As a huge Metroid Prime fan, this Metroid title might very well not be for me. Other M takes the old-school Metroid games and tacks onto it the first-person Metroid Prime mode. Side-scrolling is back, in the awkward two-and-a-half dimensions well-known by N64 players. Basically, the game ends up being a clunky amalgam of a platformer and a first-person shooter, with what seems to be the story of an RPG.
Gameplay: A few of the logistics of the game have changed. For whatever reason, everything is now rechargeable in some sense. Health can be regenerated by moving the controller vertically and holding A. Missiles are now limitless. Before, if you had 20 missiles and used them all up, you had to find other ways to do heavy damage. Now, you can recharge your missile supply at any time in a way similar to health regen, with instructions showing up on the side of the screen when ammo gets low.
Additionally, Nintendo has eliminated the nunchuck that accompanied the Wii version of the Metroid Prime trilogy and now both movement and battle are controlled entirely by the Wiimote. What mode you play in depends on how you hold the controller.
Third-person mode – Most of the game is in third-person mode, which is played by holding the Wiimote sideways and using it as an old-school controller. Fans of the SNES games will be nostalgic at the sight of side-scrolling hallways and platforms. However, even though running is more or less 2D, the battles are not. Enemies attack in three dimensions, and as a result, players have to try to aim with a D-Pad at enemies that aren’t exactly in any one of the four available directions.
First-person mode – By aiming the Wiimote at the screen, the game temporarily changes gear and displays a Prime-esque first-person HUD in suddenly greatly-improved graphics. In this mode, you can scan objects, shoot enemies, and open complicated doors. But unfortunately, in first-person mode, Samus can’t move. At all. Simple battles, such as the one I played against an often-invisible chameleon-monster boss, end up being way more complicated than even the most annoying strafing that had to be done in the Prime games because you can’t dodge attacks.
Story: The story is a prequel to Metroid Fusion, the old GBA game (which I actually still own) that takes place last in the Metroid chronology. Here, we see more of Samus’ backstory, through beautiful cutscenes and lengthy voice-overs. Samus’ turmoil stems from meeting a few people from her past when she was part of the GF military.
It’s a darkier, edgier and emo-er Samus than we’ve ever seen, but rather than just being a kickass girl in a robot suit, the story of this game focuses more on her as a person, as opposed to previous plots that were more concerned with the fate of the galaxy. Basically, the success of the story is going to make or break this game, because as far as I can tell, the gameplay itself has yet to break any new ground.
Metroid: Other M will be out on the Wii on August 31st in the States, and out at the beginning of September in Japan and Europe.
Nintendo has done a complete loop on itself, so maybe in a few years they’ll reinvent the analogue stick or something. I’m still excited about Other M, but I’m a bit worried about everything being so streamlined. Did it feel like they were removing what made Metroid, well, Metroid?
@Jens Erik Vaaler, I don’t see how. If anything, they’re going back to the past and making it far more Metroid than Metroid Prime ever was.
BTW Katie, you’re awesome. Thanks for posting this!
@Michael O’Connor, Metroid Prime was great! Even in a 3D first-person viewpoint, Retro Studios made it work.
I don’t think this game is intended to “break new ground.” I think the whole point is to go back to the old-school approach and refine it. And that’s not a bad thing in my opinion. I’m really looking forward to this.
Everyone said Samus couldn’t make the transition to 3D without destroying the franchise. How wrong they were. We should know by now not to doubt Nintendo when it comes to its core titles, because they rarely (if ever) get it wrong.
@Michael O’Connor,
And this would be a case where they get it wrong. So completely, utterly wrong it’s not even funny. Other M’s insane focus on plot and Samus’ inner turmoil is something Metroid has never been about, and the moping over TEH BABY is just horrible (I mean, even Fusion, the other plot-heavy Sakamoto Metroid, has Samus pretty much shrugging over the hatchling).
On top of that, D-pad controls in three-dimensional environments = horror. Sakamoto is preaching about accessibility, but gets it totally wrong. Accessibility comes from elegant, WORKING solutions. D-pad control in a 3d action game is not a working solution. Prime’s controls worked. 2d Metroid and Corruption controls worked really well. In comparison, Other M just looks poor in comparison, especially because it could’ve utilized the full power of mote-chuck controls.
Prime concentrated on things that were already present in the series, just emphasized them differently so that it’d suit the 3d first-person exploration style. Other M focuses on pseudo-sophisticated, emo story and has bad controls forced on it. It could’ve been decent sci-fi action game with Team Ninja working with proper controls and Sakamoto and his “accessibility” and ridiculous plot being kept somewhere very far from the project. Alas, it was not to be.
@Bob Zombie, It’s funny because the post you replied to just said that people tend to misjudge the entertainment value of “different” nintendo games and then you do just that.
First off, Nintendo didn’t eliminate the nunchuck control. Team Ninja did. Secondly, the game is never played in 3rd person. It’s either a 2.5D side-scroller or a 3D scan-puzzle mode. If you want to label it, it’s called a narrative perspective, not a third person perspective.
If you haven’t actually played it, shut your mouth, no one gives a crap about your worthless, uninformed opinion. You’ve already proven yourself incompetent with your erroneous statements about the game.
@Anon, Ummm… she has played it. That’s why it called a hands-on.
Or was that directed towards Bob?
@Anon, You seem to be misinformed. It was in fact Sakamoto that was adamant the game needed to be controlled with the Wii remote only.
“11:04 — One non-negotiable for Other M was that the game had to be played with the Wiimote in NES style. Team Ninja pushed back and wanted to add the nunchuk, but he didn’t budge.”
http://gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=116935
Also, it is not 2.5D. That term refers to 3D graphics with 2D gameplay, it’s defined as “gameplay in an otherwise three-dimensional video game that is restricted to a two-dimensional plane.” Metroid Other M is a 3D game in both senses, the issue is that it has digital controls which can be a problem controlling a character in three dimensions.
@Demotruk, Your comment is approved. Sorry about the delay with that!
Well said.
Battle of Britain time once more, time to think of all those brave men, heroes, every one of them.
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