Metroid: Other M

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Metroid: Other M
A man in military fatigues, a blonde woman with a headset along with a green jacket and a brown shirt, and a woman in a powered suit with a helmet and rounded shoulders, in front of a starry backdrop where a large space station floats.
North American and PAL region box art
Developer(s) Nintendo
Team Ninja
D-Rockets
Publisher(s) Nintendo
Director(s) Yoshio Sakamoto
Yosuke Hayashi
Takehiko Hosokawa
Producer(s) Yoshio Sakamoto
Yosuke Hayashi
Artist(s) Takayasu Morisawa
Yutaka Saito
Writer(s) Yoshio Sakamoto
Composer(s) Kuniaki Haishima
Series Metroid
Platform(s) Wii
Release date(s) NA 20100831August 31, 2010
JP 20100902September 2, 2010
AU 20100902September 2, 2010
EU 20100903September 3, 2010
Genre(s) Action-adventure
Mode(s) Single-player

Metroid: Other M (Japanese: メトロイド アザーエム Hepburn: Metoroido Azā Emu?) is an action-adventure video game for the Wii developed by "Project M", a team which consists of staff members from Nintendo, Team Ninja, and D-Rockets. A part of the Metroid series, it features gameplay in both first- and third-person perspectives, and is the first installment of the franchise to feature melee attacks which could only be executed when an enemy's health was reduced to a certain degree. Other M was released in North America on August 31, 2010, Japan and Australia on September 2, 2010, and in Europe on September 3, 2010.

Impressed with the 2004 action game Ninja Gaiden, series co-creator Yoshio Sakamoto approached Team Ninja to develop Other M, while D-Rockets was brought in to handle the in-game cutscenes. The development team employed a simple control scheme to make the game more intuitive and attractive, and gave significant focus on plot and characterization, with extensive usage of cinematics and voice acting. Chronologically, Other M takes place next-to-last in the Metroid universe. The events of the game take place between Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion. The story follows bounty hunter Samus Aran, who investigates a derelict space station along with a Galactic Federation platoon, which includes her commanding officer, Adam Malkovich.

Other M has met with polarizing reviews. Though it received an aggregate score of 79% on both GameRankings and Metacritic, with much praise to its gameplay, graphics and overall atmosphere, significant criticism was raised towards its plot, dialogue, and cutscene length, with Samus' characterization in the game considered a negative deviation from the series' norm. Other M received an Editors' Choice Award and the award for "Coolest Atmosphere" of 2010 from IGN, was nominated for Best Wii Game of the 2010 by GameTrailers and picked by Wired as one of the best games of the year, but was also chosen as one of the worst games of the year by Entertainment Weekly and Attack of the Show!, and as the third "Biggest Disappointment of 2010" by Game Informer. It was the third best-selling video game in Japan during its week of release, and it was the ninth best-selling game in North America during September 2010. The long-term sales numbers were considered disappointing by Nintendo, however, as the game sold a half a million copies in North America by November 2010.

Contents

Gameplay[edit]

A person in a powered armor grabs a chameleon-like creature. Atop the screen are 2D icons which indicates the health and ammo of the player.
Samus executing the Lethal Strike on a chameleon-like creature. Other M introduces a melee combat system, allowing her to perform actions such as evasive maneuvers and counterattacks.[1] Along the top corner of the screen, the player's energy level, missile ammunition and a charge meter are displayed.[2]
See also: Gameplay of the Metroid series

As in previous Metroid games,[3] Metroid: Other M is set in a large open-ended world with elevators that connect regions. Each elevator contains rooms separated by doors, which mostly open automatically, but sometimes need a special action to be unlocked.[2] Other M unfolds in a more linear manner due to its focus on storyline; Navigation Booths, similar to the Navigation Rooms from Metroid Fusion, tell the player where to go, and the in-game map highlights the next objective.[4] The gameplay revolves around solving puzzles to uncover secrets, platform jumping, and shooting enemies. While there are power-ups scattered around the Bottle Ship, a few items are already equipped by Samus, but she cannot use them until commanding officer Adam Malkovich authorizes her to do so.[5] Unlike other games in the series, enemies do not drop items, with the restoration of health and ammo occurring either by using the Navigation Booths, or employing of the Concentration technique, where Samus rests and replenishes missiles and health.[2][6]

