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Look, I’m sure that there is someone out there who enjoyed Metroid: Other M, but I wasn’t one of them. It wasn’t the game itself, more the heinous way in which the character of Samus was treated.
This GIF completely sums up my feelings on the topic.
Thanks MamaRobotnik!
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What exactly was wrong with it? I liked the concept – I’m all for trying to give the stock Nintendo characters a bit of depth and a voice, in fact Twilight Princess irritated me because Link doesn’t speak – but I never actually got to Other M and I’ve only heard negative things, but never anything really specific other than that the way Samus is portrayed doesn’t fit with people’s preconcieved notions based on the previous games, where she was basically cardboard cutout…
In short, Samus went from being a positive, strong female role model – she might be wearing a skin-tight cat suit underneath the armour, and she maybe did some bikini modelling, but for the most part she didn’t take no for an answer and did a lot of stuff on her own steam – to being a whimpering basketcase with daddy issues (serious daddy issues; it was disturbing).
And it’s not just the Ridley fight, it’s throughout the whole game. If there was an option to turn all the “story moments” off, my enjoyment of the game would have increased dramatically as I felt the gameplay was actually done well.
I think I was also kind of disappointed by the fact that it could have done a better job ecploring the themes of Alien Resurrection. Since Other M is just a bad anagram of Mother (Metroid is one M, Mother is the Other M…) and the story could have instead revolved around Samus dealing with her hybrid metroid DNA that was integral to the plot of Metroid Fusion. Instead of daddy issues, we could have explored Samus’ maternal instincts through he desire to protect the young metroids, and the crises of conscience that comes from wanting to preserve the life of such a terrible species – and whether these thoughts are infact a result of her now blended DNA. All of this contrasts against the grim reality that is human scientists are actually trying to preserve the metroids simply to engineer weapon(s) from their genetic structure. In the end, what is the lesser evil? And is it more “right” to actually destroy the Metroid species in order to stop the evils of man?
sigh.
Well, that plot idea is fine and all, but Other M is set right before Fusion, not after.
I liked Other M as a Metroid game. I absolutely loathe it as an entry in the Metroid timeline.
Oh and not just for the portrayal of Samus, but for how it just doesn’t fit with the rest of it at all. For one, it’s basically an exact copy of what happened in Fusion, except happens before. So instantly makes you wonder why everything that was a surprise to her in that game was any kind of surprise at all. Then there was the absolute pissweak way they got rid of Adam. Probably other things too that I used to rage about but have now forgotten because it was too long ago. But yeah, here’s hoping they retcon the shit out of it.
The story was rubbish, particularly the way they limited Samus’ abilities, but the gameplay was very fun. I enjoyed it. So there.
At least they tried someone different, I guess. Even though it might not have worked out. Nintendo always seems to get the bum wrap for never doing anything new.
ps. Haven’t played Other M so I have no idea how good/bad it is. xD
Technically they did try someone different, since the game was developed by Team Ninja…
If more people had bought Prime 2 and 3, then maybe Other M would never have been developed….
I really didn’t like Other M. Awful cutscenes, and they were unskippable. Metroid Fusion was an AMAZING game, as was Zero Mission and I liked Prime too. But man oh man, was Other M a bad game.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they killed the franchise.
Unlikely they killed it, purists like myself stayed well clear of that travesty when cut screens where even mentioned to be included.
Cut scenes would have been fine. Fusion did it with the opening and the elevators, and it was great hearing Samus narrate the story.
But the voice. The pacing. The horror after realising you can’t skip a 20min cutscene about samus explaining why she gives a thumb down to that dude who’s a computer AI in Fusion. It’s so bad.
I think they killed it. They need to make a 2D metroid, a new one. And people will buy it. But whatever Other M was, it certainly wasn’t even close to a good game.
Oh sure bash a game just becasue of its unskippable cutcenes for your infromation I personaly played Metroid Other M and finished it all if it and I can honestly say I enjoyed it almost as much as Metroid Prime 3 Corruption, it might not be as good as most of the other Metroid games but its by no means anywhere near as bad as people make it out to be.
I haven’t played it (yet, I do want hoping that it won’t be as bad as people make out) but I struggle to see how the controls can be improved upon after the Prime trilogy, they were the best…
I played Metroid Other M and had a load of fun with it, its one of the most underrated overly hated games evermade. The reasons people hate it for are pafetic.
Again… just to clarify, you have a problem with the fact that an orphan raised by aliens, away from other humans, who hunts aliens alone in a tiny ship on planets no normal person would go to is a bit screwed up? Just because her persona isnt what you imagined doesnt make her a bad character. I loved other m. How about you focus on the gameplay instead?
More that her persona is not the one already established in previous games.
And just look at the gif. She fought and defeated Ridley in Metroid, Metroid Prime, Echoes, Corruption, then in Super Metroid too. But the next time she fights him in Other M, the trauma of seeing Ridley as a child causes her to freak out and be unable to do anything? Gimme a break.
