How I'd Make The Second "Other M" Better Than The First Already Is

Okay, confession time (and there are spoilers here, so those who haven’t played the game that doesn’t want to know what happens, leave now).

I thoroughly enjoyed Metroid: Other M. Even though it’s not going to win Game Of The Year (that could be GT5 when it finally comes out), the most controversial Metroid game in recent memory was one I couldn’t put down in the wee hours of the night. The story was intriguing, the feel was Metroid with a twist, and the controls just felt right. At the end of the game, I felt like the game had a lot going for it, and I was pleasantly surprised since they could’ve screwed that up so badly, yet they didn’t.

That being said, I know the game isn’t perfect. I would highly welcome a sequel to the game, or a similar style of Metroid game, and this is coming from someone who is a longtime Metroid fan who thinks that Super Metroid is one of the best games ever made. I would love to see what the producers do to further deepen Samus’ character.

However, I have some ideas as to how they should make the next Metroid game. This is just suggestions, and not requirements.

First, let’s get this out of the way now: KEEP JESSICA MARTIN AS THE VOICE OF SAMUS! There, I said it. Yes, the Samus lines weren’t up to snuff, but I blame the voice actress being green, and the further into the game I got, the more the voice grew on me. With more time, Jessica could become the only voice we could relate as the voice of Samus. The voice fits her character here, with the emotions seemly natural, and her getting angry when she needs to be. Jessica is new to the scene, as most in the first Metal Gear Solid were at the time, but I believe in giving people a chance, and I believe that Jessica is the right actress for the job. This is also to say to not make Samus silent again. The dialogue was a welcome change from the silent protagonist that Nintendo always does. The monologues could’ve been shorter, but that’s just nitpicking on my end.

In fact, as far as the story goes, a potential chance was lost on the part of the developers. As we now know, we see Samus as we haven’t seen her before: as an emotional wreck. Many could see this as why the game is so controversial. Until now, we’ve seen Samus as a silent, no-nonsense character that didn’t have any emotional issues. Other M changed all that, but it wasn’t a sudden changeover. Fusion gave us some insight into what direction Metroid was taking. It wasn’t like it was sudden, and the past games didn’t have that much storyline development beyond the episodic content we got. Granted, there was a plot line that expanded all games, but there wasn’t much of development into the characters until we saw the two GBA games.

I would love for Nintendo to take advantage of this, and there is one main spot that told me that they didn’t do enough to seal the deal: the Ridley scene. Anyone who has heard about this knows what I’m talking about, and though some believe that it did too much and went on too long, I thought it didn’t do enough and it actually could’ve been longer. This goes into the deep subject matter of post-traumatic stress disorder. If we go into the manga, Ridley murdered her family when she was young, and from the scene in Other M, Nintendo seems to be going towards that storyline, but I don’t think they did enough to tell the player that Samus had such a disorder, or what caused it. It’s obvious that she shows the symptoms, but they didn’t lay it on enough. I would, in the next game, put it so the game focused more on how personal the issue with Samus and Ridley is, and delve more into the PTSD issues that she seemly has. Have it so the player will have to play through her PTSD episodes, and have it so it will affect how you play the game at certain points (like, have her targeting be off, or have her shots have an adverse effect of killing things that you’re not allowed to kill). The PTSD issues make sense with how much she’s had to endure throughout her young life along with what had been going on in the bottle ship up to that point. Thing is, the game doesn’t go into this enough, which is a damn disappointment because that had to be the BEST part of the story of Other M. It was Samus at her weakest, and it was her humanized to show that the character was not just a mindless drone like Master Chief is, and instead someone who knows she’s been through a lot and one we can actually connect to and feel for. That is what’s missing in many games anymore, and doing the tragic heroine act with someone we have come to know and love over the years, I think, is a good idea that needs to be expanded upon more.

