Topic: NWR Game Club #2: Metroid: Other M

[NWR_Neal]

Our second Game Club dives into Nintendo and Team Ninja's divisive 2010 release.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/feature/29979

Last month's inaugural Game Club was A Boy and His Blob, a universally adored game from Majesco and WayForward. This month, we tackle a different beast: Nintendo and Team Ninja's controversial Metroid: Other M.

Some people really dug Other M (like me!), while others weren't the biggest fans of the game, thinking it did more harm than good for the franchise. The sales numbers and critical confusion certainly made the future of Metroid murky for the first time in a decade.

So, go check out Metroid: Other M for the first time or the tenth. Then discuss it in the forums with our staff and community. We'll be writing up features, referencing old ones, and discussing the game on Connectivity at the end of the month. We might have some surprises, too (I'll be coy, since they could very easily not happen).

• Zach's review
• Memories of Metroid: 25th Birthday Feature
• Greg, Zach, and Jonny's fantastic Whither Now, Samus Aran? feature from 2008
• Nate's feature on the music in Metroid games

[LittleIrves]

I'm still shocked this game was so unloved by so many people. I thought it was a bold change to a series that had just gone through a trilogy of very similar (though completely awesome) games. I found it exhilarating, fun, new. The 3rd-person/1st-person gameplay was strangely intuitive, and something no other system could do the same way. Looking forward to people's refreshed opinions on this one, after the dust of (un)popular opinion has settled.

[Chocobo_Rider]

Kudos, Neal.

I've played every flagship Metroid game, I've read the manga, I know Samus and I know Metroid...  Other M is my favorite.  In terms of that franchise? Nothing would make me happier than a second game done in the same style.  Maybe get some more input from NA writers so the specific dialogue isn't so hard to swallow for Westerners.

But, in reality, Metroid Prime 4 confirmed ... yay.

Disclaimer: I looooove the Prime games.  But, anyone who knows me is aware I value narrative above all else.  In that regard, nothing compares to the depth of Other M.  Dialogue quality? Spotty dialogue still beats no dialogue in my book.

@LittleIrves

As I always bring up regarding this game... don't worry, Metroid fans loved Other M: link

[NWR_Neal]

Here's the easiest way for me to illuminate how much I liked Other M compared to Metroid Prime games.

Metroid Prime - Got near the end when I first played it and stopped. Only went back to beat it before MP2.
Metroid Prime 2 - Only played about 5 hours.
Metroid Prime 3 - Got near the end when I first played and stopped. Still have never beaten it.
Metroid: Other M - Beat it the first time I played in the span of a week.

That doesn't mean I think Other M is vastly better than the Prime games. It's just for me, I wanted to beat that game. I never had that rush in any of the Prime games.

[geo]

I LOVED metroid other M.  I loved everything except for the out-of-place pixel hunts and some of the cutscenes.  I was stuck on one for what seemed like forever (maybe 5-10 minutes, but staring at the same screen for 10 minutes is pretty much forever).  I also wish samus didnt narrate WHAT JUST HAPPENED.  I saw it, Samus, I dont need you to tell me what I just saw. 

The gameplay, however, was solid.  I loved the return of the speed boost.  The exploration definitely felt like a callback to super metroid (albeit with less shortcuts).  Still don't know why people hated it THAT much.  I guess I just prefer gameplay over story any day, and the cheesy campy story didnt bother me.  It's a nintendo game.  I don't expect monumental story-telling.

[TrueNerd]

I have not beaten this game. I really should right this wrong.

I know I was frustrated with a few things with this game while I was playing it. One, the method in which you recharge energy and missiles is one of the most counter intuitive game play elements I've ever come across. Nothing is worse than "focusing" during a big fight when your energy is low. It usually resulted in my death. Two, the controls are a bit jank. They do a better job than most games that use a d-pad in a 3D world, but there are still issues of not shooting where you want. And the whole pointing at the screen to use missiles was also a pain. I felt like I was fighting the game mechanics just as much as I was fighting the enemies in the game. I never got used to it.

As for the story? Terrible. Some of the worst writing I've seen in any medium. The cutscenes are ignored easily enough, but still. The way the story is presented in (at least the original) Metroid Prime via Pirate Logs and Chozo lore is way more organic and true to Metroid than Samus' audio diary that is given to us in Other M.

That classic Metroid momentum that Neal is referring to never took hold of me with Other M. But I should give it another chance.

[Chozo Ghost]

Metroid: Other M - Beat it the first time I played in the span of a week.

