The Metroid series has never been a series of games aimed at the general
public, and that is something that is perceived in its leisurely pace,
its focus on exploration … the delivery of NES, the foundation, marked
a clear foundation that evolved in supplies of the two in Game Boy and
Super Nintendo, following the same approach, without distancing. Even on
their way to 3D, late, continued that trend not to go to a more open
market or mass. However, what they are superb deliveries of Metroid
Prime on GameCube and Wii, his style were exactly the opposite to the
formula of success in the intense first person action, they were still
looking for the exploration and thoughtful pace as main targets,
although introducing variations. Prime moved along a path that had
already introduced Fusion, the latest installment in the chronology of
the saga, released on Game Boy Advance in 2002: more indent more
adventure, and more scheduled.
In any case, the series has never sold a lot, compared to other Nintendo
franchises, still far from the colossal figures of other series
veterans, like Zelda or Mario, but has maintained a general internal
consistency; it does not really sum excessive supply, within its two
main strands
Metroid: Other M is the result of a natural evolution of the Japanese
line in the series (in fact, cousins are the work of Retro Studios,
USA), which has always been drawn by Yoshio Sakamoto, director of the
series, and creator of the same with Gunpei Yokoi. And yet, it feels
like a completely different experience because we have chosen a very
significant boost some elements that had not always been perceived as
particularly distinctive in the series and, above all, to introduce
something different: a Samus.
Game Story & Features:
For decades, Samus Aran has been known as one of the first female
protagonists in video games, and one of the most enigmatic. Having
traded her haunted past for the solitary life of a bounty hunter, Samus™
finally tells her own tale in this revealing, personal story of her
failings, her flaws and ultimately her motivation. Metroid: Other M is
an unprecedented collaboration that blends the slick, action-packed
production of the world-renowned Team Ninja development team with the
game design talents of the creators of the original Metroid. Metroid:
Other M is a dramatic new direction for a legendary franchise and a bold
new blend between cinematics, storytelling and the best in interactive
entertainment.
- Metroid: Other M takes the best elements of
1st-person and 3rd-person gaming to create a seamless blend between
gameplay, story-telling and dynamic cinematography, that feels like a
movie the player can control.Players hold the Wii Remote controller
sideways while navigating and battling in 3rd-person. However, at any
moment, players can switch immediately to Wii Remote pointer controls to
examine and explore the environments in 1st-person perspective. - Metroid
fans know more about Samus’ suits and weapons than they do about what
drives her. That’s about to change. The story begins immediately
following the events of Super Metroid, when a baby Metroid gave its life
to protect Samus. With voice acting and a rich story, players learn the
engaging backstory of Samus as she weaves through an action-packed
adventure aboard the Bottle Ship, a decommissioned space facility. As
she hurtles into this new adventure, Samus will encounter her first
mentor and Commanding Officer of the Galactic Federation, Adam
Malkovich. - The development of Metroid: Other M is an
exciting collaboration between Nintendo’s Yoshio Sakamoto and Team
Ninja. Sakamoto was the director of Super Metroid in 1994. Team Ninja is
the renowned action developer of Ninja Gaiden. Metroid: Other M pairs
Sakamoto’s expert level design and exploratory focus of the classic
Metroid series with Team Ninja’s signature stylish, no-holds-barred
action.
Samus Aran?
And is that even over the strong commitment to intense action, the big
news of this game is that Samus Aran is present, not in the form of a
character of action under armor and weaponry orange tones print but
finally we see what lies beneath that armor. In Samus metal meat and we
have not seen many times, but the only time we have come a little behind
what was in his helmet Fusion, and superficial, really. In the series
first discovery, through the very extensive documentation of the Space
Pirates, how they perceived it as someone terrible, but still did not
know who he really was Samus Aran.
The Japanese public has enjoyed mangas (Japanese comics) that they have
had children this young space bounty hunter, how his family was wiped
out by Ridley and the Space Pirates, and how Chozos took care of it.
These stories were part of the canon, but all that had remained outside
of video games. Now, through multiple sequences, we find much of the
past Samus, and how it really is.
And what we discover is that it is young, very young, still
impressionable, and marked by a traumatic childhood. Find out who is
this Adam Malkovich’s spoken in Fusion, and why it is important to her,
and all that will lead us to draw a picture of Samus Aran as a character
that perhaps we did not expect, but finally a portrait, done by the
father of the child, in which Samus is conditioned by his past, a past
that had not affected his previous missions, but that here assailed at
every step.
But it’s time to hear what we have to offer beyond Other M narrative
elements that adds to the mythology of the series. For starters, the
game abandons the first person to return to bet on the third-person
action, and this entails a series of important changes. The most
important is that the game gained in pace and intensity, with a
fast-paced action in which the rooms are full of enemies. This puts us
back in line with the classic rendition, where, in reality, although
some rooms had no enemies, the game maintained a high pace of action,
away from the much more subdued tone that gave the Prime series
normally. Here there is no time to relax, because the enemies are many,
and are regenerated each time we return to a room, making up one of the
most classic 2D action.
