Metroid other M reviews are CRAP!

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Atarifever1
Posts: 3892
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Metroid other M reviews are CRAP!

Postby Atarifever1 » September 2nd, 2010, 7:47 am

I don't have the system anymore, so I  can't play this game.  However, this review from Nintendo World Report is the clearest I have seen.  Apparently he says the game turns into a real Metroid game once you finish the story part.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/23945


Josh

Metroid other M reviews are CRAP!

Postby Josh » September 2nd, 2010, 1:37 pm

I can't play the game now. The update that is contained on the Wii screwed my console up. It looks like it is only outputting in 480i.

I switched out AV cables and then switched to component while talking to the tech lady. I thought that it might have fixed it but she said to send it on in because the game contained known technical glitches. What the . . . ?

This gen. of consoles sucks in my opinion.

On a brighter note, I was having a lot of fun with Metroid. The gameplay is actually pretty great. Be a whole lot better in HD.

Orion1
Posts: 598
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Metroid other M reviews are CRAP!

Postby Orion1 » September 4th, 2010, 5:31 pm

I purchased the game the day it came out and have played it for about an hour and a half.  The one word I would use to describe my experiences so far is "boring."  I hardly ever remember being bored in a Metroid game.  After the initial play period, I have not gone back.  I plan on it, I am just not motivated right now.

I am hoping that the game will start to become better as I become accustomed to what Team Ninja has done.  Deep down inside I want this game to be Metroid Prime 4, but I know that I have to let that go in order to enjoy the game.

Atarifever1
Posts: 3892
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Metroid other M reviews are CRAP!

Postby Atarifever1 » September 4th, 2010, 9:50 pm

[QUOTE=Orion]

I am hoping that the game will start to become better as I become accustomed to what Team Ninja has done.  Deep down inside I want this game to be Metroid Prime 4, but I know that I have to let that go in order to enjoy the game.
[/QUOTE]

If I'm being totally honest, I'm never really on board with what Team Ninja does.  I think they're moderately okay developers at best.

Orion1
Posts: 598
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Metroid other M reviews are CRAP!

Postby Orion1 » September 4th, 2010, 11:31 pm

[QUOTE=Atarifever]

[QUOTE=Orion]

I am hoping that the game will start to become better as I become accustomed to what Team Ninja has done.  Deep down inside I want this game to be Metroid Prime 4, but I know that I have to let that go in order to enjoy the game.
[/QUOTE]

If I'm being totally honest, I'm never really on board with what Team Ninja does.  I think they're moderately okay developers at best.
[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I don't know too much about them.  Does anyone know why they didn't pick the Retro Studios this time around?  Maybe they wanted a "fresh" game, but it's not like the Metroid Primes didn't sell well.

I just looked it up on Wikipedia, apparently Retro was working on the Donkey Kong Country:

"When Metroid: Other M was announced it was revealed that it was not being developed by Retro but instead by Project M, it was said Retro was developing another game. Reggie Fils-Aime said that they were working on something other than Metroid.[47] Then in E3 2010 it was unveiled that the game was Donkey Kong Country Returns."

Leo1
Posts: 2325
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Metroid other M reviews are CRAP!

Postby Leo1 » September 4th, 2010, 11:55 pm

Besides the Donkey Kong Country remake, I have to think they're hard on work on something else that is also occupying much of their time. I doubt they've been putting all their resources since Metroid Prime 3 was released years ago (Besides some time spent with Metroid Prime Trilogy) into a Donkey Kong Country remake.

[QUOTE=Atarifever]If I'm being totally honest, I'm never really on board with what Team Ninja does.  I think they're moderately okay developers at best.
[/QUOTE]

Glad to see someone else that thinks that way. I've never quite gotten the appeal of their work despite playing games like Ninja Gaiden on the Xbox.

m0zart1
Posts: 3117
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Metroid other M reviews are CRAP!

Postby m0zart1 » September 5th, 2010, 2:25 am

I'm almost at the tail end of the game now, and all I can say is that I have definitely enjoyed my time in the game.  Everytime I picked the game up, it has been better than it was before.

But there are negatives...

The combat IS a bit too much like Ninja Gaiden to me.  I'm not a fan of that game or its combat.  Still, it's not as bad as it is in Ninja Gaiden, and once you lock all of Samus' powers down, it ceases to be so tough in combat.

