Metroid: Other M

[Kyo]

Dated for June 27th.

http://kotaku.com/5479228/metroid-ot...to-wii-in-june

[Lucavi]

Delicious. Can't wait to see more screens/vids of the game, and I hope they do the music justice.

[Insanecyclone]

Awesome as always.

Joystiq :

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/02/24/me...-release-date/

The galaxy is at peace, now that we know we'll be able to demand our copy of Metroid: Other M from the patient retailer of our choice on June 27. The date for the Nintendo and Team Ninja collaboration was just announced at the Nintendo Media Summit event.

Even better: Nintendo has a playable build of Other M on hand at the event. We're shooting down every door between us and the demo immediately, so we can deliver our impressions to you later tonight!

can't wait to see their impressions of it.

[arus2001]

Well, a few short months until I have a reason to play my Wii for the first time in... a long time.

[Yuri-G]

Playable impressions, that excites me. I'm apprehensively curious about what the game's going to be like, given that they've turned it over to Team Ninja. But if Retro could do the series justice, hopefully the veteran programmers over at TN can do it too.

[Insanecyclone]

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/02/25/ha...troid-other-m/

There's a lot I want to tell you about the 45-minute demo of Metroid: Other M that I played today, but I know what everyone is wondering and will just get it out of the way: The game is really impressive; it's really fun; it's totally Metroid. It was only the beginning sequences of the game, but if everything Nintendo and Team Ninja have managed to deliver in this short span holds up for the entirety of the game, it's going to be really good. (Also: This is in no way a re-skinned Ninja Gaiden -- just making sure that's said.)

My demo began with the game's opening cinematic, which is fully CGI and recounts the ending of Super Metroid, to which Other M serves as a direct sequel. It sees Samus in a showdown with Mother Brain (realized by Team Ninja as a mammoth bipedal monstrosity with one huge eye) before the bounty hunter awakes in a medical bay wearing her Zero Suit. It's narrated entirely by Samus (as promised, Other M is the first time we hear her voice -- and it's, well, just all right) and leads directly into a tutorial disguised as a "diagnostic" of her armor and recollection of how to kick ass.

The twists on "classic" Metroid gameplay that Team Ninja and series co-creator Yoshio Sakamoto are bringing into play began surfacing the moment I picked up the controller; there's no Nunchuk, just the Wiimote turned sideways, as if playing a Virtual Console game. Standing in a training room, controlling Samus from a third-person perspective, I was instructed by a scientist (situated safely behind a very thick window) to perform various moves.

For starters, the charge shot, performed by holding down 1 and releasing it when fully charged (as you can see in the latest screens, there's now a "charge gauge" underneath Samus' life bar). Simply tapping 1 is for basic shooting, and Samus auto-locked onto enemies around her as long as I made her face in their general direction. This goes for enemies on the ground, in the air, on walls or hanging from the ceiling. Since the movement control is digital, there were times when I felt like the lock-on needed to be a little more pronounced -- I asked if this is possibly going to be tweaked before release, but didn't get a definite answer.

Hitting A (very quickly) switches to Morph Ball mode, while the 1 button drops bombs in this state. Holding 1 charges up a power bomb; I released the button and the entire room filled with a white-hot explosion.

The game is primarily third-person, although as the training session taught me, there are times you'll need to see through Samus' eyes -- to fire missiles, for instance. The switch from third- to first-person is handled wonderfully; I simply pointed the Wiimote at the screen and the transition was near-instant. In this view, holding down B let me freely look around the environment (the context here was that I was trying to find "an old friend" -- a hologram enemy -- hidden somewhere in then room). Moving the reticule over the partially cloaked foe automatically locked on, and pressing A fired off a missile. When not locked on, A fires a basic shot.

With the enemy dislodged, it was time to learn some more basics. Dodging in third-person is contextual; I just needed to press the d-pad in any direction the moment an enemy attacked. Pulling this off resulted in Samus performing a cool-looking evade, aided by her back-mounted boosters. There's also wall-jumping, and it's simplified. I only had to hold towards one wall on the d-pad and repeatedly press 2 to make my way up.

After completing my training, a cinematic began showing Samus tearing across space in her ship. She received a distress signal and decided to investigate. The signal's origin: A supposedly decommissioned space station called the "Bottle Ship." during the landing sequence, the CG seamlessly transition into in-engine graphics, her ship touched down and in moments I was on the ground running -- the running animation looking perfectly true to character and the series.

