Metroid: Other M review

Here is another of my bi-yearly posts. Thank you to those who actually follow me. I just finished playing through Metroid: Other M, Nintendo and Team Ninja's story-intensive foray into the Metroid universe.

Warning! This post is going to be spoiler intensive, so if you give a hoot then stop reading right now.

Other M gives us a close look into the character and history of our favorite planet-destroying, genocidal space heroine, Samus Aran. The game is closely related in both style and story to Metroid Fusion, Nintendo's last side-scrolling Metroid game released in 2002. Like Fusion, Other M is very linear, which is a break from the mold from most other Metroid games, which are open and emphasize exploration rather than mission objectives. In fact, most Metroid games have vague mission objectives, usually starting the game off with a paragraph or two of Samus receiving a distress call or something similar, seeing the bounty hunter land, then having essentially zero story until after the final battle has been fought. The Metroid Prime series managed to maintain the mostly silent heroine while still providing a narative through space-pirate logs, chozo and luminoth lore. The logs and lore were entirely optional, but helped flesh out the world and the goals of your opponents.

Other M is different. This game explores Samus' relationship with her former CO, Adam Malkovich, who we initially learn about in Metroid Fusion. Although some complained that Metroid Fusion was too linear, I've always considered it as my favorite entry in the series. It still has an atmospheric feel to it, and the orders from the computer are contrasted with Samus' thoughts that we are provided with a few times throughout the game while she is riding an elevator to a new sector. Through these inner-thoughts, we learn that Samus respected Adam as a CO and that she is pretending that the computer is him, since it reminds her of him. In a chilling moment at the end of the game, Samus accidentally calls the computer Adam. At the end of the briefing, the computer asks Samus, "Any Objections, Lady?" a trademark line from Adam that identifies the computer as an AI of the former CO that we learn was copied into the computer.

We learn almost nothing about Adam during Fusion, but this moment is powerful regardless and always fills me with a sense of purpose as I march on to the final chamber to take down the SA-X (the sinister copy of Samus) and destroy the ship, foiling the Galactic Federation's plots once again.

Other M drops us into a similar ship, which was built to house creatures from planet Zebes, much like the ship from Fusion. This time, Samus is working alongside Adam and a troop of Galactic Federation soldiers. The narrative at the beginning of the game is promising. We receive some decent back story showing Samus as a young soldier under Malkovich's command. Thankfully, the game separates Samus from the rest of the soldiers quickly and exploration of the BOTTLE SHIP commences. Regardless of its linearity, I was hopeful in my first impressions of the game. The combat felt solid, and I still felt like I was playing a Metroid game. It felt like a refreshing reboot of the game and something closer to what fans have been craving since the start of the Prime series. This was a 3D third person version of Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion.

But the game isn't without problems.

My first issue: The weapon and suit upgrades. Almost every new Metroid game begins with an explanation of why Samus doesn't have her devastating arsenal of weapons from the came that chronologically preceded it. In Fusion the X virus infected her suit, so it was surgically removed from her, depowering her completely. In Metroid Prime 1, Samus is struck with a surge of energy that takes her suits abilities offline. In Metroid Prime 2, the Ing swarm over her early in the game, stealing most of her suit's powers. In Other M, the reason is the worst of them all. It doesn't take long to meet up with Adam and his troup, and once you do, Samus decides to take orders from Adam, which includes requiring authorization for use of weapons and suit abilities. Periodically throughout the game, you are faced with a puzzle or fight that you cannot win, and Adam will chime into the radio saying "Samus, use of (freeze beam, missiles, varia suit, grapple beam, etc) is a authorized." I can almost understand why she would wait for authorization of weapons, since they can be dangerous while working with others, but is there really a reason why she needs to wait for authorization for the grapple beam? The varia suit? The gravity suit? These are tools that provide Samus with defensive capabilities, not offensive, yet Adam does not allow them right away as a weak gameplay reason not to start off super-powered. Also, when you do receive authorization to use these weapons and abilities, it doesn't feel as satisfying as collecting a power-up from every other entry. Usually a power-up followed a tough boss battle and the upgrade was found once Samus destroyed her opponent, making it feel like a great reward. When Adam authorizes use of the wave beam because Samus is stuck in a glass cell and needs a weapon to penetrate walls, it doesn't feel satisfying at all. I got more of a "it's about time" feeling from each power received in this way.

My 2nd issue: Although I did not have as much of a problem with Samus' past and her new-found emotions as some reviewers did, some instances felt extremely unrealistic. When first confronted with Ridley, Samus is surprised to see that he is alive. Understandable, since the planet Zebes exploded and should have taken any remains of Ridley with it. What wasn't realistic was the way that Samus was completely frozen with fear as Ridley slowly approached her. Remind me again when Samus hesitated for even a moment in every other game when faced with Ridley? Even when she was plummeting down a long shaft in Metroid Prime 3, Ridley close by, scratching, clawing and breathing fire the entire way down, she didn't stop to worry for her life. She just threw her entire arsenal at him until he stopped. I understand that this entry was meant to be different, "other", than the other games, and that we are meant to see a side of Samus that we never saw before. But I feel that the team forgot to take into consideration that Samus is a battle hardened war-queen and has fought Ridley at least 4 or 5 times in the story up until now. Why the sudden fear? As a convenient element to make Anthony, one of the soldiers, come to Samus' rescue.

Third issue: Music. Where is the music? Almost every area has some background noise and some simple, generic background music, but nary a trace of one of the game series with some of the best music. The choice not to implement some old Metroid music may have been made to separate the game from the others, but not trying to create some new, memorable metroid-esque music was lazy, not a risky design choice. It deals a major blow to the game. The music in a Metroid game usually helps make the areas memorable as you remember the ambient tunes thrumming in the background while you destroyed countless aliens. I can easily say I have no fond memory of a single area of Other M, and I feel that lack of music is to blame.

Isssue #4: Short. So short. Before I knew it I had all of my upgrades and was fighting the final battle. Took me maybe 10-12 hours? Older Metroid games were about this length, with games such as Fusion and Super Metroid being as short as 2 hours if you were doing a speed-run, but it feels somewhat unforgiveable in a 3D Metroid entry. The Metroid Prime games are generally around 20+ hours.

The game feels that it doesn't know its own heroine, being borderline sexist in her portrayal at times, particularly when she is getting all "daddy issues" over Adam. Samus was a great feminist icon in gaming since its original release, since it played with our assumptions. The entire time you play the original Metroid, you assume that your protagonist is a male. Every other game hero has been male until now, and besides, what respectable lady would put on a space suit and go thrashing about a planet destroying all known life? When Samus' helmet comes off at the end of the game to reveal long flowing hair and a noticeably, if rather rough, female face, it's a shock and makes you see the character entirely differently. Her mystery was part of her appeal. Even in Fusion, when we are given elements of Samus' past, they are such rudimentary, vague details that we can still keep our image of the bounty hunter and impose our own imagination onto her.

Other M removes the element of mystery from Samus and replaces it with someone with relationships, emotion turmoil and regrets, not at all the Samus that we've grown to know.