Metroid Other M: I am enjoying this game a lot, even though I only get to play in short bursts. But there's some things about it I don't like, mostly referring to gameplay. The dramatic cutscenes focusing on Samus don't bother me that much; I just wish they were a tad shorter at times and Samus didn't narrate as much. But again it doesn't really bother me that much. Now what does bother me is the gameplay aspect itself.
First, I'm not fond of the search mode. I don't like being locked in place and having to look around for something without any clue on what I'm supposed to be looking at. And another annoying thing is that what you're supposed to be locked on isn't immediately noticed. You have to move the wiimote slowly, steadily, over every inch of the screen, up and down, until you find what you're supposed to be focused on. It would have been easier if the developers gave a more noticeable hint on what you're supposed to be looking at. I end up trapped in search mode for longer than I should be because of this.
Second, platform jumping is a lot harder in Other M than it had been in previous games. There's two reasons for this. The first is that you cannot move the camera yourself while in third person. So if you're running towards the screen, you cannot see what's in front of you unless you switch to first person momentarily to take a look. This also means that, when in a more open area and having to jump from one platform to the other, you cannot adjust the screen so you can more easily see where you are facing in relation to the next platform. This makes it more difficult to know if you are positioned right until after you try to jump only to fall down. Also, when running towards the screen, jumping to dodge, it's more difficult to see where you're going to land. I fell in the lava about three times while fighting a boss (dunno the name, but it's the one you have to fish out with the grapple beam).
Another thing that makes this harder is the invisible walls around ledges. This actually slows Samus down. Without a running start, it makes it harder to reach platforms. I've constantly failed reaching a platform twice in the game, constantly falling back down, having to start over. I even had to restart the game once and start again from another save point because of this. And the second time it happened, I was about ready to give up because of how hard it was to platform jump in third person view in this game. I have platform jumped before in third person, like in Spyro, and never had a problem. But in Metroid Other M, they made platform jumping difficult for me.
Oh and while I'm at it, the view also makes it difficult for me to tell if I'm in the right position for something. For instance, I can't tell if I'm in the right position to wall jump on that spinning thing that you sometimes have to wall jump on. I keep falling down, having to try again and again. There's another part where lava is rising and you must outrun it and there's a ledge that you can just barely see in side view. You have to grab onto that, but you must be in the exact right position for that. Same thing with another opening, just above lava, that you must grab onto, and again you must be in the exact right position for it, otherwise you just fall down into the lava.
The only other complains I have about the game don't bother me as much though they are still annoying. The first one is how you can only replenish health at a navi station or with a new energy tank. I liked it better when you could get more health when killing enemies. The reason this annoys me is that, sometimes I could be fighting a lot of enemies, getting drained, going where I need to go, and end up fighting a boss without getting to a navi station first (this happened once) and not having enough energy to fight the boss. The other thing that bothers me is the lava. When Samus falls in, not only does she move slow, but there is a significant delay to where she jumps out, increasing the damage she gets. I've died a few times in the lava because of how slowly she moves and reacts.
Despite these complaints, though, I do enjoy Metroid Other M. There are some aspects about it I am enjoying, such as Samus's character becoming even more fleshed out and developed than it had been in previous installments. And I love the Concentration ability.
