It’s been eight years since the release of Metroid Fusion, the last 2D title in the series produced by Nintendo, save for the excellent re-make of the original - renamed Zero Mission – which itself was released six years ago. While I have enjoyed the four Prime titles to be released over the last decade, my true love lies in the 2D titles – Super Metroid, Fusion, and Zero Mission being my favourites, Metroid II: Return of Samus being a fond childhood memory also. When Metroid: Other M was announced, I was unsure what to think. A third person 3D title with first person elements sounded like a clever fusion of past and present games, and it promised to be more storyline based than previous titles, too. Loving the 2D titles, but enjoying Prime also, I still felt that Nintendo would come up with something equally enjoyable - and it ranks as one of my most anticipated Wii titles ever. Well, I finally got hold of the game – and it’s time to get to the review.

Other M takes place between the events of Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion, which are at the end of the series chronology. With Zebes destroyed, the Metroids, Mother Brain and the Space Pirates along with it, Samus is given a “Mission Complete”. However, she soon enough picks up a distress call, and out of instinct she plots the ‘Bottle Ship’ as her next destination to see what’s going on – and that’s where Other M begins. I wont delve into the plot too far for the sake of spoilers, but I will say that the game is the most cinematic title to date, with plenty of cut scenes, FMV’s, and Samus has even been voiced for the first time. Don’t worry though – she’s not been voiced badly. On her mission, she finds herself working alongside old friends, comrades from her past (including former CEO Adam Malkovich, a character mentioned in Fusion but so far unseen. A lot of old memories are dug up, and we find out more of her mysterious past - which makes a nice change.

Of course, one of the most important points of Other M is the new gameplay system, the game co-produced by Team Ninja, makers of Ninja Gaiden. I personally felt that they did an excellent job of translating Metroid into a full 3D third-person experience. The game combines classic gameplay elements and ideas from the 2D titles, while incorporating the 3D elements of Prime.

Controlled using the Wiimote sideways like a NES controller, the game plays very much like any other classic Metroid game, but in a 3D environment. You still have the basic run, jump, shoot scenario, and platforming hasn’t been made overly awkward with the move to 3D movement. Some areas are played with a camera angle that makes the game appear as a sort of 2.5D view, and although you can still move in all directions, these parts play almost exactly like 2D Metroid games, and it works well.

The biggest difference in the game is it’s combat. While you are still able to use basic beam and charge-beam attacks, the game incorporates an auto-aim system – luckily this works well as it doesn’t tend to aim at things you don’t want it to, and it also makes the shooting a lot more fluid and fast paced. New to Samus however, are “Overkill” and “Lethal Blow” techniques, which involve having a beam charging, and either jumping on top of an enemy, or running into close quarters with a wounded opponent. Each one will launch Samus into a cinematic-close quarters attack, where she will wrestle with the opponent, and you have to release your shot once she’s got her gun lined up for the creature’s mouth or weak point. Doing so will unload a powerful shot that does a lot of damage, and looks cool too. It’s a first for Metroid, but it mixes in well with the 3rd person shooting.

We then have the first-person view. By pointing the Wiimote at the screen, the camera shifts to Samus’ own view, yet you are anchored to the ground and cannot move. This allows you to fire precise shots – and is also the only mode that allows you to use missiles, which do a lot of damage. While this works in some situations (often when bosses have a moment of vulnerability), it does feel a little awkward at times, having to switch controller position on the fly, and can be frustrating when you’re trying to fire a rocket when there’s a lot going on. Of course, they are powerful, but it does feel as though the missiles don’t quite mix into Samus’ other attacks as well as usual. However, it’s an interesting feature, and for the most part doesn’t cause too many problems.

Aside from that, there are a few other abilities Samus can now dodge attacks by tapping the d-pad just before the attack hits, although for the majority of the time you can tap the d-pad repeatedly to avoid a lot of attacks. While in most Metroid games, Samus can restore health and missiles by picking up items dropped by enemies, she now uses a “Concentration” ability. You can reload missiles at any time by holding the remote vertically, and holding A. This leaves you vulnerable for a few seconds – but it’s worth it. In a similar manner, once she gets close to death, you can do the same action to charge your last bar of health back to the top. However, you’re vulnerable while charging HP, and if you get hit before it’s complete, you’ll lose your charge (and likely die if you are that low on HP). The new concentration system works quite well, and it can be improved to replenish more HP bars by picking up special items found throughout the game. To be honest, the combination of the dodge and Concentration HP replenish abilities can make the game a little too easy at times, but it didn’t spoil the experience for me personally.

