad Metroid campaign, Hunters is it. It makes Other M seem like a masterpiece.

Hunters is a vastly better Metroid game than Other M, it's also a competent shooter.
It also succeed in what it's trying to do, which is more than I can say about Other M.
Heck at least in Hunters when you get a missile expansion it's not made entirely pointless by the rest of the gameplay.
The concept of multiple hunters trying to get the same mc guffin is also put to good use (although it would have been better if Samus wasn't the only one getting it from bosses but heh).
Also Hunters plays nice with the other games and doesn't try to retcon them out of existence, it doesn't clashes with anything and really does it own thing quite well.

 

[Garlador]

Hunters is a vastly better Metroid game than Other M, it's also a competent shooter.
It also succeed in what it's trying to do, which is more than I can say about Other M.
Heck at least in Hunters when you get a missile expansion it's not made entirely pointless by the rest of the gameplay.
The concept of multiple hunters trying to get the same mc guffin is also put to good use (although it would have been better if Samus wasn't the only one getting it from bosses but heh).
Also Hunters plays nice with the other games and doesn't try to retcon them out of existence, it doesn't clashes with anything and really does it own thing quite well.

I'll chime in because I only recently played Hunters for the first time last month.

Apart from a very sore hand, it's a very solid game. Not anywhere near my top, of course, but it does succeed at what it's trying to accomplish, it still has puzzles, shortcuts, and secret passageways, it has scanning, plenty of hidden upgrades, and original weapons and mechanics.

And the final boss is one of my absolute favorites in the franchise. Was very impressed by it.

 

[curlyfriski]

Mods please ban all these nerds.

 

[RagnarokX]

Huh the bottleship really is based on Zebes because that's a breeding ground for Mother Brain and the zebesians (or so they call the space pirates now, thanks again for shitting on better Metroid games).
You're essentially traversing a mockup of Zebes in Other M like Fusion did with SR388, in that regard it's following the same template.
It's ungodly boring because there's no surprise and we're actually never going to see another place that's not based of these 2 templates.
In Sakamoto's Metroid world, there's only 2 places : SR388 and Zebes.
If you don't see what's wrong with that I guess you don't care about the exploration part of Metroid.

They've been called Zebesians since they were introduced in Super Metroid. Their Japanese name is ゼーベス星人 Zēbesu Hoshibito which translates to Zebes Alien and their English localization was Zebesian. They are space pirates, but so are Kihunters.

 

[KiraXD]

 

[Toxi]

Instead of arguing about the bad points and defending them, I think we should ask, Did Other M do anything right? Was there any element or mechanic that Other M did better than any other Metroid? Cause I'm struggling to think of anything. Aside from the obvious graphics.

I liked the concept of the Desbrachians (mini-boss enemies disguised as harmless obstacles that you can only pass with a later power-up) and hope to see similar enemies in future Metroid games.

 

[KHlover]

I liked the concept of the Desbrachians (mini-boss enemies disguised as harmless obstacles that you can only pass with a later power-up) and hope to see similar enemies in future Metroid games.

Yeah those fights were fun. The Phantoon boss fight was also a lot better than in Super Metroid. If the time window for sense move was a bit lower it'd legitimately be one of my favorite boss fights of the entire series. In its current form it was a bit too easy.

Edit: The actual fight against Ridley also was pretty good, especially in Hard Mode where he'd OHK you with some of his attacks.

 

[Alex_Mexico]

Loved this Extra Credits video about Other M.

They go in depth about Samus' personality. How she wasn't a blank slate before M:OM, how her actions defined her character and thus clashing horribly with Other M's depiction of Samus.

For those who haven't seen this yet I highly recommend it. I find it very relevant to this topic's discussion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqFm1ei6mjo

 

[balladofwindfishes]

Instead of arguing about the bad points and defending them, I think we should ask, Did Other M do anything right? Was there any element or mechanic that Other M did better than any other Metroid? Cause I'm struggling to think of anything. Aside from the obvious graphics.

The enemy designs were nice.

Not better I guess, but it's something that I like about the game.

 

[CalamityPixel]

Im doi this now with whiskey. 2 hours in im in the vidoe game.

Gonna strop now, running out of alcohol.

 

[MrBadger]

Instead of arguing about the bad points and defending them, I think we should ask, Did Other M do anything right? Was there any element or mechanic that Other M did better than any other Metroid? Cause I'm struggling to think of anything. Aside from the obvious graphics.

It's insignificant but I liked the added Phantoon lore.

 

[gaiages]

Im doi this now with whiskey. 2 hours in im in the vidoe game.

Gonna strop now, running out of alcohol.

Farewell, Calamity, we hardly knew you.

 

[Captain_Spanky]

Farewell, Calamity, we hardly knew you.

Oh my god I killed a man didn't I? Jesus.

 

[Toa TAK]

Oh my god I killed a man didn't I? Jesus.

You didn't do anything.

It was M:OM that did it.

 

[TheSpaceBetween]

Huh the bottleship really is based on Zebes because that's a breeding ground for Mother Brain and the zebesians (or so they call the space pirates now, thanks again for shitting on better Metroid games).
You're essentially traversing a mockup of Zebes in Other M like Fusion did with SR388, in that regard it's following the same template.
It's ungodly boring because there's no surprise and we're actually never going to see another place that's not based of these 2 templates.
In Sakamoto's Metroid world, there's only 2 places : SR388 and Zebes.
If you don't see what's wrong with that I guess you don't care about the exploration part of Metroid.

That's quite a leap in logic. The Prime games are my favorite largely in part of their exploration and incredible world building. As I said, I couldn't care less that the BSL is based on SR388 because the environments themselves were completely different from anything seen in M2. They could have said it was some random space station without changing anything about the environments and you wouldn't be making this argument.

Hunters is a vastly better Metroid game than Other M, it's also a competent shooter.
It also succeed in what it's trying to do, which is more than I can say about Other M.
Heck at least in Hunters when you get a missile expansion it's not made entirely pointless by the rest of the gameplay.
The concept of multiple hunters trying to get the same mc guffin is also put to good use (although it would have been better if Samus wasn't the only one getting it from bosses but heh).
Also Hunters plays nice with the other games and doesn't try to retcon them out of existence, it doesn't clashes with anything and really does it own thing quite well.

Hunters didn't succeed in anything outside of it's multiplayer. The controls are awful. The level design is awful. The art direction is a mere shell of what the Prime games are. There are barely any powerups. The two bosses that repeat over and over are awful. The final boss is awful. As a Metroid game, it succeeds at NOTHING, in terms of singleplayer. And the very fact that there is even a multiplayer to begin with is very unMetroid.

 

[Prez]

Would more people think this is a good game if it was an original franchise with different characters? I always had the idea that people hate it because it's not really a Metroid game.

Edit: Probably discussed already, I'll read the whole thread.
Edit 2: Giving up, too much shit to sift through.