The regular gameplay features a third person perspective, where players hold the Wii Remote horizontally. Samus can jump, fire the arm cannon, and turn into a morph ball, which can roll into narrow passages and drop energy bombs.[2] While gameplay is similar to early Metroid titles, the game's environments are three-dimensional and movement is not limited to a two-dimensional plane.[7] Other M is the first in the series to feature a melee combat system.[1] With well-timed button presses, players can use special techniques such as the Sense Move, which allows them to dodge enemy attacks, and the Overblast, where Samus jumps on the enemy and fires a charged shot at point-blank range.[8]

When the Wii Remote is pointed towards the screen, the angle switches to a first-person view, where players can lock onto targets and fire missiles; however, players cannot move in this perspective.[2] There are several instances where players will have to constantly switch between play modes; for example, fighting off a horde of flying enemies in third person, while switching to first person to destroy their spawn points.[9] Additionally, the first-person mode is also used in exploration, such as locating hidden items.[6]

Synopsis[edit]

Setting[edit]

Metroid: Other M mostly takes place in several locales around the Galactic Federation Bottle Ship. The main environment is the vessel interior, known as the Main Sector, along with the other environments that are contained in "sectors" or gigantic spheres within the ship.[10] Later on in the game, the ship is revealed to be a secret facility which contains many different lifeforms with the purpose of turning them into bioweapons.[11] The facility eventually abandoned them after the crew managed to breed a Queen Metroid and propagate Metroids in Sector Zero, a recreation of the Space Pirates' base in Zebes, and interfaced with them via an artificial intelligence in an android body named MB. It is modeled after Mother Brain and is able to communicate with Metroids through telepathy.[12][13] The story takes place between Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion,[10] and the opening cutscene of Other M is a flashback of the climactic battle with Mother Brain at the conclusion of Super Metroid.[2]

Characters[edit]

The player takes on the role of bounty hunter Samus Aran, who investigates the Bottle Ship after receiving a "Baby's Cry"-type distress signal.[2] Upon docking, she encountered the squad she had been a part of when she had been enrolled in the Galactic Federation Army, the "07th Platoon", consisting of several soldiers: Adam Malkovich, the commanding officer to Samus during her time in the Federation;[14] Anthony Higgs, the point man of the 07th Platoon and Samus' past colleague;[14] Lyle Smithsonian, a special forces trooper in charge of demolition assignments[15] and who suffers from entomophobia;[16] K.G. Misawa, the recon scout;[15] Maurice Favreau, the engineer;[15] and James Pierce, a communications expert.[15] Midpoint in the game, Samus learns that the Federation soldiers are mysteriously killed by a secret assassin among their ranks, who she calls "the Deleter", and whose identity is never explicitly revealed in the story.[17] Other characters include Dr. Madeline Bergman, the site manager and development director of the Bottle Ship's secret projects;[11] and MB, nicknamed Melissa Bergman, an android created to replicate Mother Brain's artificial intelligence.[13] Adam's deceased brother, Ian Malkovich, is included in one of Samus' flashbacks.[18]

Plot[edit]

Metroid series
fictional chronology

The story begins as Samus awakens in a Galactic Federation facility after dreaming about her battle against Mother Brain and the death of the Metroid larva from planet Zebes. After leaving in her ship, Samus receives a distress signal from a dormant "Bottle Ship", which floats a short distance away from a Federation vessel.[2] Upon stepping into the ship, Samus encounters the Galactic Federation 07th Platoon, which has some soldiers who fought alongside her in the GF military, such as her commanding officer Adam Malkovich, and point man Anthony Higgs. Adam treats her very harshly due to the circumstances of her departure from the army, calling Samus an "outsider" and ordering his team not to reveal any details of their mission to her.[19] After she saves them from monsters, Adam eventually allows Samus to cooperate with the platoon under the stipulation that she follow his orders.[20] The platoon is then briefed, and assigned to go on solo searches to investigate the Bottle Ship.[21][22]