While exploring the Bottle Ship, there are four main areas you explore – some of the main ship, which has the cold, spaceport feel to it, and Sectors 1-3, each with its own holographic biosphere – a jungle, volcanic area, and glacial sector. Somewhat like Fusion, this means that each area within the ship has its own style and unique enemies. However, with the use of holograms, some of the areas appear as though they aren’t even on a ship – with outdoor environments complete with open skies. This can be quite cool when in some puzzles you can turn the projectors off and on, to see what the rooms really look like and discover where you need to go.

Many of the enemies are taken from other Metroid titles, with classic enemies converted very well into the 3D design – even their attack patterns haven’t changed, and for the most part have been designed to look as much like the original designs as possible. It’s great to see them in the current gen, and always good to see that Nintendo haven’t forgotten Metroid’s roots. Even a couple of the bosses are returning enemies from previous games – and they all look great. Of course, there are some new enemies also, but they all mix in together and none of them look out-of-place.

The bosses are actually one of the games best parts - they generally look great, and are very fun to fight. In a similar way to Zelda, most of the bosses are more than just shooting away – they often have parts you have to destroy, or places where you need to perform a specific action, such as grappling onto a body part. In a few cases, it’s possible to freeze body parts, and then use a rocket to smash it. One of my favourite scenes involved freezing a bosses arm to the floor, in order to charge up a shot and jump on it’s frozen appendage – causing Samus to run up it’s body and fire a blast right into it’s head. Almost God of War-like, which was cool.

Of course, no Metroid game would be complete without suit upgrades. Usually (especially with Prime), Samus finds herself being very clumsy at the start of the game and damaging her suit, losing all of her upgrades. While I personally don’t mind this, almost seeing it as a kind of tradition, Nintendo have obviously thought it’s overdone and decided to tackle the issue in a different way. Operating under the command of her former CEO, Adam, for this mission, she has been told she can’t use certain equipment until authorised by him personally. It’s an interesting take, and it makes sense in the case of bombs (since they don’t know how stable the ship is), but it’s a little far-fetched that Samus wouldn’t be able to keep her fully upgraded suit (heat protection, gravity stabilizers) and non-weapons such as the grapple beam. The resulting scenario is that at certain points in the game, Adam will “authorise” a piece of equipment and it will be added to your range of abilities. This system, while more or less having the same outcome as other Metroid titles, does feel a little underwhelming and nonsensical at times – while older Metroids would often grant you a new skill after beating a boss, Other M simply seems to randomly open up skills when it feels like it, offering little sense of achievement. And I really can’t see why the heat-protection upgrade couldn’t have been authorised upon entering the lava area, rather than half way through. Anyway, regardless of this, you’ll find yourself eventually having access to most of the classic abilities, such as the morph ball, speed booster and grapple beam.

Although there are other people on board the Bottle Ship, it does maintain the eerie loneliness of traditional Metroid titles – aside from a few cut scenes and a battle or two, you’ll find yourself solo for the majority of the game – which means the new characters don’t cheapen the experience. There are one or two genuinely eerie moments, walking down cold metal corridors in the dark, which I enjoyed. Sometimes this is aided by the fact that there is little music, although at times it felt as though the game lacked a good soundtrack – often being absent or quiet. Also, the classic jingles that play when you pick up items is no longer there – perhaps they were trying to make the game feel a bit more realistic, but as a Metroid fan I was a little disappointed not to hear the traditional victory tune.

As well as the normal gameplay, there are one or two sections where you are forced into first person. Sometimes these are “scan” scenarios, where you are meant to point the cursor at a specific element on-screen for Samus to ‘notice’ and progress the cut scene. While I don’t dislike the idea, I must admit they weren’t dealt with particularly well – sometimes the object you are meant to point it isn’t obvious – or you need to be so precise that you can’t tell what you are supposed to point at. At one point, I was genuinely stuck because when I tried to highlight what I thought was the right thing, the cursor didn’t change as it should – and after a good ten minutes of waving the cursor around I find out that I was looking at the right thing in the first place, only I hadn’t positioned the cursor exactly in the right place, which was frustrating. Some of these “forced first person” sections are battle oriented, with Samus pinned to the ground, and you must fend off attacks. These were quite cinematic and exciting, so they were much more enjoyable. However, there was one combat section where it wasn’t obvious what I was meant to do, and I kept dying until I finally did it by accident – another flaw in the design, perhaps.

Now, as you may be able to tell, there were good and bad points to the game. Let me reinstate that I really enjoyed the game despite these flaws, because mostly they were minor, or only occurred once or twice – the actual gameplay and style of the game far outweighed its flaws. However, there was one major issue that put a dampener on the whole experience for me – it’s length.

