Games review: Metroid: Other M

Platform: Wii

Publisher: Nintendo

Price: £39.99

There’s nothing quite like a good Wii game, there’s something about Nintendo’s little underdog-that-could which, on occasion, produces a gaming experience that feels much more enchanting than its more visually-sophisticated competitor’s titles.

Metroid: Other M is one such title, a tight, well-produced and graphically luscious adventure which harkens back to the classic of days of Super Metroid, rather than the most recent Samus Aran outings, namely Retro Studio’s first-person Metroid Prime trilogy.

That’s because Nintendo have turned the franchise over to Team Ninja – the developers of the much praised Ninja Gaiden series — who have applied what they know best to the Metroid universe: high-quality cutscenes, dramatic encounters with gigantic monstrosities and a playing style which involves as much dodging as attacking.

Other M begins where Super Metroid on the SNES left off, which means that — for those who didn’t experience the 1994 release — we find heroine Samus Aran recovering in hospital fresh from her defeat of ‘Mother Brain’, safe in the supposed knowledge that the metroid race has been wiped out; wouldn’t be much of Metroid game if that assumption was correct now would it?

Upon leaving hospital, Samus detects an SOS beacon from a nearby Federation facility and changes course to investigate. Landing at the facility she soon bumps into some old colleagues from her time with the Federation special forces; cue a stream of cut-scenes explaining her uneasy relationship with former commander and father-figure Adam Malkovich.

Deciding to employ Samus rather than order her off the facility, Malkovich sets her off on a series of missions and soon we’re in familiar Metroid territory. Other M reverts to series’ basics — even employing a (usually) side-on perspective much as Super Metroid did all those years ago ­— luckily Team Ninja have brought some new tricks to the party.

For you see, though Other M feels for all the world like a side-scrolling shooter, it actually allows Samus to move in three dimensions, the camera becoming a third-person chase-cam when the action calls for it. Similarly, our heroine is capable of firing at enemies she’s not parallel with; the targeting largely carried out automatically via the auto-aim feature.

While the auto-aim might turn Metroid purists off it shouldn’t, for it’s a necessary evil in a game which demands lightning reflexes and complex actions of the player constantly; think of the auto-aim as a friend which allows Samus to have any chance whatsoever against the facility’s meanest. Which brings us to another friend: dodging.

Other M’s controls are mapped to the Wii’s remote in a way designed for the player to hold it horizontally, the d-pad moves Samus, ‘1′ attacks and ‘2′ jumps. Hit any direction on the d-pad as an enemy is about to land a blow however and Samus will gracefully evade the attack, even gaining an instant beam charge enabling you to unleash a powerful retaliation as your foe flounders. The further into the game the tougher and more crucial dodging becomes — just wait until the showdown with one of the series’ talismanic ne’er-do-wells and you’ll see.

So that’s shooting and movement done is it? Well, not quite. Another new feature is the method employed to launch missiles. Point the wiimote at your TV and you’ll enter a first-person viewpoint — while you’ll have to remain stationary you can look around, focus on any items, etc., and lock on to an enemy’s weakpoint for the purposes of unleashing missiles. To be honest it’s a bit clunky, the transition from side-on to first-person view can be disorientating; particularly in the heat of battle and sadly it’s in the heat of battle where the mode will have to be utilised the most.

Overtime locking-on does get easier, just never as second-nature as you might imagine the developers would have preferred it to be. The niggles don’t end there either, the game plays out exactly like all other Metroid games — you’ll get an ice-beam, a speed booster, super missles, etc. — but annoyingly Samus has these upgrades already, she just doesn’t use them until Malkovich says so. A bit ridiculous given the amount of fiery foes in the volcanic caverns she faces before being authorised to use the ice-beam for example.

Similarly, in a game where Samus is helping a team of Federation soldiers she very rarely interacts or fights alongside them – an opportunity missed; the implementation of a two-player mode — the second player taking control of one of these soldiers — would have seen Other M progress from merely great, to an all-time classic. The other thing which grates — though admittedly this could be a personal thing — is Samus’s voice and dialogue during cutscenes: just the wrong side of wooden.

Niggles aside this is another marvellous Metroid game and a ‘well done’ should go to Team Ninja for not being scared to put their own stamp on what is a legendary franchise. In fact, if they develop any subsequent Samus adventures, they might want to diversify the series’ fundamentals even more; perhaps introducing a close-quarters element — a Team Ninja speciality.

Wii owners, hungry for a serious gaming experience, need look no further; Metroid: Other M is a worthy entry into the pantheon of Nintendo greats.

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