After being prompted to enter first-person and check out another ship in the landing bay, I learned that Samus was not alone. Making my way down corridors -- both side-scrolling and away from / towards the camera -- I took out some minor (but familiar) enemies before a very cinematic in-engine cinematic kicked in, showing Samus encountering a squad of Galactic Federation Army troopers. Turns out Samus knows a couple of them, and that she'd actually been in the military herself before an "incident" forced her out and into the bounty hunting business.

They couldn't get through a door so, naturally, I got to blow it off its hinges using one of Samus' missiles. The squad proceeded ahead, while I took another route -- blasting more enemies and encountering an interesting yet simple puzzle. In order to exit one of the rooms, I had to go into first-person and lock onto a gate control, shooting it until it was fully "energized." Doing so only opened the gate high enough to slip under it in Morph Ball mode.

Back with the soldiers, I came across what looked like a dead scientist, and a cinematic showed a small pink bug scurry out of his body. Before I knew it, the things were everywhere, climbing the walls and forming a "body" around a giant eyeball. It was time to fight a mini-boss! While the soldiers took shots at the creature, I ran around it (this was a large room) and was able to quickly pop into first-person and shoot its eyeball with a missile. After a couple of hits like this, the soldiers switched to freeze guns and directed me to fire at any spot they managed to ice over. This, again, was first-person, and after a few good hits the monster was finished. Now, this sequence was fun, but showed a potential problem with the third/first-person switching: It's impossible to move, or even dodge, in first-person. The enemy managed to whack me pretty good while I was locking on to it.

Next I learned that, at least for this portion of the game, the abilities and weapons Samus can use are unlocked by a commanding officer -- he actually has to "authorize use of bombs," and so on. No idea if this will extend further into the game, but it's definitely ... different. Speaking of different, so is the map. It's now an overhead "radar" showing the corridors, rooms and the status of doors (unlocked green or locked red). Oh, and the doors ... I didn't have to shoot them to open them; just walk up and they let me pass.

The final portion of the demo had me backtracking in order to get power back online in the station. Along the way, I noted that Samus can hang from ledges, can't seem to walk off of them accidentally and can slide down walls. On my way to the systems room, I happened across what turned out to be a bathroom. I have no idea why it was there, but it showed off another camera trick in the game. In cramped quarters, the camera pulls in over Samus' shoulder and the game controls a bit like Resident Evil 4. Yep. But that was the extent of it. (I also found that, in this view, tilting the Wiimote forward and backwards raised and lowered the camera perspective. I asked, and no one at Nintendo had noticed it yet, so its purpose remains a mystery.)

Once I made it to my destination -- I was told the full-screen map is a work-in-progress, so my only indication of where to head was a yellow arrow that moved along the radar's periphery -- I flipped on the power, only to find out, when the lights came on, that the machinery was blocked by enemy hives. In between shooting flying bugs, I'd switch to first-person and nail the hives with missiles. They eventually stopped spitting out enemies and I got the power on.

Running back to rejoin the commanding officer, I crossed a walkway which gave out beneath me. Dropping 30 or so feet, I ended up in a large room with familiar two-legged enemies. Here I really wished there was some way to lock-on and strafe in third-person. They managed to get my health down pretty low, which is the point at which I realized I hadn't seen a single power pick-up yet. It turns out that, when Samus' health is low, I had to "focus" by holding the Wiimote vertically and holding down A. No idea if this is the only way to regain health. Anyway, having dealt with the enemies, I headed for the end of the room where it looked like I could wall jump back up and continue on. up I went, but quickly realized there was a hatch at the top of the vertical chute. So, standing on the ground, I flicked into first-person view, looked up at the hatch and blasted it off using a missile.

Back on track, I blasted a few more enemies, activated power terminals (which was actual kind of tricky given the d-pad control and how picky the game was about standing in just the right spot) and stood on a save game platform (yep, it still recharges Samus' shields and is pretty quick). Entering the "command room" ended the demo.

So -- whew! How'd it look? Really good and really Metroid. It sounded the part, too, mixing familiar sound effects with a more orchestral score than I'm used to from the series. Most of all, the demo left me wanting to play more, like now. I'd even be fine playing the demo again. A few times. It also had everyone at the event talking: This could be big.

[Kaisha]

Only uses the Wii remote sideways? I don't know about you guys, but that feels really limiting to me for something like a Metroid game.

[Lucavi]

Whoa. Sounds like a good mix of old and new. I'm pretty hyped about that, and if purists cry too much for wanting old-school Samus, they can just re-release Super Metroid to shut everyone up.

