So, I've been playing a lot of different video games lately. I don't know why, but I just seem to be flipping from game to game. I've done FF 7, Crisis Core, Dissidia Final Fantasy, MGS: Peace Walker, MGS: Portable Ops, and Little Big Planet for the PSP. I've played a few levels of Donkey Kong Country Returns, too. For my birthday party on Friday we even broke out a LAN party and started playing Quake 3!
And then my wife bought me Metroid Other M. The last thing I needed was a new title to add to my list this month, but it was so shiny and new. I couldn't even wait two minutes to rip off the wrapping and stare in wonder at the disc.
Now, I've heard mixed reviews of the game, but I'm a die-hard fan of the Metroid series, having played every one of the games, and owning all but two (I never did get the DS titles. It never really seemed imperative I do so). But as I've played through the game these last few days, I've found that reviews were mixed because the game is mixed. Its a weird attempt at blending a side-scroller, an FPS, and a third-person slasher, like the newer Ninja Gaiden games. Overall though, it works, and thanks to the Wiimote, none of it really seems awkward.
But playing through this installment of Metroid made me realize something. There are some serious problems with the production of Metroid games. With all of the newer titles, the producers have either gone for game-play and graphics, graphics and storyline, or storyline and game-play. There isn't a single one that packs all three. With Other M, I've been sorely disappointed many times with problems in the game-play, things like the 'concentration' mechanism, and the lack of explanation in game-play. Several times while I've been playing this game, I've had to sit in a particular room for an hour trying to figure out what the hell I'm supposed to be doing. And this is the first Metroid game since the series started where I've had to pull out a strategy guide just to finish my first run through the game.
But the Metroid Prime trilogy doesn't escape either. That series suffered from a sever lack of direction. When you play through all three games, you're grasping at straws trying to correlate the story line. Each game seems almost independent of the series, and from each other, and only upon reading supplementary material provided by the producers do you really find out whats going on.
(The third option of achieving game-play and storyline is of course Metroid Fusion, which reverted back to old side-scrolling goodness, which, unfortunately, didn't impress the newer generation of gamers.)
So what I really got from all of this is that of the three really important elements of any game, game-play, storyline and graphics, you only need two to make a game that sells, as long as you have a good marketing team.