 

[Garlador]

Hunters didn't succeed in anything outside of it's multiplayer. The controls are awful. The level design is awful. The art direction is a mere shell of what the Prime games are. There are barely any powerups. The two bosses that repeat over and over are awful. The final boss is awful. As a Metroid game, it succeeds at NOTHING, in terms of singleplayer. And the very fact that there is even a multiplayer to begin with is very unMetroid.

The art direction is bad?

I thought every single bounty hunter had a memorable appearance and abilities.

And there are more useful power-ups than Other M had...

And the Final Boss Gorea is awesome. Every last single ability you used is used both against you and against the boss, with multiple forms, and a puzzle tossed right in the midst of the battle to to obtain the true ending.

Hardly the best Metroid, of course, but for a first-gen DS game, it's still larger than most portable games.

Would more people think this is a good game if it was an original franchise with different characters? I always had the idea that people hate it because it's not really a Metroid game.

No. I would not like it if it was a new franchise. I'd still find the main character useless, the supporting cast infuriating, the story stupid, and the gameplay mediocre. I would simply not be as disappointed.

Other M fails on its OWN merits. It's just a failure made worse in the shadow of a legendary series with games like Super and Prime in its ranks.

 

[Captain_Spanky]

Confession time:

I found myself strangely drawn to Other M. The gameplay was simple yet oddly enjoyable. I couldn't explain it. It reminded me of simpler times. Childish times. I felt like a baby safe in a mother's arms. The controls made it easy for me to feel agile and powerful, making it easy to ignore the small faults and stutters. Less easy to ignore was the harsh tones of its story which seemed to subtly reinforce negative gender stereotypes. However not all my early impressions were founded. The deleter plotline was surprisingly obvious in retrospect. Knowing there was a traitor made James' early actions obviously suspicious. I was coming to enjoy my time in the bottle ship, despite it's limitations and simple structure.

 

[Prez]

No. I would not like it if it was a new franchise. I'd still find the main character useless, the supporting cast infuriating, the story stupid, and the gameplay mediocre. I would simply not be as disappointed.

Other M fails on its OWN merits. It's just a failure made worse in the shadow of a legendary series with games like Super and Prime in its ranks.

Some people seem to love the game though, as long as they can ignore it's Metroid.

I finished Prime 2 a couple weeks ago, going to play Other M now, expecting an action game like Ninja Gaiden. I don't care if the story's stupid.

 

[Toxi]

Some people seem to love the game though, as long as they can ignore it's Metroid.

I finished Prime 2 a couple weeks ago, going to play Other M now.

That's going to be some interesting whiplash. Echoes has a lot of flaws, but they're all different types of flaws from what Other M has.

expecting an action game like Ninja Gaiden.

Sadly, this is post-Itagaki Team Ninja.

 

[Neff]

Hunters did offer a pretty good deathmatch FPS, at least until it got hacked to oblivion.

But that's all really.

edit: In fact, I had a go of the single player mode just now, and I suddenly remember how bad it is. Moving through a stream of recycled, featureless, puzzle-less box rooms collecting keys to fight the same bosses isn't my idea of what Metroid should be. I knew the single player game wasn't the title's strongest hand at the time of course, but even so, the disappointment and tedium at playing through it is something that's always stayed with me.

Burned up many, many hours in multiplayer though.

 

[Prez]

That's going to be some interesting whiplash. Echoes has a lot of flaws, but they're all different types of flaws from what Other M has.

I'm not expecting anything resembling Metroid though. I just want to play a fun action game. I think it will work out with those expectations.

 

[Mael]

That's quite a leap in logic. The Prime games are my favorite largely in part of their exploration and incredible world building. As I said, I couldn't care less that the BSL is based on SR388 because the environments themselves were completely different from anything seen in M2. They could have said it was some random space station without changing anything about the environments and you wouldn't be making this argument.

That you can't see the difference between exploring an uncharted planet and a space station mock up of a familiar place is kinda telling.
If you don't have a problem about it, that's ok we're probably going to explore some other hologram based on SR388 anyway and nothing of value will have been done in the course of the game.

Hunters didn't succeed in anything outside of it's multiplayer. The controls are awful. The level design is awful. The art direction is a mere shell of what the Prime games are. There are barely any powerups. The two bosses that repeat over and over are awful. The final boss is awful. As a Metroid game, it succeeds at NOTHING, in terms of singleplayer. And the very fact that there is even a multiplayer to begin with is very unMetroid.

The controls are actually a huge improvement compared to most of the stuffs you see on console (and they can be changed).
The level design is leaps and bounds above Other M that's for sure, the 3D map is actually useful and it's not same goddamn corridor after same goddamn looking corridor like Other M. The items are actually hidden so that you don't stumble on it by accident for each of them. Heck the levels are laid out liek mazes which is actually rather like the 1rst Metroid.
There's a goddamn point in killing the enemies because they didn't change the gameplay to make random encounters pointless.
There's more original powerups than in freaking Fusion (let alone Other M).
It doesn't try to do much but it does it competently :
Samus hop between planets in a lost system to find 4 mc guffin while on the run by some hunters, it's short, polished and quite clearly an inconsequential spinoff.
It's not supposed to be that important in the grand scheme of things and does the portable 3D Metroid experience quite nicely.

And the artstyle? In a thread about Other M? Is this a joke?
Heck even the music is vastly superior than that other trash.

There was multiplayer in Prime 2, people didn't complain that it was there, they complained that it wasn't online. That's why it's in Hunters in the 1rst place.
Metroid Blast is a better Metroid experience than Other M and it's a full on multiplayer event in Nintendo Land.
Zelda is basically topdown Metroid (or the reverse really) and that have had something like 5 or 6 games with multiplayer. And we're talking about a franchise about a lone hero saving day here.
No Metroid game was in 3D before Metroid Prime that doesn't mean it's not a Metroid game.

I'm not expecting anything resembling Metroid though. I just want to play a fun action game. I think it will work out with those expectations.

You should lower your expectations...

 

[Garlador]

I'm not expecting anything resembling Metroid though. I just want to play a fun action game. I think it will work out with those expectations.

If you're expecting any of the same polish, balance, and skill of Ninja Gaiden, you won't find it in Other M.

I don't think it's a good game gameplay-wise. It's not the worst, of course, and it'll get you from point A to point B, but there are countless problems with it, far divorced from the Metroid name, that I feel make it a subpar action game.


Your mileage may vary, but here's just a few of the gameplay problems I experienced:

1) lack of nunchuck support. Ironic that a team called "Team Ninja" was denied permission to use the nunchuck peripheral and robbing the game of analog control. Moving a character in 3D space with a D-pad is never an ideal solution.

2) Auto-aim. Unlike previous Metroid games, Samus does all the heavy lifting for the player and will automatically shoot at whatever is around, whether they're even on the screen yet for you to see or not. Don't worry; you can safely mash the fire button and she'll aim at everything automatically. Aiming is for chumps.