A fair way into the game, I’m aware of a region of the ship I have not yet explored, a boss that I still haven’t killed, and potentially a fair amount of gameplay left. Up until that point, I was immensely happy with the game, and really looking forward to the rest of it. However, I then found myself in fact not having any more regions of the ship to explore, and not getting to fight the boss as expected. Instead, I found myself playing a little more, fighting a semi-decent boss, and then suddenly realising I’d reached the game’s ending. While the game was great up until that point, I felt as though Other M had had so much potential for a few more hours of gameplay, but instead ended somewhat suddenly and unexpectedly. It’s hard to explain without revealing important plot points – but suffice it to say the game took only ten hours (one of the shortest Metroid games, including the GBA ones), and I felt as though it had a lot more potential than how it actually tied up the end of the game. This did cheapen the experience for me, and what felt like potentially the best Metroid game ever, dropped to only a decent Metroid game, perhaps not as good as Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion, or Metroid Prime 3.

It’s hard to judge a game when you are left with a sense of disappointment at the very end. While I don’t regret buying the game, and I certainly did enjoy it a lot until it finished, the fact that the game had so much more potential left the experience feeling a little hollow and incomplete. Other M has a brilliant engine, it just falls short of expectations, especially considering it’s a full-home console title.

If you are a Metroid fan – the game’s worth getting for the excellent style, some back story on Samus and some really incredible moments – but if you’ve never played it, I’d warn you that the game won’t keep you busy for very long. It’s a shame, Nintendo are capable of making much larger games - Zelda, Mario Galaxy, etc – but Other M didn’t recieve the same amount of depth. Although I think the game was a step in the right direction for a more classic Metroid title for the modern day, you could easily buy Metroid Prime Trilogy for the same cost, and get a lot more bang for your buck.

- Leon

September looks to be an excellent month for games, with titles such as Dead Rising 2, Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, and the long awaited release of Halo: Reach. However, even with such titles on the horizon, Metroid: Other M is amongst the most exciting. While I’m looking forward to seeing continuations of my favourite series’, a lot has changed in the world of Samus Aran since Prime 3: Corruption and it’s certainly going to be a refreshing experience.

While it’s been known for a while that Ninja Gaiden’s developers Team Ninja have been working with Nintendo on the new Metroid title, and that it would comprise of a mixture of gameplay elements from both 2D and 3D styles, it’s not until more recently that we’ve been given a more detailed idea of exactly how the game will work. But as the game’s release draws closer, I can now give a clearer idea of exactly what you can expect with the new sci-fi adventure.

Set between Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion, Other M picks up right after Samus leaves planet Zebes after her encounter with Mother Brain. Following a distress call from a dormant ship, she finds herself exploring the enormous Galactic Federation Bottle Ship, a ship similar to the environment of Fusion, containing multiple environments in an enclosed space station – rainforests, a sub-zero region, a volcanic region and more.

While the game looks to reprise it’s 2D roots, the game is actually all played in a 3rd-person 3D environment. In this way, the game allows for the classic platforming elements that are traditional in Metroid such as exploration, wall-jumping and the morph ball ability – often giving a side view which gives the game a 2.5D look somewhat like Shadow Complex, although Samus can move in all directions rather than on a 2D plane. At other times, however, the game plays with a more top-down view, or even an over-the-shoulder view in the more tense, claustrophobic areas. The space station looks great, giving a mix of different environments while maintaining the classic eerie dankness of the cold metallic interiors.

The combat is perhaps the most interesting aspect to the new title – incorporating a mix of all of the Metroid titles and having its own unique twist. Whilst exploring, the game is controlled with the Wiimote held sideways (in NES controller fashion), and Samus has access to her various beam weapons hearkening to the 2D style of combat. However, if the player points the Wiimote at the screen in the remote style, the game switches to first-person view. While Samus is anchored to the ground in this mode, she can then fire her weapons in first person in a style akin to Metroid Prime. This will allow her to fire in a more precise way, for more accurate shooting such as target points – and also for locating hidden items such as energy tanks. It’s possible to switch between these two modes on the fly, so after a while you should be constantly flicking between fast paced acrobatic gunplay and precision attacks when appropriate.

Alongside this interesting amalgamation of the 2D and 3D realms of Metroid gunplay, Team Ninja have added their own element to the game – for the first time ever, Samus has a selection of melee abilities. With the new “Sense” ability, Samus is able to dodge enemy attacks with well timed taps of the D-pad, and use counter attacks, and she also has access to “Lethal Strike”, and “Overblast” techniques for finishing wounded opponents – involving ramming her gun down an enemy’s throat or leaping upon it’s shoulders to fire an executing shot to the head. While these new moves are a tad more barbaric than anything we’ve seen her do before – it certainly looks cool. It seems as though there will be a decent amount of upgrades to obtain, including suit upgrades (the Varia suit, as always, allows travel through heat), and abilities such as “Concentration” to replenish health.

