It’s common for longstanding series to
change up their formula over the years. “Metroid” in particular
has reinvented itself a couple times. Back in 2002, the “Prime”
subseries brought “Metroid” into the third dimension with a
first-person view. With the latest in the series, “Metroid: Other
M,” Nintendo and Team Ninja has returned to a (mainly) third-person
perspective in a game that largely eschews the open ended exploration
of previous titles in favor of a more streamlined, action-driven and
character-centric experience.

Plot takes center stage in “Other M,”
which is a notable departure from the rest of the largely
cutscene-free Metroid series. Particularly, “Other M” focuses on
the series’ protagonist Samus Aran, expanding her backstory and
rounding out her character. The story takes place shortly after the
events of 1994’s “Super Metroid.”A few weeks after the
destruction of Planet Zebes, Samus picks up a distress call from a
derelict space station called the Bottle Ship. Samus meets up a
squadron from the Galactic Federation that includes her former
commander and mentor Adam Malkovich.

The cutscenes were animated by
D-Rockets, a Tokyo-based CG studio, and do a great job of expanding
the typically claustrophobic Metroid universe through flashback
scenes that explore Samus’ backstory. The voice acting is believable
and the writing is definitely above average for a video game.

A lot of the discussion around “Other
M” has focused on how it has moved away from the series’
traditional open-ended exploration model. This is half true. The game
certainly has a more linear approach that is perhaps closest to
2002’s “Metroid Fusion,” though it’s not quite as open-ended as
that game. That said, there is some exploration and backtracking, as
many of the rooms on the Bottle Ship have items hidden in them that
either require some clever poking around or an ability you won’t get
until later.

The way abilities are unlocked is a bit
strange. Samus joins up with the Galactic Federation squad near the
beginning of the game and therefore decides for the bulk of the game
that she won’t use any of her suit’s abilities unless she is
authorized to by Adam. It’s an interesting way of dealing with the
problem of Samus losing all her abilities at the beginning of every
game, but still seems a bit strange. When Samus first reaches Sector
3 of the Bottle Ship, an artificial volcanic area, her regular suit
is unable to withstand the heat and she begins taking damage whenever
she is not in one of the sector’s “safe zones.” It’s not until
after she’s spent some time in the area that Adam authorizes Samus to
activate her suit’s “Varia” feature, which allows her to to
safely navigate the high-temperature sector.

Combat in the game is fast-paced and a
lot of fun. “Other M” uses the Wiimote alone, held sideways like
in “New Super Mario Bros. Wii.” Samus moves fluidly and
responsively, and most gamers should be able to master the controls
in about 15 minutes. Shooting is similarly intuitive. The game
auto-targets enemies you point the d-pad at, but not in a way that
feels like the game is making decisions for you. “Other M”
features a new maneuver called “Sense Move” that allows the
player to quickly dash out of the way of an incoming attack by
tapping the d-pad in any direction just before the attack connects.
This can help the player survive when confronted with a torrent of
projectiles without making the game too easy.

There are a few annoying hangups on
control, though. Notably, all missile firing is now done in first
person view, which you reach by pointing the Wiimote at the TV.
Switching handedness like this can be really obnoxious, especially if
you need to switch to and from missiles in the middle of a high-speed
battle. There are also a few slower-paced “searching” sections,
where the camera switches to a “behind the shoulder” view with
relative direction control (often compared to driving a tank by
detractors), similar to the later “Resident Evil” titles. Samus’
movement speed is at an absolute crawl in these sections, especially
when compared to the super-fast speed the she normally moves at.

This speed and the game’s overall
fluidity also unfortunately hits a few speed bumps with some
“scanner” sections, where the game puts you into first person
view and you’re forced to look around with the Wiimote until you lock
onto whatever small part of the screen the game wants you to look at.
It’s not a major deal, but it’s a bit obnoxious at times.

The game features the typical
high-quality presentation value of a first-party Nintendo game.
“Other M” runs at a smooth 60 frames-per-second and makes good
use of the Wii’s hardware to look good doing it. Even when swarmed
with monsters, the game remains fluid to keep the fast-paced action
going.

The music is fairly typical of later
games in the series and with most modern “cinematic” games in
general. Melody is not the primary focus, though an orchestrated mix
of the familiar Metroid theme is present at the game’s title
sequence. The music is nonetheless of high quality and atmospheric
and serves to set up the right mood well.

“Metroid: Other M” is quite a bit
different than the rest of the Metroid series, but it’s got enough
familiar ground that fans of the series should enjoy it. Despite a
few minor hangups, “Other M” is by and large a fun and fast-paced
action game and a good addition to the Wii’s first-party library.

3.5/5 Stars