3) "Concentration" mechanic. Don't worry about those silly old missile tank expansions. Why bother when you can just "concentrate" hard enough and will an infinite supply of missiles back into your armory? Sure, those missile tank expansions are there, but they're really just a formality. Oh, and get ready for battle plans where you intentionally waste some ammo so you can activate your "concentration" mechanic to get more, because wasting supplies and ammo is encouraged in this game.

4) Pixel hunts. You want to ground the pacing of an action game to a standstill? How about a game of Where's Waldo every hour or so? Don't worry if you can't find that one single pixel you need to stare at to move the game along. Relax, grab a cold one, and look over every last single blurry texture you can.

5) Forced slow-walking sections. Oh, the pixel hunts didn't interrupt the flow of the game enough? Well, how about some atmospheric slow-walking sections where Samus walks forward with the grace and speed of a narcoleptic snail? And don't expect any big payoffs for these tension-builders either. More often then not, they serve no purpose. My favorite is the one where you slowly walk down a hallway, trigger a cutscene, and then the game puts you back at the start of the hall and you have to slow walk the exact same path all over again!

6) Invincible Dodging. So the dodge button is the D-pad. The move button is the D-pad. When you dodge, you're invincible.... Well, it's not like I wanted a challenge from this game anyway.

7) Unskippable cutscenes. So you don't care about the story and just want to play the game? Well, TOO BAD. The cutscenes are mandatory and unskippable, so sit down for the next 5-to-10 minutes and let Samus dully monologue about her tender heart or about plot points everyone has already covered multiple times. For best results, try and skip anyway every time she states the obvious.

8) First-person missiles. A mandatory part of the game that only requires you to reorient the entire controller in your hand and point it at the screen, hopefully looking where you want her to look, but more often having to spend extra time reorienting yourself after that to look at the threat shooting lasers at your face. But don't worry, you can't actually MOVE when you're in first-person. Sure, you can dodge out of the way, but that takes you out first-person mode, forcing you to do the process all over again. It totally doesn't get tedious fast, I assure you.

9) Linearity. Sure, you know that door right behind you has a health upgrade, but the game will lock the doors behind you for no reason whatsoever. Don't even think about trying to explore until after the game is over. You will march forward, from point A to point B, without questioning or thinking. Forward, never backward. That obviously helpful health upgrade will have to wait until after the credits.

10) Invisible walls. Hurray! You can explore a tad!... kinda. That is unless you run into one of many invisible walls that, for some reason known only to God, stop you mid-air or hinder you mid-jump. Sure, it looks like you should easily go there, but you're wrong. Stop trying to explore and get back to the hallway.

11) QTEs. Yes, God of War's cinematic scourge is alive and well in Other M, but it's actually not so bad. I mean, Samus can spend five seconds delivering a wickedly cool kill-animation! And again! And again! Over... and over... and over... and over... So enjoy those canned animations that reward you for not falling asleep.

12) Game-ending bugs. I'm serious. Never backtrack. I tried it. It broke the entire game. I really mean this. NEVER backtrack to a save station after a boss. I don't care if it seems logical. Move forward. Only forward. Always forward.

13) Authorization mechanic. Sure, previous games, or even other games in general, reward you by letting you earn new abilities and unlock new special skills and abilities. Well, Other M isn't like those action games. She already HAS everything!... she just refuses to use it. Yes, even defensive gear and life-saving equipment. So you never "earn" anything. You just wait for some other guy you barely know to shrug his shoulders and admit you've suffered enough, so you can turn your heat shields on now so you don't burn alive.

14) Level design. I hope you like fire, ice, and forest levels. Sure, those have been the most generic Super Mario-esque levels since the dawn of mankind, but outside of sterile gray walls, that's all this game has got.

15) Game info. So you might think the game will actually TELL you when your abilities are permitted, right? ... ha, you poor, innocent, naive fool. The final boss can only be defeated by an ability you don't even know you have. Don't worry; the game will tell you you have this ability AFTER you beat it though.

And... that's the gameplay of Other M. At the very least, it's... functional, I guess. Barely.

 

[Dryk]

Hunters also has the best looking Samus face out of all the Prime games (and probably all the 3D games in general)

 

[Boney]

Confession time:

I found myself strangely drawn to Other M. The gameplay was simple yet oddly enjoyable. I couldn't explain it. It reminded me of simpler times. Childish times. I felt like a baby safe in a mother's arms. The controls made it easy for me to feel agile and powerful, making it easy to ignore the small faults and stutters. Less easy to ignore was the harsh tones of its story which seemed to subtly reinforce negative gender stereotypes. However not all my early impressions were founded. The deleter plotline was surprisingly obvious in retrospect. Knowing there was a traitor made James' early actions obviously suspicious. I was coming to enjoy my time in the bottle ship, despite it's limitations and simple structure.

Nice that you enjoyed it. It's not a perfect game and it has many flaws but at the end of the day it's super entertaining for me.

You should be sorry of brining out these heartbroken people out of the woodworks, because it's not good for their healing process

 

[Omega Kirby]

Wait are people really saying hunters was worst than other m? The hell you guys smoking?

Sure it's single player was totally forgettable. But it's multiplayer is among the best you can get on the ds.

The hunters hunting you mechanic was really cool and the weapon upgrades were great. The enemy hunters themselves had amazing designs.Other M wish it had a redeeming feature.

I swear I want the next metroid game to be hunters 2 with metroid prime quality single player and hunter quality multiplayer

 

[jimi_dini]

In fact, I had a go of the single player mode just now, and I suddenly remember how bad it is. Moving through a stream of recycled, featureless, puzzle-less box rooms collecting keys to fight the same bosses isn't my idea of what Metroid should be.

Say what you want about Hunters, but at least it was possible to really get lost in the levels.

Something that never happened in Other M. Thank you Team Ninja for locking doors behind me. That way I was able to experience your great linear Metroid game without any fear of getting lost and wasn't distracted from your cinematic Samus story by any sense of discovery or adventure.

 

[Htown]

Your mileage may vary, but here's just a few of the gameplay problems I experienced:

Yep, those are all pretty accurate.

This game, man.

On the plus side, Samus moves faster than she did in the Prime games. Apparently there are people for whom that makes all the difference, even though literally everything else about the game is worse.

 

[Prez]

If you're expecting any of the same polish, balance, and skill of Ninja Gaiden, you won't find it in Other M.

I don't think it's a good game gameplay-wise. It's not the worst, of course, and it'll get you from point A to point B, but there are countless problems with it, far divorced from the Metroid name, that I feel make it a subpar action game.


Your mileage may vary, but here's just a few of the gameplay problems I experienced:

1) lack of nunchuck support. Ironic that a team called "Team Ninja" was denied permission to use the nunchuck peripheral and robbing the game of analog control. Moving a character in 3D space with a D-pad is never an ideal solution.