It seems like quite a mighty task, combining such a mixture of different gameplay styles, but it really looks as though Other M combines the best aspects of all of the Metroid world. With a fleshed out story and a bit more of Samus’ history to uncover, it’s definitely a reason to break out the Wii once more for one of Nintendo’s best series.

Leon

The Worlds Most Awesome Gaming Keyboard......Apparently

As for me, I am a semi converted FPS fan. Most of you are probably thinking, what the hell do you mean? Well first off I was playing First Person Shooters on the PC. But this was back in the days of Doom, Wolfenstein and Duke 3D. Basically the FPS games that didn’t require you to use the mouse. You could happily go along with the arrow keys seeing as there was no way to look up or down. It wasn’t till the end of my PC FPS game days where Quake 2 implemented the mouse. I couldn’t really get on with it so I just tried it out with the keyboard and somehow made it through the campaign.

With the new control set up for FPS games, I actually feared that my shooting game days were long gone. So I went to the Playstation 1 and 2 for games like WWE wrestling, Tony hawks skate boarding and Devil May Cry. It wasn’t untill I got my original X Box and Halo where I got my FPS gaming back. I then was evermore glued to the console way of FPS gaming. So you could say I have really been playing FPS games the same way all my life, mouse free.

The Perfect Combination Of PC and Console Controllers Perhaps?

But back to the question in hand. What is the best platform for FPS games? If I were to put this question to the Plus XP team I will have a vague idea of who will say what. Leon would say console but then go back to playing God Of War or something similar. Mark will probably say console as well, but then start day dreaming about Jessica Chobot. GuitarGirl’s reaction would probably be ‘does it involve a guitar so I can melt the enemies faces?’. Then there is That Bloke In The Beanie, a hardcore PC gamer who has an X-Box in the corner of his room which he does play every now and again, but I know straight out he will say FPS games are better suited to the PC. This will probably stroke up a heated debate which I will endeavor to post on this site when the time comes.

lately I have revived my original silver clunky DS and have been playing Metroid Prime Hunters. Possibly the best shooter you are ever gong to get on a hand-held ever. Ok so it may cramp up your hands like a bitch but still it utilises the FPS game mechanics perfectly. Possibly not the best platform for FPS gaming by any stretch of the imagination, but defiantly something to look at, using the touch screen as your mouse if you would like, you then use the D pad to strafe and move forward and backward and then use the left bumper button as your trigger finger. Very interesting way at looking at game mechanics indeed.

I feel it is time now to give the Wii an honerable mention. If it were to drop it casual/party game facade that so many people pin down on it these days, I think that this console could be the next big thing for FPS games. Oh c’mon you must have thought at some point that shooting games would have been perfect for the Wii when motion plus came out? Metroid corruption used the Wii controls perfectly, and is today still the game that is making me think about getting a Wii. Red Steel 1 we probably won’t talk about here, just mention it for the sake of mentioning it as it was, quite frankly, a shite game. Red Steel 2 on the other hand looks a lot better with the time I had with it at Eurogamer last year. Then you have games like house of the dead which just turn the console into an arcade cab. But I must say the Will has stunning potential for being the Next FPS platform as you pretty much have a gun in your hand.

So the best platform for FPS gaming? Well I am going to have to hand it to the consoles, A) because I can’t get on with the mouse that well, B) because if it wasn’t for Halo I would have probably never touched an FPS game again, and C) the Wii has so much FPS potential it just makes me a tad sick that it has had this casual gaming marker put on it.

But that’s all my opinion, what do true FPS fans out there think? Feel free to voice your opinion.

Garv.

Losing their 2D roots, most of these have converted to 3D formats – Sonic and Castlevania opting for third-person perspectives, Metroid’s Prime series turning it into a first-person perspective, and others doing a mix of different styles, with the occasional 3D-graphic platformer such as Megaman X7 or Super Mario Bros Wii. Even Street Fighter has stripped itself of it’s 2D past, opting for a 3D look. However, as I play the GBA version of Megaman & Bass on my DS, I mourn that the day of the 2D game has come to an end.

As the DSi loses its GBA functionality, and strips the console of the majority of its 2D gaming, the 2D genre consists mainly of nothing but the odd flash game or downloadable arcade title on the major consoles. With the focus turned toward polygons and realism, it seems the platformer genre itself is endangered, the FPS and third-person 3D titles taking the lead roles in gaming today. However, do people really not care about 2D gaming any more? Is the love for Sonic based solely on nostalgia and a few fans of the mediocre 3D titles?

I don’t really think so. However, seeing as FPS and third person titles do well, I believe that producers see the good sales and decide to continue churning out more of them – however, with no real focus, the platformer seems all but forgotten. Yet, those old Sonic games still sell when they are released for download, since people still enjoy them to this day. Megaman 9, which was a brand new title created with the old NES style released for download last year was accepted with open arms, the fans ever there to accept the 2D game, if only they are still created. True, I would have preferred to see a Megaman game in the vein of the SNES incarnations, but it still shows that people are still interested in the genre.