Hell, I'd buy it again.

[Kaisha]

If people want old school Samus I'd just suggest they google "Super Metroid Redesign", find an SNES-like controller, and have some emulation fun.

[SwaggerlikeKillquick]

If people want old school Samus I'd just suggest they google "Super Metroid Redesign", find an SNES-like controller, and have some emulation fun.

Dling that shit asap!

[Xanthe]

Well, a few short months until I have a reason to play my Wii for the first time in... a long time.

Seconded. Can't remember the last time I powered on my Wii. I hope the thing doesn't brick when I have to update it.

[Parshias]

Destructoid preview: http://www.destructoid.com/metroid-o...r-164917.phtml

Interestingly, killing enemies will no longer provide you with health or missiles. Instead, tilting the Wii Remote vertically and holding "A" can replenish your supply at any time. The same can be done for health as well; if it dips into the red, tilting the remote and holding "A" will replenish one energy tank. Also, weapon and suit "upgrades" won't be found through exploration. Instead, in the sections I played, the Commanding Officer of the Galactic Federation (whom you'll be working alongside) "authorized the use of" morph ball bombs.

...fucking seriously?

[Kyo]

Sounds like they stripped away some things that make metroid, metroid?

[BRP]

I have no idea how this game is played and that write-up is too spaced out for me to care to read it. Any play videos out and about?

[Lucavi]

Samus, the music, and shooting things makes Metroid Metroid. Upgrades don't make the game, although it'll be wierd without them.

Personally, though, the upgrade system started getting strange after Super Metroid. Samus apparently has about 30 spare suits, or at least variations, after the metroid prime trilogy, which saw more suits than planets to explore. She should also have at least 7 kinds of missles and roughly 10-12 different beams, not to mention configurations.

This game sounds like its trying to expand the present storyline, which would have Samus pretty damned strong as it is (at the end of Metroid Fusion), although not as strong as she was at the end of Super Metroid.

If it were SM Samus, there would be no need for powerups at all. Hyper beam to clear out any doors and walls, and Gravity suit + Space jump + Screw attack for exploration.

TLDR: There has to be some limit to how many customizations that Chozo suit can handle, especially if she follows the cliche' trend of "forgetting" all her moves at the start of a new game or "losing all her stuff, then re-gaining it". By that logic, her enemies should just stick around and finish her off once they gank her shit each game.

[Kyo]

Samus, the music, and shooting things makes Metroid Metroid. Upgrades don't make the game, although it'll be wierd without them.

I guess what I mant to say, wording it differently. Is that its pretty much expected with each installment, that there will be upgrades and rewards through advancement and often, exploration. Streamlining them much differently or stripping them away as it seems they're doing, seems rather odd.

I didnt say it made the games, but it has pretty much been expected in each title. I wonder how they will handle progression in the game.

[Lucavi]

Well I agree, but at the same time, some people get annoyed when a series turns into an expansion-pack: constant new weapons and upgrades that basically do the same thing, just for the sake of a "staying true to one's roots".

I don't necessarily "like" the new idea, but I'm not opposed to it. I'm a rarity in that I find the lore of a game often more enjoyable than the gameplay. They have yet to properly explain "why" samus logically gets her shit stolen at the beginning of every adventure, EVERY time.

Metroid Fusion did the best job of this, but she got all of her gear back at the conclusion of Fusion, save for the actual suit, and even then, she wasn't even wearing the Gravity suit at the beginning, which makes no sense.

If the game properly explains how and why she isn't getting any upgrades (and somehow I doubt the writer's claims that there will be absolutely -no- upgrades, unless they're going to try for some online multiplayer balance), then I'll be fine with it, but this whole "Ima steal ur stuff and leave you to kill me to get em all back! Hahahah!" shit reeks of a 1970's cartoon series where the villain always makes sure you can foil his plans time after time, no matter what kind of initially-brilliant plan he has.

[Arelian]

It sounds to me that rather then having you conveniently find suit upgrades in the world, the commanding officer will authorize the use of them. Kinda like how you got Missiles in Fusion.

I always found it kinda corny that the Chozo just happened to visit all these planets and just happened to leave all of these upgrades laying around for Samus to just...pick up. Someone giving her the upgrade makes a lot more sense, imo.

[Katlan]

isnt this game co-collaborated w/the Ninja Gaiden team? I'm not surprised by these changes, its meant to be more of an action game and combo system looks tasty

[Kyo]

isnt this game co-collaborated w/the Ninja Gaiden team?

That would be correct.