First Impressions: Metroid: Other M

Hey doods and doodettes, welcome to my first First Impressions post! I promised this in the Update I posted yesterday, so here we go. I picked up Other M the other day (see what I did there?) and decided I should write my thoughts on the game so far. Just to notify, I'm just under 5 hours in and I'm loving almost every minute of the game so far. I'm only going to be talking about the plus points of the game, nothing story related, so don't worry about spoilers or anything. Now, let's get on with it...

So, before I talk about the main stuff, I'd like to tell you about the brand new ideas that have been implemented into the latest Metroid game. First of all, the cut-scenes and the voice acting. These two things have been the topic of many Other M discussions, about whether they'd be handled right. There's a big emphasis on story in Other M, and with that Team Ninja suggested they should give Samus Aran a voice box. The voice acting in the original E3 2009 trailer was, let's be honest, terrible. Thankfully, they've changed 99% of the voice acting (the 1% they kept was Anthony's famous "remember me?") to that of a much more impressive voice cast. Samus Aran herself has some particularly well-done voice work, and the Galactic Federation dudes' voices are good quality too. The voice isn't the only thing that matters though, there's also the visuals they're placed on. The cut-scenes in Other M are handled by D-Rockets and are absolutely stunning. Some use impressive CGI, like the opening scene and some key story scenes set outside of the game's setting, while others use the in-game graphics. D-Rockets deserve a pat on the back for their work.

The first boss encounter is extremely easy. If you lose against this you officially suck

Team Ninja have also added several up close and personal combat moves to the experience too, the Lethal Strike, a melee based move that can be used on Bosses and weakened larger enemies and the Overblast, an attack that involves Samus charging her Arm Cannon, grappling an enemy and shooting a charged blast at a weak spot (usually the mouth, brutal). Also added to the table is the Sensemove, an evasive technique that involves dodging lasers and attacks. The new moves animate perfectly, and work perfectly. Good job there Team Ninja! Aside from all the new stuff, the classic Metroid formula is still included in Other M's genes. It plays like a 2D Metroid game in 3D, where you can go in and out of the screen, with some over the shoulder and first person sections chucked in there too. Despite being in a 3D plain, you only need to face left and shoot to blast enemies on your left, and face right to do the same to enemies on the right. The auto-aim works well, but it can be a little inaccurate at times. Still, at least you're not graded on your accuracy like in Prime 3.

Meet Samus's good buddy Anthony Higgs. He plays a key role in Other M's story.

Now I might as well mention the biggest flaw in Other M. The flipping scanning sections! At some points in the story, usually during cut-scenes you are locked into first person mode and have to press B on something significant. Unlike Prime 3 though, there's nothing to tell you that you can scan the object you need to find! It's ridiculous, it's pointless, and it's mindlessly frustrating! Why didn't they just take these sections out of the game? You could just have Samus scanning the objects in a cut-scene rather than having you continuously tapping B to find an almost invisible object. Oh well.

StilI, despite this annoying problem, Other M is still a brilliant game from what I've played so far. If I were to give a score right now, it'd be around 90-94%. I would say Galaxy 2 is better if I'm honest, but Still, Other M is a simply awesome game that you must get!