Samus rendezvous with the platoon in the Exam Center of the Biosphere, where they learn that the ship's director, Dr. Madeline Bergman, had conducted research on illegal bioweapons for the Federation.[11] After being attacked by a mysterious reptilian creature, Samus is sent to the Pyrosphere in pursuit of this creature, but she is quickly directed to the Cryosphere. There, she finds the body of Maurice Favreau and is attacked by an unknown soldier while in pursuit of an unidentified woman. Returning to the Pyrosphere to investigate the Geothermal Power Plant, Samus encounters the dragon-like Ridley. Contact with Adam is inexplicably severed, while Anthony draws Ridley's attention and challenges him, but is seemingly killed.[21][22] When reaching the Bioweapon Research Center, Samus meets the woman from before, who claims to be "Madeline Bergman". Bergman tells Samus that an AI program based on Mother Brain, called MB, was created to control the Metroids, harbored in a secret area known as Sector Zero.[12] Samus sets out to destroy the sector. However, Adam stops Samus from entering, telling her that the Metroids in Sector Zero are most likely unfreezable, but they can be killed if the sector's self-destruct protocol is activated. Adam commands Samus to defeat Ridley and secure the safety of a survivor in Room MW of the Bioweapon Research Center. Adam leaves Samus for Sector Zero, sacrificing himself by destroying the sector.[23]

Swearing to finish the mission, Samus returns to the research center, where she finds the drained, mummified remains of Ridley.[24] She then discovers the survivor that Adam mentioned, who opens a large, dark room. Samus discovers that the said room is filled with Metroid eggs, and battles a Queen Metroid occupying the area.[22] Samus defeats the creature and pursues the survivor, who reveals herself as Madeline Bergman. She tells Samus that MB was the person met earlier, an android created to establish a relationship with the Metroids. After developing emotions, MB revolted and developed a personality similar to Mother Brain, telepathically commanding the creatures of the Bottle Ship to attack those on board.[13] Samus and Madeline are then interrupted by MB herself, who insists that all humans should be "judged".[25] A group of Federation Marines rushes into the room, and MB summons the Bottle Ship's most dangerous creatures to attack everyone. Madeline freezes MB, who is then killed by the Marines.[21][22] The colonel praises Samus for her involvement in the mission, but orders a Marine to escort her back to her ship. A Marine complies and reveals himself as Anthony, stating that his orders, under the chairman of the Galactic Federation, are to ensure any survivors' safety in the Bottle Ship.[26] Samus, along with Madeline and Anthony, then leave for the Galactic Federation headquarters in her gunship.[22]

After the credits roll, Samus decided to return to the Bottle Ship, now marked for destruction by the Galactic Federation, to retrieve "something irreplaceable".[27] After battling a Phantoon, a monster Samus had also fought in Zebes, she arrives at the control center and discovers Adam's platoon helmet. The Bottle Ship's self-destruct sequence is remotely activated, and the game ends with Samus clutching Adam's helmet as she escapes from the Bottle Ship before it is destroyed.[21][22]

Development[edit]

Portrait of Yoshio Sakamoto, making a public speech.
Metroid series co-creator Yoshio Sakamoto intended Team Ninja to employ Metroid: Other M with a simple control scheme to appeal to a modern audience.[28]