In my experience I wanted to beat it the first time I played it, but several hours into it I got stuck with a door which wouldn't open and no way to progress. I waited about a month in vain hoping Nintendo would release a patch, but it became obvious this was never going to happen, so reluctantly I deleted the save and started all over and then beat the game.

Metroid fans loved Other M:

Despite your flame baiting I am a Metroid fan, but I don't love Other M. It may be Metroid in name, but its not Metroid. Metroid fans loved Other M you say? Well, sales figures tell a different story. Initial sales were good, but once word of mouth spread the game had no legs whatsoever.

You can say what you want about me, but I pre-ordered the game and paid full price for it. That should be enough proof that I am a Metroid fan, but knowing what I know now I would have just waited and got it out of the bargain bin where it eventually ended up (and for good reason).

[lolmonade]

Never played beyond an hour for any Metroid game.  Would this be a bad starting point?

[Ian Sane]

I hate Other M for three reasons:

1. There is no way to replenish health between save points which is incredibly user unfriendly and just plain frustrating.  Combine this with the shitty first person view that leaves you as a sitting duck for enemies and that HAS to be used to kill certain enemies and the game basically fucks you constantly.  Stupid design.

2. The story is like bad Metroid fan fiction written by a 13 year old.  Not only is the story bad but the dialog is incredibly immature as well.  I am shocked a full grown adult wrote this script.

3. The game strips away the very thing that makes me like Metroid in the first place: nonlinear gameplay.  The game has no exploration.  It's just a linear action game with a Metroid skin.

Item three is the truly offensive part of it to me.  If I can't explore the world at my leisure for power-ups that enable me to explore more of the game then I'm NOT PLAYING A METROID GAME.  To me no Metroid fan would like this game because it is Metroid in name only.  Going in a straight line until the game tells you you can use some new ability is not Metroid at all.

If the series continues in this direction it is DEAD like Star Fox.  I have no interest in playing anything resembling Other M.

[NWR_insanolord]

Spotty dialogue still beats no dialogue in my book.

I don't think I could disagree with this more. To me, story in gaming is something that is usually fairly unnecessary, and I'd much rather have none at all than to have it handled poorly, especially in something like Metroid. I thought Retro did a magnificent job of offering a deep narrative while still staying true to the spirit of isolation and openness that are integral to the franchise.

[NWR_Neal]

While I won't defend Other M's dialogue, I'll bitch a bit about the Metroid Prime narrative delivery. If I want to read all that ****, I'll buy a book. In Metroid Prime, I was obsessive about reading new lores and stuff, but then it got to a point where I felt like I was reading more than playing. From what I hear, Mass Effect has a similar issue. I don't think Prime's narrative is bad. It's decently compelling, but it's something that most people will completely ignore.

Though I guess that's why it works. You can just ignore what you don't care about. In Other M, it's always there.

I completely understand why people hate on Other M's dialogue. To me, it's some of the best comedy Nintendo has ever delivered.

[Ian Sane]

I thought Retro did a magnificent job of offering a deep narrative while still staying true to the spirit of isolation and openness that are integral to the franchise.

I thought Retro did the best job of offering a narrative for a videogame EVER.  The big problem with videogame stories is that you usually watch them.  But videogames are supposed to be interactive.  Too many story-focused games just halt the game part of it to show you the story.  In Metroid Prime you experience the story.  You scan the lores and enemies and piece the story together yourself.  Anything that happens is either something you do yourself (ie: fighting a boss, solving a puzzle) or it happened at some other time and you observe the remains after the fact.  It's like being an archaelogist discovering a historical site.  That is much more interactive than playing the game and then everything stops, and you watch a movie, and then continue.

When I was a kid and story was very minimal, kids always described the cool parts of the game from their perspective.  It wasn't "Mario did this or that" it was "*I* defeated Bowser.  *I* made this impossible jump.  The boss did this and *I* had to dodge it."  When I think of a very cutscene oriented game like MGS it's gets described as "Snake jumps off this missile.  Snake says 'Metal Gear?!'"  Nobody ever says "I did this" when describing a cutscene.  It's like in a typical videogame I'm me until a cutscene starts and it switches to someone else and then I take over again.

So you can put that in the "why Other M sucks" lists.  Metroid Prime introduced a bold new way for videogames to tell stories and Other M went back to some cliche method from 1997.

