If I had gone and purchased the new Metroid on day one, I might have found myself very disappointed and outraged. Many other long time fans are angered by small adjustments in conventions, broken logic and even claiming the title to be sexist. After reading so many negative impressions I dove into the game expecting the worst.

What I found was a unique take on a familiar formula that I’ve become completely addicted to. If anything Other M is a perfect example of why the Japanese games industry is so important. After playing so many western shooters and RPG’s you begin to miss the creative ideas that set games apart. Sure, I have little taste for Japanese RPG’s these days, but just about any other genre from Japan is thriving in its own right.

That’s not to say the game is flawless and everyone that felt some serious nerd rage was wrong, however. In a lot of ways it is a matter of how willing you are to suspend your disbelief and accept an interpretation of Samus, even if it isn’t your interpretation of Samus.

I’d actually spend little time on the story (me? Not focusing on the story? Pah!), but in that classic Japanese design style it actually ties closely into the gameplay. Instead of just ripping Aran’s abilities from her they chose to deactivate them. They wanted a logical explanation for Samus to revert to no abilities rather than mysteriously taking them away between games. Unfortunately the logical explanation has a tendency to defy logic, as it is all tied into loyalty to Samus Aran’s former commanding officer Adam Malkovich. Yes, that annoying and chatty computer from Metroid: Fusion is back in human form.

Fortunately, however, he is less chatty this time around. Considering everyone’s original impressions of the game I was expecting an antagonistic and condescending persona, but Adam’s personality is mostly that of a professional. Later in the game that changes, but if anything he becomes more endearing towards Samus. The real quarrel comes in Samus herself, who seems to put Adam on a pedestal and refuses to defy his orders. In fact, before he even says anything she chooses not to use any abilities unless Adam has authorized them, even if it means taking heat damage in a lava sector while the Varia suit is waiting to be activated. This immediately puts her into the role of a subservient, a concept which is bound to send America’s sense of feminine righteousness into a tumult of rage.

Of course, Americans are a people that believe in strong independence that laughs at the concept of authority (at least, that’s the image we like to put on). Our heroes are often vigilantes or those willing to break the rules for what is right. Case in point, John McClane. Yet Japan is a very different nation where hierarchy and authority are things to be respected. Rebellion is not as outrageous as it tends to be in America. It is superficial. You obey your parents, but you dress outrageously.

Even so, there are further reasons they wrote Samus in such a way. This is a character she respects and reveres, and so for the sake of the operation and understanding of safety she is going to obey her commanding officer. Does this mean it suddenly makes sense that she’d keep her Varia suit inactive while suffering heat damage? Hell no. There’s no chance her Varia suit or her Gravity suit could endanger her comrades, so removing them makes absolutely no sense.

Yet this is where you have to make a choice. Suspend your disbelief or think too hard about forced plot. Instead of merely removing Samus Aran’s powers Team Ninja wanted to give a reason for having lost them. In addition, this allows a new theatrical element to the gaining of abilities. Previously new power ups were a reward for overcoming a tough challenge, or discovered right before you had need of them. Now the player will find themselves in situations where they are powerless, uncertain of how they’ll get out of the predicament until they are granted the ability. There are some moments where this pays off as it leaves the player with an exhillirating feeling that can best be described as “Yeah, you thought you did, but you didn’t”. To put it in “street” terms, ya dig?

Unfortunately, it usually doesn’t. Gaining abilities in battle becomes predictable, and when confronting the “final” boss the player is never even informed of unlocking their final ability. This lack of knowledge could easily lead to multiple deaths, though check points are mercifully frequent even within boss fights. In fact, check points are so well placed that death is no more than a minor irritation.

In the end a player may be endlessly boggled by the sheer lack of logic found in the power mechanics. If the Varia suit is immediately necessary, than a logical human would activate it. If there is a grappling hook right there, then a logical human would activate it in order to reach their destination. Yet by granting all of these abilities you’d also lose an essential part of what it means to be a Metroid game, unless you began adding on more and more power-ups. At some point you’re going to either become way too over-powered or run out of ideas, and then you’ll really be in trouble.

This is why suspension of disbelief is so important. Team Ninja wanted to try and change things around a little while keeping the essential Metroid elements in tact. Some people will be greatly annoyed, others will be fine. In truth, it is best to just accept the logical fallacies for what they are. As for sexism, I personally do not believe the game was intended to be sexist. They merely tried to develop an in-depth character fitting what they felt were important characteristics of her past. I can, however, understand why she comes off as being sexist considering America’s preference for heroines that ride in on mechs.

