PixlBit

Spoiler Alert: Samus is a girl.

Kathrine Theidy: Hi all! Now that we've all spent some time with Metroid: Other M, it's a good time to take a look at how it matches up to the series. Everyone who's beaten it, raise your hand.

Christopher Mabrey: *raise*

Nicholas DiMola: *hand up*

Jason Ross: Ha! Joke's on you! No one can see your hands!

Kathrine: I don't know about the lot of you, but I really enjoyed this game. I know it's missing a few Metroid staples, but I still think it's great for what it is.

Chris: I agree. I went into the game not really expecting anything, and I enjoyed the result for the most part.

Jason: I'd say it's my fourth favorite title, probably, of all the ones I've played.

Nick: I also enjoyed the game, but I'd say it's my least favorite Metroid title.

Kathrine: Even worse than Metroid II? I personally abhor that game.

Nick: They might be on the same page for me, personally.

Jason: I didn't play much of that one.

Chris: I've played only Super Metroid, Metroid Prime 1 and 3, and Metroid: Other M fully. I did try the multiplayer in the second Prime.

Jason: I put Super Metroid, Metroid: Zero Mission, then Metroid Fusion in front of this one, respectively. I practically finished the first Metroid Prime, but only played about two or three hours into the second and third. Additionally, I tried the first Metroid, and had nightmares from the archaic design.

Kathrine: I thought the perspective of Metroid: Other M worked really well to bring the classic 2D games into the third dimension without losing the feel.

Jason: I'll agree with that, Kathrine. But, at some points, I kind of wondered, "Why?" You know, when you're running down a narrow corridor, there's no reason to have all three dimensions present. In open rooms and heavy combat, it made a lot of sense, but often, things would've been less complicated if it were just 2D.

Nick: I don't know how much experience you guys have with the 3D Ninja Gaiden games, but Metroid: Other M felt very much in the same vein for me. In short, Other M feels like Ninja Gaiden with a blaster, and the Metroid elements feel kind of tacked on to that core formula. That's at least my impression after having played both of the new Ninja Gaiden titles.

Kathrine: I don't know, I thought things like the dodge mechanic felt right at home. The Metroid Prime games always made Samus feel like a tank. She's much more agile in Other M.

Jason: Except when the dodge left you facing the wrong way! I did like the extra mobility, and the fact that Samus runs everywhere... Except the times she walked incredibly slowly.

Nick: Ugh, I hated those rooms.

Chris: Yeah, I was not at all a fan of the walking, that was unnecessary, but the standard running speed was nice and brisk. I enjoyed being able to move her around, I can see the Super Metroid reference.

Jason: Except you get a run button in Super Metroid, which is debatably better and worse. She could have been a teeny bit faster, and I would have liked it slightly better. It's great for combat... but she's slightly too slow for traveling and such.

Kathrine: I never wanted to move more slowly at the least. No game is fast enough for you, Jason. You just want to teleport everywhere.

Chris: I think so too, Kathrine. I thought Samus's movement was very fluid. I didn't mind having to run around so much.

Nick: Yeah, her movement was very comfortable to control, with the exception of the running, which I though took too long to set off.

Kathrine: In Super Metroid, Samus took a few seconds to get going too.

Nick: I don't remember it taking quite this long. Also, it's frustrating if you accidentally hit left or right on the D-pad and it cancels the run.

Chris: Oh, if you're talking about her speed boost, I thought that took too long to happen. I just had several, several times where I needed to speed boost (not in areas that the environment was built to prevent it), and I'd frequently be just a couple of steps off from being able to reach it.

Kathrine: There was more space to cover, it had to take that long, or else there would be even more "speed bumps" to prevent you from Shinesparking too much.

Chris: Right, and that makes sense. I just got frustrated in areas where it was intended to be used how it was sometimes difficult to get the Shinespark. I was probably just being impatient, but it bothered me.

Jason: Shinesparking should be encouraged, but not mandatory!

Kathrine: Isn't it only mandatory once, unless you want to collect every item?

Jason: I don't know. I know Chris did it all over the place.

Kathrine: It's fun to do, that's why he did it everywhere!

Chris: Yep!

Kathrine: The Speed Booster was my favourite item in Super Metroid, I was thrilled to have it back.

Jason: Definitely. One of my favorites, too. So, that's a good point. For classic Metroid fans, fans before Metroid Prime, there's quite a bit of nostalgia. They sort of went easy on anything relating to a Prime game, though.