Also, there is a very interesting point to bring up: Samus’ friends, family, and things she holds dear keeps either dying or been destroyed. Adam is dead now, her family is dead, most of her Galactic Federation comrades are dead, her home planet has twice been blown up, and the baby Metroid died trying to protect her. A lot of the people she has tried to protect in the story line are also dead, and the Galactic Federation might be that close to backstabbing her. She seems to have bad luck with these kinds of things, and I would have it so she is tired of the things she loves always dying. Have it so it doesn’t take too much more of that sort of thing for her to completely lose it and begin just shooting and blowing up everything. If you thought GF considered her a threat NOW, wait until she loses her composure.

Another thing I would do: profanity. USE IT! Why is Nintendo so afraid of letting any of their characters go that route? Are they so family-friendly now that not even their most hardcore game franchise can't be mature in that sense? Now, I'm not saying that the characters should start dropping f-bombs everywhere, but the story would've been enhanced by, instead of Samus saying "RIDLEY?" in that scene, she added a "Oh, my God!" in there before saying Ridley's name. Maybe Anthony could've dropped some choice words, also. When you see games like inFamous and Uncharted, which are also Teen rated games, get away with their characters saying "balls" and "shit", and then you look at THIS game being void of even "hell" and "damn", and you'll see where I'm coming from there. Not saying that profanity alone adds to the story, either. But it is a plus.

One thing I would’ve done on the Game Over screen, and what I would do in the future in Metroid games, is that when Samus dies, have not just Adam scream for her response (or whoever is helping her), but anyone who is trying to help her out try to contact her. Other M would’ve been good to have Anthony also trying to get her attention, and when he realizes what has happened, become frightened. When she dies, flashes of various cinema scenes that we’ve seen or what we are about to see will flash as if we’re seeing her life flash before her eyes with her as she dies. Sound familiar?

This is because I think the Other M line (if there is a line) of games can take on a “Metroid Gear Solid” feel to it where the dialogue is heavy, the story line is deep, and the fourth wall can be broken. I think the similarities are there, and they could take advantage of that. Hell, have Anthony become her Otacon and help her behind the scenes as they start their own little group if and when the GF decides to betray her as they probably will do.

And to that point, that general at the end of the game. Make him a villain. He seems like the guy you just want to have burn in a fire. He came off as a pompous SOB who didn't give a rat's ass about anyone, and I loved it. Nintendo might not have any idea how much more dimension they gave to the entire Metroid storyline with just that five or so minutes of dialogue with a guy that you wanted to shoot in the face nearly a second into him beginning to talk. Let's make him into one of THE opposing forces if the betrayal story line plays itself out.

However, all of this is just story related, and the game play might also need a bit of ironing out. Bosses were a bit easier than I would’ve liked (though I’m not going to pull a TotalBiscuit here, though I love his Cataclysm videos and agree with him on a lot of things about the beta, and say that a boss fight can only be good if you die countless times). They should be challenging but balanced. Samus also needs a new weapon. The Ninja Gaidenish moves were a great start and they should expand on it, but I think it's time that she added a new trick to her armory that is her suit. Finally, the game was also too short, and could’ve been complimented by some longer game play.

And this comes to the biggest part of all: it seems as though Nintendo and Team Ninja hit a developmental wall that was the Wii’s capabilities. They might not have had enough room on the disc, or had enough horsepower on the Wii, and thus, it seemed as though more was planned for the game that ended up on the cutting room floor. The Ridley scene, though many thought it went on for too long, seemed rushed for some reason. More power was needed, and that is not the fault of anyone but Nintendo for how they made the system. Don’t get me wrong: I love the Wii. However, with that being said, I think Nintendo needs to take a look of if a Wii 1.5 system night be necessary, with a HD component and a better physical media. Imagine if Metroid was on a Blu Ray, 1080p capable Wii HD. Imagine what they could DO with it, and how long the game would be and how good of a story they can do with the capability. It would be epic, and it would turn skeptics of that kind of mechanic in a Metroid game into believers.