The game producers do know this, though – with countless Sonic collections being released on all consoles, Castlevania titles for download on Xbox Live, PSN and Wiiware, among a whole horde of other retro games, the fans have proven that they still love these games, yet they don’t seem to think creating new titles in the same vein is a good idea. Why? The first Sonic games continue to sell well to this day, while 3D titles such as Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 and Sonic Unleashed score pitifully in reviews, receiving marks that average around the 40% mark. However, suggest to people that 2D gaming should return and many are hostile, telling me that it’s not good enough for today’s gaming market. I don’t believe a word.

It really is a shame, since retreating back into my 2D days I realise that there is a large void in my gaming life that has been left unsatisfied for all too long – I mean sure, there’s been the odd DS Castlevania game, and the rare title such as Braid, but it really feels as though there’s not been a single title recently given the pure love and attention of the designers of games such as Metroid and ‘vania.

Even today, going back to such titles I can’t help but admire the quality – aside from the odd blocky part it’s obvious that the creators cared about their titles, the use of colour and imagination flourishing into something artistic – and even today I believe they look and play brilliantly, Sonic still feeling as responsive as ever – looking back at some of my PS1 titles, I hardly feel the same.

Fans of Castlevania will know all too well of Symphony of the Night, with its vast castle and numerous enemies, many rooms offering unique artwork – paintings, environments, huge demons, all drawn by skilled artists. As we turn to polygons I can only feel that manufacturers are sticking with the easier, less risky 3D genre – now, thats not to say that I don’t appreciate 3D games, the realism can be immersive, but I believe theres a place for everything. I mean, people didn’t stop painting pictures when the sculpture was invented, did they?

As today’s technology grows and improves all of the time, I can only dare to dream what kind of games could be produced with the right minds and skilled creators – I believe that a game like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night with clean, HD graphics and a castle many times bigger could really impress people – in the past, the limitations were not the skill of the creators, rather the limitations of the console itself. Now, the bar raised ever higher, just imagine what those people could do today, given the chance. No more pixellation, or blocky animations, just pure HD quality shine.

As much as I do dream to see the day when they create a new home console 2D platformer, I only feel like an old fool that dreams of days gone by, the new generation making its mark and taking things in its own direction. But I will continue to dream, and maybe, one day, I’ll see what I’m waiting for. Project Needlemouse (the new 2D Sonic game in the making) could be something to please me, but I’m expecting it will be a 3D game with 2D gameplay, rather than going back to pure 2D glory. Nevertheless, I can only hope that it will pave the way for creators to realise that the days of the 2D gamer have not yet come to an end.

-Leon

I’ve previously looked at Metroid’s 2D roots, and it’s latest saga, Metroid Prime. With four 2D titles (plus remakes) and four titles in the Prime series, it’s been a couple of years since Nintendo have had any news on the series’ future – and personally I was wondering – will the next title tip the majority of the series’ titles towards the 2D style, or the first-person style of Prime? However, along with the release of Metroid Prime Trilogy on the Wii, Nintendo have released some interesting news on the next step for the series.

In an unexpected revelation, Nintendo announced at E3 2009 that they would be teaming up with Team Ninja, creators of Ninja Gaiden, for the next installment of the series. This was perhaps the most unlikely pairing I could think of – with Nintendo’s family-friendly style, and the all-out maturity of Team Ninja’s work. Regardless, I eagerly took note of the information released about the next title in the works: Metroid: Other M.

In an interesting twist, it turns out that the latest Metroid title will feature a mix of both the 2D and first-person style gameplay, and even incorporate some third person action as well – no doubt the influence of the Ninja Gaiden team.

Most Metroid titles so far have fairly minimal storyline, with lonely situations that are mainly built up through various bits of information Samus finds throughout the game, generally focusing on Samus and generally nothing but aliens and Space Pirates, leaving little room for dialogue. However, as Metroid Prime has progressed, the series has slowly incorporated more storyline events and characters – with scenes of various humans in flashbacks of Metroid Prime 2, and the inclusion of other english-speaking characters in Metroid Prime 3, it seems Metroid: Other M will focus a lot more on Samus’ character.

Set between Metroids 3 & 4 (Super Metroid and Fusion), Other M shows scenes of a large cast, including Samus’ commander, Adam Malkovich, who was referenced in Metroid Fusion, with a degree of affection for Samus – his trademark line “Any objections, Lady?” quoted previously in Fusion. Although perhaps not a love story in the works, Samus has yet to show any signs of family or friends to date, save for brief information on her upbringing with the alien race, the Chozo, - so this could be quite a revealing change. Also shown is a fairly generic looking marine-type character, although he uses the words “Remember me?” – I can’t think of anyone this could be, but perhaps this suggests that this character is someone we’ve seen at some point in the series before.

