| |
Wii Game News & Reviews - bnext bnext community
| Join the bnext community and meet other members
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wii Review
| Metroid: Other M
| What do Metroid and Ninja Gaiden have in common? Nothing. So then, imagine the thoughts running through the minds of Metroid fans over the globe when, at E3 2009, Nintendo announced that they’d be partnering with developers of the latter game for the next big adventure of Samus Aran. Famed Metroid co-creator and director Yoshio Sakamoto was back at the helm for the first time since Fusion, talking about exploring the past of Samus and his vision of the character, and a return to classic gameplay in what would be his debut 3D game. Some were intrigued, others were concerned, but most everybody had no idea what to expect. Now here we are, more than a year later, finally able to behold what this unusual collaboration of developers and design has crafted for this legacy franchise.
Heralded as the first 3D iteration of Metroid from a third person perspective, Nintendo unusually chose to confine character movement to the Wii remote’s D-pad. From observation alone, it seemed irrational to restrict a 3D dynamic to basic digital controls, but thankfully what could have been a disaster instead works wonderfully. Outside of a few unfortunate exceptions, most rooms and environments appear to have been designed around the limitations of digital navigation rather than digital control forced into traditional 3D design. Even with uncontrollable panning, locked camera perspectives, and a fast movement speed, the task of navigating Samus down corridors, up platforms, and over obstructions is made intuitive and effortless. There are a handful of instances where tricky platforming coupled with a skewed perspective makes for clumsy interaction, and some thumbs will wrestle with the tiny size of the Wii remote’s D-pad, but for the most part it’s a surprisingly adaptable method of control, and a comfortable hybrid between modern 3D interaction and classic 2D gameplay of old.
Other M brings a particularly significant change to the series in its combat. Clearly influenced by Team Ninja’s experience in the action genre, there’s far less emphases on accuracy of shots, largely due to beam fire automatically homing in on nearby targets. Instead, there’s a shifted focus to athletics, with Samus given three new agile abilities: the ‘Sensemove’ lets you rapidly dodge out of the way of incoming enemy attacks with the tap of a d-pad, ‘Overblast’ has you grapple atop an enemy to deliver a deadly blow, and ‘Fatal Strike’ delivers a crippling shot to an enemy’s weak point. Missiles too have been given an overhaul. Whereas they were traditionally used as a versatile high damage attack, they are instead shaped into a weapon and used more sparingly. Functionally, they can only be fired when in first person and locked-on to a target, which involves shifting the Wii remote to point at the screen, and are usually reserved exclusively for stripping away enemy shielding and beam invulnerabilities. This is all accompanied by a revised health system; instead of fallen enemies dropping health and missile ammunition, players will have to make do with whatever resources they’ve got until they either refill at scattered navigation rooms, or use the new ‘Concentration’ move to recover depleted missiles and, should they be close to death, an energy tank or two.
All of these changes are seamlessly integrated into the control scheme, for most part. There’s a moderate learning curve on the shift to first person perspective, which will initially feel unwieldy for some players, but once mastered the experience come together wonderfully. There’s great exhilaration in switching to first person to break away an enemy’s shielding with a well placed rocket, sensemoving into a fully charged blaster shot, and then grappling them for a close-quarters blast into oblivion all in a matter of seconds, and there’s a heightened intensity in trying to pull off a concentration while a lumbering boss towers overhead. The end result is something much more visceral than any past Metroid, and Other M presents arguably the most agile and deadly incarnation of Samus yet.
But enough of the controls, what of the adventure? Fans familiar with the franchise will find that Other M progresses at a similar pace to Fusion, for better or worse, as the pure isolation and exploration found in the likes of Super Metroid is diminished in favour of a more streamlined, linear approach. Just as Fusion gave a clear indication of where to find your next objective, so too does Other M, sticking a waypoint marker on your radar to keep you pointed in the right direction. It goes even further, with the necessary pathways through rooms much more evident than previous games, and a reduced emphasis on backtracking as you make your way through the story. Yet even with this more focused direction there’s still a great deal of familiarity to classic Metroid gameplay. Iconic suit and beam powers collected throughout the game are all versatile and used effectively, for battling the population of both new and old enemies, and for exploiting the many doorways, crevices, and secrets areas that litter most rooms. Sometimes it’s as simple as finding a morph ball hole, or blowing open a door with a rocket, while other secrets are much more demanding, requiring the mastering of skills and abilities such as a well timed shinespark. Successful exploration will net rewards in the forms of classic items as the energy and missile tanks, as well as a few new ones like the ‘Accel Charge’, which increases the rate at which your bream charges, and the ‘E-Recovery Tank’, which allows you to recover even more health during concentration. It is during these moments of discovery that the core of the Metroid formula is still well and truly present, even when dressed more streamlined and approachable presentation.
