Infendo hands-on: Metroid Other M, a mix of Prime and Ninja Gaiden in contextual 3D

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Most surprisingly and most importantly, however, is that in 3rd person, Samus’ entire targeting system is contextual. The game auto-locks onto the nearest, most immediate threat as you blast away. I won’t lie, I was initially very skeptical about how well such a system would work, but in practice the targeting system was smart enough that I had no trouble with the minor enemies I encountered.

It’s not all auto-targeting, however; like Metroid Prime, Other M has a first-person view. Simply point the Wiimote at the screen at any time in the game, and up comes the familiar HUD, pointed wherever Samus was pointed when in third-person. The first-person view allows for manual aiming with the Wiimote, target-lock with the A button, and is the only way for Samus to fire missiles, using the B button as trigger after a lock-on. (By default, the B button allows the screen to pan.) While I didn’t see any visors in the demo, Samus can also scan certain objects by default, simply by locking onto them in first person.

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To be honest, as a control scheme the first-person mode is somewhat problematic. Because the player loses the ability to move as soon as first-person is engaged and it’s not easy or practical to flip the Wiimote from one-handed vertical operation to two-handed horizontal on the fly, it’s only really good for scanning objects and sniper fire, at the end of a long hallway. But in the game’s very first boss fight, I needed missiles ”“ so I had to do just that, flipping back and forth. I beat the creature on my first try ”“ a towering, purple bug-filled menace immune to normal fire ”“ but only after losing loads of health.

When I said that Other M was true to its entire pedigree, I was serious: it’s not just Metroid Prime and Ninja Gaiden that left an impression on the product. Like earlier Metroid games, the platforming and exploration segments of Other M occur largely in two ”“ or as some are fond of saying, 2.5 ”“ dimensions.

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Leaving the training room and reporting to my superiors that my previous mission was complete (in another fantastic CG cutscene), I soon arrived on a derelict space station broadcasting a distress signal. There, as I met up with the Galactic Federation Force under the control of Samus’ former CO Adam Malkovich, I found that while Samus had considerable mobility in all directions, her actual platforming goals would mostly be on a fixed plane, having her run from left to right, foreground to background, or even diagonally ”“ but usually in a straight line, with the camera angle fixed or automatically adjusted to provide depth even as she did so. Unlike the first-person mode, I found this genuinely thrilling; the automatic camera steps in occasionally to add a cinematic flair to otherwise routine runs, even as it stays out of your way while you attempt combat and exploration.

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Speaking of exploration, it seems there’s plenty of the standard Metroid fare; using Morph Ball, wall jumps, and the occasional bomb and missile, I found three missile tanks and an energy tank even during my brief demo, as well as a recharge station that doubled as save point. However, Metroid purists may be interested to know that such recharge stations were the only place I found health — in the demo, enemies did not drop any power-ups, and missiles were replenished by pointing the Wiimote straight up and pressing a button.

Though I retain reservations about the first-person control scheme and the rough, jagged edges on the graphics (subject to change, they say!) I was genuinely pleased with the mix of Metroid and Ninja Gaiden mechanics, thought it the best of both worlds, and can’t wait to play more. Assuming I have the $50 to spare, I’ll see you folks in line this June 27.