Dvader said:

gamingeek said:

My god this game will be GOTY worthy. Kojima is a god. He hardly worked on the game and his presence alone created the first great 3D Castlevania game.  

I can't wait for this game. Been in need of some dark gothic gaming for awhile now.

gamingeek said:

Dvader said:

gamingeek said:

My god this game will be GOTY worthy. Kojima is a god. He hardly worked on the game and his presence alone created the first great 3D Castlevania game.  

Shouldn't you guys be giving the actual developer more credit? I mean is Kojima flying from Japan to Britain constantly and sitting side by side with the devs?

Kojima probably visited one day, that was enough to  inspire the developers.

No worries about those lost items though.  You'll be able to return to gameplay after the final credits roll.  Actually, this was one of my favorite parts of the entire game.  After the 'end' you return for another short mission, which I won't ruin here.  I say 'short' because if you do what you are supposed to do, it'll take about a half hour.  If you actually run around and collect the items that you missed, you could easily spend plenty of hours running about.  This is when the game becomes less Other M and more traditional Metroid.  The main story is over, so you have a feeling of calmness as you play through.  You're exploring to find power-ups and other goodies, which means the game isn't telling you where to go.  When you're done exploring you can take on the main side-mission of this post-ending run.  This last bit of gameplay gave me the feelings I wanted from a Metroid game, yet it seemed to be an afterthought.  How in the world did this little slice of Other M become what I wanted from the entire experience?  There are even some classic Metroid throwbacks that will have long-time fans of the series smiling.  I know I was...for a little bit.

That's because I realized that this post-credits portion of the game showed what Other M proper did wrong.  As you can tell from my review thus far, I think there were a lot of things that were handled incorrectly.  I find it so hard to believe that the man behind Super Metroid was also largely responsible for this game.  I'm not going to blame Sakamoto completely, as there were plenty of other people involved.  Did anyone else at Nintendo think along the development process that maybe things weren't working out right?  Did Team Ninja really understand the franchise that they were working with?  Did Nintendo keep Team Ninja in-check?  Did Team Ninja call out Nintendo when they made strange requests?  I honestly don't know how so many things went wrong, but I think it's clear that the situation made for a perfect storm for issues.  

...

I don't think I've ever written such a largely negative review ever before.  The reason I talk about so many bad things is two-fold.  First off, these elements exist in the game and certainly garnered a negative response from me.  Second, I think we all expect amazing things from the Metroid series.  From the first game up through the Prime series, I can say that every entry in the main series has wowed me.  Yes, some of those experiences were better than others, but overall I found them to be amazing.  There's no other series like the Metroid series, in my opinion.  That's exactly where Metroid: Other M goes wrong.  It turns the Metroid franchise into a 'me-too' game.  I've seen and done this stuff before, but it was in better games.  There's too much action, not enough exploration, a poorly told story, and general lack of direction. Metroid isn't just about gameplay, it's about a vibe that no other series has.  That vibe is almost non-existent this time around.  I felt it in the beginning of the game, but it wore off almost completely by the time I wrapped things up.

This may sound a bit silly to come up with at the end of my review, but it's something I have to stress.  Metroid: Other M is not a bad game by any means.  It's better than a large portion of what's out there right now.  The thing is, I believe it to be low quality for a Metroid game.  There are fun action parts, there's some great visuals to take in, the controls are spot-on, the soundtrack does a nice job of complimenting the action, and so on.  There is definitely a gaming experience to be had here, and it's not terrible.  The thing for me is, the fact of getting a lower quality Metroid game makes the overall experience that much worse.  I don't know about you, but I treasure Mario, Metroid and Zelda above all other game franchises.  These are the games that made me love Nintendo.  These are the characters and experiences that lead me to running a Nintendo blog.  These are the gameplay mechanics that have kept me a fan for 20+ years.  Metroid: Other M is the first main-entry Metroid game that I feel lacks the usual Nintendo magic.  You can see glimpses of it.  It wants to come out, but too many other bad design choices hold those moments back.  

Nintendo gambled once with the Metroid series, and that gave us the fantastic Prime series.  What a breath of fresh air that franchise was. Nintendo once again gambled with Metroid, and Team Ninja was their choice.  I like that Nintendo takes risks, but this time they've run out on their luck.

Dvader said:

Iga_Bobovic said:

Ridley killed Samus Mom right in front of her when she was a little kid. She also lost her father shortly afterwards. That stuff is bound to traumatize you

The 5TH time you fight the damn thing. Fine then she should be angry that the damn dinosaur reject doesn't die. You can be scared the 1st, 2nd, maybe 3rd time. But after that it becomes a running joke.

 Maybe it becomes like a nightmare that just won't end. But whatever I can't really make any judgment without seeing the scene in question. Maybe it's like a flashback thing. 

Ravenprose said:

Not in my opinion. I hate all of that Metroidvania gameplay style of most modern Castlevania games. I want a linear, hack 'n slack with light plaforming Castlevania, just like the best games in the series: Castlevania 1, III, IV, and Bloodines. It seems this new Castlevania will be following those examples, which is right up my alley.

 Light platforming? Have you even played Castlevania III?