First Impressions - Metroid: Other M

Metroid: Other M


Developer: Project M (Nintendo, Team Ninja)
Publisher: Nintendo
Platform: Wii
Release Date: 03/09/10
Genre: Action-Adventure
PEGI: 16+

First Impressions


Yes, I know that it's been out since last September, and I know that it's been reviewed by every reviewer out there, but seeing as I only got the game at the end of December (the 25th of, to be precise), I am taking it upon myself to give you my first impressions of the game, after accumulating a play-time of little over two hours.

Once you've sat through the shiny new cut-scenes in Other M (or skipped through them, for that matter), and started getting to grips with the gameplay, the first thing that becomes apparent is that Samus has surely been working out since Metroid: Prime 3: Corruption, as she is far more agile then she ever was, even her side-scrolling days of Super Metroid, which this game is a direct sequel to.

Not only have Team Ninja (Dead or Alive, Ninja Gaiden) and Nintendo shaken up the Metroid formula by making Samus far more talkative, added far more cut-scenes than was present in Prime, and made Samus run fast; the gameplay has also been majorly revamped, as Other M loses the first-person perspective of the Prime trilogy, for the most part. Although you play the game viewing Samus from a third-person view, and you hold the Wii Remote horizontally like a NES pad, no longer is this simply a side-scrolling platformer, nor is it a first-person adventure, but a unique mixture of both. This means you can run around using the D-pad, mashing the 2 button, utilising Other M's auto-aim feature; until you see something which might need scanning, or blasting with a good-old missile, that is - and that's when things get interesting. You simply flip your Wii Remote into a vertical position, point at the screen, and the game will move into first-person view. Fans of the Metroid Prime trilogy will be right at home here, as you see the world from behind Samus' visor, where you can point at enemies, or locked doors, lock onto them, and blast them to smithereens with your missiles. When you've done, return your Wii Remote to it's horizontal position, and the game will resume it's third person point-of-view.

Samus didn't realise that this purple beast was an enemy when she tried to give it a hug.

Although long-term fans of the Metroid series will probably be disappointed with Other M, fans of the action-adventure genre who have never experienced the superiority of other Metroid titles will probably get the most from this game - so fans fans of Metroid: view this as a standalone game, and not as a Metroid game, you will enjoy Other M. If you think it'll stand up to the likes of Metroid Prime, you'll be disappointed.