Kathrine: Other than the first-person perspective being a key gameplay mechanic? That's kind of influenced by Prime.

Jason: Oh right, I forgot about that. Along with it, weren't the Galactic Federation's uniforms influenced in the same way? They had the same generic "Space Marine" look they did in Prime II, right?

Kathrine: Like a bunch of Master Chiefs.

Nick: There were some definite pre-Prime throwbacks, which were real nice after three Prime games. Bosses were one of the biggest throwbacks, and Samus's Super Metroid abilities.

Jason: Kraid? Nope. No Kraid. Not even baby Kraid!

Kathrine: Yeah, we haven't gotten Kraid in a 3D Metroid game yet. Isn't Ridley the only returning boss, or did I not recognize one?

Nick: There are two others I believe.

Chris: I know of the optional final boss, but what as the other one aside from Ridley?

Nick: Nightmare and Phantoon.

Jason: Nightmare! The guy with the TV face! He messes with gravity. He was from Metroid Fusion. IMO, he was the hardest boss in Fusion, too.

Nick: Indeed.

Kathrine: Ah. I haven't played that game much. Now that you mention it, I remember it. I thought it was a trash can with arms.

Nick: Actually, I just thought of another that was a throwback, I don't know how it slipped my mind: Queen Metroid.

Kathrine: From which game?

Nick: Metroid II.

Kathrine: Eh, it looks pretty different. Are you sure it counts?

Jason: It hatches baby Metroids. Baby Ridley looked different.

Kathrine: On this note, how difficult would you say the bosses are?

Jason: On a scale from 1/10, I'd say it all depends on if you know what to do.

Kathrine: After I learned patterns, I didn't have too much trouble beating any of the bosses, besides Ridley. He's a cheating scumbag.

Nick: Ha ha.

Jason: How many times has he cheated death? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5? Five, maybe?

Nick: I thought they were pretty easy with the exception of the one we just mentioned

Kathrine: The final boss? Why was it difficult to you?

Nick: The Metroids. They're everywhere! And switching back and forth was pretty annoying.

Kathrine: After I figured out what to do, I thought it was one of the easier bosses. You just wait for one to come after you, dodge it, then fire a charge shot. Freezes 3-5 of them, then quickly blast them with missiles.

Chris: Yeah, I was impatient with those things.

Nick: Then, the spot where you have to power bomb, that wasn't obvious at all to me. It took Chessa and me like ten minutes because, how in the hell would you know to do that if you hadn't played Metroid before? Obviously we have, so we eventually figured it out.

Chris: We had the same problem. I didn't even see where it said we could use it. I was so conditioned to be told when I could use something.

Jason: I nearly killed the thing with charge shots. Since it has a life meter right before that part, we were really misled.

Kathrine: What else would you do? It's the one ability you haven't used, and at that point, you know Samus has become the boss of herself, so to speak.

Nick: That’s a huge leap of faith, it was very un-Nintendo.

Kathrine: That's great! That's the point! Sometimes I want un-Nintendo. It can be good too.

Chris: Right, but that expects the player to have paid attention and accessed the item/equipment menu and remembered that at the end during a critical moment after being told when an upgrade was available before.

Kathrine: Am I really the only one who thought of it after one failed attempt?

Nick: I think so.

Kathrine: I must be smarter than Jason thinks!

Jason: Chris couldn't charge fast enough. I got in two charge shots before she eats you. I thought there was chance for one more.

Chris: I tried everything. I was really confused since I could hurt it more than other times before going inside it in morph ball mode.

Kathrine: You can get out of morph ball mode inside there?

Jason: Nope. Before getting eaten, you can hurt her.

Nick: I figured it had to be a morph ball bomb, but I hadn't considered that the power bomb was unlocked. So yeah, that part was un-Nintendo, and after failing a number of times, it didn't even put a prompt to help me

Kathrine: I do agree it could've given some indication that you have to use it, but at least you don't have to go back to a save point when you lose.

Nick: True enough, just a little touch (one of many) that made it feel not like a Nintendo made game.

Jason: That, I did like. If you died during an important fight, you started right there.

Chris. Right. That would have really been ridiculous without the checkpoint.

Nick: Agreed.