Metroid: Other M was developed by "Project M", a team of over 100 people that includes staff from Nintendo, Team Ninja, and D-Rockets,[29][30] with production lasting for three years.[28] During the launch of the Wii console in 2006, Nintendo producer and chief Metroid designer Yoshio Sakamoto decided to create a new Metroid game for it, but opted to work with an outside company, as his usual development team "didn't actually have the know-how to produce something that was 3D".[31] Eventually, Sakamoto approached Yosuke Hayashi of Team Ninja to discuss the incorporation of the flashy Ninja Gaiden engine into a new engine to encompass his new vision of a 3D Metroid game. Sakamoto served as producer and scenario designer, and main design was done by three designers from the Game Boy Advance titles of the series, Metroid Fusion and Metroid: Zero Mission. Team Ninja took charge of the programming and 3D modeling, and D-Rockets handled the CG cutscenes.[32][33] Hayashi described the work on the game as "a great honour" since he was a fan of the series, and stated Team Ninja tried to include as many creatures seen in previous games as possible.[34]

While Retro Studios tried to create "the ultimate first-person experience" with the Metroid Prime series, Sakamoto's approach with gameplay was different, particularly for the story Other M intended to tell.[35] When Sakamoto met Team Ninja, he said his intent was a game with "controls as simple as those of a NES game", so it would appeal to modern players. Team Ninja agreed with that approach, as they felt control schemes with excessive buttons were possibly turning players off the action genre, and tried to make the game employ only the Wii Remote, without resorting to the Nunchuk expansion.[28] The development team also tried to use the simpler controls to provide flashy action, with varied special attacks that would need few button inputs to be executed.[36] Sakamoto focused on 2D-like gameplay because he considered it more "comfortable" for audiences, particularly during shifts from gameplay to cutscenes, as he thought 2D "[doesn't] have the same distractions when you want to give them story sequences".[37] While the developers felt no need to integrate everything from the Prime series as they were games with different concepts, a few of the elements that "made those games unique" were implemented into Other M, such as the "immersive sight" of the first-person mode.[38] When questioned if Other M would be too similar to Ninja Gaiden, Yosuke Hayashi responded that while the new game will feature heavy action-based sequences, there will still be the exploration-based sequences characteristic of other Metroid games. Yoshio Sakamoto said that Other M's story progression was in the same manner as Metroid Fusion, and stated that the collaboration between Nintendo and Team Ninja is "unlike anything that's ever been done at Nintendo; it's more than just a collaborative effort — it's one group working toward a common goal".[33]

Before Other M's development, Sakamoto did not think too much about "what kind of person Samus Aran was and how she thinks and her personality", particularly because the games tried to depict Samus as a mysterious person.[35] Sakamoto and Team Ninja put much focus on backstory in the game to present Samus as an "appealing human character",[32] something important for future installments, as players would get further interest in Samus' adventures.[35] Hayashi said that one of the development team's goals was to have the player "connect with Samus as the story and action develops".[36] Sakamoto also said the game would "bring everyone up to the same level of understanding in the Metroid universe", and would not only introduce the series to new players but also create new challenges for fans.[37] The chronological setting between Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion was chosen because Sakamoto considered the period "so critical that without addressing it, we wouldn't be able to make new games that show Samus' adventures that take place after the events of Metroid Fusion".[39]

D-Rockets, a company specialized in CG animation for video games and commercials, was brought into the project for its in-game cinematics on Team Ninja productions. Director Ryuji Kitaura said when Nintendo gave him the instructions, he considered the work "overwhelming" - most of D-Rockets work only involved high-quality CG, while Nintendo aimed to "make the parts of the game that the player controls the same quality as the cinematics, in order to make them seamless" and Sakamoto intended to cutscenes to give emotional depth to Samus.[28] Team Ninja and D-Rockets worked separately most of the time, and only started to collaborate about a year into production, to make sure the in-game action and the cutscenes had the same style.[36] Over 300 storyboards which took six months to be completed, and ten teams were employed on the development of cutscenes. For increased realism, professional camera operators helped with the motion capture, and Samus' face had a more detailed frame to make expressions more lifelike.[28] Kitaura tried to include more scenes with Samus outside her powered armor, to illustrate "the human, weak side of Samus, her expressions and gesture", but Sakamoto convinced him otherwise with a declaration that the Power Suit acts as a shield for both enemy attacks and the reveal of her emotions.[36] As a special feature, players can unlock "Theater Mode", a two-hour film presentation, upon completion of the game. Divided into chapters, this film contains every cut-scene of the game, along with several clips of gameplay footage recorded by the developers.[40] Other M uses a dual-layer disc due to extensive usage of cinematics in the game.[41][42]

