By popular demand, I beat Metroid Other M this weekend. Did completing the game change my “meh” opinion? No.
As rated in my original review, Metroid: Other M is an average game at best, made worse by limiting controls and a pathetic story. As a result, I believe Other M will go down as a top contender for “weakest Metroid ever.”
That said, I did learn some things from “Metroidgate.” They are as follows:
- I should have disclosed that my review was based on an incomplete play through. Although Infendo doesn’t require the completion of a game before recommending it to our readers, this would have been helpful for our most ardent readers.
- I should have mentioned that you can “sense dodge” while in third person mode by tapping the D pad, but the truth is, it doesn’t work well enough to change my opinion that you are a sitting duck.
- Team Ninja did not write the story. Got it.
- By completing the game, I obviously made it past the point I was stuck on for hours, and I became a slightly better player as a result, despite the limiting controls. But finishing the game also confirmed my opinion: the level design of Other M isn’t as fun to play as other Metroid games.
And just to reiterate my final recommendation so it doesn’t get overlooked, “If you are on the fence, rent Other M or wait to hear reviews from friends with similar tastes before spending $50. If you’re already set on buying Other M, don’t say I didn’t warn you of its shortcomings. Three stars out of five.”
A note from The Bosshog
Hi, everyone. There seems to be some confusion regarding the timing and personnel involved in our review. Let me explain. Although I originally intended to review Other M, I got tied up with both work and life stuff last week and was unable to. That’s why Mark, a long-time but infrequent contributor, got the call.
Having played the first two hours of the game, I agree with Mark’s three star assessment of Other M. It’s not the kind of quality you’d expect from Nintendo, especially for one of its most popular franchises. In the canon of the series, it’s obvious Other M is no where near Super Metroid or Metroid Zero status. With exception to Metroid II (which I never played and am therefore unqualified to compare to), I’d say Other M is inferior to every other game in the series. Not only a contender for “weakest Metroid ever,” but borderline mediocre.
As for “Hey, why did you break the review embargo?” business, Infendo has never and will never sign or agree to any formal review embargo with any company’Nintendo included. We have respected informal wishes of companies in the past (such as “please don’t post until…“), but upon completing our opinion on Thursday, and after Famitsu, Game Informer, and Nintendo Power reviews were made public earlier that morning, we decided to run the review a day early. If that bothers you, I’m afraid we may disappoint you again, depending on the situation (i.e. our readers come first).
As for our review policy, we have never and will never require the completion of a game before forming an opinion on it. Since these are for-profit consumer products, I feel no shame in walking away from and recommending against a game, even an incomplete one’even a high-profile one like Metroid. That said, we’ll do a better job in the future disclosing how much of a game we have completed, so you can form your own opinion.
Image credit: Will Thompson