Just finished Metroid Other M with 100% completion and I must say, it was a great throwback to the SNES classic.
Metroid Other M for the Nintendo Wii
While I thoroughly enjoyed the Metroid Prime series, I always felt that it was missing something. Metroid Prime did all of the right things to bring the Metroid franchise into the First Person space– and it was a blast to play. However, what I think Metroid Other M(or MOM for short) does right is bring back that feel that the 2d games always had. More of a simplicity in controls, less item management to juggle. When you upgrade, you retain all of the abilities and their characteristics at all times. In other words, you get stronger and stronger as you play without having to switch modes in order to achieve something.
While the Prime series retained a lot of the feeling of Metroid in its transition to First Person, it also became more complicated in its abilities management between visors and weapons.
There is an attempt to humanize Samus’ character and, while cheesy, does work to some degree. There are a couple of interesting plot twists that nod back to older games– and you can tell that the inspiration for this game really did come from the SNES classic. Even in the opening sequence, there is a shot that is pretty much frame for frame of the mode 7 flight sequence in the beginning of Super Metroid. Also, seeing the ending of Super Metroid rendered in full CGI was a nice treat.
Metroid Other M has so many nods and throwbacks to Super Metroid that it's hard not to appreciate it.
I didn’t have as many control issues as a few reviewers had pointed out, though it was awkward that you couldn’t move around while in first person mode. You always felt vulnerable because you couldn’t actively strafe while shooting.
The bottle ship structure and layout felt very much like Metroid Fusion for the GBA in the sense that you were in a contained ship that had different environments, though not the diversity and scale of a planet. Also, it played very linearly as well. There really is an intended path through the game made much more apparent by the way points that are constantly given to you. So, while it lacks that sense of exploration like Super or Zero Mission, it does make for a more casual gaming experience(the many save points help as well).
Other M plays a lot like a suped up Metroid Fusion for the GBA-- from its setting to its near-linear play structure.
The music/sfx are classic Metroid– many themes from Super come back orchestrated and sound really cool along with the classic sounds of the hyper beam and bombs, etc.
All in all, if you were a fan of Super Metroid, this game is definitely for you. Just ignore the story part and play it like you would the original and you’ll be in for a 10 hour Metroid throwback for the present day Metroid fan.
