Jade Defends: Metroid - Other M

[JadePharaoh]

The Metroid series has fallen by the wayside over the past few years. Aside from the occasional appearance by Samus in other Nintendo crossovers, such as Nintendo Land and the new Super Smash Bros, the series has gone quiet for awhile until recently, just after this year's E3. While no new Metroid was announced at the Expo itself, Nintendo has commented that they are finally working on both a new 3D AND a new 2D Metroid that I'll be looking forward to seeing more of; especially that new 2D Metroid.

So, why the lack of activity? Well, there are some that would look no further than the most recent entry in the Metroid series, Metroid: Other M, released in 2010 for the Wii. Mere words do not even begin to describe the outcry and controversy that this game created among fans of the series, and I was starting to fear that it had become a franchise-killer. As the kind of person who doesn't like to take criticism of a game at face value, and would rather play it for myself, and as a fan of the Metroid series, I wanted to play it anyway, and a few months ago, I finally beat the whole game through, even going so far as to 100% the game. And to be perfectly honest, I liked it. It's no Super Metroid of course, but that's a damn hard act for any game to top. Still, I quite enjoyed the game and I didn't have nearly as much of a problem with it as most people seemed to. This is where I thought I would address those issues and explain why I feel they are being blown immensely out of proportion.

First thing that I should talk about is the story. It's the major point of contention for the people that trash on this game, so it's perhaps the best place to start. This game takes place almost immediately after Super Metroid; bounty-hunting space-babe Samus Aran has defeated the Zebesian Space Pirates and destroyed Mother Brain, seemingly for good this time. But her victory came at a price; the Metroid hatching that Samus rescued on SR-388, that was then captured by the Space Pirates, sacrificed itself to save Samus from Mother Brain. Clearly distraught by the loss of the closest thing she's had to a child, Samus nonetheless responds an S.O.S. from a research ship. But she's not alone; a platoon of Galactic Federation troops are also investigating, led by Adam Malcovich, Samus's commanding officer from her own time spent in the Federation. And he is only the first of many demons from Samus's past that she will find herself facing as she unravels the mystery as to what is going on here...

I for one thought the story was well done. I enjoyed all of the suspense and intrigue, with a few good plot twists along the way (I don't wish to spoil any of that here). Detractors against the game however, never talk about any of that much, and focus entirely on one thing; the allegedly sexist and demeaning treatment of Samus's character. Samus Aran is the First Lady of video games, the first memorable example of a strong, badass female main character, and the claim that the critics make again and again is that this game turned her into a weak, sniveling wimp. They point at two constant factors to support this claim; namely Samus's alleged subservience to Adam, and her positively infamous HBSoD when she encounters Ridley near the end of the game.

I feel, that to understand those two issues, it's important to understand Samus's mental and emotional state at this time. Fanon loves to portray Samus as a stoic, unflinching hardass one-woman army, but here she is shown as a real person with real feelings, which must have been jarring to those people that assumed she was just some mindless, emotionless killing machine. As I said above, she had just watched the Metroid hatchling, a creature that saw her as its mother, that she had risked her life to try and rescue, die in front of her. No doubt that left some bad wounds on her already scarred psyche.

According to the official manga, before she was raised by the Chozo, Samus lived with her parents on a mining colony that was razed by the Zebesians, led by Ridley. Ridley savagely murdered both of Samus's parents and almost killed her as well. In Other M, Ridley appears once again (actually it's a genetic clone, but Samus doesn't realize that), and Samus freaks the hell out, reduced to a trembling mess until Adam snaps her out of it. I think her reaction is perfectly understandable. Yes, she has fought Ridley in the past without similar incidents, but no matter how many times she seems to kill him, he keeps coming back to haunt her. That, combined with her already distraught state over the hatchling, and Adam (a father-figure of hers during her time in the Federation, that she's had a strong love-hate relationship with), reopened some serious emotional wounds. Her reaction is consistent, in fact, with people who suffer from PTSD. Yet critics constantly point to this scene as blatant sexism. As though showing emotion somehow DEhumanizes her. It is said that courage is not the absence of fear, but rather being afraid and doing what has to be done anyway. That said, Samus DOES conquer her fear, and goes on to kick ass as she always does. The only thing I felt the game did wrong in this regard is to reference a manga that didn't get an official Western release (though you can read a fan translation over on the Metroid Database). THAT is why I felt most non-Japanese gamers didn't understand that scene as much as they were supposed to.

