It's not all videos, really.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressions/23827
There's an actual game there too. That's what Nintendo wanted to convey during my recent play time with Metroid: Other M at their Redwood Shores offices. My game began immediately after the intro area that I played during the Media Summit. I entered an elevator room, which led to three areas, the Biosphere, Cryosphere, and Pyrosphere. I spent time in Sector 1, which was the Biosphere, a brief glimpse of which was shown at E3.
During my 45 minutes of play, I did not see a single pre-rendered cutscene. It's still very much a Metroid game. There were a few brief integrated scenes, which were cued by a change in perspective. The subtle angle change served as a good alert that something important was about to occur. In one case, the game actually locked into first-person mode, forcing me to stop and pay attention to a sound cue and scan for its source.
Having had more time with Other M's combined third-person sideways and first-person pointer control scheme, I still have to think there was a better way. It's not terrible, but I ended up switching to the pointer in every other room, and there's a bit of cognitive disconnect when switching schemes. For instance, there are many enemies or enemy generators that need to be taken out with a missile attack. If they are chasing you, you need to first run away, turn around, and then point, lock on, and shoot. The natural tendency is to skip the turning around since it feels like pointing at the screen should point at the enemy, but this action instead results in a pounding from behind. Additionally, the discrepancy in turn speed from third person to first person is a bit jarring, as is the change in buttons during intense battles. Thankfully, though you can't normally move in first-person, when a green indicator pops up to signal an incoming attack, performing the sense move at that moment allows Samus to dodge.
The D-pad control works well enough, though there is a bit of imprecision. Autotargeting has a wide range, though you can't just spam shots; enemies become too numerous in a confined location or are too powerful at close distances. You can't target anything specifically in third-person mode. Missiles also have a targeting range limit. Thus, a certain amount of strategy is required. You're encouraged to get closer to the action in order to perform Samus' special moves, but there are often several ways to defeat an enemy. Once charged, if Samus can pull off a sense blast, which is a triggered when attacking right when a green flare appears, she doesn't lose her charge, allowing her to immediately attack a second enemy. I managed to take out three enemies in this manner, performing an "overblast" aerial attack without touching the ground, and finishing with a lethal strike, which was quite satisfying. One interesting move is a morph ball bomb release after charging the arm cannon. A ring of bombs is laid out. However, charging in morph ball mode and releasing just drops a single bomb -- this move is reserved for the power bomb, the devastation of which may not get activated until near the end of the game.
There are many types of enemies, and they will all require different strategies to defeat. The timing and pattern required to most easily dispatch them can be tricky to figure out. I fought a rolling armadillo-based enemy called Griptian as well as a chameleon-like enemy named Ghalmanian. The latter performed a disappearing act, making it hard to track down and it had a long reach with its tail and projectiles. I also came across a sleeping enemy with a giant mouth called Dragotex that eventually awakened and attacked. When eaten, shaking the Remote will do no good; you'll have to come up with other strategies such as morphing into a ball and dropping bombs.
The level layouts are mostly made up of corridors, but not in a completely linear fashion; there are many branching paths. Other M stays true to earlier Metroid games, offering many secrets to uncover that are not overtly obvious. Players may wish to spend a lot of time exploring, looking for hidden paths and upgrades. Aside from missile tanks, I found a speed charge upgrade (in a bathroom stall, no less), which hastens arm cannon charge time. There were also a number of super missile doors that I could not enter, signaling the potential for a lot of backtracking. Some levels were part real and part hologram; deactivating the holographic generators revealed previously-inaccessible areas, which included both power-ups and new paths to explore. There are also ducts for Samus to travel through in morph ball mode. Some of these are accessible by jumping and grabbing, with Samus automatically morphing to fit into the duct.
The game also has no qualms about dealing out instant death. At one point in the game, I found myself climbing up an enemy-infested elevator shaft. Reaching the top and looking down, I found a Ghalmanian in pursuit. What you are supposed to do is blow up the supports holding up the elevator in order to drop it onto the enemy and clear your path above. However, do this while still under it, and Samus will be crushed. Thankfully, continue points are frequent, even more so than save points.
While the graphics are wonderful, the audio is a bit disappointing. The driving tunes from previous games were nowhere to be found, replaced by a more ambient soundtrack reminiscent of the Prime series. However, the soundtrack does ramp up dramatically while in battle. I am told that there are a good number of remixes, as well. I only heard a brief bit of voice acting this time, but it is as uninspired as ever.
Though I didn't fight any major boss battles, there is a lot of foreshadowing that something bad is to come. I came across the corpse of a scientist, who was apparently killed in a manner different from the others previously found. Here, Samus described feeling a "dark intelligence." Also, in the aforementioned forced first-person sequence, what I found under the bushes turned out to be a cute furry rodent creature - seemingly inconsequential and out of place - which fed into a sense of uneasiness with what might be coming up.
Overall, I think Metroid: Other M will turn out to be a fine game. Nothing in particular stood out during my play-through, but its subtle polish makes for a cohesive, dark, and engaging atmosphere. There are clearly many secrets, intense battles, a variety of environments, and a layout that make the game feel like 2D Metroid mapped into 3D.
Topic: Metroid: Other M Impressions (Read 14053 times)