Audio[edit]

Kuniaki Haishima composed the soundtrack of Other M. The team hired Haishima to write the music because the producers felt he could "tell the story with melodies" and "powerfully [helped] us depict Samus' feelings and emotions".[28] Parts of the soundtrack were recorded and performed by Arigat-Orchestra in Tokyo and Asian Philharmonic Orchestra in Beijing.[43] Furthermore, a "piece of piano music" was made by a member of staff at Sakamoto's request.[41]

For the game's voice acting, Jessica Martin was cast to play Samus in the English version of Other M, and said that recording sessions took over a year which resulted in the voice cast being required to record lines with storyboards and unfinished cutscenes as basis.[44] Adam Malkovich was voiced by Dave Elvin; while Mike McGillicuty provided the voice of Anthony Higgs.[43] In Japanese, voice actors Ai Kobayashi, Rikiya Koyama, Kenji Nomura and Shizuka Itō provided the voices of Samus, Adam, Anthony and MB respectively.[36][43] Seattle-based Bad Animals Studio and Ginza-based Onkio Haus recorded voice-overs in English and Japanese languages respectively.[43]

Marketing and release[edit]

The game was first announced by Nintendo of America president and CEO Reggie Fils-Aime and a trailer was briefly shown during the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2009.[45] Fils-Aime stated that Metroid: Other M would "take you deeper into Samus' story",[46] and also noted that the game would be a return to the style of the traditional series as opposed to the Metroid Prime series, though the game would have a "harder edge".[47] On E3 2010, the game had a playable demo, which GameTrailers picked as Best Wii Game and Action/Adventure Game of the expo, and was nominated for Game of the Show.[48][49] Previews of Other M were also featured in the 2010 editions of Game Developers Conference and Nintendo Media Summit.[14][50] Fils-Aime expected global sales of between 1.5 and 2 million units.[47]

Metroid: Other M was released in North America on August 31, 2010.[51] It had an original release date of June 27, 2010,[52] but it was postponed by two months, as the high standards of the development team got them behind the completion schedule.[53] In other territories, Other M was released September 2 in Japan and Australia,[54][55] and one day later in Europe, where its release was preceded by a large marketing campaign with television spots, trailers at theaters, and online ads.[56] GameStop began providing an art folio for purchasers who pre-ordered the game containing "16 individual high-quality cards".[57] The cards feature concept artwork, in-game screenshots, and a description from Samus' perspective.[58]

In other video games[edit]

Geothermal Power Plant was featured as a playable stage in Dead or Alive: Dimensions, a fighting game developed for the Nintendo 3DS by Team Ninja.[59] The stage features Ridley as a stage hazard, while Samus appears as an assist character in the Morph Ball form,[60] who will drop a Power Bomb that switches the combatants' location when a sound is made in the microphone.[61] Yosuke Hayashi confirmed that Samus is not featured as a playable character in Dead or Alive: Dimensions,[60] stating that "it would be better to let her focus on her job rather than kicking everyone's butt in DOAD".[62]

Reception[edit]

 Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator Score
GameRankings 79.11%[63]
Metacritic 79 out of 100[64]
Review scores
Publication Score
1UP.com B-[65]
Edge 8 out of 10[3]
Eurogamer 8 out of 10[66]
Famitsu 35 out of 40[67]
G4 2 out of 5[68]
Game Informer US 6.5 out of 10 [69]
AUS 8.0 out of 10 [70]
GamePro 4 out of 5[71]
GameSpot 8.5 out of 10[4]
GameSpy 3 out of 5[5]
GamesRadar 7 out of 10[72]
GameTrailers 8.6 out of 10[73]
IGN 8.5 out of 10[74]
Official Nintendo Magazine 91%[75]
The Daily Telegraph 7 out of 10[76]
The A.V. Club B[77]
Wired 9 out of 10[78]

