Well it's probably still October somewhere, so I just got started on this. Not very far in yet, I don't think. Just got out of Sector 1 for the first time and got bit in the shins by a jump-scare esque enemy in the first Pyrozone tunnel.
Controls - I'm a bit mixed on the various opinions so far. Agree with eJamer that it's nice and simple to just go to the horizontal Wiimote layout. Compared to the Prime games, and its ten thousand button controls, this basically plays itself if you hammer jump & fire.
Do low-key hate not having much camera control outside of first person mode, but it's manageable. Biggest gripe so far - the Wiimote DPAD just isn't comfy at all. Gets kinda painful after an hour or two.
The sounds from the Wiimote are a nice touch, and I like how recharging your missiles basically makes Samus mirror your arm position. That's very Nintendo.
Graphics - I'm loving the stupidly anime cutscenes so far, looks super slick. The in-engine ones meanwhile feel like they'd be decent in a 2005 original Xbox game. In general I think the game looks pretty good - I imagine this is what Mass Effect looks like, with all the blue lights adorning random stuff.
The game is pretty awful in terms of visual legibility though, if that makes sense. Everything glows and looks like you might be able to interact with it, but usually you can't. Then there's computer terminals which look static but you do need to interact with those (the red ones, non-glowy machines).
There's the infuriating pixel hunting sequences which legit sometimes take me minutes (oh you wanted me to highlight the green puddle instead of the corpse, vehicle, or any actually interesting objects, duh!), which achieve nothing but slowing the pace to a crawl.
And everything is just too freaking dark so far! I can't see anything in those underwater sections without cranking the brightness on my tv to 70% and making everything a hideous light grey in the process. Spent like 5 minutes running around the room with the rising & lowering water before I realised there's a path at the end.
Story - Yeah, pretty stupid. Whoever directed Samus' voice actor did a bad job. I mean she already just says what's up on screen, so there's no point to her monologue, but why she was instructed to deliver everything in a monotone that could rival the worst Powerpoint you've ever sat through, I don't understand.
Also gonna throw out some bold story predictions which I, the attentive viewer, expect to occur:
1. The gerbil will definitely become Ridley somehow.
2. One (or more) of the marines is 100% double-crossing everyone. If it's the one with the moustache I want double points. If it's the guy who says "Princess" and we find out because a disembodied voice says "hahaha you've fallen into my trap, just like the rest of the squad, Princess! [screeching violin]", I'm gonna be dissapointed.
3. Dr. Madeline Bergman? Dr. M.B.? More like Mother Brain amirite! Gaze upon my skills of pattern recognition.
General - Ok so I've kinda accepted that this is just a more shallow Metroid with an action focus. That's fine, and I sorta like the straight-forward nature of it. Starting a Metroid game (especially a Prime one) is always super daunting because they can last 20 hours and require near-constant attention. I don't always have that patience, so an easier one which has the Metroid hallmarks (familiar music & designs) where you just blast stuff and run forward has some appeal.
Other M missteps here by putting in a lot of backtracking options. I've already seen Power Bomb doors, Super Missile doors & Grapple Beam spots which I can't use. Kinda dreading going back through this Sector again with its non-memorable layout & too dark visuals.
Weirdly, this game would suit me better if they just fully committed to "it's an action game now, follow orders & run along", rather than this curious half-step approach.
I'm having an okay time, but this will definitely be my least favourite in the series unless some kind of miracle occurs very soon. Just feels kinda generic-space-game so far. If this was themed with Warhammer 30,000 looks, or Star Wars, Alien, or maybe be some drastic Brute Force reboot I wouldn't really bat an eye.