Other M is an amalgamation of many of the best elements of the Metroid series while at the same time reinventing it.
The game kicks off with an introductory cinematic of Samus dreaming about her final battle with Mother Brain, which was an incident that occurred at the end of Super Metroid. This sequence really demonstrates the quality of Other M's pre-rendered cutscenes. They are highly detailed and have a very polished look. Unfortunately though, the introduction also showcases the disappointment of Samus' voiceover debut. Her performance appears stilted and often feels as if it is being delivered in an awkward monotone. Luckily, the rest of the voice cast picks up most of the slack, and Samus' voice does seem to gradually improve as the game progresses, but it is still overall disappointing that Jennifer Hale did not return to give Samus a proper voiceover after her work with the Metroid Prime trilogy.
After she awakens from her dream, Samus is taken over to a training room to become reacquainted with her Chozo power suit. This is when a tutorial begins to teach you the fundamentals of the gameplay. Other M uses a unique control system that interchangeably switches between first-person and third-person perspectives. In third-person mode, the player holds the Wii remote like a traditional console controller, maneuvering Samus with the D-pad and using two action buttons for jumping and shooting. Surprisingly, the simple control scheme works well despite using a D-pad to control Samus in 3D space. Because of Other M's clever use of camera angles, D-pad movement fits with the game engine quite smoothly while simultaneously making the gameplay feel more like a traditional 2D Metroid game. Samus also retains her classic morph ball ability, in which she uses the technology of her power suit to transform her entire body into a ball that allows her to move through tight spaces. Finally, Samus can be switched to first-person mode by pointing the Wii remote directly at the screen. In this mode, Samus can aim and lock onto enemies in order to fire her missiles, which are more powerful projectiles than her standard beam cannon shots. In either mode, Samus can charge up her beam cannon to fire more deadly shots as well. First-person mode must be used strategically though, as you cannot move Samus while trying to aim at targets. Therefore, you must be able to anticipate when you will have ample time to lock on and fire off a missile before being attacked. During intense moments, switching to first-person mode will briefly slow down time to give you an extra moment to lock onto your target, but it's not much, so you still need to act quickly and use it wisely. The learning curve can be fairly lengthy before you will be able to completely grasp the feel of switching between perspectives, but eventually the controls become intuitive and swapping views is seamless.
One of the most satisfying additions to the gameplay is the ability for Samus to stun an enemy after a devastating hit from a charge shot or a missile. Once the enemy is stunned, she can run up to it and perform a special move such as pinning the creature down and firing a point blank shot to the head, killing it instantly. Another new aspect to the gameplay that is equally entertaining is the ability for Samus to perform a dodge. By tapping left or right on the D-pad at the right moment, Samus can activate her boosters on the back of her power suit to quickly flip over and dodge an incoming attack. This element of strategy becomes integral for survival against tougher foes, and it is rewarding to pull off. There are a few odd but minor drawbacks to the gameplay that Nintendo and Team Ninja decided to implement, however. In previous installments, players would have to kill enemies in order to obtain more ammunition for missiles or recover their health. In Other M, Samus simply uses an ability called "concentration" to restore all her missiles or part of her health once she becomes low. As long as the player has enough time to use the ability without being interrupted by an attack, concentration can be used at any time and has no limit to how often it can be reused. This effectively destroys much of the point of collecting hidden power-ups throughout the game that increase your total missile capacity, as you can easily restock your missile supply at any time.
Once the tutorial is over, Samus makes her way to the aforementioned Bottle Ship where the meat of the game takes place. Shortly after arriving in the docking bay, she encounters a team of Galactic Federation soldiers who also had apparently responded to the distress signal being broadcasted from the station. It turns out that two members of the team were former comrades of hers before she left the Galactic Federation army; one of them being Adam Malkovich, and the other Anthony Higgs. Through a series of events that follow, it becomes clear that Samus must cooperate with them if they are to succeed in their mission, so she reluctantly agrees to follow Adam's orders. The story for the most part does a good job explaining itself, so if you are new to the series, you won't have a hard time following it. However, playing Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion beforehand will definitely give you some context that adds significance to certain characters and events in Other M. Overall, the storyline is pretty interesting and throws several surprises at you. Uncovering the mysteries of the Bottle Ship adds a great sense of purpose to the exploration and fighting that you engage in. Eventually it becomes certain that someone from within your team is a traitor who is trying to cover up the disturbing biological experiments that transpired on the Bottle Ship, but the game never directly tells you who this person is, so you will have to deduce him from the evidence at your disposal. The story only suffers from one major flaw, which is its portrayal of Samus Aran. Too often she acts childish and immature in a way that seems unfitting to her character compared to past games in the series. Learning that every hero has their own demons to face is all well and good, but Team Ninja's interpretation of Samus treads dangerously close to retcon.
