Metroid: Other M

I've been playing this for a week and I can honestly say I haven't played a better Metroid since Super Metroid.

Like

• Controls. They're near perfect. For the most part, Samus auto-aims at the what happens to be in front of her. When you switch to first person, there is a slight time ebb to allow you to take aim with getting rushed.
• Platforming. First 3D Metroid to do it right, in my opinion. The key is the camera. Although it's fixed, it is well behaved. Most of the platforming sections are oriented in a side-scrolling perspective, allowing you to judge the distance of gaps.
• Enemies. Holy crap. Bosses after bosses after bosses. And some bosses become regular enemies. Oh and the ambushes. Every five steps they are.
• Samus is a fucking badass. We knew this before, of course. But she's even more badass than in the past. Feats of badassery you'll witness:
  • Jumping on an enemy's shoulders, arm cannon, point-blank, the back of head
  • Arm cannon down your throat
  • Pulling heads off of cyborg trilobites
  • Landing a twenty-eyed magma fish the size of bus with her grapple beam

Dislike

• There's a Where's Waldo? portion of game that really kills the flow. How it works is the game throws you into first person and you have to find something to further the story. It's bloody annoying and it doesn't add a thing! SPOILER: Right before the end is a disguised one of these. You'll know it when you are being slashed by a mob of seven-eyed bugs.
• The path to gaining weapons/armor/etc. Instead of finding the parts, you gain authorization from Adam to use them. That's ok, but does Samus really have to suffer heat that eats away her health, only to be authorized varia suit functions when it's almost over? Sounds silly. Samus has godlike patience for this kind of bullshit. ;P
• Samus' voice. She sounds like she's on Valium.

What you might dislike that I didn't mind

• This game follows in the footsteps of fusion, in that there are checkpoints to reach. Some people felt this betrayed the earlier Metroid traditions of wandering almost aimlessly. The world in this game is huge, so I'm glad for it.
• Almost linear. Checkpoints again, but also lots of locked doors that open later when you are supposed to go through them. It's fine with me because the game still keeps it fresh when you return. SPOILER: For instance, right after you get the wave beam authorized, you have to backtrack a ways to a switch that can only be activated with it. On this second trip, you get to escape an avalanche, which is annoying as hell btw.