It did succed in bringing the Metroid elemnts, but it fails in giving a complete 3D experience like teh prime games. Definetly they should have given the player more freedom of movement. The game feel to limited.
What do you mean by freedom of movement? If you mean that it should be more like prime where you can move 8 directions in every room, then I disagree. The 2.5D of this game makes it closer to the side scrolling series, which I beleive is better than prime. In fact I beleive this is the correct way to make a Metroid game. If you mean that its too linear... well I have to agree thoughly. The game gave you no sense of freedom when it came to backtracking. In fact now that I think of it, the authorization system took the need away entirely. This is one of the things I hated.
As for your review, I have to agree that the experiment did work. I enjoyed the game very much, but like I said in my review, its the worst Metroid, which says something. It just took away many of the things i liked the most about it.
I think by freedom of movement they mean the ability to really explore. Even in Metroid Fusion, when you reach a new area there would be several rooms to explore besides the one you need to go to. In Other M has the heaviest railroading in any Metroid to date. You're constantly running along in one direction with few off shooting paths or chances to explore.
Perfect example of the cancer that has taken over TVT since Jan 08', nobody can write a fucking opinion without being 'neutral'.
Opinions are never neutral.
It's a fucking review, Mopeyennui. Of course it's not going to be "neutral," the point of a review is to share how good or bad the reviewer thinks the game is.
I think the game is unfairly bashed by many people, but there are problems, some of which are covered here. The only complaint I disagree with is the missile system; it was the only way to balance the missiles and give them a sense of power.
My overall view of the game is less-than-rosy, but this is a nice (If brief) review.
Fight. Struggle. Endure. Suffer. LIVE.Leave a Comment:
Cool mix of old-school and modern ideas, but a bit flawed
It's easy to see why this is a contentious game. As for the story, I'll ignore that and keep this a gameplay-focused review. Does this maintain the essence of the Metroid games?
Invisible walls are everywhere, so you soon learn you can't jump everywhere you think you should be able to. This means that trees and things that appear behind railings are simply background decoration, much like in the 2D Metroid games where you wouldn't even expect to be able to jump there. In fact, the level design and fixed camera is very 2D-esque, and accurately creates a feel similar to the 2D games. As does the auto-aim, which I feel works very well. Fighting still requires a lot of skill, but precision aim, like you'd get from 3D games, is taken out of the equation. It's all about dodging and avoiding attacks and using the right attack. As long as you aim in the general direction of the enemy, you should hit it, and I think that focuses the action nicely.
Switching from third-person to first-person view by pointing the remote at the screen is a neat idea, but what I feel hurts it is that you can only fire missiles in first-person view, and missiles are either required, or very useful, for defeating many enemies and bosses. Since you can't move around in first-person view, this makes you just about a sitting duck while you try to quickly lock on and then shoot. I was able to do it just fine, but I don't feel it should have been necessary. While I enjoy the "shooting gallery" type feel of the view, I think it could have been done better.
The game is rather linear, in a Metroid Fusion kind of way. You're told where to go next, but not exactly how to get there. There's some figuring out to do, and a lot of fighting. Basically, this is Metroid as an action game with thinking and exploration elements being secondary. I like the pace of this, and I also liked Metroid Fusion a lot too. For others, the exploration is the main feature of Metroid, and if that's the case, the inversion of importance of the elements will likely upset a lot of players.
This game is an experiment in adding something new and fresh, something different, to the Metroid series. Did it work? Judging by the split reaction, Your Mileage May Vary, but I really like this game.