2) Auto-aim. Unlike previous Metroid games, Samus does all the heavy lifting for the player and will automatically shoot at whatever is around, whether they're even on the screen yet for you to see or not. Don't worry; you can safely mash the fire button and she'll aim at everything automatically. Aiming is for chumps.

3) "Concentration" mechanic. Don't worry about those silly old missile tank expansions. Why bother when you can just "concentrate" hard enough and will an infinite supply of missiles back into your armory? Sure, those missile tank expansions are there, but they're really just a formality. Oh, and get ready for battle plans where you intentionally waste some ammo so you can activate your "concentration" mechanic to get more, because wasting supplies and ammo is encouraged in this game.

4) Pixel hunts. You want to ground the pacing of an action game to a standstill? How about a game of Where's Waldo every hour or so? Don't worry if you can't find that one single pixel you need to stare at to move the game along. Relax, grab a cold one, and look over every last single blurry texture you can.

5) Forced slow-walking sections. Oh, the pixel hunts didn't interrupt the flow of the game enough? Well, how about some atmospheric slow-walking sections where Samus walks forward with the grace and speed of a narcoleptic snail? And don't expect any big payoffs for these tension-builders either. More often then not, they serve no purpose. My favorite is the one where you slowly walk down a hallway, trigger a cutscene, and then the game puts you back at the start of the hall and you have to slow walk the exact same path all over again!

6) Invincible Dodging. So the dodge button is the D-pad. The move button is the D-pad. When you dodge, you're invincible.... Well, it's not like I wanted a challenge from this game anyway.

7) Unskippable cutscenes. So you don't care about the story and just want to play the game? Well, TOO BAD. The cutscenes are mandatory and unskippable, so sit down for the next 5-to-10 minutes and let Samus dully monologue about her tender heart or about plot points everyone has already covered multiple times. For best results, try and skip anyway every time she states the obvious.

8) First-person missiles. A mandatory part of the game that only requires you to reorient the entire controller in your hand and point it at the screen, hopefully looking where you want her to look, but more often having to spend extra time reorienting yourself after that to look at the threat shooting lasers at your face. But don't worry, you can't actually MOVE when you're in first-person. Sure, you can dodge out of the way, but that takes you out first-person mode, forcing you to do the process all over again. It totally doesn't get tedious fast, I assure you.

9) Linearity. Sure, you know that door right behind you has a health upgrade, but the game will lock the doors behind you for no reason whatsoever. Don't even think about trying to explore until after the game is over. You will march forward, from point A to point B, without questioning or thinking. Forward, never backward. That obviously helpful health upgrade will have to wait until after the credits.

10) Invisible walls. Hurray! You can explore a tad!... kinda. That is unless you run into one of many invisible walls that, for some reason known only to God, stop you mid-air or hinder you mid-jump. Sure, it looks like you should easily go there, but you're wrong. Stop trying to explore and get back to the hallway.

11) QTEs. Yes, God of War's cinematic scourge is alive and well in Other M, but it's actually not so bad. I mean, Samus can spend five seconds delivering a wickedly cool kill-animation! And again! And again! Over... and over... and over... and over... So enjoy those canned animations that reward you for not falling asleep.

12) Game-ending bugs. I'm serious. Never backtrack. I tried it. It broke the entire game. I really mean this. NEVER backtrack to a save station after a boss. I don't care if it seems logical. Move forward. Only forward. Always forward.

13) Authorization mechanic. Sure, previous games, or even other games in general, reward you by letting you earn new abilities and unlock new special skills and abilities. Well, Other M isn't like those action games. She already HAS everything!... she just refuses to use it. Yes, even defensive gear and life-saving equipment. So you never "earn" anything. You just wait for some other guy you barely know to shrug his shoulders and admit you've suffered enough, so you can turn your heat shields on now so you don't burn alive.

14) Level design. I hope you like fire, ice, and forest levels. Sure, those have been the most generic Super Mario-esque levels since the dawn of mankind, but outside of sterile gray walls, that's all this game has got.

15) Game info. So you might think the game will actually TELL you when your abilities are permitted, right? ... ha, you poor, innocent, naive fool. The final boss can only be defeated by an ability you don't even know you have. Don't worry; the game will tell you you have this ability AFTER you beat it though.

And... that's the gameplay of Other M. At the very least, it's... functional, I guess. Barely.

I'm a few hours in so far and I agree with everything you said. I'm enjoying it though, everything feels like outdated 90s videogame design from the PS1 era and that kind of appeals to me.

I pretty much feel the same way as Captain_Spanky described acouple posts earlier.

 

[Captain_Spanky]

Wait are people really saying hunters was worst than other m? The hell you guys smoking?

Sure it's single player was totally forgettable. But it's multiplayer is among the best you can get on the ds.

The hunters hunting you mechanic was really cool and the weapon upgrades were great. The enemy hunters themselves had amazing designs.Other M wish it had a redeeming feature.

I swear I want the next metroid game to be hunters 2 with metroid prime quality single player and hunter quality multiplayer

Hunters was pretty gash. Could never stand that game. Other M I am kinda digging. I eman yeah it was £2.50 but still. It's metroid wank fantasy, but it's a wank with baby lotion and wet wipes at the end.

 

[also]

If you're expecting any of the same polish, balance, and skill of Ninja Gaiden, you won't find it in Other M.

I don't think it's a good game gameplay-wise. It's not the worst, of course, and it'll get you from point A to point B, but there are countless problems with it, far divorced from the Metroid name, that I feel make it a subpar action game.


Your mileage may vary, but here's just a few of the gameplay problems I experienced:

1) lack of nunchuck support. Ironic that a team called "Team Ninja" was denied permission to use the nunchuck peripheral and robbing the game of analog control. Moving a character in 3D space with a D-pad is never an ideal solution.

2) Auto-aim. Unlike previous Metroid games, Samus does all the heavy lifting for the player and will automatically shoot at whatever is around, whether they're even on the screen yet for you to see or not. Don't worry; you can safely mash the fire button and she'll aim at everything automatically. Aiming is for chumps.

3) "Concentration" mechanic. Don't worry about those silly old missile tank expansions. Why bother when you can just "concentrate" hard enough and will an infinite supply of missiles back into your armory? Sure, those missile tank expansions are there, but they're really just a formality. Oh, and get ready for battle plans where you intentionally waste some ammo so you can activate your "concentration" mechanic to get more, because wasting supplies and ammo is encouraged in this game.

4) Pixel hunts. You want to ground the pacing of an action game to a standstill? How about a game of Where's Waldo every hour or so? Don't worry if you can't find that one single pixel you need to stare at to move the game along. Relax, grab a cold one, and look over every last single blurry texture you can.

5) Forced slow-walking sections. Oh, the pixel hunts didn't interrupt the flow of the game enough? Well, how about some atmospheric slow-walking sections where Samus walks forward with the grace and speed of a narcoleptic snail? And don't expect any big payoffs for these tension-builders either. More often then not, they serve no purpose. My favorite is the one where you slowly walk down a hallway, trigger a cutscene, and then the game puts you back at the start of the hall and you have to slow walk the exact same path all over again!

