Welcome to the second in a series of endgame reviews (don’t get too used to them because I probably won’t buy any more games until the 3DS comes out). The subject this time is Metroid: Other M. I beat the game, beat the epilogue with 73% item collection and went back for a 100%.
This is an awesome game, and if you’re wondering why I always give good reviews, it’s because these games actually cost me money. I actually have to research a game and see if it’s worth it before I go get it. I won’t buy a game if I’m not sure I’ll love it. So my reviews will normally be either "love it" or "slightly disappointed". Just in case one of you decided to post a comment and call me biased or anything.
What I liked the most about this game is how it went back to its roots (I know you’ve been getting that a lot from me lately) and brought some innovative concepts forward at the same time. This, my friends, is what I had in mind when I was a kid and I would daydream about the future of video games. It plays like a 16-bit masterpiece, and while it sure is prettier; none of the bells and whistles take away from that feeling. The story is good enough to keep me coming for more (and to motivate me to beat some tough bosses), the graphics are just beautiful and the sound is perfect. In conclusion, Metroid: Other M is an all-around great game. There were a few details here and there that sort of annoyed me, but ever so slightly, so when I point them out it’s not because they ruined the game for me, but you might want to be warned in case it’s the kind of thing that would ruin it for you.
The story was good but not great. At times I found myself seeing right through it. Then there was the voice acting, a first in the Metroid series. During an interview I heard they wanted the actress to speak as herself. The result is hard to explain, but it definitely works. Her speech is almost expressionless, paused and cold. Sometimes to an extent that you wonder if she was actually reading straight off the script. Some picky gamers might criticize this, as they usually expect Oscar-worthy acting. But this is a good thing, though. I mean, what else would you expect from a chick whose parents got hacked up in front of her and got her genes messed with by aliens as a kid and now commits genocide for a living? Nah, it was just fine, in fact the scenes in which things get more intense can feel a bit overacted simply because you don’t expect her to be so emotional. But then again, women, am I right, guys?
Speaking of femininity, another issue that came up during my first review was booty so I wanted to let you know what the rest of the game was like, booty-wise. Yes, on almost every scene in which she is in her zero suit the camera will slowly drift down and almost subliminally focus on her rear end. But these scenes are scarce; Nintendo didn’t want Samus taking off her armor just because. Besides, even when they did, it was all in good taste. I never felt uncomfortable playing with my daughters in the room. Normally she just "clears" the helmet’s visor to reveal her eyes and this gives her all the expression needed for the narrative.
Another issue that came up was Samus being submissive. I find this preposterous because people are seeing her following orders as some sort of weird Japanese sex slave fetish thing. You got this all wrong you sickos! First, the following of orders is just a very clever plot device to justify Samus not starting up with all the sweet power-ups she just got in Super Metroid. I’d rather have this than have all her cool stuff taken away like everyone else does in sequels. Second, Samus clearly states she sees the man giving the orders as a father-figure, and that she decides to stay because she cares for the security of the soldiers on board, one of them a close friend. She’s not trying to get into their pants, she just happens to care! SHEESH!
One thing I really appreciated was the attention to detail. In Iwata's interview Yosuke Hayashi mentioned how he coordinated the in-game sounds and graphics with the ones in the in-game and pre-rendered cut scenes. This creates a great sense of immersion. If a window breaks in a cut scene, next time you run by you’ll hear the glass crunching underneath your feet. Some scenes will play seamlessly during game play and in many cases the camera will even switch to a 1st person using the same HUD you’d see and hear when you’d point your Wiimote at the screen. You will see the Wiimote reticle scanning the characters on screen and the health bar will still display YOUR health and how many missiles you actually have at the moment. The only problem with this is that sometimes you have no idea that you’ve lost control, and then don’t know when you’ve regained it. This can be very frustrating when it’s done during a boss battle or very annoying when you’re left (or you think you are) in “scan mode” until you find the one clue. Again, I absolutely love the immersion this brings, but some sort of cue would be nice.
Speaking of frustration, the difficulty levels in this game are weird. Some times it feels too easy and sometimes it feels too hard. My hypothesis is that since they did such a great job at emulating the old-school controls and game play I was already good at in when I picked it up. My constant search for power-ups probably helped, too. Platforming and treasure finding were easy, but just enough not to be boring, and I only found some bosses difficult enough to make me smash my Wiimote through the TV. With these you have to be killed a few times over until you've had enough time to observe their behavior and their reaction to your different types of attacks. Only then, when you have a plan, they’re a piece of cake. The final (the penultimate if you consider the epilogue) boss had me so frustrated I had to take a two week break! But then after thinking about it for a while (and googling up some tips) it was pretty easy.
Part of the Metroid tradition is finding items to upgrade your suit, some essential power-ups are revealed as the game progresses (like hidden behind a door you had to open to get to a new area) while the more optional items are hidden (none of the scientists on the Bottle Ship owned Chozo Power Suits to upgrade so it didn’t make sense for them to have these ancient artifacts taking up valuable shelf space). Some items give you visual clues (an open ventilation panel!), others appear as a dot on the map (and then you try to find access to it) and some are just hidden in ridiculous places you would never check under normal circumstances. When you beat the game you get to come back for a short epilogue, this time around the game will tell you the percentage of items you?ve collected, overall and within each area. All items will be revealed as dots on the map as well. It is kind of amusing backtracking and finding something in a weird place you absolutely overlooked. At the same time it can feel less rewarding since they’re practically given away, so make sure you?ve looked EVERYWHERE before you go for the final boss (you’ll know when you see it).
Previous Metroid games would offer better ending sequences based on how fast you beat the game or on how many items you collected. This time around the ending is always the same, only at the end of the epilogue a screen will show you your item collection percentage and a voiceover congratulates you accordingly. I got an enthusiastic "excellent!" with my 73% and a dull "Perfect… Congratulations" from my 100%. In my opinion, once you beat the game you've probably found all the "good" items. Anything you may have left behind is probably either missile tanks or energy tanks. You can recharge your missiles anytime with only one split second of regeneration, so the extra missiles are practically pointless. Regular monsters rarely only take away one full tank between save points and bosses either obliterate you before you know what’s going on or you figure them out fast enough to find a weak spot and an occasional opportunity to regenerate. So the replay value is there but only if that’s your kind of thing.
When you reach 100% you unlock "Hard mode". I tried it for a while and it looks like the little bugs loitering in the hallways could have killed me if I was not careful, but only because they did more damage. As soon as I realized all my power-ups were gone I turned it off… You know that sensation you get when there's a power failure and you have to start all over from your last save? In this game you have to slowly adjust your play style as you gain more powers, then when they're stripped off it feels like you're learning to play a new game. Besides, you also unlock "theater mode" when you beat the game so you can just watch it if you think you missed anything (like I did). I may try to play again when Sonic 4 gets old, if I don't trade it in first. There are a couple WiiWare games I've been wanting to try.
Also, a word of warning: There is a glitch in this game that may render your save unplayable by locking a door forever. I don’t know if Nintendo plans to recall the bad software or at least correct the glitch in disks burned from now on, so just in case be careful (it can be easily avoided). It happens when you backtrack to a save point after defeating a certain boss. I got used to finding timely save points so I never backtracked after any boss battles (especially since I could always regenerate) and never triggered the bug. I really hope Nintendo learned their lesson: either allow games to patch or hire better testers. Maybe they could launch a free WiiWare "app" that patches your save file.
This game is freaking awesome and I sure as hell hope Nintendo makes the next sequel using this format. I can only imagine the wonders they’d accomplish using this control scheme while not being limited by the game being a sequel and a prequel at the same time.
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