Chris: There were several poor design choices like that made throughout. While, yes, we could have been more insightful, that's just not the experience that the rest of the game tried to uphold. Nothing too horrible, but one thing was having to find things to scan at cutscenes. That drove me nuts. Like with (slight spoilers) the final "fight" that happens after Queen Metroid. I tried to zoom in on a person of importance in the middle of the screen, but it didn't take my first couple of times. After that didn't seem to work, I kept trying to kill all of the regenerating enemies. That made me really annoyed.

Jason: Trying to find the place to scan, at times... and they take up about five pixels? That would take forever.

Nick: Pixel hunting sucked. The very end part of the game was the worst of it. The other one was finding the green goo on the ground. Also, not quite as bad, was finding the woman in the corridor.

Kathrine: I think those parts were intended to add immersion, to let you find what it is Samus is looking for. However, the fact that it is often unclear what you are supposed to find makes it difficult to find it, and it took me right out of the game.

Chris: I liked them for that aspect, but the things that you were looking for just weren't clear enough. All of a sudden I'm stuck in visor mode and I'm looking for "something," but I'm not exactly sure what.

Nick: They needed a wider set of pixels, then.

Kathrine: Going along with unclear indicators, are the times when it goes from a cutscene back to gameplay without warning.

Chris: Yeah; the pacing was a little wonky.

Jason: There haven't been all that many times in other Metroid games where that happened... And when it did, there were more than slightly subtle indicators.

Kathrine: One part that I had real trouble with, was when you enter the magma sector the first time. When that big lava fish comes out, I must’ve gotten eaten about ten times before I figured out exactly when to dodge it, and the first few times I kept trying to jump over it. It got me a few more times on the sprint over the rocks. I just couldn't get it right.

Chris: Oh; I think I just started spamming a directional button when slowdown happened. I do remember having to restart that area several times

Kathrine: That's a smart idea.

Jason: Whenever in doubt, I just tap the D-pad as fast as possible.

Nick: LOL that's what I did too. I didn't realize it could even catch you.

Jason: Nick's acting like he didn't have trouble there...

Kathrine: He actually didn't. Because Chessa played that part.

Jason: Oh, right.

Nick: Ha ha.

Kathrine: Some bosses had this issue too, like Ridley especially. When you hit him with a Super Missile, the camera zooms in for a close-up. If there's a projectile coming at you, you'll get hit because you can't see it.

Chris: I remember that part when fighting Ridley. Sometimes those moments were just tedious. The dodging system should have been more intuitive, I think.

Jason: How about the ability to move, in some way, in the first person mode? Just a dodge, or something?

Kathrine: You can dodge in first-person with the D-pad.

Jason: That works?

Kathrine: Yes.

Jason: Hmm. I didn't realize. Ok, I take that complaint back. I know, I know, I'm harping on things a bit... But really, it's not a bad game.

Kathrine: Not at all, you big haters!

Jason: It's no Super Metroid, but it isn't bad. I know we're only partway through, but I want to make that clear.

Nick: No Metroid Prime series either.

Jason: Better than the Metroid Prime series, maybe.

Kathrine: I'm sick of those, honestly. I much prefer this to Prime 4. We've already been through that three times. I never finished Prime 3, it just didn't grab me. I was ready for something new.

Nick: I'd rather have Prime 4.

Jason: I'm not opposed to the Prime series, not at all. They can make as many Prime games as they want. Just expect me to get tired of them all after about an hour or two, and we're good.

Chris: I was tired of the Primes, honestly. They were definitely good, but I was ready for something new. I think if they were to build on what they did this time, learn from their mistakes, they could make a really great game. But, yeah, Jason, it certainly wasn't a bad game as it stands.

Jason: Like the Prime series, it lacked something I think that's important: Sequence breaking. You can't even bomb jump in this one. There's an invisible limit on how high you can go. The method is there, there's just a nonsensical limit.

Kathrine: Most sequence-breaking was due to glitches or abuse of ability. It wasn't intentional. Now, I will agree this game doesn’t have the polish the Prime series did. But I liked what I saw here, I hope another game in this style is made.

Nick: It was just far too linear.

Kathrine: Yeah, seeing a style like this with a planetary exploration would be the next step.

Chris: Yep. I completely agree.

Jason: Or, maybe Samus goes nuts and decides to enforce marshal law, and tries to take down the Galactic Federation. Never gonna happen, but it would be an interesting plot.

Kathrine: Samus should have died at the end. Then she gets cloned and becomes Smaus.

Jason: Then people can say "Smaus is a girl?!"

Chris: I'd be up for some more zero-suit segments, too. Samus with Alien genetic power!

Check out Part Two »