Last time I wrote a panegyric review about one of my favourite Nintendo games Legend of Zelda: Twilight princess. This time I decided to move to completely opposite direction and criticize a game from my absolute favourite game series: Metroid. Let's begin.

Graphics:

First off I must say that since N64 Nintendo hasn't really put so much effort in graphics as other consoles of their era, and I think that's just fine. Hyper detailed graphics don't really help much if game is awful, and Nintendo has always been able to put fun gameplay above or to the same level as the graphics that deliver it. With that said Other M is graphically mostly fine, but there are some times that they feel a slightly icky. For example characters faces are dangerously close to entering uncanny valley as evidenced by this picture
http://metroid.wikia.com/wiki/File:Anthony_Higgs_HD.jpg
Also some of the classic Metroid villains such as Ridley, Phantoon and Mother Brain don't really seem to fit in the enviroment.
Still overall the games graphics are jus as good as they're needed. Not jaw droppingly beautiful nor distractingly awful.

Sound:

I really can't remember any of the other sounds from this game than the main theme, and that was originally from Super Metroid. I don't think they were bad but they most certainly were below the levels of previous Metroid games.

Addictiveness:

Nope, I really don't think I'll play this game again anytime soon. The gameplay seems to have gotten something of a free pass, as most critics have focused on the story, but I think it is definitely a step backwards from previous.
First of all the game is made very linear. I have always praised Metroid games for their aspects of isolation and exploration, but in this game they're practically removed. You're always moving forward to direction that your command officer tells you to. Sure you get to explore the ship in later parts of the game, but it's too little, too late, and even then the map is basically a round tube instead of a environment where different areas are connected to each other.
Secondly they basically reshaped the entire fighting system. Most of the battles are based on reactions so that Samus performs a autododge when you press a button at the right time. There are also some really baffling decisions, like the fact that to shoot missiles you have to point the remote to the screen which makes Samus completely immobile. Equally strange is removing health and upgrades that can be picked from enemies, and instead loading them by holding wii remote upwards. I think the worst idea of all is inclusion of parts where you have to search for clues in the environment by scanning the screen with wii remote in first person view. They add nothing to the game and are sometimes needlessly complicated.
Now to be fair I can respect the fact that they tried to change the gameplay. Nintendo is often criticized for making the same game over and over so it was kind of a bold decision to make such drastic changes to one of their most beloved franchises. It's just a fact that sometimes new innovations don't work out as well as people hope. Still I can't completely bash the game because they tried to improve its gameplay. The story on the other hand.

Story:

The story. O' ye merciful gods the story. Right off the bat many people thought that it's an awful idea to make a heavily story based Metroid game, but once again I have to admire the games developers willingness to try. Changing metroid from 2D to 3D got a lot of criticism before Metroid Prime was released but everyone was amazed how well that turned out. Perhaps Nintendo hoped the lightning would strike twice with this. I even think it could have been a good idea to give Samus some more backstory, as long as it was done well. Unfortunately what we got was this. There are so many flaws in it that it's really hard to think where to start.

First of all the voice acting SUCKS. Samus's voice is so flat and uninterested that it would be really hard to sell it even if the story was diamonds. But like I have said numerous times: it isn't.
Secondly the story is badly paced. There are so many cutscenes which consist of monologue that you have lost interest in what's happening even before you're halfway through.
Even worse, most of the monologues consists of pointless blathering and bringing up plot points that could have been presented with actions or indeed just were pointed up by previous action sequences.
And even then the story is full of plot holes and just plain cringeworthy lines such as:

"Code name: Baby's Cry. A common S.O.S. with the urgency of a baby crying. Nicknamed because its sole intent is to attract as much attention as possible. The signal was coming from a remote part of space. I altered the course of my ship as if the detour had already been part of my flight plan. Baby's Cry - it was as though it was crying specifically for me."

Also as I've previously stated inclusion of multiple characters completely tones down the isolation that you usually feel in Metroids. In Metroid Prime when you search Tallon IV, you truly feel that you're in the planet with nothing but your ship and suit of armor. Here there's a bunch of - in my opinion - rather bland soldiers, who command and save Samus time and time again.