6) Invincible Dodging. So the dodge button is the D-pad. The move button is the D-pad. When you dodge, you're invincible.... Well, it's not like I wanted a challenge from this game anyway.

7) Unskippable cutscenes. So you don't care about the story and just want to play the game? Well, TOO BAD. The cutscenes are mandatory and unskippable, so sit down for the next 5-to-10 minutes and let Samus dully monologue about her tender heart or about plot points everyone has already covered multiple times. For best results, try and skip anyway every time she states the obvious.

8) First-person missiles. A mandatory part of the game that only requires you to reorient the entire controller in your hand and point it at the screen, hopefully looking where you want her to look, but more often having to spend extra time reorienting yourself after that to look at the threat shooting lasers at your face. But don't worry, you can't actually MOVE when you're in first-person. Sure, you can dodge out of the way, but that takes you out first-person mode, forcing you to do the process all over again. It totally doesn't get tedious fast, I assure you.

9) Linearity. Sure, you know that door right behind you has a health upgrade, but the game will lock the doors behind you for no reason whatsoever. Don't even think about trying to explore until after the game is over. You will march forward, from point A to point B, without questioning or thinking. Forward, never backward. That obviously helpful health upgrade will have to wait until after the credits.

10) Invisible walls. Hurray! You can explore a tad!... kinda. That is unless you run into one of many invisible walls that, for some reason known only to God, stop you mid-air or hinder you mid-jump. Sure, it looks like you should easily go there, but you're wrong. Stop trying to explore and get back to the hallway.

11) QTEs. Yes, God of War's cinematic scourge is alive and well in Other M, but it's actually not so bad. I mean, Samus can spend five seconds delivering a wickedly cool kill-animation! And again! And again! Over... and over... and over... and over... So enjoy those canned animations that reward you for not falling asleep.

12) Game-ending bugs. I'm serious. Never backtrack. I tried it. It broke the entire game. I really mean this. NEVER backtrack to a save station after a boss. I don't care if it seems logical. Move forward. Only forward. Always forward.

13) Authorization mechanic. Sure, previous games, or even other games in general, reward you by letting you earn new abilities and unlock new special skills and abilities. Well, Other M isn't like those action games. She already HAS everything!... she just refuses to use it. Yes, even defensive gear and life-saving equipment. So you never "earn" anything. You just wait for some other guy you barely know to shrug his shoulders and admit you've suffered enough, so you can turn your heat shields on now so you don't burn alive.

14) Level design. I hope you like fire, ice, and forest levels. Sure, those have been the most generic Super Mario-esque levels since the dawn of mankind, but outside of sterile gray walls, that's all this game has got.

15) Game info. So you might think the game will actually TELL you when your abilities are permitted, right? ... ha, you poor, innocent, naive fool. The final boss can only be defeated by an ability you don't even know you have. Don't worry; the game will tell you you have this ability AFTER you beat it though.

And... that's the gameplay of Other M. At the very least, it's... functional, I guess. Barely.

1.) Overblown. The game moves you on a grid instead of a full 3D space. Never missed the nunchuk.

2.) Combat is as fast and challenging as in the 2D games. Also, you do have to use 1st person mode to manually aim but you don't seem to like that.
It's your fault if you expected the game to overemphasize combat like the Prime games do.

3.)Yeah, never had to intentionally waste ammo.

4.) Yes, those were annoying.

5.) Some succeded in building up tension so I give them a pass.

6.) Agreed, the timing is too lenient.

7.) Yes, cutscenes should always be skipable.

8.) Never had a problem with the 1st person aiming. I thought it was a good mechanic that balanced power and mobility, and added depth to the combat. You know, the very thing you complain about in point 2.

9.) Yes, the game is even more linear than Fusion.

10.) Did you expect to be abe to screw attack into outer space? Sure there's that one infamous power-up gif but overall I did not feel constrained. I think it's prettyy obvious where you are and aren't supposed to go.

11.) You are being misleading, there are no QTEs, as in button prompts appearing on screen during cutscenes or to perform certain actions. But yes, Samus does have a variety of flashy moves that finally faithfully portray in 3D her galactic ninja skills.

12.) There is 1 game breaking bug, but please do continue with the hyperbole.

13.) Yeah, I will never accept incompetent-Samus-that looses-most-of-her-equipment-30-min-into-the mission as somehow being better than reasonable-protocol-following-Samus. Does the authorization system make sense for deffensive gear? No, it does not but that's simply a case of prioritizing gameplay over story and not a a sexist protrayal and character assasination or whatever.

14.) True, the themes of the environments are nothing special.

15.) Is this not what you wanted? Samus taking the matter in her own hands and using her abilities as she sees fit?
Joking aside, I had to repeat that section a few times but it's still a very minor complaint.

 

[Mael]

1.) Overblown. The game moves you on a grid instead of a full 3D space. Never missed the nunchuk.

This severely limit the level design and as a result we end up with pedestrian corridors most of the time.
It also means that you have to rely on auto aim to dispatch enemies which makes the encounters "baby 1rst action game".
the Nunchuck would have allowed the player to not be stuck to that grid you can nearly see and make the combat actually interesting since it would mean you could aim where you want as well as free 2 other buttons for some useful functions like going into 1rst person and choose between regular weapon and missile.
It's literally solving most of the problems the game has as far as controls go.

2.) Combat is as fast and challenging as in the 2D games. Also, you do have to use 1st person mode to manually aim but you don't seem to like that.
It's your fault if you expected the game to overemphasize combat like the Prime games do.

Heh, no it isn't. Changing perspective is incredibly cumbersome, I think it's the 1rst time I see someone say that it's actually all right. That's how utterly reviled that mechanic is.
And I guess expecting good combat in an action game is too much to ask now?
I could go with how the game no longer reward the player for dispatching foes making 90% of the encounters pointless so I guess it's a good thing combat is shit.

5.) Some succeded in building up tension so I give them a pass.

It NEVER build tension. Each and every time this happens you can't defend yourself in anyway or do anything except walking. Nothing is ever going to happen in these sections, it's actually points were I was the most relaxed because I knew nothing would EVER happen.
It's effect is totally the reverse of what the designers tried to do.

8.) Never had a problem with the 1st person aiming. I thought it was a good mechanic that balanced power and mobility, and added depth to the combat. You know, the very thing you complain about in point 2.

And next thing you know the pixel hunt are some amazing callback to Prime games that accurately represent how Samus is like the best detective in the galaxy?

10.) Did you expect to be abe to screw attack into outer space? Sure there's that one infamous power-up gif but overall I did not feel constrained. I think it's prettyy obvious where you are and aren't supposed to go.

