Nintendo takes a chance and it mostly pays off.
When Retro Studios rebooted the Metroid franchise with their Prime Series it was revelutionary. After three Prime releases Nintendo decided to allow a set of fresh eyes in Team Ninja work on the franchise. Nintendo went to Team Ninja because they wanted to add an action packed and cinematic flair to the series. Metroid: Other M is what they came up with, and they succeeded with creating a cinematic experience while also adhering to tried and true mechanics of the Metroid franchise. This is not to say there are not a few bumps along the way.
From the beginning of Other M you can see that Team Ninja wants to ignite nostalgia in the players. The game begins with the epic conclusion of Super Metroid in a beautiful CG cutscene. The baby metroid sacrifices its life to save Samus and destroy Mother Brain. With the death of the baby metroid, Samus beleives she has eradicated all of the Metroids, and this belief weighs on Samus during her adventure. Not long after her battle with Mother Brain, Samus answers a distress signal on the Bottle Ship, which is the property of the Galactic Federation. Samus then meets up her old commander and those under him, and together they must stop the threat on the Bottle Ship.
The story is one of Metroid: Other M' s faultering moments. While there are some exciting points in the story it can often get boring. The boredom comes when cutscenes drag on for much longer than they should, and you just want get back to the action. It is obvious the Nintendo and Team Ninja wanted the story to be experienced, because the cutscenes are unskippable. Again the story is not bad it just occasionally gets in the way of actually playing the game. Many worry that the story would tarnish Samus's character, and for the most part that does not happen. There are some moments where Samus's seems a little to worried and scared for my liking, but it still does not ruin my perception of Samus.
From a gameplay standpoint Other M is pure Metroid. The game plays in a third person perspective, and attempts to capture the feeling of classic Metroid games. Samus navigates with 3D movement, but often environments will be designed like the 2D levels to further the classic feeling. You will progress through the game gaining new abilites that will allow Samus access to new areas. The usual Metroid formula is mostly intact except in the manner you gain abilites. Samus never loses her abilities, but rather she chooses not use them in order to obey her old commander Adam Malchovich. Adam will authorize Samus to use an ability only when her life depends on it. This method seems convoluted, but it at least gives the developers a new reason for Samus to collect her abilities. Aside from this you will collect hidden missile expansions and energy tanks in the same way as all Metroid games. The collectibles will require the same observation and exploration skills usually needed in Metroid.
Retro made the prime games focus on puzzle solving to progress through the game. Team Ninja made Other M far more action oriented, and with games like Ninja Gaiden under their belt, they know a thing or two about action games. While a prefer the puzzle solving to action, Other M is a superb action game. It's fast paced, and there is a boss encounter at every corner. Combat never amounts to much more than firing shots and missiles at a weak spot, but the fights are exciting never the less.
Other M has one issue in the gameplay, and that is pertaining to the controls. The game is controlled using only the Wii Remote turned on its side. It is impressive that the developers were able to do so much with just the remote, but it can feel a bit clumsy. Samus is controlled using the D-Pad, and as a result her movement can seem limited. The game never requires the precision of analogue control, but it would have still benefited from use of the Wii's Nunchuck. The developers desgined the game around the limitations of the D-Pad, such as adding an auto aim when Samus shoots enemies. The only moments where the D-Pad is terrible are specific moments where the game enters a camera perspective behind Samus's back, while also slowing her to a walk. These moments are intended for atmosphere, but that hampered by bad control that could have been fixed with the analogue control of the Nunchuck. There are not many of these moments, but you can't wait for them to be over due to the poor control. The controls rarely hurts the experienced, but these issues are extremely noticeable when you come across them.
Team Ninja did take one nod from Retro by adding a first person mode.. When you point the remote towards the screen the game switches to the first person perspective. This ability is used for shooting missiles and observing the environment. This is a welcome feature for exploration, but the catch is you can not move around in this perspective. That is bad when you are in an intense battle, and you will have to turn the Wii Remote towards the screen. It takes getting used to, and can lead to some cheap deaths while you are still learning to control the game properly. This is yet another area where the Nunchuck would have been helpful. With the Nunchuck you would always have the remote facing the screen, which would make entering the first person mode easier.
There is one issue that does hinder my enjoyment of Other M. Metroid games have always given the player a sense of isolation, and Other M lacks this. The feeling of being completely alone greatly adds to the atmosphere, and isolation has always been crucial part of the Metroid experience. As a result you never feel the sense of danger and urgency while playing. In the end I felt it lacked much of the atmosphere usually found in Metroid.
The graphics in Other M are some of the best on the Wii. The CG cutscenes are up to the quality of a feature film at moments, and the in game cutscenes are not bad either. The envirnoments don't have that recognizable quality of the Prime series, but they look as you would imagine Super Metroid would be in 3D. The sound quality in Other M is equally as impressive and is atmospheric. The game is fully voiced, and for the most part it is well done. Samus's voice fits her character, and has a detached tone to add emotion to the story. The music in the game is solely there to add atmoshere. Occasionally you will hear familiar tunes, but rarely are the new ones memorable. I do have one petty issue with the sound when you collect missiles and energy tanks, there is no tune when you collect items. This somehow takes some of the satisfaction from finding these pickups.
While I do have may fair share of issue with Other M, I recomend it to fans of a Metroid and this style of game. The controls and story can occasionally get in the way, but the exploration and action are superb. Although I prefer the Prime series, I am glad that Nintendo took a chance with the Other M.