I am also not a fan of Samus' powers being granted to her by Adam at scripted moments in the game.  This is not just another replacement for the item search that Samus usually does in the game.  In that situation, Samus had to locate those powers before she could proceed, and this added enjoyment to the process.  Having them granted to you at scripted moments takes that challenge away.  However, there are still items you have to find along the way -- energy tanks (some full, some segmented requiring you to find four parts), missile packs (only one missile is added per pack), and renewal energy capacity packs (Samus can meditate to restore energy anytime she is close to death, which can be restored up to the capacity of the restoration packs she carries).  Many of these items are very well hidden and require you to think through what you are doing and observe a lot of your environment to find clues as to how to get them.

Outside of Samus going all emo, I think the story fits well.  I especially loved the nuances in place on Samus' battle with her traditional rival.  I don't particularly like some of the cut-scenes, but after the beginning of the game, they were fewer and farther between.  However, the boss battle I just mentioned is the worst situation you will run into with the cut-scenes -- before you can proceed to a boss battle, you must go through many lengthy cut-scenes and fist-person "search" sequences to proceed.  And since there's no save point in between and no way to skip these cut-scenes, dying requires you to go through it all again and again if you tire of it and choose not to continue.  The boss battle is a particularly tough one, and so it is definitely a poorly designed experience outside of the fact that the battle itself kicks so much butt.

I want to give some fair warning that some unexpected enemies will make a return, and unless you know the series inside and out, you might be confused at times.  For instance, there's a boss battle at the end of the game that I absolutely loved, but if you haven't played Metroid 2: Return of Samus on the Gameboy to the very end, you may have no idea what is going on when you reach this battle.

Anyway, the game opens up at some point after a particular dramatic event.  Once this happens, the game is much more like a Metroid game than it is in the story mode, with the only real absence being of anything other than minor enemy fights rather than boss battles.  Basically you have to explore areas you couldn't reach before during this time and get all of the items, many of which as I mentioned before are very well hidden.  It's a shame that the Team Ninja developers couldn't have merged the battles, story, and open environmental puzzle into one big experience instead of segmenting them this way, but it is definitely a Metroid game at the end of the day.

EDIT:  Now that I've achieved the ending, the game opens up even more, allowing you to access specific parts that you were unable to access during the game through an item that was only authorized after the final boss battle.  After the credits, you have to return to the station to find the rest of the items, for some unexplained reason.  There are a few battles with a creature you only found at the end of the game during the final battle, and these are tough creatures even when you are fully powered, but still for the most part there are no boss battles or new creatures.  And I don't see much of a point in collecting these items yet -- I suppose I'll see it when I get to the end of this post-credits game.

Also, I'd like to point out that the reason I was apparently having to go through cut-scenes over and over again is because I refused to use "continue".  After dying in a game I often take a break then return a short time later, so I was always selecting "No" on continue. Hence I'd have to start up and go through the cut-scenes again.  I chose to avoid that in the final battle because there was just too much to repeat, and it puts you right back into the battle where you left off.

I still lament that they could not merge all of these qualities into one non-segmented Metroid experience.  I strongly suspect that a better developer might have been able to do it.  In any case, anyone who thought this was going to replace Metroid Prime as the definitive Metroid experience in 3D can lay those thoughts to rest.

m0zart1
Posts: 3117
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Metroid other M reviews are CRAP!

Postby m0zart1 » September 6th, 2010, 12:35 am

[QUOTE=m0zart]Now that I've achieved the ending, the game opens up even more, allowing you to access specific parts that you were unable to access during the game through an item that was only authorized after the final boss battle.  After the credits, you have to return to the station to find the rest of the items, for some unexplained reason.  There are a few battles with a creature you only found at the end of the game during the final battle, and these are tough creatures even when you are fully powered, but still for the most part there are no boss battles or new creatures.  And I don't see much of a point in collecting these items yet -- I suppose I'll see it when I get to the end of this post-credits game.[/QUOTE]

And I do now see it.  Yes, there's a reason to go back to the ship and collect the items.  I won't go into what it is, but it pays some kudos to a very original and confusing part of Super Metroid.  Apparently you don't even have to collect all the items to do this bonus ending sequence, though I believe you will need every last one of them and should probably collect them before proceeding.

All in all I enjoyed this game.  I wouldn't mind if something like the last part of the game were repeated in a future Metroid game only on a grander "full game" scale and without the emo Samus and elongated cut-scenes.  That would be ok with me.  But I hope that the package as a whole does NOT represent the future of Metroid.  One game with a chatty and emotional Samus was enough, IMO.

QF

Metroid other M reviews are CRAP!

Postby QF » September 6th, 2010, 1:26 am

Cut scenes aside...
I love the gameplay. I don't get anyone saying the graphics look dated. It looks beautiful.



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