[NWR_insanolord]

While I won't defend Other M's dialogue, I'll bitch a bit about the Metroid Prime narrative delivery. If I want to read all that ****, I'll buy a book. In Metroid Prime, I was obsessive about reading new lores and stuff, but then it got to a point where I felt like I was reading more than playing. From what I hear, Mass Effect has a similar issue. I don't think Prime's narrative is bad. It's decently compelling, but it's something that most people will completely ignore.

Though I guess that's why it works. You can just ignore what you don't care about. In Other M, it's always there.

I completely understand why people hate on Other M's dialogue. To me, it's some of the best comedy Nintendo has ever delivered.

That was basically my point; there's a ton of story there if you want it, but if you'd rather just play through it like an old Metroid game and just catch the essential story bits you can do that too. It works great in the context of the series. It would be nice to include voice acting for the text so people don't have to just read it all, though.

[Chocobo_Rider]

The Prime games had a lot of text.  They didn't really have a lot of story.  Not all that much was ever communicated through the medium.  There was a problem, Samus fixed it.  I enjoyed the narrative of how Samus fixed it and what happened to the (often nameless) supporting cast.  But still, end of the day, nothing really moved thematically.

Disclaimer: I'll say again, I loooooove the Prime games.  Other M might be my #1 but MP1-3 are likely the next three games on that list.

We can all agree the dialogue in Other M was bad.  I don't think ANYONE has ever said otherwise.  But, I would still much rather accept this awkward step in the right direction than none at all.

Isn't that what people are always complaining about in 1st party games? That they are too afraid of taking risks and trying new things?  Guess what happens when companies do that stuff? The results aren't 100% perfect!  I believe Other M has far more to offer than some bad (horrible, cringe-worthy) dialogue can negate.


@TrueNerd

Just because there wasn't voice acting in earlier games doesn't mean that is truer to the franchise.  Metroid just has the burden(?) of having been around so long that it can garner such comparisons.  Metal Gear Solid and God of War do not have to deal with that.

Just as 3D Metroid was originally viewed as "not true Metroid" when Prime came out...

@Insano

But you say yourself that you don't usually care for story in games at all.  That sort of invalidates your assessment since you just need a working START button to skip stuff and all execution becomes irrelevant on your end.

@Chozo

Those are Metroid fans.  On average, they love Other M.  There's no flame to need baiting.

[Luigi Dude]

I completely understand why people hate on Other M's dialogue. To me, it's some of the best comedy Nintendo has ever delivered.

Yes, this is one of the reasons I actually liked Other M's story.  The dialogue gave it a nice cheesy B movie feel that when combined with the whole science experiment gone wrong plot made it like Resident Evil in space.

[Ian Sane]

But you say yourself that you don't usually care for story in games at all.  That sort of invalidates your assessment since you just need a working START button to skip stuff and all execution becomes irrelevant on your end.

I hate when people suggest this for any game.  If I don't pay attention during cutscenes how the **** do I know what to do next?  A lot of games reveal important info in cutscenes like where to go and what to look for and stuff like that.
 
As for those who enjoy the comedy, I like the Metroid series.  I don't want it to be some "so bad, it's good" parody of itself.  The key thing for something like MST3K is that you make fun of a movie you DON'T like.  I found the Star Wars prequels to be unintentionally hilarious but since I actually liked the original trilogy, that was annoying.  I really like the Metroid series so I want anything related to it to be good.  Super Metroid wouldn't be a classic if it was unintentionally hilarious.

[broodwars]

I've already said my piece on multiple occasions about how I feel the story and dialogue in Other M are a betrayal of the Samus character (along with just being god-awful in general both in content and presentation), and I'm really not in the mood to go into it again.

This game is something of a guilty pleasure for me, as I enjoyed the game despite the objective part of me seeing just how terrible so many aspects of the game are.  The 1st person mode feels like it's as bad as it is simply because Sakamoto didn't want to acknowledge that Westerners got it right already with the Prime games, so it was done deliberately differently.  It is pretty inexcusable that you have to use the Wiimote's finger-cramping D-pad to play this game, considering the existence of the Nunchuk and its analog stick.  Your inability to backtrack until pretty much post-game play is very regrettable and does take away from the sense of exploration that drives the franchise.  I also never found that the concept of the holographic environment was ever done to its potential.  The soundtrack is also surprisingly absent for the vast majority of the game, which is a real downer considering the series' musical legacy.  And the less said about the voice acting, the better.