But even those facts pale in comparison to the true blow to the game and even the whole franchise as a whole: The character of Samus. It may be true that up to this point Samus had been mostly blank slate, but still she was one of the most noted female characters in video games. If there was something that gamers knew, it was that she was capable of fighting entire races of hostile species without help. In this game she does whatever Adam commands her to do without questioning it. Right from the first part of the game where Adam immediately takes a commanding position I thought that she should just leave if her help isn't wanted. The absolutely worst part is when she is in a boiling hot area of the ship, and won't take initiative to turn on Varia suit until Adam specifically tells her to. The abusive relationship between Adam and Samus is elaborated on here, and I definitely recommend reading it too.
http://moonbase.rydia.net/mental/blog/gaming/metroid-other-m-the-elephant/article.html

Depth:

Like all Metroid games, this too has many upgrades to collect after completing the game, but there's not much satisfaction to gain from them. Like I said the missiles only work when you're standing still, so you have most likely got hundreds of them but you won't use any. Other items help with you health recovery and loading times, so even then there's no concrete meter that shows how much you've got them. Power bombs upgrades are still mostly functional though.

Difficulty:

It's not the most difficult game I've played. There are some bosses that may cause you some trouble but usually they can be taken down with a few tries when you know what to do with them.

Overall:

I may have given this game more harsh review than it deserves, but I can honestly say that I think it's the worst game I've ever played through to the end. It is functional enough that you don't want to stop playing it out of frustration, but it doesn't really offer anything and in the end just feels kind of sad. Perhaps I would have been more understanding towards it if I wouldn't constantly have felt the need to compare it to older games in the series, but on the other hand I probably would never have played it if it weren't a Metroid - game. I can't really recommend it to anyone: Sorry if you're a fan. I don't hate you, I just hate this game.

uusretrohippi : I understand...there is a lot of hate given to this game. Sure, the story disappointed a lot of people as well as the character acting. While I disagree with you on the point about the monologues, your point about the abusive command of adam and the fact the Samus needed rescued several points is very true. Obviously, she had not done a good enough job destroying entire planets yet to win her due respect. I do think that you got the difficulty wrong though. Sure, playing through is easy enough. But you should try hard mode. You have to fight through the entire game with 10 missiles and 99 units of energy. It was insanely difficult for me. I do have to give you credit that you appreciate Metroid other M's attempt at both the new style and new story. Most people will not even acknowledge that, and instead harp on why it was so awful. Sometimes I worry that the excessive hate this game got might crush my new favorite franchise. There were not many games coming, and when it did come, instead of being appreciated as a variation, it was completely dumped on.

uusretrohippi : Alright, I never played this game, but I know of it.  This is a decent review. You were able to stay away from bashing the game and listed some of its merits (always difficult when reviewing a game you don't like). 

The pacing of the review is uneven though.  Its just top-heavy in some places, and malnourished in others. Take a look at your paragraphs for story and addictiveness, and then you have difficulty - which is two sentences. I'm not saying all your topics have to be big and fully fleshed out, but give a little bit more just so it doesn't look like an afterthought. But you did a good summary of story, a lot of people just put "i don't want to spoil it" and just leave it at that. Good.

Hate to end it on a bad note. But.. sorry, I feel I should call you out on your comments on sound though - maybe you don't have cpu speakers or something, but it sounds (dare I say) sloppy.  With youtube, you could pull up the soundtrack to this game pretty easily, and just give a couple seconds to refresh your memory. With some of the review so detailed, these small sections seem so out of place.

endings :
Thanks, for the feedback. I've always appreciated constructive criticism more than meaningless compliments. Besides, you're probably right. When I wrote the review I felt like I had a lot to say, but about halfway through I realized I was mostly harping about why I don't like this game instead of writing a review. I probably should have read and write it again with more time and detail, but I was already tired and just decided to post it as it is.

FaithFighter :
As a standalone game Other M would probably have already been forgotten, but people (me included) had such high standards when it came to Metroid games. That's why it will probably always be remembered as a black sheep of the series. I think I would have enjoyed the game more if it had different characters, but then again it's possibly that I wouldn't have even played it then.
P.S. You may be right about the difficulty. I had forgotten that the game even hand difficulty settings, and I did play it at Normal.

I forgot to mention that you actually have to unlock hard mode by collecting 100% of the items and finishing the game. Most people do not realize that hard mode even exists (as far as I know. The few that i know do have never completed it.)