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
@Poochy…
I've been playing this game since late alpha. Its a turd. 60% of the dev staff knows it.
This GAME IS AWESOME!
@Octorok. Bullcrap. The game you're referring to is obviously a different one than the one I'm playing, since the one I'm playing is awesome.
I hate picking sides in pointless flame wars, but I have to say, most of the complaints directed at the review were legitimate. Not the angry fanboy fants, but the ones that actually had some arguments. Even with this fix, I can't be completely happy about your review.
Especially your near hateful description of the game. It really isn't as bad as you want people to think.
"I don't need to finish a game to tell how good or bad it is. Most games are freaking long, and if you're not into it, for god's sake quit and find a game that is a better use of your limited free time… that's what I say."
Thank you, James Kochalka. I am sick of bulldozing through terrible beginnings of games to get to something better.
The game is an enormous disappointment, and anyone claiming otherwise is in fanboy denial.
I don't mind the review at all. Its opinion. I'm fine with it. The game, if anything, is polarizing and I actually like that. There's new stuff, there's change, I want that stuff. I don't buy games because everyone loves them and showers them with praise, I buy them because I know that I'll enjoy them.
Jack, your post about the amount of cutscenes was, while a bit of an over reaction, also, opinion. This is a blog, thats fine.
The problem I have is the embargo bit. Its set in place to synchronize the web reviews with print reviews. You heard leaks about two magazines so its OK to break embargo? The magazines themselves didn't break the embargoes, someone out of the large groups of people that are involved in print publication did.
You don't honor formal embargo's but you do honor personal requests? Wow guys, way to stick it to the man. Your early review copy of any game is a privilege. Show some maturity and respect. If infendo wasn't so small time, Nintendo would probably notice what you did and cut you off. I know you guys read GAF too. I used to always chuckle when a post here was mysteriously similar to a thread near the top over at GAF. So funny. Did it hurt anyone's feelings when they noticed you guys broke the embargo and then they shrugged you off as irrelevant? I hope so.
And for my final point, and I'm giving you all the benefit of the doubt on this bit. I defended you guys when you made a post about not blocking your site ads because you need to pay the bills. But God, I hope this whole thing wasn't just a huge click bait ploy. Like I said earlier, the opinions are fine, probably valid, but:
beloved franchise + negative review = massive page views
Oh hey, lets break embargo and scoop all of the sites that play by the rules and add that to the equation for PROFIT!!!!
A lot of new eyes probably looked at this site that day, I wish you luck and hope a few of them stick around for your sake, because you've got -1 over in this corner.
Peace.
P.S. – I just read through all of the comments after responding to the post. I am not the Joe that has commented a few times above. The comment just above this one is my first on this post.
@Kale – I offer you an e-fist bump for mentioning PN03. Other things in common with Other M? Stationary while shooting and a nice tush in tight pants. Take care holmes.
THIS GOES OUT TO THIS WEB SITE AND ALL THE OTHERS OVER HATING STOP TRYING TO BE SEAN MALSTROM
SEAN MALSTROM = CORRECT WIIBOY101= CORRECT
everyone else = JUMPING ON THE MALSTROM TRAIN
informed gaming information from Sean turns into anti nintendo CRAP at every other web site….
i love how informed thinking by sean turns into insanity everywhere else
PRICLESS at least sean accually knows whatt he is saying
OH MY FAV PET HATE IS THE FORKLIFT-TRUCK BOSS
1…WAHT IS A DARN FOLKLIFT DOING IN METROID KINDA LIKE TRAINS IN ZELDA
2.. THE FOLKLIFT BOSSS (COUGH) IS TAKEN FROM ROBOT BOSSES IN 3D SONIC GAMES
SPINNING ROUND SHOOTING LASERS
I MEAN THAT IS SHOCKINGLY BAD IN FACT IS WORSE THAN THOSE ROBOTS IN SONIC AND THATS BEING KIND
Sorry, but the way you guys handled this review situation was poor to put it mildly, and I suspect in handing the review obligations over to a-friend-of-a-friend-of-the-blog is a stop-gap measure to insulate you from the criticism you knew you would receive.
And furthermore, it's pretty obvious that the review itself was designed to drum up attention and make you look different than the pack. It worked, so I hope you got what you wanted at the expense of losing some of your professional respect.
I held off from playing the game because of the negative response, and because the first couple hours are a bit clunky, but the game more than makes up for itself later including so much fan service for longtime Metroid fanatics that it made my jaw drop. It's a pretty darn good game, and easily better than some of the other weaker Metroid offerings (Echoes, Corruption and the 8-bit original).
It's true that the game is a surprising mix of elements that weren't always expected, but it turned out to be a beautiful game that fleshed out Samus' story as already established in the previous main arc and the official manga released in Japan. I point this out because it appears that Infendo doesn't have the faintest grasp of what the Metroid saga is, and seems to have no concept of the franchise's history or instincts.
This isn't about different opinions, either.
This is about sacrificing your website's credibility to garner attention, and, in the process, to abuse your position as an industry site to divert attention from an awesome game that already has an uphill battle because it's not in line with industry expectations. Not cool, guys.
You did a bad thing. And you tried to hurt a good game in the process because you didn't get what you wanted, and then you twisted your curly mustache and cackled that you would get some attention instead.