Reviews for Metroid: Other M were mixed but generally positive initially after its release. The game has received an average score of 79 out of 100 at both Metacritic and GameRankings, based on 71 and 51 reviews respectively.[64][63] Critics' reception of the title's gameplay was positive. GameSpot praised the control scheme, combat system, and the search for secrets; they wrote that the former two were "unique and responsive" and the latter was "very rewarding".[4] Famitsu reviewers complimented the Sense Move technique as "by far the best", and the switch between perspectives, which "works surprisingly well".[67] IGN called the gameplay "a really impressive evolution of the old-school Metroid design",[74] and GameTrailers described it as "a nice compromise between satisfying fans and opening up the series for a wider audience".[73] Good Game's two presenters "enjoyed the atmosphere of it [...] and was quite hooked to keep making progress".[79] The game's graphics were also well-received, garnering some acclaim. Eurogamer exclaimed that Other M bears graphical similarities to Metroid Prime which "tend to come across as nicely-built video game levels at best".[66] IGN claimed that despite the graphics was not on the same standard as the Prime series, it was still regarded as "one of the best looking games on Wii".[74] The Daily Telegraph described the environments as "lush and detailed", and said they helped "capturing the ethos of old-school Metroid".[76] IGN also praised the game's "storytelling with motion-captured acting and voice-over",[74] and Wired applauded cutscenes "with slick graphic effects".[78] The music was praised as atmospheric and faithful to the franchise,[69][73][80] though GameSpot felt they were "more like outtakes from older entries than a moody new soundtrack".[4]

Complaints were raised on the first person perspective. The A.V. Club's David Wolinsky felt that the "Where's Waldo?-like sequences" were irritating.[77] Similarly, Ryan Scott of GameSpy complained that they were "oh-god-I'm-going-to-snap-the-disc-in-half frustrating" and considered the perspective a "weird forced handicap",[5] while Official Nintendo Magazine commented that "[t]hese bits are atrocious" and took "20 frustrating minutes trying to figure out what we were supposed to look at during one scene, only to realise there was a tiny green patch of liquid on the grass".[75] Game Informer expressed disappointment that "[it] also takes away your ability to move [while in first person view]".[69] Critics responded poorly to the mechanic of power-up restriction; they derided it as a deviation from the series' tradition of item discovery,[71] and even more strongly criticized it as nonsensical and condescending in terms of story.[81] GamesRadar derided the game's linearity in comparison with Metroid Fusion, a game which took a similar approach.[72] The website also found the enemies to be a "a largely unimpressive collection",[72] a gripe which Edge also had; it wrote that "truly testing enemies are only found in the last stretch".[3] Other M's short length was criticized by reviewers,[4][71] by critics such as GameTrailers, which writes that the bonuses such as art galleries were not stimulating enough to entice replay value.[73]

Major criticism focused on the script, dialogue,[82] and cutscene length.[81] GameSpot felt that the "unskippable" cutscenes and "the overabundance of story in Other M were a negative deviation from Metroid tradition".[4] Game Informer states that they "often run as long as 15 minutes, exhausting players with repetition of obvious plot points and overwrought dialogue as mature and interesting as a teenager’s diary" and declared Samus as "[t]he biggest culprit in the bad storytelling".[69] 1UP.com complained that as the game progresses "instead of getting more of the things that work [combat], you get more of the things you don't care about [overwrought story]".[65] Reviewers described the dialogue as "sounding like they came from a tween drama"[68] and cited the plot as "the future's dumbest soap opera".[66] Wolinsky echoes the misgivings about Samus' immaturity, petulant behavior, and misguided loyalty.[77] GamePro writes that while the story and Samus' monologues did not compel them, "it helped contextualize her entire existence" which developed the character to "an actual human being who's using the vastness of space to try and put some distance between herself and the past".[71] Contrarily, Justin Haywald of 1UP.com found the portrayal "lifeless and boring" and "nonsensical".[65] G4 TV's Abbie Heppe considered a portrayal of Samus as "sexist"; she wrote that she "cannot possibly wield the amount of power she possesses unless directed to by a man", and found that her anxiety attack cannot be reconciled with her previous portrayals.[68]