So far, the game’s looking quite impressive – with a visual style not unlike Metroid Prime 3, the trailer shows snippets of the various types of gameplay. Firstly, we see snippets of what looks like a reworked 2D engine – although set on a 2D plane, the game is in the same 3D graphics and features Samus looking fairly fast, boasting a roll manoever which hasn’t been seen before in Metroid. The trailer then moves onto the new third-person gameplay, with Samus getting unusually up close and personal with what looks like an almost God of War style of attack, taking up a strangely close-proximity combat style – performing grabs and cinematic attacks which could possibly be linked with some kind of Quicktime Event. Samus can even be seen jumping and grabbing the neck of an alien and shooting it in the face as it struggles to release itself. 

Mixed into the trailer are some shots of gameplay in a very Metroid Prime style first-person viewpoint. Samus is shown using various attacks in this mode, including an Ice Beam that she uses to actually freeze up an enemy, encasing it in ice. It’s not clear however if the first-person will be used in sections played the same way as Prime, with full exploration and visors, or perhaps just a first person mode that can be used for precision attacks by holding an “aim button” whilst playing the game’s third-person sections.

There seem to be a range of enemies in the game, from new aliens, Space Pirates and what looks like the return of Ridley – shown in some cinematic scenes of Samus in some brutal looking cinematics. It wouldn’t be right if we don’t see a Metroid or two – but what place they’ll take in the game is yet to be known.

There are also a few shots of Samus doing various platforming and running in third person mode – according to Nintendo the game will include regular exploration – so worry not, I’m sure the classic Morph ball mode, upgrades and Metroidvania gameplay will still be there – and assuming that they’ve continued to use the open-world format it should still manage what both the original and Prime game’s managed in those areas.

The trailer does lend itself to some questions though – there are three characters that bear a resemblance to Samus, although it’s not certain who they are. Firstly, we have a shorter-haired blonde girl who is seen in military gear, and has a fair bit of focus in the earlier stages of the trailer, and she does have a Samus look to her. It’s unsure whether this is or isn’t Samus, but personally I believe this could be shots of her younger years, perhaps for the purpose of flashbacks and history to be told in the story. Next we have Samus in her Zero Suit, who is shown with her Power Suit forming around her. This is almost certainly Samus, but does raise some questions if the previous character isn’t simply Samus from flashbacks. Lastly, we see Samus meeting a character who looks almost exactly like Samus, wearing a lab coat. Now, Nintendo have stated that this lady is NOT Samus, but she is an important character. Now, I assume the similarity between the two ladies is much more than coincidence, so it’ll be interesting to find out what’s going on there.

Graphically, the game’s looking good for a Wii title. The graphics are very reminiscent of Metroid Prime 3, and the enemies and animations look smooth and fluid. The music seems to be keeping to the series’ style with a mix of eerie tones and fast paced-music, so I think the game’s style is going to feel like a Metroid game at heart.

Metroid: Other M is shaping up to look quite interesting. It’s really unknown how the three gameplay styles will all mesh together, but hopefully the switching between 2D and 3D gameplay won’t break up the gameplay leaving the player confused and disoriented with the controls. As long as Nintendo manage to pull it off, we could find ourselves with a game that combines the best features of all the series’ titles. It will certainly be interesting to see the direction the plot takes, and hopefully we’ll see something quite special. Nintendo have done well with the series so far, so I’m hoping to see something fantastic.

Metroid: Other M is due sometime in 2010, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s more toward the end of the year. We’ll keep you updated if we get any more info in the future. Check out the full E3 trailer below.

-Leon

Released alongside Metroid Fusion, Metroid Prime was a new direction for the series – moving onto the GameCube, a new sub-series was born. The ‘Prime’ series are set early in the Metroid timeline, between the first Metroid, and Metroid II. However, as opposed to the 2D platforming style of gameplay, Samus returned in a first-person style - becoming a whole new experience, although much of the Metroid design was still incorporated.

One thing to take note of, however, is that although a first person title, Prime is not really a First Person Shooter, more a First Person Adventure – I say this because although the game does have shooting in first person, the game doesnt rely solely on run-and-gun, and plays a little differently to typical FPS titles. Metroid Prime incorporates a “Lock-on”, which allows you to keep your aim locked onto an enemy so you can focus on evading and general movement without losing your opponent.

