Metroid: Other M - First Impressions

[SPOILER WARNING]

Explosions fill the skies above Zebes as Samus Aran faces Mother Brain. The baby Metroid shrieks its last, giving Samus the use of the Hyper Beam. "Mother, time to go!" and Mother Brain is blaster into a million mothery-brained bits.

That's just the opening cutscene of Other M, retelling the end of Super Metroid. It is quite a spectacle to watch. Of course, here for the first time Samus has voice acting. To be honest, her speech could flow better, but in a way it fits her as the mysterious figure we've been playing as for years.

Continuing with another cutscene, the game moves on to the Galactic Federation where we take control of the game properly. The game's initial tutorial acts as a free playground. You're given a few enemies to blast away  to show the Federation guy your moves. The controls, which I had doubted over for so long, feel quite good. Jumping is done with 2 while shooting is handled by 1; just like the old A and B combo of old. Holding the 1 button charges the charge gauge, which is an extra little meter underneath your energy bar. When this is full (and it takes only a few seconds to do so) you can unleash your charge beam.

Also coming into play are new additions to Samus' physical arsenal for Other M. The Sensemove is a great feature that gives you the ability to evade attacks. It actually works much better than I expected, as long as you keep a good view of what is happening on screen. Lethal strike can only be used on stunned enemies, however you do get a chance to use it in the tutorial. With just one use I can't say much about it at the moment. Overblast is a great move that allows a more powerful attack. Jump on an enemy's back and pump some arm plasma into it, making the charge gauge fill. When full you can blast them to hell. I prefer charging the gauge before jumping however. Be warned that the use of this depends on the enemy you face.

Switching the Wii remote to vertical activates first-person, what they call Search View. In this view you are able to look around by holding the B button. This is Team Ninja's combination of Prime's combat and scan visors. You move your cursor around the screen pushing to the edges to rotate around. You are fixed on the spot, however. Moving your cursor onto an enemy will activate lock on, at which point you can launch missiles. There are also the scanning parts, where you identify a point of interest and the game locks on to that point, giving you information or trigging a cutscene.

This is the case when you first land on the Bottle Ship. However, with no initial indication of what you are looking for, being told to examine with B, you'll find yourself going over the whole screen before you get the GF logo on the side of the ship. This frustrated me somewhat in that there was no clue to what you were looking for. This would have flowed much better if the cutscene had carried on past the one that shows Samus landing on the Bottle Ship. The Prime Trilogy's landing theme has vanished, but the music to that cutscene is rather drowned out by the sound effects anyway, so it's no real loss.

A nice touch that has remained from Prime 3 however, is that Samus exits her ship from the bottom instead of the top. It's just a touch, but it's nice to see that some touches from Retro Studios have been kept by Team Ninja.

Progressing on, we meet straight away the GF team, introducing the player to Anthony Higgins and Adam Malkovich. From what I have seen so far they are voiced really well, reflecting on their backgrounds. To help the team progress, the player is required to blast open a door with a missile. The thing is, this smacks of tutorial as well with the tool tips that keep appearing in the bottom right. I feel that this section would have been more suited to the tutorial stage, letting the player progress onto the Bottle Ship and into the action quicker.

Plodding through the steel foreboding corridors that are famously tied with the Metroid series still feels just as good. However, with the agility Team Ninja have given Samus, it's not plodding: it's sprinting. Musically, Other M so far stands five galaxies away from the Prime Trilogy; being reduced down to atmospheric dark tones, letting the scenery and the sound effects do the talking. Yes, the main themes are still there, but not in the main gameplay sections so far.

Finally, we meet our first boss. I raise my eyebrows knowingly as it is the purple creature seen in a few of the game's trailers. Interestingly, it's made out of a great big plague of outer space insects. Here you have to avoid it's attacks while bringing into play the Search View, using your missiles on its eye, triggering a mid-battle cutscene where Adam allows the use of freeze guns. With the help of the Federation troopers ice, you can use your missiles to smash it into bits.

The recharge system that Team Ninja has gone for involves sticking your Wii remote in the air and pressing the A button. You'll discover this at this point after being given permission to use your missiles. Doing so leaves you open to attack, and if you are you stop recharging energy and ammo. At this point when it's still easy it's not that bad, but I do fear it's going to become an annoyance in trickier sections.

During this part of the game we also experience the first cutscene exploring Samus' backstory. Unlike the various people who dislike the game's cinematic feel; I love it. It makes Samus so much more Human, connecting you to her with her epic tale.

From that battle, you're now under the command of Adam who quickly sends you to restore the ship's power, which gives you a good opportunity to pick up a couple of upgrades on the way. It's important to note that missile expansions in this game only give                                                                                         you one extra missile, unlike the Prime Trilogy.

With power back on, being told to go to Sector 1 brings back memories of Metroid Fusion, where each of the game's areas were identified as sectors. It seems a similar thing has gone on here, and it ties in quite neatly with its chronological sequel.

So, not too far in, but there's a lot I like about the game's new direction, and only a couple of bits that I don't like. And I'm sure as hell looking forward to what's going to come next.