All that said, the game is a bold experiment and I'm glad Nintendo tried it.  When the game works and you're just in the flow of movement and combat, it can be quite a rush.  The visuals and animations are certainly lovely, easily up there among the best-looking Wii games.  Maybe next time they'll put the game in the hands of a designer that's actually competent (aka "not Sakamoto"), and the experiment will pan out better with mechanics that better mesh with each other and a story that doesn't play out like a pre-Teen Twilight fangirl's fanfiction.

[NWR_insanolord]

@Insano

But you say yourself that you don't usually care for story in games at all.  That sort of invalidates your assessment since you just need a working START button to skip stuff and all execution becomes irrelevant on your end.

That is, in fact, not what I said myself. I said I usually find it unnecessary; that doesn't mean I don't like it when it's done well, just that I have a pretty low tolerance for it being done badly. I enjoy a good story in a game under the right circumstances. Also, not all games give you the ability to skip story elements, and some stick important things in them that you miss if you skip or ignore them.

[Chozo Ghost]

When I was a kid and story was very minimal, kids always described the cool parts of the game from their perspective.  It wasn't "Mario did this or that" it was "*I* defeated Bowser.  *I* made this impossible jump.  The boss did this and *I* had to dodge it."  When I think of a very cutscene oriented game like MGS it's gets described as "Snake jumps off this missile.  Snake says 'Metal Gear?!'"  Nobody ever says "I did this" when describing a cutscene.  It's like in a typical videogame I'm me until a cutscene starts and it switches to someone else and then I take over again.

Its funny how you are dictated to exactly what you are seeing, because it seems like in every respect the game orders you around and takes all the freedom and imagination away from you. You are TOLD when you are allowed to use your powerups, and you have very linear gameplay which shoehorns you into going a certain way and that's pretty much it. So  I think its very much fitting that you also have narratives which TELL you what is happening and what you are seeing.

It was bad enough seeing Samus scream like a wuss and break down and cry during the cutscenes and I wanted to pretend that didn't happen, but the narratives go on and on about her emotions and feelings and as much as you want to believe Samus is a real bounty hunter and is tough enough to do that job, the game doesn't let you. If it just happened once maybe it wouldn't be a big deal, but the game constantly drives home the fact that Samus is very emotionally fragile and has no right even being a bounty hunter, even though in every other Metroid game she seemed tough enough.

We all know Samus is a woman, but why the hell does she have to be made into a sexist stereotype of women? Why can't she be both a woman and tough at the same time? The way she is portrayed in the game is an insult both to females and to the way Samus used to be in the earlier games. People talk about how there needs to be more female protagonists, and I agree, but we need heroines we can respect, and not ones which break down and cry when they chip a nail. Samus was one of the few female video game heroes that people could respect, but Other M took everything we loved about Samus and then wadded it up in a ball and threw it in the trash. One single game assassinated her character.

Other M is a very Orwellian game where you as a player have no freedom to think or do anything except what the game allows you to do, there's even a game killing glitch which will literally wreck the game for you if you try to play Metroid in the traditional way and do unauthorized exploration and back tracking. I'm sure Sakamoto didn't put that glitch in the game intentionally, but its funny how its there because its the epitome of how the game acts like Hitler and gives you no freedom to do or think on your own.

[Pixelated Pixies]

As with many Nintendo games this generation, Other M was a very enjoyable game with some heavy caveats. The decision by Sakamoto to force a control scheme onto a sole Wii remote without giving an alternate control scheme was absolutely bonkers. I can understand having this more basic input for beginners or for people who simply perfer it. However, This control scheme has two significant downsides for me. Firstly it forced you to control a character in 3D space with the D pad, which does not allow for increments of movement. Secondly, because the game has a first person mode which utilises the pointer, it forces the player to change their grip on the controller any time they want to fire missiles or search areas. Had a control option been available which utilised the nunchuck then not only would this allowed for more refined movement with the analogue stick, it would also have meant that the remote could be held in the pointer position rather than sideways like an NES controller.
 
It's kind of weird, but one of the reasons I always appreciated Nintendo as a developer was because their control schemes were always so honed and refined. Between Metroid: Other M, Donkey Kong Country Returns (shake to roll? What the hell is wrong with the classic controller?) and Kid Icarus: Uprising, Nintendo has made some serious mistakes in recent years.
 