The usual free exploration and pacing is occasionally broken up by scripted story sequences, mostly composed of slower over-the-shoulder tension building scenarios, and forced first person scavenger hunts. Neither work particularly well, with the over-the-shoulder segments unnecessarily highlighting the limitations of D-pad control, and the first person Where’s Wally nonsense frustrates as you try to figure out what, exactly, the game wants you to look at. Luckily they’re rare occurrences that only make up a fraction of the entire package, but nonetheless intrude on otherwise solid pacing. As for length, a single playthrough should take around seven to eight hours, while going for 100% should bring you into double digits. There are unlockable art galleries and a cinema mode, and a special post credits sequence gives players a chance to embark on one last adventure and collect any missed items during the first playthrough, as well as a few big surprises.
Artistically, the game is chiefly a direct translation of Super Metroid, with enemies, characters and environments spearheaded towards more colourful and quirky looking beasts over the pragmatic direction of Retro’s Metroid Prime series. On a whole it looks reasonably nice, a crisp display and wide colour palette, but it lacks the alluring enchantment and believability so well known with Prime. It doesn’t help that much of the Bottle Ship’s architecture is that of murky greys corridors, and the more inventive areas are let down by muddy texturing. It is thankful then that majority of characters and creatures, particular bosses, are rather spectacular looking. High poly counts and a number of shaders dazzle, but it is their lively animations that really bring them to life. It should be no surprise that it is in these areas that Samus herself steals the show. Other M is graced with one of the nicest looking and detailed Samus models yet, and her athletic prowess is convincingly portrayed with a wealth of captivating animations. These highlights help ease the disappointment of some graphical oddities, which are further obscured by gorgeous particle and special effects, and the entire package blitzing by at a near consistent sixty frames per second.
If there’s one significant criticism to the game’s presentation it has to the music. A departure from the iconic and moody themes associated with the franchise, the soundtrack is instead a handful of orchestral tracks and digital mixes, some subdued and barely noticeable, and others that would be more at home in a generic space opera. Occasionally the music will suitably fit a scene, particularly during climatic boss fights, but as a whole it’s sadly forgettable. Sound effects all work well where appropriate, but much like the music are absent of anything truly memorable.
Lastly we come to what will undoubtedly be the most divisive addition to the Metroid franchise; the story. A series well known for using minimalism as a means of driving the plot, the seeds of narration sewn by Fusion have grown high. Other M is chock full of film clips, some pre-rendered and others in-engine, most of which are narrated by Samus herself, who will melodramatically repeat herself with excessive use of adjectives during bloated monologues, and while learning about her past is interesting, sometimes you’ll wish she’d just shut up and get on with it. The core mystery of the Bottle Ship is itself intriguing, but conveyed nowhere near as well as it should have been. Nods to past and future Metroid titles, as well as additions to the Metroid lore, are well valued highlights, but the presentation and flow of the story are simply the epitome of average.
It’s difficult to finger where it went wrong; it could be a translation issue and cultural story difference between East and West, it could be the questionable acting or fault of the cinematic director, or it might be that the writing at its core just plain stinks. In a medium rampant with average writing it won’t seem too bad to some, about on par with the quality of story and writing of many other popular games, and the production values of the cinematics are impressively high, but for a good few people the story will be frustratingly intrusive, made all the worse by the lack of a ‘skip’ button until you’ve already completed the game. It’s a tolerable addition to the Metroid norm, but unfortunately not one that will sit well with everybody.
So what, then, do we make of a title with so many polarising features? With one hand it draws heavy inspiration from what makes Metroid so great, yet on the other it upturns and rebuilds the formula for a new generation. What we’re left with is an experiment. An idea that is totally Metroid, but presented as something fresh. At its worst, Other M can be a jaded beast of questionable design and confronting direction, yet at its best it is extraordinarily memorable. Sure, not everybody will like the cinematics and story, and yes, the lack of impressionable music and sometimes bland art direction is disappointing, but slick pacing and control, brilliant battle and navigation design, all topped with exhilarating boss fights and great extras all come together in a package that's more than deserving of the Metroid title. It could have been better, but it’s still fantastic in its own right.
Hopefully this is just the beginning of a fruitful relationship between Nintendo and Team Ninja, and the two go on to expand the formula evident here, because while Samus might not be the most interesting person to listen to, she sure is a lot fun to play with.
| The Score
Experimental by design. It might not always work, but when it does its an experience hard to forget, wearing the Metroid tag with pride with its head held high. 8
| Check out PAL Gaming Network for more Wii Game News and Reviews.
| Content provided by PAL Gaming Network.
| Home
|
|
|
|