Responding to criticism that was raised on the game's story, Yosuke Hayashi explained in a September 2011 interview with G4 TV that it was "definitely the product of Mr. Sakamoto at Nintendo. We definitely worked with them on the project, but that was all him."[83][84] Nintendo Treehouse producer Nate Bihldorff stated that the scene depicting Samus' encounter with Ridley "is not a sign of weakness, but of strength. People who call out that scene as anything but empowering are kind of missing the point".[85][86] He added that "Samus’ story — her voice, her motivations, everything about her — has largely been a matter of individual perception, especially in the US, where people haven’t read any of the official manga related to her childhood."[85][86]

Sales[edit]

Other M was the third best-selling video game in Japan during its week of release with 45,398 copies sold, ranking it behind Wii Party and Monster Hunter Diary: Poka Poka Airu Village.[87] It sold an additional 11,239 copies the following week.[88] It was also the ninth best-selling game in North America during September 2010,[89] selling 173,000 units.[90] In the United Kingdom, the game failed to make the top 10 and placed 12th in its first week.[91] By November 2010, Other M had yet to sell a "half a million" units in the United States, far below Nintendo's expectations.[92] As of January 7, 2012, Other M had shipped over a million copies worldwide.

Awards and accolades[edit]

In IGN's Best of 2010 Awards, Other M received the award for Coolest Atmosphere.[80] It was also nominated for Best Story award, but lost to Epic Mickey.[93] IGN also gave the game an 'Editor's Choice' award.[74] GameTrailers nominated Other M for Best Wii Game of 2010; however, it ultimately lost to Super Mario Galaxy 2,[94] while Wired listed it 12th on its list of the twenty best games of the year.[95] On the other hand, X-Play chose Other M as "Game That Gave Us The Biggest Headache"; they wrote that it was a "morass of bad decisions", from the controls to Samus' portrayal.[96] Another G4 program, Attack of the Show!, named Other M one of the worst games of the year.[97] Entertainment Weekly chose the game as the second worst of 2010.[98]

GamesRadar chose Other M as the "Mangled Makeover" of 2010; they wrote that it painted Samus, widely considered a strong female lead character, as "an unsure, insecure woman who desperately wants the approval of her former (male) commanding officer".[99] GameTrailers additionally nominated the game for the Most Disappointing Game of 2010, but also praised the game for its wonderful graphics and gameplay.[100] Game Informer listed Samus first on their list of the "Top 10 Dorks of 2010" due to her "lame backstory"[101] and placed Other M third on their "Top 10 Disappointments of 2010" list, ranking behind "studio closures, layoffs, [and] restructurings" and the "Infinity Ward debacle".[102]

Technical issues[edit]

Metroid: Other M was reported to have a game-breaking bug shortly after the game's release.[103] Due to a coding error, backtracking to a room "where the Ice Beam was obtained" in the Pyrosphere causes a normally unlocked door found later on to be permanently locked and impassable,[104] rendering the player unable to complete the game without starting over or using an old game save taken before the bug occurred.[103] Nintendo has set up a program that allows players affected by the bug to send in an SD card or their Wii console with their save files to be repaired.[105][106]