There is much excitement to be had aboard the Bottle Ship. Just before you think the gameplay is starting to get repetitive, Other M always tosses you another sudden twist with an epic boss battle or environmental obstacle. Samus will find herself trying to outrun avalanches and fighting off gigantic lava monsters as she makes her way through the space station's various artificial environments. Puzzles are challenging but never so frustrating and vague that you need to consult an outside source in order to progress to the next segment of the game. The environments are visually appealing as well. Metroid: Other M boasts some of the best graphics on the Wii platform to date. While the visuals obviously lag behind other current generation systems, you might still find yourself surprised at the massive scale and level of detail packed into many of the game's intense boss fights. Yet another way that Other M differs from its predecessors is that Samus starts out with most of her power suit's technologies and functionality already integrated into it, but she cannot use them until they are authorized by Adam at the specific points that they are needed throughout the Bottle Ship. It's a fairly contrived change in narrative, but it's no more hollow than the usual scenario of Samus always conveniently losing her abilities at the beginning of every game.
The music in Other M suffers a little bit from too much ambience. None of the music ever sounds particularly bad, but it's often so dark and calm that it can feel almost inaudible. However, it does deliver some flare when it needs to during the more heated moments throughout the game. Nonetheless, it lacks some inspiration compared to other Metroid titles. The rest of Other M's sound design is solid; alien creatures make the strange noises that you would expect, and futuristic weaponry will put the bass on your speakers to work.
While the first transition to 3D with Metroid Prime was heavily praised by fans and critics alike, it seems as though the series lost something since then; a critical element that made the classic Metroid titles so special. In many ways, going back to a control style with an emphasis on third-person perspective allowed Other M to restore much of that captivating feel that was missing in the Prime trilogy. Other M is an amalgamation of many of the best elements of the Metroid series while at the same time it reinvents much of the gameplay to continue pushing it forward. It takes the fast-paced and action-packed gameplay of Metroid: Zero Mission, combines it with Prime's first-person shooting mechanics, and borrows from Fusion's strong emphasis on storytelling; all the while adding some of its own new features to the mix. It's rough around the edges, but at its core, Metroid: Other M is a fresh and invigorating addition to the Metroid universe that should not be underestimated.
Summary:
Pros
+ Beautiful pre-rendered cutscenes
+ Detailed and interesting story
+ Satisfying and unique combination of gameplay mechanics
+ Epic boss battles
+ Challenging and rewarding puzzles
+ Fun exploration
Cons
- Some poor voiceover work
- Questionable portrayal of the main protagonist
- A few odd game design decisions
- Overly ambient music
Extended Commentary:
Could they have come up with at least a slightly more attractive title? I mean honestly, "Other M" was the best you could do, Nintendo? I also noticed that doors open automatically when you walk up to them, which for anyone who isn't familiar with Metroid is probably thinking "who cares", but in every other Metroid game to date, Samus has to shoot a door in order for it to open. It makes no sense, but it's kind of become a hallmark of the Metroid universe, so leaving it out was just a little bit disappointing. And finally, it's a little annoying how the beginning of the game makes constant references to "babies" as if it's foreshadowing some eventual revelation in the story about Samus and her past encounter with the baby metroid, but then it never goes anywhere with this.
On the other hand, a lot of longtime fans have been outraged by little story and gameplay nitpicks like these, and they really need to calm the hell down. All of these aspects are just minor blemishes in a much bigger and more awesome picture, and it's unfortunate that so many have dismissed the entire game on the basis of rather trivial things. I try to be fair about my ratings. As a reviewer, you have to weigh all the good and bad aspects of a game fairly; not just dwell on one gripe that you happen to feel strongly about and let it sink the whole game with it. I feel like that's what happened to a lot of people with this game. They saw Samus talking, didn't like her, and then jettisoned everything else because of that.