Friday, September 10, 2010

Video game number two hundred and sixty one: Metroid: Other M

Video game review number two hundred and sixty one in my 365 Games in 365 Days project is "Metroid: Other M"

Once, I loved Metroid. On the original Nintendo (back in the long, long ago)...I played through that entire game only to find out the hero was a girl (!!). I totally entered the "Justin Bailey code", which let me play the game again, this time with the hero in what looked like a swimsuit.

On the Super Nintendo (my favorite version of the game), I played the hell out of Super Metroid. I can't even remember how many times I played it. There was a Gameboy version (which I enjoyed)...and then, for some reason, they decided to turn Metroid into a first person shooter. Suddenly, I didn't like it so much anymore.

I have seen several screens of Other M, and although it looked like more of the same....I wanted to be open minded. I booted the game, and what do you know...it asked me to turn the controller sideways. Now we're getting somewhere.

The game starts with some rather lengthy cut scenes. They're pretty cool, and tell you a bit of the story (which seems like it's continuing from a previous 3D game that I have not played). You get a feel for the controls with a tutorial level and then it's on to space to fly to your next mission.

You land at a space station. A very dark space station. You meet some friends, fight some bad guys, and find your way up through the (very dark) tunnels.

There's a map in the top right of the screen which (sort of) helps you get around. When you're traveling horizontally, this is kind of fun, but sometimes you have to travel diagonally, and then the controls get a bit wonky. Combat is mostly auto-lock on (which is nice), but because the gameplay is sort of 3rd person now, I found that I often managed to shoot in the wrong direction.

The jumping reminded me of the older games (I liked that), but a lot of the combat didn't feel quite right, especially missles, which you must stop, point the remote at the TV screen, and aim in the third person to shoot. Doing this in battle is nearly impossible.

There have been about 11 Metroid games, and I've only played 4 or 5 of them. Of those 5, I've only (really) liked 3....so I'm wondering if I can still call myself a Metroid fan at this point. I only liked a handful of the Zelda games, so I think the same thing applies there too. One thing is for sure: This new Metroid game is not my cup of tea.

Overall Score? 6/10. As far as Wii games go, I suppose it's slightly above average, but I was not a fan of the controls, and the graphics aren't terribly great at all. I know it's about as good as the Wii can do, but this really doesn't feel "next gen". The cut scenes are the one exception to that comment (they are fantastic).

I'm going to return this one to Gamefly, where I'm sure someone else can rent and love it.

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