A commitment to action:
And is that the action is one of those classic elements from the series
had been considered as background, but in reality if we look to the
past, we see that the hallways filled with enemies is a constant. Prime
rate lowered, yes, but largely by its system of targeted (as opposed to
games of first-person shooter, there was a dual control lever to aim and
move independently), and it continued in this direction in his third
movie, for Wii.
Also, Samus returns to be agile and quick, which is necessary for this
rhythm of action and the significant Other platform that is in M, which
is reinforced by a whole new set of fighting skills such as jumping on
enemies and shot himself in the head. Similarly, other contextual
actions are carried out very easily, which seems designed to facilitate
control, but also to get Samus to do many things with a very limited
amount of buttons.
On this occasion he has opted for a distinctly retro control approach
with the Wii Remote controller clutching horizontally, so that the
buttons 1 and 2 jump and shoot, and we become morph ball (the ball is
Samus) by pressing the A button, that remains in the center. It takes a
little getting used to, but no major problems. We move to the digital
crossbar, which, surprisingly, does not give problems in space control,
for several very clever design decisions.
The multiplicity of functions in a few buttons means that if we move the
crosshead as usual, we also used to dodge attacks with great agility.
Click an address at the appropriate time (and the game is actually quite
weak to define the time window) and Samus stylishly dodge the beam,
missile, or whatever that goes into it. Given that the game is in many
ways two-dimensional (but is housed in a full three-dimensional
environment), the spider does not give problems, but actually a huge
amount of rooms are spacious. Whenever we can move in all directions on
the plane, but these spacious rooms is used with intensity, while in the
halls is not always necessary. This mobility implies a limitation
crosshead eight directions (vertical, horizontal, and diagonal), but
this does not lead to problems.
In situations in which Samus must move with greater precision
three-dimensional spaces, the camera changes angle, and often lags
behind Samus, Resident Evil 4-style (but not over his shoulder, but
rather the waist, slightly above). This means that, despite the
crossbar, we have very precise in their directionality, although the
pace required changes, and their movements are rather slow. Normally
used to create situations of suspense, or to improve visibility in
environments with complex structures and small.
Who will not like the fact that the camera is preset at all times. There
are rooms in which, despite being corridors real depth option, the
camera is situated in spectacular angles. At other times, the camera
lags behind Samus, but without limiting its speed … in fact, get a
very cinematic experience, and provides no problems whatsoever when it
comes to move around the stage. Perhaps some well-hidden secrets are not
so obvious, but generally do not report any problems, and achieves a
remarkable aesthetic effect. Sometimes, yes, it is possible that some
enemies are at some point off the screen, something that is not so
common in traditional 2D experience, but we have not really complex
situations or "cheaters" at any time. Occasionally going to the camera,
and should crush the shutter button continuously, but that is almost a
constant (as it was already in the old 2D deliveries).
A change of perspective:
But there’s more. Quite related to this concept of gameplay in the style
of the veteran 2D on a 3D rendition is the fact that we can enter a
mode in first person view at any time, just by pointing to the screen.
The game immediately detects that the pointer is running, and switch to
first person. At present, we cannot move, being stuck (similar to RE4 or
RE5 when we shoot, we cannot move) in that position, except for evasive
movement, and that means there must be careful when using it. Its
functions are, however, essential. Also, there are some moments where
the game happens to us necessarily to the camera, usually to investigate
an area, a bit like the Ace Attorney series.
One of the most important weapons are missiles Samus, but Other M can
fire only when we are in first person (the main weapon, lasers,
cumulative-style is not as selectors on the progress of the Prime-saga
and is the default is always used in the third person), so you have to
shift our view, set the target and shoot to take on many enemies.
Similarly, this first-person view is important to explore the
environments and find hidden items, in combination with normal vision in
the third person, so that plays a role in the action, and another in
the exploration.
The transition from one camera to another can be problematic if we are
not accustomed to the command console, but players with a minimum of
practice should have no problems. In any case, the first battle against
an enemy that needs to change the camera on several occasions is well
integrated in the early stages of the game, and functions as a tutorial
that even tells us what and when to do this. The game does not take long
to stop having contact with the player, but the truth is that is well
integrated and just takes practice to master, also, the player must
seize the moments that are given to dodge attacks, also in first person
similar to the third-person action.