On a similar note, the voice-acting gets some flack as well, and also highlights some hypocrisy of the critics. They claim that Samus sounds very bland and monotone most of the time. The fact is, that was a deliberate directing choice as opposed to just a bad voice actor. It's a cultural thing, really, a stoic voice is seen in Japanese culture as being very badass and empowering, and is what was used for Samus in the Japanese version of the game, so they did the same thing in the American version with much less desirable results. I recall a video by Gaijin Goombah where he touched on the same issue in his own defense of the game. Wait a minute... are we bashing this game because Samus is BEING emotional or because she's NOT being emotional?! Make up your minds, Unpleasable Fanbase...

Another major criticism this game gets is the way Samus accumulates upgrades. Rather than Samus somehow losing all of her gear from previous Metroid games, Samus starts with all of her weapons from the get-go. However, because she is working under the Federation on this mission, Adam is restricting their usage. For the most part, I feel this makes sense. They're investigating a distress call on an unknown ship, with the status of potential survivors still unknown; it would be a very bad idea for Samus to be shooting Plasma Beams and setting off Power Bombs all willy-nilly. So it makes sense why the usage of those weapons would be restricted until the point where Samus is left with no other alternative. The only parts where this makes no sense is her non-offensive gear, the Varia suit being the most obvious offender. At one point, Samus is sent into the obligatory fire region of the game WITHOUT the Varia suit. You are forced to tank your way through at least a couple of super-heated rooms with your health constantly being drained; it's not until you're confronted by the boss of that section until Adam FINALLY authorizes use of the Varia suit. That's the point I can truly agree with the critics that was a pretty stupid choice; surely they could have incorporated the acquisition of the Varia suit better than that...

That leads me to another big gripe with the game; like Fusion and Zero Mission before it, Other M is very linear. No open exploration here; you're mostly forced on rails from point A to point B, with all other routes arbitrarily closed off until the game says you can go there. Again, it makes sense in the context of the story, but still, it's been a long time since we've played a Metroid game that allows us to explore the game world freely at our leisure like the NES original. It's not until the post-game that you are given more free reign over everything.

One last actual criticism I have with the game are the "pixel hunts" that force you into first-person view and make you look around for something very particular in order to advance the game; most of the time I have no idea what the hell I'm even supposed to be looking for.

The actual gameplay itself, though, is very good, I felt. It's in a third-person 3D platformer style as opposed to Prime's constant first-person perspective. The Wii remote turned on its side like a NES controller is all you need and I felt it controls fine for the most part. The only awkwardness is firing missiles, which you do by pointing the Wii remote at the screen to aim them. Then, like I said, there's the aforementioned "pixel hunts". I guess first-person Metroid never appealed as much to me, which is why I never got into the Prime games as much either.

So overall, yeah, I felt Other M was a decent game. Again, not as good as some of the 2D games, but I feel it kept my interest a lot better than the Prime games. I doubt it'll happen due to the bad taste left in everyone's mouths, but I think it would be great if Nintendo did another Metroid game in this style, only with more free-roaming.

Any objections? I, for one, had none.

[Jason]

I have not played the game, but I've seen it LP'd a few times in different ways.

I agree with most all of the points you made in your post, however... one thing that I really hate that they did with Metroid is the whole introduction of Samus and her past with Adam and the super space army and all that.

I feel it bogs down the game and, in some instances, really breaks the flow of the game. It feels to me, almost, as if as a way to explain why Samus doesn't have/can't use her full arsenal, they had to invent all of these back stories and characters which, to me, just don't work.

While I can understand, as you said, Samus not being allowed to use the Plasma Beam in an area that could have civilians in it... but I'd like to think that Samus herself can make that decision.

Again, I haven't played the game so I can't touch on gameplay things, but as a watcher... I'd give it a C+/B- I think. Not great, but not nearly as bad as it gets credit for.