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Metroid: Other Mistakes

Started by Jesuszilla, September 12, 2010, 10:56:32 PM

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Jesuszilla

September 12, 2010, 10:56:32 PM Last Edit: September 12, 2010, 10:58:33 PM by Jesuszilla
It's being received with generally negative reception.

My personal favorite title (which is reflected in the name of this thread):
The "M" Stands for "Mistakes"



Can't remember the last time a Nintendo game was received this badly by the general public... usually they eat their shit up.


Just try to keep things peaceful.

UHMEEEEBA

Hoo boy you have no idea. I've got a laundry list the size of Texas of things that are wrong with this game. I am a bit too busy to finish playing it (A shocker I know) though to post my thoughts as of yet. That and I'm out of beer.

Having said that... that's a list of GameFAQs reviews not exactly the most... trusting of sources you know? Still a game average of barely 81 for a major Nintendo game is pretty much unheard of.

UHMEEEEBA

Still too early for me to say much of anything, so here have a video instead.



And this is a condescending video and it still goes on for nine minutes. That's how fucking overwrought this game is. Also, Plasma Beams.

Fusion

I feel like I could make an Awesome-style thing of this without it even really being accurate, just base it off of the criticisms alone.

UHMEEEEBA

September 18, 2010, 01:28:18 AM #4 Last Edit: September 18, 2010, 01:34:35 AM by UHMEEEEBA
Quote[14:29] <@UHMEEEEBA> http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-09-metroid-other/50237
[14:29] <@UHMEEEEBA> It would also seem to be a prequel...
[14:30] <Mgbenz> It has 2d platforming sections.
[14:31] <@Kung_Fu_Man> Team Ninja's involvement makes me worry a little bit, and not because of difficulty.
[14:31] <@UHMEEEEBA> I remember when Metroid games where actually about exploration.
[14:31] <@UHMEEEEBA> I think any hint of that won't be present in Other M.
[14:31] <@UHMEEEEBA> Mainly because of Team Ninja.
[14:32] <@Kung_Fu_Man> Agreed
[14:32] <@UHMEEEEBA> Prime 3 was also really bad in that aspect and one of the reasons I hated it.
[14:32] <@UHMEEEEBA> This is Metroid in the same way Bomberman Act Zero is Bomberman.
[14:32] <@Kung_Fu_Man> I don't think Samus's past or love life is really something I've actively pondered when playing any of the metroid games.
[14:33] <@Kung_Fu_Man> It'd be like if they made an Alien 0 with some tell all about Ripley.
[14:33] <@[Kira]> Who ate all the gabbagool?
[14:33] <@[Kira]> Wait
[14:33] <@[Kira]> Team Ninja?
[14:33] <@[Kira]> Metroid?
[14:33] <@[Kira]> Nigger WHAT
[14:34] <@Kung_Fu_Man> Mario Galaxy 2 isn't doing it for me.
[14:34] <@UHMEEEEBA> Well if anything this will vindicate Retro Studios work with the series.

Quote from the day Metroid Other M was announced, sometimes you can smell the shit ages in advance.

Expect my full impressions... maybe early next week depending on how much of my free time is stolen from me.

Edit:



Remember invisible walls from the mid 90s in video gaming? Other M didn't get the memo about them being out of style.

Jesuszilla



Just try to keep things peaceful.

UHMEEEEBA

I am not reviewing this game, just getting that out of the way right up front. Reason being that if I did the game would probably not only break the score meter like Bubsy II's plot did but do it much, but much worse. To that end I am not even going to bother assigning numbers to the various aspects of Metroid Other M and instead will just be discussing it and the things about it that bother me. This is also why I am not posting in the review section of the board. Since I am so busy and I have a lot to say I'm going to be doing this in sections (and even sections of sections). So with that disclaimer out of the way I shall start with the gameplay.