The command is also used to recharge energy. For the first time in the
series, the enemies do not leave items for energy recovery or reload
missiles, but is itself which Samus must do so. When the energy or
missiles are below the minimum, we must place the command in a vertical
position and hold the A button Samus cannot move, is exposed, and only
recovers energy tank (this can be expanded later), and this greatly
increases the difficulty. Is offset by the fact that there are many
stations saved, so the game is saved, all the energy is recovered, and
we can follow, but in some cases this does not prevent it being a
difficult game, especially when fight some bosses, and other
intermediates. One element to consider: as we mentioned before, there
are some improvements, the recovery tanks, which increases how much
energy is recovered, and what is the threshold (minimum) in order to use
this skill.
The targeted system can be more troublesome. Because the concept of
mobility has been applied character, Samus aims nearest enemy
automatically. Well, not a problem in the vast majority of situations:
in 99% of the time you want to shoot the nearest enemy. But if not, do
not choice but to move to the first person, who may mean that you get a
good impact, or move to where you want to finish shooting. It is in
these situations when one would like the system in first person, at
least, be more flexible to move the camera (by holding down the B button
and moving the pointer to the ends of the screen), or that it was less
difficult to dodge attacks in this chamber (the window of time to
perform the action gives us the feeling of being much shorter) compared
to the third-person action, where it is too easy. This is partly because
the game itself is very angular, almost always are moving Samus, and
that causes some involuntary movements are even evasive.
His story is the main focus, yes, but the accompanying action very well.
There are some liabilities arising from its firm commitment to a
sustained control only in the classic controller, without using the
nunchuk, but the actual design of the game helps to solve them without
serious inconvenience for the most part. The control, in fact, there is
no problem, and it works great as you get past the initial learning
curve, but instead, his firm commitment to action at the expense of
exploration and the ability to let the player is lost and wandering
aimlessly around the stage is something that is more difficult to
justify. The game gained in pace and intensity, but loses this world of
sensations.
Scheduled development:
As usual in the series, Samus must be progressively adding skills to
increase their chances finding and dealing with more enemies and
challenges, but this time the system of access to them directly collides
with the script. Samus agree to be under the command of Adam in this
mission, and his past, takes absolutely all the instructions, which
happens not to use weapons, such as Supermisiles (carrying the A button
while we are in first person and the target) Pumps and Energy (loading
with button 1) of the morph ball, to give some examples. As we explore
the ship on which the game is set, there are areas with doors that could
explode without problems, but Adam just has not given us permission. Or
are there areas with heat, but Adam has not authorized us to use the
climate suit (Varia Suit, for veterans), which resists high
temperatures. And generally that happens a lot of times, in fact,
continuously. Technically, Samus has all her skills, but choose not to
use because you have been told not to.
That is somewhat similar to what happens in Fusion, but there is much
better justified, and not in conflict with the narrative. In Other M it
is true that no school and it show in excess rubs game design with the
script. Similarly, the fact is that the adventure is much more linear,
as we are guided by Adam altogether, and no longer the boss … Partly
because of that, it is important to know what the past of these two
characters, and this is one of the main reasons why Samus introspection
is important.
Another point that is not quite offset the game is that Samus has gone
from saying nothing to talk about too. His inner speech is sometimes
abusive, and lonely, to the extent that the script is very well drawn
the most part, and it need not insist upon or made orally obvious ideas
that we have seen clearly. Clearly that has been done for less
suspicious (and, well, the youngsters) do not miss anything, and also to
solve an obvious problem: although the eyes of Samus looks very good,
after the hull is difficult to convey expressiveness that it looks
better on the other characters, or the flashback scenes where we see the
whole face. The helmet, armor, limited physical and facial
expressiveness, and direct verbal discourse is a way to bridge that gap,
although a bit crushed.
When you spend the game for the first time, the scenes can be skipped,
but it is logical, since they are partly integrated into the story, and
although some rhythm a little breaks, most hopefully it is embedded in
action. It is possible to unlock a specific way to see all the scenes,
more playable pre-recorded footage, as a journey through history, like a
movie. And the production values Metroid: Other M is impressive. A
professional studio, D-Rockets, has made the scenes, as CGI as those
with the game engine, run development by Tecmo’s Team Ninja (Ninja
Gaiden, Dead or Alive) and the supervision and direction has been the
responsibility of Nintendo. It has a couple of hours of scenes, a
mountain of lines of dialogue, and a deluxe presentation.
The title offers a dozen hours of play, culminating in a second mission
after the credits. Although this mission may be completed in just less
than three quarters of an hour, is that the ideal time to freely explore
the entire ship, get the hidden objects and enjoy a more classic
Metroid experience. This story hides behind claims new story elements,
and is a kind of extra integrated, in fact, history itself. It is hard
to get, but in the end the title leaves us free as a reward for
veterans. And for those who exceed 100%, a second round substantially
more difficult, so the replay value is assured.
But there is something to consider, and that is really important. The
Metroid series has always been linear, unless the player take advantage
of some small design flaw, as it should get an object that will open the
way to another section, and back again. What happens is that this has
always been well simulated, giving a feeling of freedom, this time, has
not been searched at any time. The focus this time has been completely
displaced and no attempt at any times to hide the linearity, and,
indeed, is quite obvious.
