Before I even got the game, the word was out: this game sucks. At best it was a disappointment. That's what everyone seemed to be saying, anyway. Sure, there was a voice poking through every now and again saying it was actually pretty good, but they would get shot down by the more vocal "It Sucks!" group. I got the game anyways, figuring "It's Metroid. It can't be that bad."
And you know what, it really wasn't. Was it the great return to Super Metroid gameplay style Wii fun I was hoping for? The kind of thing that complemented Super Metroid the way New Super Mario Bros Wii complemented those early Mario platformers? No. In fact, there's a lot annoying with Other M. I would read all the gripes about it and think, "That's a good point," and nod my head at what everyone was saying.
Yet I kept coming back to it, wanting to play it. I actually liked the story. The story was interesting and kept me staying with it to see what would happen. The EXECUTION of the story was the flaw. The melodramatics, yeah, that was a problem. The way the story handcuffed the open exploration that Metroid was known for, that hurt the game. The long cut scenes when I just wanted to blast away at weird alien lifeforms annoyed. I would argue that of all those flaws, the worst one was the fact that, as I alluded to, the story is told in such a way that it drives the game play to where it needs to go to keep the story flowing. That door you could go down and explore off the beaten path in previous Metroid games? Locked. Previous pathways are taken away from you as the story keeps pushing you in the direction it needs you to go to keep its beats going. This is where the Prime games were brilliant, you discovered the story as you went along, whereas Other M forces it down your throat.
The gameplay itself, I don't have much of a problem with. You run, jump and shoot and it feels natural enough. It depends on if you like the auto aim mechanic and I didn't mind it too much. If it took away my ability to shoot the thing that posed the most danger, it would be a problem, but I didn't find that to happen very much, if at all. It was a bit awkward to go from first person to third person to shoot missiles. The "concentrate" to restore your missiles and health was lame.
The boss fights were challenging, but after the majesty of the Prime boss fights, they felt a little lacking. The game does hold your hand quite a bit, letting you know where all hidden objects are.
Look, I thought the game was fun. I don't regret picking it up and it kept my interest throughout the run time of the major story mode. It's just not up to Metroid standards. I do appreciate that something different was tried and I think they came close to recapturing the magic. Metroid Prime was a giant departure from the side scrolling Metroids of yore, but it still had that same magic.
In the end, the thing that keeps the game down is the fact that it got away from the fundamentals of Metroid gameplay: the isolated open world exploration. Yes, in the end when you're done with the story, the world opens up for exploration, but it's too little, too late.
It's a fun game that people are probably too hard on, but that's because they expect the best from the franchise, and this game did not deliver "the best". Instead of recapturing the glory of Super Metroid, it plays more like a watered down Metroid Fusion (and I liked Fusion) with a character backstory a lot of people didn't want.
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