Because Other M uses a dual-layer disc, Nintendo of America has stated that some Wii consoles may have difficulty reading the high-density software due to a contaminated laser lens. Nintendo is offering a free repair for owners who experience this issue.[104]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Metroid: Other M Launches Across Europe on 3rd September 2010" (Press release). Nintendo. 2010-07-08. Retrieved 2011-03-24. 
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Metroid: Other M Manual (Instruction manual). Nintendo. 2010-08-31. Retrieved 2010-12-09. 
  3. ^ a b c "Metroid Other M Review". Edge. 2010-09-03. Retrieved 2011-03-25. 
  4. ^ a b c d e f McShea, Tom (2010-08-27). "GameSpot Metroid: Other M review". GameSpot. Retrieved 2010-08-27. 
  5. ^ a b c Scott, Ryan (2010-08-31). "GameSpy: Metroid: Other M review". GameSpy. Retrieved 2010-10-23. 
  6. ^ a b Clayborn, Samuel. "Metroid: Other M Wiki Guide: Basics". IGN. Retrieved 2012-10-02. 
  7. ^ "Nintendo Reveals Hardware and Software Lineup for the First Half of 2010". IGN. 2010-02-24. Retrieved 2010-02-24. 
  8. ^ "Metroid: Other M - mega hands-on". GamesRadar. 2010-07-28. Retrieved 2010-10-23. 
  9. ^ Cabral, Matt (2010-02-24). "Metroid: Other M: A Change of Perspective". Kotaku. Retrieved 2010-02-24. 
  10. ^ a b "Preview: Metroid: Other M Gameplay Preview". Computer and Video Games. 2010-07-30. Retrieved 2010-10-23. 
  11. ^ a b c Nintendo, Team Ninja, D-Rockets. Metroid: Other M. Wii. Scene: Theater Mode - Chapter 7. (August 31, 2010) "Maurice: This BOTTLE SHIP is under management of the Galactic Federation. In these facilities, life-forms from each planet have been raised and researched as possible bioweapons. Site Manager and Development Director: Dr. Madeline Bergman."
  12. ^ a b Nintendo, Team Ninja, D-Rockets. Metroid: Other M. Wii. Scene: Theater Mode - Chapter 18. (August 31, 2010) "Madeline: We developed an AI program that would reproduce Mother Brain's thought processes. We called it "MB." / Samus: But it was just a program. It wasn't the mother herself. / Madeline: MB evolved as it communicated with the Metroids. It appears as though it began to become self-aware... much like the original Mother Brain. It's really quite remarkable... / (...) / Samus: Where are the Metroids and MB? / Madeline: They're in an area called Sector Zero. It's a unit that doesn't appear in any of our map data. It's a place like Tourian, where we propagate and raise Metroids."
  13. ^ a b c Nintendo, Team Ninja, D-Rockets. Metroid: Other M. Wii. Scene: Theater Mode - Chapter 24. (August 31, 2010) "Madeline: What you met was MB. She's an android. She was created with the intellectual data of Mother Brain and consequently developed Mother Brain's consciousness as well. (...) MB was the artificial intelligence originally developed to regenerate and control Space Pirate special forces. Because we wanted it to control these special forces through telepathy, we were forced to model its infrastructure after Mother Brain."
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  23. ^ Nintendo, Team Ninja, D-Rockets. Metroid: Other M. Wii. Scene: Theater Mode - Chapter 20. (August 31, 2010) "Adam: Sector Zero Metroids most likely can't be frozen. (...) I've located a survivor in Room MW toward the rear of the Bioweapon Research Center. Whoever it is will be a key witness. Secure the survivor's safety. And defeat Ridley. He's as much of a threat as the Metroids. (...) Sector Zero has a self-destruct protocol. If the sector receives a significant amount of damage, the unit is programmed to detach and self-destruct. A powerful explosion will eliminate the Metroids and MB without leaving a trace."
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  26. ^ Nintendo, Team Ninja, D-Rockets. Metroid: Other M. Wii. Scene: Theater Mode - Chapter 24. (August 31, 2010) "Anthony: Anthony Higgs, sir. Galactic Federation Platoon Seven. I need to secure the safety of any survivors—Commander Malkovich's orders, and the purpose of this mission. / Colonel: What?! / Anthony: Authorized by the chairman of the Galactic Federation, of course."
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External links[edit]

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