Nintendo manged to give Metroid Prime a real ‘Metroid’ feel, partly by the use of Samus’ Power Beam weapon. It has infinite ammo, as always, and Samus is able to use a charge shot by holding the fire button to shoot a powerful blast. She also gains access to Missiles as always, and various other upgrades such as a grapple beam to swing across gaps, boot upgrades to improve her jumping ability, and suits that allow her protection against things such as extreme heat. Samus gains new beams throughout the game, but unlike the older titles, may switch between the different beams on the fly for tactical advantages, often depending on which enemy you are fighting.

However, being a Metroid game, the title offers plenty more – Samus can gain her classic “Morph Ball” form, which allows her to pass through tunnels and special passageways, and Morph Ball bombs to destroy obstacles and damage opponents. In true form, most upgrades allow Samus to access new areas, allowing the game its normal free-roaming feel whilst limiting your progression to a degree.

Another big feature Prime offers is Visors – as you progress you unlock new views to look with, such as thermal vision. One of the standard Visors is the ‘Scan Visor’. This allows Samus to scan highlighted objects, from decorative items to upgrades, enemies and key parts of the environment. This will allow you to learn as much as you can about everything in the game world, as once scanned, each item will give a description and some background information. This can be key to solving puzzles, and sometimes is necessary to activate certain devices. This also allows you to understand the game’s plot to a much higher level, with various bits of information scattered throughout the world. Scanning enemies is vital, as it can give clues on how to defeat them. Handily, all of the information you gather is all stored in Samus’ memory, and can be viewed through the menu at any time.

In all, Metroid Prime offers almost everything a regular Metroid game has, albeit in a new perspective with a 3D map. The map itself can be a little more complicated to understand, since it’s more complex than a flat 2D map, but they did a decent job all the same. There are a few new features (such as the visors) which add a little depth to the game.

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes was released two years after the first, in 2004. The sequel used the same system to tell a new story, where Samus finds herself on a planet where she is able to switch between realms of Dark and Light. The Dark Realm offers more challenge, as Samus’ health is drained unless she stands in ‘safe spots’ of light. She also gains some new Dark and Light themed beams, although this time they are limited by ammunition, unlike the main Power Beam, so you must conserve it and use it wisely. As always, Samus gains her various upgrades and new suits – it’s very much like Prime with a new world and some tweaks.

The next title was a handheld, on the DS, which mimicked the visual style of Metroid Prime, albeit with slightly less graphical power – entitled Metroid Prime: Hunters - and was set between Metroid Prime 1 and 2. Utilising the DS’s motion controls well, the player uses a mix of buttons and the stylus to control Samus in the first person style. The D-Pad and L button were used with the left hand, for movement and shooting. The stylus, however, was used to control Samus’ view on the top screen of the DS. This allowed the player to control Samus’ view to a high degree of accuracy, and worked incredibly well with a little practise. Jumpng could be performed by tapping the touchscreen twice. Lastly, a few icons on the touchscreen could be pressed for some other functions, such as changing weapon, and activating Morph Ball mode. Due to the new control style, Samus no longer had the lock-on ability, so all shooting is done with a manual aim, making the shootouts a little more challenging in some respects.

The gameplay worked in a similar way to that of Prime, although with a few cutbacks – more than likely due to console limitations. Samus starts with all of her abilities, and her only suit. The progression is instead entirely dependant on the various weapons that Samus obtains throughout the game which open doors of corresponding colours. This means that Samus does have an impressive range of weapons, however, such as lightning and sniper abilities. The game is set on various smaller planets which can be flown between by returning to Samus’ ship.

Hunters also included several recurring opponents, other Hunters with their own goals – each one of a different race, each one wielding one of the weapons that Samus obtains throughout the game. This adds for some interesting battles, and also sets the game up for Multiplayer – seeing as each Samus and the rest of the Hunters are all selectable for online deathmatch play, each utilising their own preferred weapon for some interesting matches – and providing you have a decent connection, the online mode plays well.

The most recent title to be released was Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. This Wii incarnation of the title yet again showed impressive use of motion controls – perhaps the most comfortable title of the Prime series, players aim and shoot Samus’ Power Beam with the Wiimote, and control her movement with the Nunchuk analogue stick. The rest of the controls are mapped well, generally with weaponry on the Wiimote, and other controls on the Nunchuk.

However, Nintendo were’nt content with simply mapping a new control stye to the Prime series – they used motion controls in every way they saw fit. Levers and buttons are pressed using movements of the Nunchuk, and Samus can access a few new functions such as a soldering function to for a motion controlled section which involves fixing a broken connection in ship wiring. Samus’ ship also plays a more important role, with the bounty hunter gaining the ability to summon the ship via remote to move various large objects or blast down large obstructions. Metroid Prime 3 is defiitely the pinnacle of Prime gameplay,with some fun but relevant motion controls that feel fitting parts of the gameplay, rather than gimmicky controls thrown in or the sake of it.