Regardless, the only arguing here is whether the story is god awful or passable, and at that I can only claim it as, well, being better than Metroid Fusion. It still carries a lot of Japanese clichés, but that can be forgiven since we have tropes of our own.

On the whole Team Ninja managed to create a well-designed action-oriented interpretation of Metroid, which comes as a fresh take on the franchise. They did an especially effective job using just the Wiimote for input as well. The game’s center is intertwined between the charge beam and the dodge mechanic, where the player merely presses in any direction as a foe is attacking. Holding down the attack button while dodging will instantly fill a charge.

Of course, the overall use of this ability gains and wanes as the game progresses. At the very start most of the foes are too weak to bother with it and the charge takes too long to prepare. When facing off against more powerful opponents it is often one on one, and their attacks are separated enough that you may fill a charge before they even attack. However after an hour or two in the player begins to face more overwhelming odds, and the ability becomes incredibly valuable. Yet as time persists the player will find items that increase the speed at which they can charge their beam, and though foes are more numerous they won’t be needing to dodge for a speedy and powerful blast.

That’s not to say that dodging is never important. It is imperative, in fact. Enemy strikes are powerful, especially early on. Which seems to create an odd and lop-sided balance, as the game feels most difficult when you have the least amount of health. When near death the player is granted the ability to restore a limited amount of health, but the amount of time it takes, intense aggression of the foes and lack of space makes such an ability near worthless. Yet later on a player will have strong enough armor and enough health tanks that the damage will matter less and less. Perhaps this was also intentional on the part of the designers so that by the end the player felt more powerful, but even on a second playing the game continues to be difficult at the start. For a game intended to be more open to casual and new players of the franchise it certainly starts out rather unforgiving. The only saving grace is the previously mentioned frequency of checkpoints.

Nonetheless Team Ninja managed to transform Metroid into quite an effective action game. The lock-on mechanic works well enough while a foe is nearby and visible, but it also isn’t so automatic that the player can just stand there laying on fire. They will have to adjust Samus Aran’s position to aim at specific targets, though who it prioritizes can be a tad annoying. No, the only element of the game that was simply done poorly were the first-person segments.

Many moments throughout the game the player will be forced to enter first-person view and search intently for something in the environment with no hint as to what it is they are looking for. Perhaps it wouldn’t have been so bad if the player were told what sort of sign they were looking to find, but even Adam Malkovich doesn’t chide in Aran’s ear with instructions.

This sort of frustration occurs in multiple moments of the game. One moment you’ll be searching for green blood upon green grass (which may not contrast that well at all based on your television settings), another you’ll have to look at a specific spot up in a specific window while staring at a building far in the distance. The only possible reason anyone could have thought it was a good idea to include was so that motion control could be forced in, though no one ever thought to put it through proper QA testing.

The boss fights can be even more frustrating themselves when they require this perspective. While many bosses can be defeated without using missiles, or they will have breaks in their attacks that will fit just enough time to change perspectives and fire some heavy weapons off, many of them will provide no such quarter. Even worse is when the player has multiple targets in a room. The game gives no indication of being able to change targets to lock-on and gives no manual control over it, so if the player has several targets and happens to lock on the incorrect one they can’t simply look at a different foe. You have to look well away so the target is almost off screen and hope that Samus can lock onto the enemy you want. This becomes very, very annoying at the end game.

Yet these moments are a very minimal part of the game. They make up only a little bit while most of the game is dedicated to an action-oriented exploration of the space station. During the main play through many doors remain locked and the player will be forced on a mostly linear progression, but after the “final” boss the player returns and has an opportunity to go and collect everything in the station. Here it especially feels like an old fashioned Metroid game, and has an extra treat for long time fans of the franchise.

On the whole Metroid: Other M is an well designed game that is just as fun as any other entry in the series. There are only minor modifications to the overall gameplay, though some of the fights are difficult enough as to be frustrating. Many segments will even force players to pull their hair out in frustration and possibly even resort to GameFAQs. The greatest flaws, however, are in the forced first-person perspectives and the lop-sided difficulty curve (which is more like a downward slant overall).

Nonetheless this is an easy recommendation to anyone who owns a Wii. It’s not the best put together game, especially in the franchise, but it feels fresh while retaining all the nostalgic charms that had made the franchise one of Nintendo’s best.

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