Now, I haven’t played “Other M” yet.. but I’ll give it a go using what I know since I feel that fans for whatever series of whatever games usually tend to hate on the “different” game(s) in the series.
Yes, Samus has an established persona, but if you take everything that Steve said into consideration and take into consideration that (correct me if I’m wrong) when she finally “defeats” her archenemy for good (one could assume she’d get a feeling of some type of insane achievement) only to find that same enemy revived and right in her face.. I’d think that a being with emotions would be allowed to be at the least a little shocked in a moment like that.
Yeah, she defeated him plenty of times, but that doesn’t automatically mean that she became heartless after all of those defeats. After all, she does show how she can be maternal as well since she cares about the babies. If anything, I feel that she has more depth as a character. Give the chick a break. She’s had a pretty tough life. d:
Hmm.. I’ve found out some things on “Other M” that apparently she needed to be told to get out of harmful environments rather than do it herself due to some complex or whatever. I really just need to play the game and see. 😀 Regardless, I stick to my (now broken) argument.
Yeah I gotta say, Other M had its gameplay quirks but it was one hell of a fun game to play! I loved the concept and would love to see a fleshed out beefier game.
But yeah, I think they made Samus a wee bit of a whimp/emotional train wreck.. I dont mind her having feelings, emotions, memory. But convey them in a manor as to reflect the characters history! I mean, Samus is one bad arse bounty hunter after all..
Samus has shown emotions once before, but from what I’ve heard, her personally changes completely. She goes from being a strong, lonely figure to someone who can’t do anything herself aside from curl up in a ball int he corner and wish for it to go away.
In the next game they’ll explain Other M’s Samus as a failed clone of her where they included crappy memories that screwed her up.
I haven’t played it yet, but everybody (or a good amount of people to say the least) in real life goes through some type of “crisis” when transitioning from young to adulthood. “Young to adulthood” could mean anything. Just because she’s strong doesn’t mean it can’t happen. Some are more severe than others. If you take something like that into consideration, it’d be easy to understand the personality change for the time period in between the two games. It, perhaps, could have been her crisis. It may just be me relating to her, but I’m in my “crisis” (not severe, however) and my minds full of memories, thoughts and shit. It’s not like you’re playing E.T. for NES. Now that’s bad. Action 52 anybody?
I had considered that Samus went the way of Boba Fett to seek revenge on Ridley after killing her parents. I think they tried too hard to get people to believe that Samus is human. Granted you expect trauma and emotional scars from some of the stuff she had done (especially Metroid 2 and Super Metroid) but it is the same qualities that both Boba and Samus share that make them so awesome.
I like to view the gameplay of Other M as a experiment for a 3DS title with Prime as a perfect example for Wii U (Imagine using the tablet for suit and weapons as well as a scan tool).
Chell,or whatever her name is from portal 1 and 2 works as a character for the same reason Samus did for so long, she doesn’t speak at all, which if I recall from a valve interview was a design decision to allow the player to step into her shoes. As a 23 year old male it just felt awkward whenever droning samus started another monologue in other m. The metroid series is one of the most atmospheric, interesting game franchises around. There’s no way Nintendo should threaten everything they’ve built with another other m. A new 2d metroid on the 3ds and prime style fps on wiiu would make everyone forget all those shonky one liners and thumbs down…
The game itself was fun (except for the whole aiming the wiimote at the screen to shoot part), but it destroyed the story
I thought Metroid: Other M was a great game, if only for the gameplay, at times, while I was playing it, I thought this was like Super Metroid in 3D, graphic-wise and gameplay wise, and I just got the hugest kick playing this game.
Yeah I enjoyed it. The whole story thing kinda sucked, but as someone who’s always primarily gone to metroid games for gameplay, I just… enjoyed that aspect. What gets me is the extent to which people seem devastated by the bad story, as though the every other metroid game was some kind of narrative masterpiece, it’s a story and script fail in a series that otherwise harbours a history of interesting, solid, but not altogether amazing storytelling. I wonder if people confuse their memories with the other thing metroid does amazingly other than gameplay, which is atmosphere, but honestly, while not the series best, Other M did that well enough too, the cutscenes and lack of solitude hurt it, but not a whole that more than say, Adam in fusion.
I play the game and this argument make a point, but…. the Space Pirates are confirmed dead in this game. I know for a fact if this was said “ridley! why can’t it die!” hen frozen in shock:fans would be happier. team ninja seem to be going for this but forgot those key word when doing it. you can’t just make samus be scare like that not after killing all those much scary monster. I hope nobody says “I don’t care” to this post cuz I do care and you have no right to be here if you don’t
i would like to forget this game was ever made as well, the game play was good but i never felt like an overpowered bounty hunter like i usually do by the end of the game. samus is supposed to be the defender of the entire galaxy if not the universe. the gif above also perfectly described the huge wtf moment of the game, samus is NOT afraid of ridley in any way shape or form. in my mind that story never happend and adam still died on sr388( before samus became a bounty hunter) to protect her from the metroids that they could not kill with there current weapons.
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