Actually yes, if the level doesn't have a ceiling I fully expect to be able to spacejump out of the map.
the Prime games didn't allow that and that was one of the part I actually didn't like (like bottomless pits, Metroid games are never supposed to have bottomless pits, that's actually a defining point of the design).
Metroid games usually don't have bottomless pits because it puts a brake on the exploration of the player, basically if see a place in the game you should be able to go there.
But Other M is doing way worse than bottomless pits, invisible walls.
That's not even something that would be acceptable in 3D Mario, everything is gated in Other M in case you would want to enjoy something more than the story.

11.) You are being misleading, there are no QTEs, as in button prompts appearing on screen during cutscenes or to perform certain actions. But yes, Samus does have a variety of flashy moves that finally faithfully portray in 3D her galactic ninja skills.

Yeah the same couples of animation are totally worth the totally pointless effect it has on the gameplay.
Actual QTE would have better than the BS finishing moves that serves no purposes and take more time than dispatching foes the normal way.
In Twilight Princess, you can do a flourish with your sword if you finish some foes a certain way. If it was made like Other M, you would actually do that flourish each and every time you finish humanoid foes without it being your choice.
It's a shitty waste of time is my point.

13.) Yeah, I will never accept incompetent-Samus-that looses-most-of-her-equipment-30-min-into-the mission as somehow being better than reasonable-protocol-following-Samus. Does the authorization system make sense for deffensive gear? No, it does not but that's simply a case of prioritizing gameplay over story and not a a sexist protrayal and character assasination or whatever.

I prefer incompetent Samus to braindead Samus.
In Prime 1, she's activating an elevator and is struck by an unexpected explosion because the station is getting blownup.
Gee that never happens to Samus I mean it's not like in other Metroid games when shit is getting blown up you lose energy if you're hit by an explosion...
In Prime 2, she gets surrounded and gets her stuffs stolen by an enemy she physically cannot harm while suffocating. What an incompetent tool to not be prepared for that kind of contingency!
In Fusion, she gets her stuffs stolen by the X parasites.
In Other M, it's a part of the calculated character assassination because really it shows and tell that Samus is braindead idiot that can't do anything except when someone tell her to.

15.) Is this not what you wanted? Samus taking the matter in her own hands and using her abilities as she sees fit?
Joking aside, I had to repeat that section a few times but it's still a very minor complaint.

Getting killed for no reason because the game train the player that he can't do anything he wants and now expecting the same player to use a powerup he's been explicitly ordered to never use it and is locked up is a minor issue?
What about the very final boss that has a condition that's even more asinine?

You take major issues the game have and handwave it like it's the fault of the player if he has a problem with it.
The game never trust the player with anything and treat him (and Samus) like he's some easily entertained braindead child.

 

[RagnarokX]

Actually yes, if the level doesn't have a ceiling I fully expect to be able to spacejump out of the map.
the Prime games didn't allow that and that was one of the part I actually didn't like (like bottomless pits, Metroid games are never supposed to have bottomless pits, that's actually a defining point of the design).
Metroid games usually don't have bottomless pits because it puts a brake on the exploration of the player, basically if see a place in the game you should be able to go there.
But Other M is doing way worse than bottomless pits, invisible walls.
That's not even something that would be acceptable in 3D Mario, everything is gated in Other M in case you would want to enjoy something more than the story.

Dunno why you're so concerned with what Metroid is supposed to be when you don't remember that a lot of the stuff you hate has always been part of the series.

 

[Mael]

Dunno why you're so concerned with what Metroid is supposed to be when you don't remember that the stuff you hate has always been part of the series.

And that's a grand total of 2 areas in a game that is mostly as I said.
There's bottomless pits in Metroid Prime games but it mostly follow the formula and the design that goes with it.
Super Metroid does it too.
Metroid Other M behead it and take a dump on its neck.

 

[also]

This severely limit the level design and as a result we end up with pedestrian corridors most of the time.
It also means that you have to rely on auto aim to dispatch enemies which makes the encounters "baby 1rst action game".
the Nunchuck would have allowed the player to not be stuck to that grid you can nearly see and make the combat actually interesting since it would mean you could aim where you want as well as free 2 other buttons for some useful functions like going into 1rst person and choose between regular weapon and missile.
It's literally solving most of the problems the game has as far as controls go.

1.) Again, the combat feels the same as in 2D Metroids; most enemies are just cannon fodder that take little skill to dispatch and are just there to make traversal more interesting. I am perfectly fine with that and like it much more than Prime's approach.


Heh, no it isn't. Changing perspective is incredibly cumbersome, I think it's the 1rst time I see someone say that it's actually all right. That's how utterly reviled that mechanic is.
And I guess expecting good combat in an action game is too much to ask now?

I could go with how the game no longer reward the player for dispatching foes making 90% of the encounters pointless so I guess it's a good thing combat is shit.

2.) How is it cumbersome? Point the remote at the TV -> instantly enter 1st person mode.
Also see 1.)


It NEVER build tension. Each and every time this happens you can't defend yourself in anyway or do anything except walking. Nothing is ever going to happen in these sections, it's actually points were I was the most relaxed because I knew nothing would EVER happen.
It's effect is totally the reverse of what the designers tried to do.


5.) I distinctly remeber the sequences of Samus walking towards sector Zero, so at least for me it did build tension.



And next thing you know the pixel hunt are some amazing callback to Prime games that accurately represent how Samus is like the best detective in the galaxy?

8.) I already said that I did not like the pixel hunts.


Actually yes, if the level doesn't have a ceiling I fully expect to be able to spacejump out of the map.
the Prime games didn't allow that and that was one of the part I actually didn't like (like bottomless pits, Metroid games are never supposed to have bottomless pits, that's actually a defining point of the design).
Metroid games usually don't have bottomless pits because it puts a brake on the exploration of the player, basically if see a place in the game you should be able to go there.
But Other M is doing way worse than bottomless pits, invisible walls.
That's not even something that would be acceptable in 3D Mario, everything is gated in Other M in case you would want to enjoy something more than the story.


10.) Those expectations are unreasonable. As I said it's pretty clear where you are and where you aren't supposed to go. Not sure why you kept bumping into invisible walls.


Yeah the same couples of animation are totally worth the totally pointless effect it has on the gameplay.
Actual QTE would have better than the BS finishing moves that serves no purposes and take more time than dispatching foes the normal way.
In Twilight Princess, you can do a flourish with your sword if you finish some foes a certain way. If it was made like Other M, you would actually do that flourish each and every time you finish humanoid foes without it being your choice.
It's a shitty waste of time is my point.

11.) Each boss has unique animations so it's more than just a couple. If you don't like it, don't use it. I made good use of them, especially on hard mode.