Admittedly, during this time they've also given us the Galaxy games, Sin & Punishment 2 and Wii Sports: Resort, all of which had great controls. It's just a shame that they appear to have gone bonkers on a few occasions. It's also worth pointing out that of those games given as examples of not so good control schemes, my issue is not so much that these inputs are inherently 'bad' (although I would certainly say Uprising's are bad), but rather that there were better options which were not offered as alternative controls, be they the Classic Controller, Nunchuck, or Circle Pad Pro.

[Chocobo_Rider]

@ChozoGhost

Yea... Samus sure isn't tough or brave in Other M.

Who blew up all those aliens when Samus was crying her way back home?

[Chozo Ghost]

@ChozoGhost

Yea... Samus sure isn't tough or brave in Other M.

Who blew up all those aliens when Samus was crying her way back home?

Adam and Higgs.

Adam literally gave his life like a true hero, and I recall Higgs actually saved Samus (AKA: Princess) on at least two occasions. This is a sharp contrast from every other Metroid game where Samus saves the day by herself. I'm not saying Samus didn't do a lot in Other M or that the mission would have succeeded without her, but if it wasn't for Higgs she would have been dead and that's a fact.

[Chocobo_Rider]

@Chozo

So Samus annihilates countless baddies and bosses in her most bad-ass, spinny, flippy fashion yet, but it's all invalidated, and incidentally, sexist, because of a few cutscenes?

I just find the whole argument so mountain-out-of-molehill.  Meanwhile actual mountains of kick-ass bounty hunting are standing right in front of you - completely glazed over!

... makes no sense.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Other M tried something new and tried to make her a more complex character with feminine and masculine traits, which I appreciated even if it was poorly handled in places. Gaming heroes tend to be hyper masculinized (for male characters) or hyper femininized (for female characters), so it was refreshing to see a character that wasn't on one end of the spectrum or the other (And no, a woman showing emotion is hardly "sexist" especially since those scenes were linked primarily to emotional trauma from her childhood). It is ironic but I think these people saying it was "sexist" would have been A-OK if Samus showed zero emotion and was basically a standard Rambo male hero personality, basically taking on the mantle of the sexist male hero.


  Like I said though, it still was flawed in its execution (such as the trauma scene, while I could still rationalize it in some ways, I wish it would have been built up better and elaborated on a bit more), though I hope Nintendo builds on this characterization of Samus, a character that does not fall into the trap of the hyper masculinized heroes of most other games out there, and provides her emotional depth.  I also enjoyed the retcon (I see Other M honestly as more of a retelling/retcon of the series and finally building Samus as a real character instead of an avatar where the player interprets who she is, which has been the case in most previous games in the series) of her suit being linked to her emotional state as well. Overall while flawed, I did like the story (though I did not like the constant, pointless narration by Samus, it was extremely unnecessary. Not to mention the clunky dialog).

In regards to Gameplay, I found the game a lot of fun to play, and enjoyed most of the boss battles, not to mention enjoyed the various homages to Super Metroid. Still wished it took place on something other then a space station, I wasn't thrilled with Fusion being placed on one either. With that said, I beat the game within 2 days, and enjoyed virtually every second of it.

This is a sharp contrast from every other Metroid game where Samus saves the day by herself.

Really? Samus was saved by Baby Metroid (who sacrificed itself, otherwise Samus would have died at the hands of Mother Brain) and by bounty hunters in Corruption on at least one occasion (though it has been awhile since I played Corruption so I may be wrong).

[Lithium]

I guess I'll just dig up an old post on the "Rate the last game you played" thread

Metroid: other M (Wii)
I found it for $10 new

Gameplay wise this game is solid with a few caveats: it would have been better with a nunchuck/wiimote control scheme since the game insists that you move into the first person despite the fact that other M would have been better off without it; In fact if there wasn't any first person integration the classic controller would be the way to go. The Hunt and peck portions of the game do a good job of replacing any enjoyment with frustration, spending 20 minutes not being able to move Samus while trying to look for anything that will trigger the next event is not fun in the slightest. I'm not even going to bother writing about the terrible story/dialogue; that horse has been beaten to death, ground into meat and made into glue. Just know that my score accounts for it. Like I said before though, the core gameplay concept of other M is solid and if the above issues were resolved I wouldn't have any objections to the next Metroid game following the same formula.

6/10

I think the main difference between the people who dislike the game and the fans of this particular game is that one group was able to ignore/tune out the story while the other couldn't. Gameplay wise, aside from the pixel hunting parts it was pretty solid but I'd be extremely suprised to see anyone unironically defend the game's horrid story.  I'll probably play this game now that i can roam freely around the bottle ship and can skip cutscenes now.