This is perhaps most notable sacrifice to integrate a story as scripted
and scheduled: you cannot risk having the player break the narrative
line, and everything must be further adjusted in that direction to be
meaningful. What has distinguished itself from other similar titles
Metroid, it always has been able to hide the threads of his master plan
to bring the player where necessary, afford to lose a bit from time to
time, and give that feeling of freedom. Other M leaves all that aside to
be the story (with its mysteries, even openly unresolved at the end),
and exploration, leading the player to continue the adventure.
However, we must also take into consideration that this exploration of
every corner is motivated solely by the desire of the player to achieve
100% of objects, and not a real need to explore. When we reach a control
room, saving the game and regain power, we are given an exact point to
go, it draws the route on the map, occasionally have to look where to
go, the route is generally mostly non-linear in exploration, putting the
game’s difficulty in fighting at the level of action. This could also
be power-much-on the additional challenge that opens after finishing the
game for the first time.
To a large extent, that’s not a bad choice seems to have abandoned the
classic standard items left by the enemy to move to that system of
concentration in which, when Samus reaches the limit of endurance, you
can regain some energy and replenish missiles. It is a very important
change in mechanics, not only of the series, but the genre of third
person action. Just to be seen if looking through the same way that the
kits have gone missing from the first-person shooter, but the fact is
that when we play, at first, it is somewhat strange. Gradually you get
used to, and assume that mechanism, which makes the difficulty, it is
greater at times and also make us want to arrive early to a control
room. There are many in the game, yes, but thanks to this system most
players will end up thanking veterans at the most tricky.
Technical section:
On the technical side, Metroid: Other M is a spectacular game, but falls
short on raw power of the work of Retro Studios. The combination of
scenes with playable segments was performed with an extensive
integration of both elements, and the game itself is very cinematic, as
when Samus jumps on enemies and shooting them in the head, for example.
However, overall the camera, the game looks less, so it shows its true
potential when it is placed in interesting positions. The important
thing is that looks great, and results in strong visuals, with good
artwork. The scenarios that we travel do not stop being the classic
(it’s a great ship, but has environmental areas, as in the nave of
Fusion), but enemies and locations look great. It has a touch too bright
at times in its textures, very clean, but sometimes at odds with others
of a somewhat lower resolution, which are perceived mostly first person
to pass.
The combination of sequences and gameplay makes us find a new door open
for the future of the series, but with a bold evolution of classical
concept, continuous and consistent with the fact that since Japan had
done so far with the universe Samus Aran. That puts it far away, of
course, the work of Retro Studios, and is something that must be
understood before coming to the game. Because this is about discovering
Samus, why they became bounty hunters … and above all, to see all
their weaknesses. We have met the tough Samus fighting the most
dangerous enemies, but now know the person behind this armor, the only
person who feels attached, and how Adam will be used in future by the
Galactic Federation , in Fusion, to give more orders to the hitherto
independent Samus.
The sound, meanwhile, highlighted by a classic Metroid soundtrack has
been reconstructed, with perhaps more electronic items, without
abandoning the environmental melodies that aim to create specific
situations. From the big issue of fighting Mother Brain in Super Metroid
on the sequence of introduction, to the most emotive issues in key
scenes of the story, the soundtrack is one of its strengths.
Additionally, the game filled with dialogues performed in all cases,
which is an important step forward for the series and Nintendo itself,
little given to these decisions. This makes for a film narrative is
entirely in English, but conveniently subtitled in Castilian. The work
of the actors is fairly good in most of the time, and while Samus sounds
very young, you get used soon.
Conclusion:
Metroid: Other M is a constant tribute to this saga. Its classic
gameplay has been revamped, and has given greater weight to the action,
the dynamic, but still looking back to write your future. It is work
that has sought, above all, turning Samus into a character that we
discover the human side, and that makes the story and script is
important. There has been a feeling that is unbalanced, but there are
long sequences of several minutes, and cut off the pace a bit, but
generally works well. His style is very Japan, and that is something to
be taken into account in understanding some artistic decisions and
direction in this area, but the European public is quite receptive to
this style, so you know enjoy it.
What is clear is that Samus, despite all this introspection, makes great
use of his cannon and all its other powers, made available to the
player, in a return to a new two-dimensional, classical but different
world marked by polygonal. Its action is intense, and the combat is
exciting, with beautifully raised bosses, which show the good work of
Team Ninja in this field. The free scan long time coming, but finally it
does, but the focus is always on the action. Now, the most famous
bounty hunter video games have to wait for his next mission. But first
you’ll have to overcome this difficult challenge Other M please spend
your hands after the game, only suitable for more courageous.