I prefer incompetent Samus to braindead Samus.
In Prime 1, she's activating an elevator and is struck by an unexpected explosion because the station is getting blownup.
Gee that never happens to Samus I mean it's not like in other Metroid games when shit is getting blown up you lose energy if you're hit by an explosion...
In Prime 2, she gets surrounded and gets her stuffs stolen by an enemy she physically cannot harm while suffocating. What an incompetent tool to not be prepared for that kind of contingency!
In Fusion, she gets her stuffs stolen by the X parasites.
In Other M, it's a part of the calculated character assassination because really it shows and tell that Samus is braindead idiot that can't do anything except when someone tell her to.

13.)In other Metroid games Samus just takes damage if hit by an explosion but in Prime 1 she looses a lot of her abilities. Why is she portrayed as being so weak? Character assasination detected!!!
But why does our queen and savior of galaxy find herself in such a position in the first place? Like, has she never explored a foreign planet before? Why isn't she more cautious and experienced in Prime 2? Character assasination detected!!!


Getting killed for no reason because the game train the player that he can't do anything he wants and now expecting the same player to use a powerup he's been explicitly ordered to never use it and is locked up is a minor issue?
What about the very final boss that has a condition that's even more asinine?

15.) Yes, it's a minor issue because it doesn't take long to figure out.
I don't get what's asinine about the final boss. I did on my first try.

You take major issues the game have and handwave it like it's the fault of the player if he has a problem with it.
The game never trust the player with anything and treat him (and Samus) like he's some easily entertained braindead child.


Well if you aren't dexterious enough to be able to quickly point the Wiimote at the TV or if you have a lot of trouble figuring out the last and before last boss fight, then yes, that's entirely on you. Based on your complaints it seems the game was still not handholdy enough.

Responses in bold.

 

[theofficefan99]

Other M doesn't deserve the amount of hate it gets, but it's still a very mediocre game. It's devoid of content and the writing is garbage. The gameplay is nothing special, either.

 

[tintin1029]

Confession time:

smh

You motherfucker.

 

[Mael]

Responses in bold.

Could remove the reply from the quote, it's actually not helpful at all.

1.) Again, the combat feels the same as in 2D Metroids; most enemies are just cannon fodder that take little skill to dispatch and are just there to make traversal more interesting. I am perfectly fine with that and like it much more than Prime's approach.

Actually it's worse in this case because there's is less point in dispatching foes in Other M than in even Super Mario 64.
Most of the time you're better served with avoiding them because they don't provide anything of value.
It doesn't make them interesting, it make them pointless...like the arms of a Trex.
Most enemies in Metroid games drop health and ammunition so that you can farm them if needed (like in Metroid 1 & 2), apparently that's something they deemed useless so as a result most enemies are pointless and make the game even less interesting.

2.) How is it cumbersome? Point the remote at the TV -> instantly enter 1st person mode.
Also see 1.)

Yes going from one hand pointing the wiimote to left wall to pointing to the screen is not immediate and requires the player to change how his hands are placed on the controller.
It's so very far from ideal it's not even funny.
In that split second, the character is powerless and a sitting duck.
Do I need to explain why it is bad?

5.) I distinctly remeber the sequences of Samus walking towards sector Zero, so at least for me it did build tension.

And in that walking sequence did you feel like anything could happen at all?

8.) I already said that I did not like the pixel hunts.

Well you seem to like the other part in 1rst person...

10.) Those expectations are unreasonable. As I said it's pretty clear where you are and where you aren't supposed to go. Not sure why you kept bumping into invisible walls.

It is absolutely not unreasonable for a player to expect to be able to jump off a bridge when you are presented with one.
That's how Metroid games work, you see a pit, there's probably something to explore there.
It's quite clear that they locked off most of the geometry of the game so that you never will interact with it whatsoever.

11.) Each boss has unique animations so it's more than just a couple. If you don't like it, don't use it. I made good use of them, especially on hard mode.

There's a rather limited amount of bosses in the game, most of the playtime will be spent on useless, pointless foes so regardless of the finishing move you won't be seeing most of them for a while.

13.)In other Metroid games Samus just takes damage if hit by an explosion but in Prime 1 she looses a lot of her abilities. Why is she portrayed as being so weak? Character assasination detected!!!
But why does our queen and savior of galaxy find herself in such a position in the first place? Like, has she never explored a foreign planet before? Why isn't she more cautious and experienced in Prime 2? Character assasination detected!!!

That is STILL better than deciding that it's a good idea to enter an open volcano naked when you have protective clothing at your disposal.
On top of that the authorization system is so badly implemented it only serve to arbitrarily gate the game even further.
The sequence for the grapple beam is hilariously stupid for example,
you see the place you want to go,
don't have the authorization,
backtrack to do some BS,
get the authorization,
can access the place you wanted to go in the 1rst place.
Even a divine intervention to grant Samus her powerback would have been better than the crap they used here.

15.) Yes, it's a minor issue because it doesn't take long to figure out.
I don't get what's asinine about the final boss. I did on my first try.

Go to the OT, plenty of people had trouble because the game decided to be obscure about the winning the condition of boss the queen metroid and the last boss.
The finale is quite fitting, it's not even Samus doing anything.

Well if you aren't dexterious enough to be able to quickly point the Wiimote at the TV or if you have a lot of trouble figuring out the last and before last boss fight, then yes, that's entirely on you. Based on your complaints it seems the game was still not handholdy enough.

No.
Not being able to finish any Action game on Hard would be on me if I had problem with that.
Having issues because the game basically tell me to drop a controller, pick another to perform a simple action is entirely on the game.
Having to stumble on the power bomb when the game basically physically forbade you from using it till a moment they gave no indication for is entirely BS.
the Gravity Ing in Prime 2 required dexterity, Other M's Queen Metroid required foreknowledge.
Other M's last boss is even more BS.
"Here's a room full of foes, you have 5 seconds to decide what to do"
When you have to defend every single BS design decision like the problem is on the player clearly maybe the problem is not with the player.

 

[avrophantasm]

Confession time:

I found myself strangely drawn to Other M. The gameplay was simple yet oddly enjoyable. I couldn't explain it. It reminded me of simpler times. Childish times. I felt like a baby safe in a mother's arms. The controls made it easy for me to feel agile and powerful, making it easy to ignore the small faults and stutters. Less easy to ignore was the harsh tones of its story which seemed to subtly reinforce negative gender stereotypes. However not all my early impressions were founded. The deleter plotline was surprisingly obvious in retrospect. Knowing there was a traitor made James' early actions obviously suspicious. I was coming to enjoy my time in the bottle ship, despite it's limitations and simple structure.

Go home, Captain. You're drunk.

In all seriousness, glad you're getting some fun out of this. Team Ninja was in charge of the gameplay; and for MOM, they did what they do best. I don't really fault them for anything.

Did you really snap this up for 2.50? Maybe some of the baggage I have with this game comes from the fact I bought it at full price; pre-order bonus and all. Metroid Fusion was the source of a lot of great memories as a teenager...and I think I was probably one of the few people in the fandom that thought Adam's character and his relationship with Samus had a lot of potential.