Other M is in a 3d game in a 3rd person perspective, fair enough there are plenty of games like that. But one of Other M's major problems is the control scheme, it's damn awful and really hurts the game. You use just the Wiimote ala an NES controller out of some warped sense of nostalgia. This is a 3d game, you're shooting things with a controller with options for movement and two primary buttons it doesn't take a brain surgeon to realize there is a problem here. It is due to this Samus auto targets anything she's pointing at, this would be a good thing but sadly it degenerates most enemy engagements into running around in a circle and jamming the fire button until everything dies. Using a directional pad for 3d movement isn't that bad and I'm pretty sure you've played a game at some point with a similar scheme but those were when there wasn't any better options, this game really has no excuse. There have supposedly been dev leaks that Team Ninja actually tried to get the control scheme changed but were ignored. Hmm, this is going to become a bit of a theme as Team Ninja really only did the gameplay and have seemingly been set up as the fall guy, everything else was decided by one guy I'll mention later.

But Other M decides to mix things up too, you can't use missiles while using the controller NES style. You have to point at the screen to go into a first person perspective and then shoot using basically the same interface from Metroid Prime 3... minus the ability to move, this wouldn't be so bad most games have this for sniping and what not but there can at times be a very noticeable lag in the time you point at the screen until the time you can actually fire. In that time the enemy has probably beaten you up a bit. By the way Super Missiles return using their Prime variant, as does the Missile Seeker which are really the only references to the games.

However never fear as you can dodge attacks too. In normal view you simply dodge by pressing a button on the d-pad when you're about to get hit... the same one you use to move. Given you will pretty much be always moving as described above this essentially automatic. You can dodge in first person to, by guess what? Waggle. Tangentially related you can also use "sense" abilities which essentially let Samus grapple certain enemies when they've been stunned, whoopee.

The game developers where tired of Samus tripping on a rock and losing all her stuff so Samus doesn't find her upgrades anymore. She already has them all but decides not to use them because Adam orders her not to. Fine enough she wants to show she's mature to Adam or whatever as I'll get into later, and Adam has a point on not wanting to cause collateral damage to the ship with Samus's more powerful abilities like the Super Missile and Power Bombs. Therefore Samus only uses her abilities when Adam has given her permission, despite not really gelling with the character (this is the smallest problem about that by the way), it is still believable... to a point. Adam has to authorize the Varia Suit, which has no offensive function and is just a glorified heat shield after Samus has burnt to a crisp a bit in the games lava area. Oh it gets better, he has to authorize other certain weapons but will only do so if you look at certain places on the screen, one of these times is when one of your companions can die, nice move guys. It gets even better though, later in the game Samus finally decides to hell with it and authorizes herself some abilities to trace down a traitor, very shortly thereafter Samus fights a boss that would be much easier with the Gravity Suit... I don't think I have to tell you she waits until the last minute to authorize which is well after she already defeated the boss the first time. By the way the Gravity Suit has been reduced to a purple glowy effect, top effort guys.

Exploration in this game is virtually non-existent until you get past the credits. The game is very story driven so you only go where the game says and it means it, it will lock doors to other parts of the areas just because it can. Fusion did this at certain parts but not nearly to this extent, and even then you still had more or less free reign whenever you went to a sector, here not so much. On the way you can collect various expansions and whatnot like always but again due to the limitation on exploration they're pretty much all in plain sight. Even then if they aren't after killing all the enemies in a room the game will tell you if there is anything in it. Upon completion of the game you gain access to the entire space station and can go wherever you want this is honestly the only real fun part of the game. Oh and as shown a couple posts above this, the game has invisible walls, class act Team Ninja.

On the subject of expansions, missiles only add 1, yes one to your missile count, I'll get into the reasons for this in another paragraph. Energy Tanks are now occasionally split into four... like Zelda... joy. There are new expansions such as the Energy Recover Tank and Accel Charge, the latter decreases your charge shot time the former, well I'll discuss that below.

Enemies no longer drop health or missiles. Instead Samus has to concentrate to recharge her missiles and health, or use a save station. Even then you can only recharge health when you're down to one energy tank remaining, and you only get as much health as you have Energy Recover Tanks, I think it caps off at four. I honestly don't understand what they were thinking with this system, it's just stupid and I honestly think they only did it for a blurb on the back of the box to show how "original" they were.

At various points in the game you stop whatever you're doing and have to scan something. Oh no not in the Metroid Prime type of scan where you find out Space Pirates horribly deformed themselves reverse engineering the Morph Ball (not joking they mention it in Prime 1), no these are for plot and you cannot proceed until you find what the game wants you to. They're really just annoying, break the flow and sometimes it can be pretty obnoxious to figure out just what the game wants you to look at.

