How does Team Ninja’s take measure up to the Metroid games of old?
I was able to get my hands on Metroid: Other M on the first day of the expo, when the line for it was only a few people deep. As it turns out, the demo is actually quite long, so it took me a little bit to get some time with it, but I’m glad I stepped in line. From what I’ve played, this new Metroid is trying to evoke the feel of the old 2D games, and for the most part it succeeds.
The first thing I noticed is that, even in this short E3 demo, there was an awful lot of cutscenes being shown. It was near the beginning of the game, where exposition is needed and welcome, but I felt that maybe a third of my time was spent watching cutscenes. For now I’m not too concerned, since again, it was the beginning of the game, and I’m sure Nintendo wants to show the Metroid faithful that they’re going to get a lot more introspective into their favorite heroine. Here’s hoping the final product isn’t akin to Metal Gear Solid 4. For what it’s worth, the cutscenes are well done, with excellent cinematography and voice acting; Samus’s voice sounds a bit weaker than I expected, but I was able to get used to it fairly quickly.
The control scheme is still a little bit disappointing, I have to be honest. I don’t really feel like there’s any reason why I couldn’t control Samus with the Nunchuk, aiming at enemies with the pointer on the Wii Remote, and just pressing a button to switch to first-person mode. As it stands, the sideways Remote setup works well enough if you can forgive the auto-aim, and it does feel a bit like I’m playing a prettier version of the classic Super Metroid. You are controlling Samus in a 3D environment, however, and a directional pad isn’t going to work as well as an analog stick in that situation.
This isn’t a gripe about how the controls are broken, though, because they’re not; I could have more precise control with my desired scheme, but everything works just fine right now. Even switching to first-person isn’t much of a problem for me, though other editors have mentioned that the transition is too cumbersome than it needs to be, and I can agree with that.
Controls (and auto-aim) aside, the gameplay is quite solid. As mentioned above, it really did feel like a more 3D version of Super Metroid when I played it; you run through a labyrinthian series of corridors, taking out fodder with your blaster and navigating the jumps required to get around the landscape. The environments vary from space station corridors to a terrarium teeming with plant life. There wasn’t any backtracking to be seen, but I didn’t expect to see any in the E3 demo, since you don’t really have the time to backtrack.
The only time I really took advantage of the first-person perspective in this demo was when I was fighting the large, purple slime-like boss at the end. As I dodged attacks from long, sweeping tentacles and ran circles around the enemy, the soldiers around me froze his limbs in place, where I would head into first-person mode and blast the frozen limb with a missile. I don’t really recall having any trouble with the boss, which was quite straightforward, though that might be because I cheated and watched the players playing before me. It also might be because it was the very beginning of the game; it’s hard to say. I can’t really bring myself to fault the game for that yet, but it’s noteworthy either way.
So far, the gameplay is solid, but one or two details (namely the controls) leave a little to be desired; the game feels like it’s still going to be great, but without seeing more of the game, like the difficulty curve and any backtracking, I wouldn’t be able to say if the game is going to be excellent. The presentation is pretty excellent, however, so I have a lot of hope for this title. If the unseen details hold up at the game’s release, I think that Metroid: Other M is going to be an excellent addition to a great game series. Here’s hoping Team Ninja delivers.
