Metroid Other M: 7 things you need to know

Infendo 9 Comments 5446 views Infendo

Like Metroid, but don’t care for all that fancy shmancy first-person stuff from recent years? Then Metroid Other M might be your cup of space tea. Here are seven things you might not know about the newest game in the series for Wii. 

  1. It’s in good hands. The game is being co-developed by “over 100 people” from Nintendo and Team Ninja, the folks that make all those good Ninja Gaiden games. In other words, the development team is kind of a big deal.
  2. It’s going steady with 2D and 3D graphics. Other M features 2.5D and 3D gameplay in both first- and third-person perspectives. Movement is not limited to a 2D plane, however, and Samus herself cannot be moved in first-person perspective (i.e. she can only look around, shoot, and explore). There are several instances where players will have to constantly switch between play modes, For example, “playing in third person to fight off a horde of flying enemies, while switching to first person to destroy their spawn points.”
  3. It takes the series into a retro chic direction. The game is seen as a departure from the most recent Prime series, in that Other M will focus on 2D gameplay instead of first-person visuals. That said, Other M will retain the visor exploration gameplay of Prime.
  4. It uses a lot of cut scenes. When announcing the game, Nintendo president Reggie Fils-Aime said that Metroid: Other M would “take you deeper into Samus’s story.” And if recent trailers are any indication, that means a lot more cut scenes.
  5. It supports both side-scroller and first-person controls. Metroid: Other M is played holding the Wii Remote horizontally. Pointing the Wii Remote towards the screen changes the game to a first person view.
  6. It goes where every Metroid has gone before it. Namely, environments include a tropical rain forest, an ice level, and a magma-filled area to name a few. I suppose there could be surprise level designs. But I doubt it. Not that I have any insider info, or anything. Just an educated guess.
  7. It’s coming this summer. Arriving August 31 on Wii. Rated Teen.

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9 Comments

  1. Just confirmed a day 1 buy for me. Thanks!

  2. Well, I already knew this, or came to the conclusion of this, but it’s good that you’re letting everyone else know about this must-know stuff.

    But I’m actually surprised that it’s just over a month away from being in my Wii. Can’t wait.

  3. I already knew all this.

  4. Awesome, sounds great. Is it me, or is there something cloaked on that platform in the picture above? 😀

  5. Eh. Think I’ll pass. Seeing Samus be reduced to a character who does nothing but whine about babies and boyfriends in every unskippable cutscene isn’t exactly my cup of tea. Nor is 3D movement with a D-Pad. I’ll rent it, since I’m still not sure whether I’ll enjoy the gameplay or not, but if the cutscenes remain unskippable then I may well wear out my mute button. I’m all for the 2D game revival here (DKC4 and NSMBW have been two of the most exciting games for me in ages), but this just doesn’t appeal to me at all.

    *Goes off to go re-play Super Metroid and Metroid Prime*

  6. Not everybody is going to be happy with Other M, just like not everybody was happy with Metroid prime turning a sidescroller into an FPS.

    Change is scary for some, and unfortunately, Metroid just small enough a fanbase where a change can rile up 20% or more of the fans to deem it unworthy of the series.

    Thus resulting in an Unpleaseable Fanbase who will ask for more story scenes and when they get it, whine and complain. Just like when they asked for it in 3D and got an FPS, they whined and complained.

    Will the game fail or succeed? I’d like to know based on its own merits rather than participate in nerd wars and nerd rage over a slightly different direction in characterization.

  7. This game isn’t Metroid. It may use the lore and skin its’ surroundings and some of its’ gameplay in it, but so far it’s proven that it’s not Metroid. Corruption skirted over that line of being and not being metroid quite a bit, but this one seems to have jumped over while leaving a false leg behind. It’s true that final judgement will really happen when the game is released, but the smoke I’m seeing is telling me that there’s going to be a huge fire in the future that is not lava beam related.

  8. “This game isn’t Metroid.”

    “Seeing Samus be reduced to a character who does nothing but whine about babies and boyfriends. ”

    It’s these kinds of comments that, IMO, reveal more about the pre-cog critics than about the game itself.

    How is the game not Metroid? Because of cutscenes? Which are in every game in the series, including the hallowed Metroid Prime? Did this make sense when the previous crop of Metroid fans said Metroid Prime “wasn’t Metroid” because it was not some kind of FPS?

    What’s all this shit about “babies and boyfriends?” Are we perhaps projecting our prejudices and deeply held feelings over facts not in evidence?

    Either way, harsh words from internet geeks. Maybe Nintendo should listen to them… of course, if they listened in 2002, Metroid Prime wouldn’t even exist, as there was the same sort of clamor then, too.

  9. Mark, that’s total bullshit.

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