Personally, I’m big fan of the 2D Metroids, they will more than likely always be my favourites, and Id definitely like to see another one. However, the Metroid Prime trilogy (plus Hunters) do what they do well, converting the Metroid style to the 3D arena as well as it possibly could be.

On a related note – Nintendo have recenty released Metroid Prime Trilogy, a Wii release of the main Prime trilogy done with tweaked graphics and converted the original two titles to the Wii control scheme, so check out the info here.

Look out for the final article in this three-part series, where I’ll be looking at the Future of Metroid - with info about upcoming title Metroid: Other M!

The original Metroid was released on the NES in 1986, the same year as the first Zelda title. As well as the platforming and open world style common to Metroid, many other aspects of the title were introduced in the very first title, and carried on to the later games – concepts such as upgrades that improved Samus’ power as she progressed, but also allowed access to new areas in order to give the open world some restrictions and would guide the player around in a certain way without feeling linear or restrictive.

The original title also introduced enemies and bosses that remain consistent throughout the series, namely the Space Pirates, an alien band of miscreants, and their Commander, the dragon-like Ridley. Last but not least, the original of course introduced the series’ first Metroids – the most dangerous beings of them all. Somewhere between a jellyfish, a brain and a leech, the Metroid is a rather disturbing creature – hovering emotionlessly, the Metroid wants nothing more than to drain the life of it’s victim, has a nasty habit of multiplying, and is incredibly hard to kill.

Metroid’s story, and its quality, has improved in stages over the years. Five years after Metroid came Metroid II: Return of Samus. Released on the Nintendo Game Boy, Metroid II was the first handheld title of the series, and was one of the most impressive handheld titles of it’s time – sporting graphics superior to the original home console version, and fluid controls, Metroid II found Samus hunting Metroids on a lonely planet called SR388.

This title was the first Metroid I ever played, and was what got me into Metroid in the first place. Metroid II kept most of the major functions from the original, and also introduced some new weapons, however it is one of the few games to focus solely on Metroids as bosses, in various evolutionary phases, as no Space Pirates or other aliens are involved. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, though, as it only helped enhance the cavernous feel to the empty depths of SR388.

In 1994, Metroid reached a new level with the coming of Super Metroid on the Super Nintendo. This title was the first to feature full colour graphics and improved on every aspect of the game – particularly the plot. Although the game continued to feel vast and open, Super Metroid saw the return of Ridley, and introduced perhaps one of the most useful features of all, a map. Whereas the older titles could feel confusing and hard to navigate, Super Metroid included a map that could be viewed on the fly, detailing not only the layout of the area, but save rooms and other places of interest. This feature would be implemented into all future titles, and was even mirrored in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night three years later, which was the first to implement a more Metroid style of gameplay and progression that would create the term “Metroidvania” which can be heard nowadays.

Sadly, Super Metroid wasn’t really appreciated fully at the time of it’s initial release. Although considered one of Nintendo’s biggest classic titles, the initial trilogy sold fairly poorly and production was cancelled.

However, all that changed in 2002. Alongside the new GameCube title, Metroid Prime (more about this in my next post), the team that developed Super Metroid released an all new 2D Metroid for the Gameboy Advance. Entitled Metroid Fusion, the fourth Metroid title pitted Samus against a new threat, a parasitic lifeform known as X. After coming into contact with the viral lifeform, Samus becomes surgically bound to some of the core components of her Power Suit, creating the Fusion Suit.

Fighting against both Metroids and this new threat, hunted by a powerful doppelganger known as SA-X, Metroid Fusion yet again improved upon the game’s design in almost every way. Fusion did incredibly well, being named Handheld Game of the Year at the 2002 Interactive Achievement Awards, and recieving high praise from many gaming sites, and sold over 1 million copies worldwide. This success saw the rebirth of the series and Metroid continued to develop.

In 2004, Nintendo released Metroid: Zero Mission, a remake of the original Metroid on the GBA with graphics that perhaps surpassed even that of Metroid Fusion, and incorporating features and abilities from the more recent titles, such as saving capability and a selection of different abilities such as crouching, hanging, speed-boost running and much more.

They also expanded upon the game’s original plot, and even added an entirely new area to the game, including a section which, for the first time ever, allows you to play as Samus without her Power Suit for a more stealth-based chapter, dubbed “Zero Suit Samus” by Super Smash Bros Brawl, which incorporated this ‘naked’ version of the heroine as an alternate mode for her in the fighter series, which also turned a few heads in the process.

And thats as far as the 2D saga of Metroid has come to this date – I personally hope to see at least one more 2D Metroid in the future. But that’s not to say that Metroid ends there, oh no – the present has seen a change in Metroid’s style…

Stay tuned for Metroid: The Present, in the second of this three-part look at the series!

-Leon