 

[Alex_Mexico]

If you're expecting any of the same polish, balance, and skill of Ninja Gaiden, you won't find it in Other M.

I don't think it's a good game gameplay-wise. It's not the worst, of course, and it'll get you from point A to point B, but there are countless problems with it, far divorced from the Metroid name, that I feel make it a subpar action game.

Your mileage may vary, but here's just a few of the gameplay problems I experienced:

1) lack of nunchuck support. Ironic that a team called "Team Ninja" was denied permission to use the nunchuck peripheral and robbing the game of analog control. Moving a character in 3D space with a D-pad is never an ideal solution.

2) Auto-aim. Unlike previous Metroid games, Samus does all the heavy lifting for the player and will automatically shoot at whatever is around, whether they're even on the screen yet for you to see or not. Don't worry; you can safely mash the fire button and she'll aim at everything automatically. Aiming is for chumps.

3) "Concentration" mechanic. Don't worry about those silly old missile tank expansions. Why bother when you can just "concentrate" hard enough and will an infinite supply of missiles back into your armory? Sure, those missile tank expansions are there, but they're really just a formality. Oh, and get ready for battle plans where you intentionally waste some ammo so you can activate your "concentration" mechanic to get more, because wasting supplies and ammo is encouraged in this game.

4) Pixel hunts. You want to ground the pacing of an action game to a standstill? How about a game of Where's Waldo every hour or so? Don't worry if you can't find that one single pixel you need to stare at to move the game along. Relax, grab a cold one, and look over every last single blurry texture you can.

5) Forced slow-walking sections. Oh, the pixel hunts didn't interrupt the flow of the game enough? Well, how about some atmospheric slow-walking sections where Samus walks forward with the grace and speed of a narcoleptic snail? And don't expect any big payoffs for these tension-builders either. More often then not, they serve no purpose. My favorite is the one where you slowly walk down a hallway, trigger a cutscene, and then the game puts you back at the start of the hall and you have to slow walk the exact same path all over again!

6) Invincible Dodging. So the dodge button is the D-pad. The move button is the D-pad. When you dodge, you're invincible.... Well, it's not like I wanted a challenge from this game anyway.

7) Unskippable cutscenes. So you don't care about the story and just want to play the game? Well, TOO BAD. The cutscenes are mandatory and unskippable, so sit down for the next 5-to-10 minutes and let Samus dully monologue about her tender heart or about plot points everyone has already covered multiple times. For best results, try and skip anyway every time she states the obvious.

8) First-person missiles. A mandatory part of the game that only requires you to reorient the entire controller in your hand and point it at the screen, hopefully looking where you want her to look, but more often having to spend extra time reorienting yourself after that to look at the threat shooting lasers at your face. But don't worry, you can't actually MOVE when you're in first-person. Sure, you can dodge out of the way, but that takes you out first-person mode, forcing you to do the process all over again. It totally doesn't get tedious fast, I assure you.

9) Linearity. Sure, you know that door right behind you has a health upgrade, but the game will lock the doors behind you for no reason whatsoever. Don't even think about trying to explore until after the game is over. You will march forward, from point A to point B, without questioning or thinking. Forward, never backward. That obviously helpful health upgrade will have to wait until after the credits.

10) Invisible walls. Hurray! You can explore a tad!... kinda. That is unless you run into one of many invisible walls that, for some reason known only to God, stop you mid-air or hinder you mid-jump. Sure, it looks like you should easily go there, but you're wrong. Stop trying to explore and get back to the hallway.

11) QTEs. Yes, God of War's cinematic scourge is alive and well in Other M, but it's actually not so bad. I mean, Samus can spend five seconds delivering a wickedly cool kill-animation! And again! And again! Over... and over... and over... and over... So enjoy those canned animations that reward you for not falling asleep.

12) Game-ending bugs. I'm serious. Never backtrack. I tried it. It broke the entire game. I really mean this. NEVER backtrack to a save station after a boss. I don't care if it seems logical. Move forward. Only forward. Always forward.

13) Authorization mechanic. Sure, previous games, or even other games in general, reward you by letting you earn new abilities and unlock new special skills and abilities. Well, Other M isn't like those action games. She already HAS everything!... she just refuses to use it. Yes, even defensive gear and life-saving equipment. So you never "earn" anything. You just wait for some other guy you barely know to shrug his shoulders and admit you've suffered enough, so you can turn your heat shields on now so you don't burn alive.

14) Level design. I hope you like fire, ice, and forest levels. Sure, those have been the most generic Super Mario-esque levels since the dawn of mankind, but outside of sterile gray walls, that's all this game has got.

15) Game info. So you might think the game will actually TELL you when your abilities are permitted, right? ... ha, you poor, innocent, naive fool. The final boss can only be defeated by an ability you don't even know you have. Don't worry; the game will tell you you have this ability AFTER you beat it though.

And... that's the gameplay of Other M. At the very least, it's... functional, I guess. Barely.

Nailed it, man. All these complaints are fair and problematic. My mind boggles when I remember how this game managed to get an 8.5 on IGN where games with far less flaws get ripped to shreds and yet M:OM was called "...an excellent experience with great, intense action and an engaging story"

No, really. They said that. I quoted that verbatim from the closing comment of the review.

 

[avrophantasm]

Nailed it, man. All these complaints are fair and problematic. My mind boggles when I remember how this game managed to get an 8.5 on IGN where games with far less flaws get ripped to shreds and yet M:OM was called "...an excellent experience with great, intense action and an engaging story"

No, really. They said that. I quoted that verbatim from the closing comment of the review.

Well, I think Nintendo really wanted MOM to do well. Wouldn't have been out of the ordinary if they slipped IGN a couple of extra bucks to make sure their review was all nice and worshipful.

 

[KHlover]

Well, I think Nintendo really wanted MOM to do well. Wouldn't have been out of the ordinary if they slipped IGN a couple of extra bucks to make sure their review was all nice and worshipful.

The game sits on a 79 metacritic with over 70 reviews. But sure, go ahead and accuse Nintendo of bribing reviewers without a shred of evidence.

 

[mantidor]

Did OP survive?

I need to read this whole thread.

I didn't need to read this whole thread.

The defense force is... baffling, to say the least.

 

[eXistor]

I haven't read the thread at all, but when I do and I don't find a "Other M was a mistake, it's nothing but trash" thing somewhere I'll be disappointed to say the least. Also, did the op die of alcohol poisoning yet?

 

[avrophantasm]

The game sits on a 79 metacritic with over 70 reviews. But sure, go ahead and accuse Nintendo of bribing reviewers without a shred of evidence.

That's still too good for this game. And if Nintendo isn't bribing reviewers in this industry, they'd be dumber than the lot of them. It's just strategy and business. And wouldn't you say IGN's review is a little too positive, given what even MOM's defenders will say about the game?

 

[Entryhazard]

Nintendo is absurdly cheap, it won't spend money in bribing reviewers