In past Metroid games you could take a dip in some lava and be fine if you hopped right out, in Prime 2 you can jump off several cliffs only to respawn, in Metroid II you can get eaten by the Queen Metroid and it's no big deal. What I'm getting at is there haven't been instant kills in the Metroid series, Other M decides it is ok with instant kills. Samus can get crushed by an elevator, killed by an avalanche and eaten just to name a few. They're obnoxious but the game is actually fairly generous with retry points so really it's just a pain in the ass than anything game breaking.

So I'm pretty sure I talked about everything gameplay wise worth bitching about. Sad thing is the underlying engine isn't that bad!  With a few tweaks it could actually have played pretty damn well, use the Nunchuck setting with a button for perspective switching, have some more exploration, make Samus's authorization less stupid and get rid of the "Where's Waldo?" bits and hey you'd have a pretty decent playing game. Sure it's still be pretty bad for reasons I'll get at later but it'd be better, and the engine does have some promise for future use if they manage to address all the things wrong with the game. Having said that, that will never happen for reasons I will get to later.

KoopaKoot

Dude is that a copy and paste? It reads like all the reviews of this game.

Not saying the points are correct, but the last paragraph is the only part that's needed to tell the truth.

I've played through the game. The only problems I had from the ones you mentioned were the lag between 1st and 3rd person mode, no item drops from enemies, being forced to walk or stop completely to look for something that's of no significance (in the prime games, at least something worth scanning would be highlighted in blue, green or red) and Samus getting scared of Ridley (that was pointless(of course you didn't mention that)).

I think you can dodge in 1st person with the dpad. Maybe.

Oh, and having Adam authorise your tech was bs. I'd rather Samus not go in with them at all or have her get jacked like in echoes.


Click Here.

UHMEEEEBA

Nope, haven't even actually read any of the reviews. I just felt like being extensive, hence why I went on more than normal.

Jesuszilla

September 18, 2010, 09:28:33 PM #9 Last Edit: September 18, 2010, 09:31:01 PM by Jesuszilla
So, controls aside, let's say if this wasn't a Metroid game at all, or you've never even played Metroid... would it be any good?

Right now it just sounds like the biggest problem is that it doesn't do the traditional things in other Metroid games (which I also haven't played and don't intend to). I was about to say that instant kills are in Mario games and don't sound too farfetched, but then I think, and it'd be like if you instantly had to continue in Zelda if you missed a jump, which would be pretty fucking annoying.


Just try to keep things peaceful.

UHMEEEEBA

September 18, 2010, 09:50:23 PM #10 Last Edit: September 18, 2010, 10:29:35 PM by UHMEEEEBA
Actually it probably would be a little better all things considered then, but even as an action game like it wants to be it's pretty subpar... but then again how many games like this can you name on the Wii, yeah. The auto aiming pretty much makes most of the enemy fights in the game a joke but honestly I don't see how else they could have done it. Bosses tend to require missiles and therefore are a bit more difficult. Instant deaths tend not to be too annoying as you're dropped off pretty much right before it.

I'm not a fan of the gameplay decisions they made but again it's not as bad as I figured it'd be. Really the lack of exploring has been an issue before, notably in the latter two Prime games, and the health system really isn't much more annoying than Hyper mode in Prime 3. It's just all those little things pack on and pile on and together they start being a bit obnoxious. I would recommend renting it first, provided you can either find a rental store or borrow someones Gamefly subscription.

Having said that this game has more noticeable problems in the plot than anything.

Fusion

So it is an unnecessary interlude that should have been a remake of Metoid 2 instead?

UHMEEEEBA

September 20, 2010, 12:26:09 PM #12 Last Edit: September 20, 2010, 12:32:04 PM by UHMEEEEBA
Oh no, there is a plot here that does build on Super Metroid... technically. It's just fucking awful. If anything you could argue it being a remake of Fusion more than anything since the setup is pretty much the same.

I do think it will ultimately prove "unnecessary" though as I don't think they're making the numbers in Japan they thought they would, and the abroad reactions haven't been as good as they were expecting.

Fusion


UHMEEEEBA

You know what they say, "The customer is always right". Sakamoto never heard that expression before.

At least he has a dinosaur named after him (no really that's why he's named Yoshi).