The Hype: The first Metroid game since 2007's Metroid Prime 3: Corruption was enough to get any Metroid fan worth their salt excited, and the fact that it was going to be developed by Team Ninja (Ninja Gaiden) rather than Retro Studios also promised a very different type of Metroid game. With a greater focus on characterisation and a cinematic feel, Other M could take the franchise to the next level. What Happened?: Though much praise was heaped on the game's control scheme, solid visual style and enjoyable combat mechanics, Other M has rightly been cast out by fans as the Metroid game they'd prefer to forget exists. Team Ninja went too far in trying to make the game cinematic, and as such players will likely find themselves frustrated at just how often they have to surrender the controller to lengthy story interludes. In addition, many fans took umbrage with the game's portrayal of franchise protagonist Samus, who was reduced from the tough heroine we all know her as to a more meek and mild character who, in 2010, felt embarrassingly retrograde at best, and sexist at worst. The Samus we see here isn't merely vulnerable, she's a whiny shrew and far from the lovable bada** of the core Metroid games.
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.