Metroid: Other M is the brain child of Nintendo’s creation and Team Ninja’s sense of gameplay. Unlike past Metroid games, Other M’s main focus is on a strong close range combat and cinematic narration. Though these traits seem far and away from what a typical Metroid game would bring, the core elements we’ve come to expect from the franchise are still quite relevant.

The first big difference that you’ll notice with Other M is the inclusion of cut scenes showing off some of the protagonist’s, Samus Aran, time in the Galactic Federation. Unlike all other Metroid games, this is the first time we get to see Samus outside of battle and communicating with someone on a planet not riddled with traps and dangerous creatures. The cinematics are a welcomed addition to the franchise and really bring some story and life into the series. One downside however is the game’s voice acting. For the most part it’s passible at best, but when listening to Samus’s dialogue – it’s terrible. Having the main character talk in such a monotonous and dry dialect really skewed some of the impact these great looking scenes should have had.

As far as the key elements of a Metroid game goes, Other M has them. There is still plenty of exploration, new powers being unlocked throughout the game and a ton of back tracking in order to find secrets and access new areas. The main difference I found myself struggling with throughout the game was its new control scheme. You hold the Wii remote sideways in your hands like a classic NES controller and use the D-pad in order to move around. This set up works well enough but made for some not-so-fluid looking traversal at times.

However, Other M counters this with enough smart camera pans and movements to make it passable. What this means is that when Samus has to run up a circular ramp, instead of having to constantly use different D-pad inputs to make her run diagonally, the camera will move along at your pace and allow you to traverse the area while only needing to hold down one direction. This doesn’t happen all the time and that’s when you’ll be reminded that overall, it would have still worked better with the nunchuck’s analog stick.

With the smart camera movements and heavy cinematic influence, Metroid Other M looks great. It is by no means the next benchmark for graphics on the Wii, but it still holds up with some of the best of them.

Another addition to the series that really drives home the Team Ninja influence is Other M’s strong influence on close combat. In order to attack, you press the 1 Button and Samus will auto aim at any enemy in front of her. Holding down the button lends itself to power up for stronger and bigger attacks. Along with this, hitting any direction on the D pad when an enemy attacks will cause Samus to dodge out of the way. Doing this manoeuvre correctly along with powering up an attack will reward the player with an immediate full charge that you can launch in the direction the enemy was. Keeping those tactics in mind, I quickly found myself constantly dodging and firing huge attacks almost on repeat. This helped the battles move fast and without any difficulty from the controls.

One aspect of the combat though comes into play when you turn the Wii Remote and point it at the TV screen. This calls for a different control scheme than the majority of the game and that doesn’t bode well for that already hit-and-miss feel to them. Doing so will cause the game to go into a first person view and allow Samus to use different attacks. Some of these include missiles while others are grapple ropes for swinging across large distances. For the most part, you won’t be using this in standard combat since the enemies will move too quickly and hit you before you can lock on to them. The changing of hand positions take far too long. The only times this will really come into play is when you are facing a boss that previously required you to halt it’s movement by freezing it, trapping it or whatever else. Though you will get used to having to move back and forth, it still would have been a much easier dimension to handle if we were allowed to use a Wii Remote and Nunchuck control set up.

If you’re a die-hard Metroid fan, you’ll appreciate this game. With all the secret rooms and power-ups to find, there is quite a bit of replay ability. Each time you unlock a new weapon or tool, more and more sections of the world become available to explore. You can always backtrack to past stages to find more health upgrades, missile packs and etc. Even with the inclusion of an additional (and difficult) ending, you can spend a lot of time with the game. Overall, your time with Other M will be good, as long as you can look past the awkward and slow controls.

Verdict: Rent It