I kept forgetting to post this. Many many months ago, I wrote a Metroid Other M rebuttal statement regarding the criticisms of Samus's portrayal of Other M. I had read the manga and played all the games except for Metroid Prime Hunters, which I watched a video walkthrough of, in order to write this. It hasn't been edited in a long time.
I will admit that I did enjoy Metroid Other M, but it did give me some frustrations. Some of the gameplay mechanics I didn't particularly like and took me a while to get used to, some of the bosses (especially the final boss) were too easy, the cutscenes are really long at times, and two scenes involving Samus (no not the one with Ridley) needed better explainations. But this doesn't mean I think it's bad. In fact, I do find it an enjoyable experience and I do recommend the game to any fan of Metroid, or even newcomers to the franchise. The combined perspectives of first person and third person would cater to those who have difficulty in one or the other type of view. I like the idea of being able to replenish missiles at any time and recovering one or more energy tanks when low on health. The cinematics are nice and I liked some of the characters, like Anthony.
I am surprised that the game isn't as well recieved as I think it should be. It seems like this is in part due to Samus taking orders from Adam when she's supposed to hate taking orders, Samus being "weak", "cowardly", and "whiny", and her choking up when she sees Ridley. However I have to disagree with all of this. I'm going to make several arguments to defend her portrayal in Other M and explain why it isn't out of character for her. And before you say that I "haven't played enough of the games to understand", I have recently finished a gaming marathon of Metroid. I first read the manga, then I played Metroid, Metroid: Zero Mission, Metroid Prime, Metroid Prime Hunters (watched a playthrough since I don't own the game), Metroid Prime 2, Metroid Prime 3, Metroid II, Super Metroid, Metroid Other M, and Metroid Fusion to refamiliarize myself with this particular universe. So I do know what I'm talking about.
So I'll bring up some of the common complaints I heard of about her portrayal and offer my rebuttal.
1. "Samus shouldn't be taking orders from Adam. She's a bounty hunter, isn't a part of the Galactic Federation, and has no reason to follow orders from them."
My answer: Well this is only partially true. She isn't a part of GF anymore and she is a freelance bounty hunter. She became a bounty hunter at some point before the first Metroid game. However, the notion she doesn't need to take orders from them isn't exactly true. For one thing, she might not be a part of the GF, but that doesn't mean she is free to disobey them. The Galactic Federation does have a sact called the Galactic Federation Police, which, as one may guess, is able to make arrests. If Samus were to do anything that may be percieved as a threat, then she could be arrested. This could easily include misconduct with a commanding officer and jeopardizing a mission the GF was on.
In other words, Samus would still need to listen to them to avoid trouble. This doesn't equal to her having to agree with them, of course, and she could still go off and do her own thing. But if there's a GF team in the same area, she'd have to make sure she doesn't disrupt them, or there could be trouble. Cooperation would be needed for a better success.
This issue isn't always the case, obviously, as in some Metroid games, she's on her own, such as the first Metroid and Super Metroid. This is how she likes to work, on her own. This has been highlighted particularly in the manga and mentioned a bit in Fusion. Samus is a 'lone wolf', prefering to work alone. But this doesn't mean she always works alone. She may not enjoy taking orders, but that doesn't mean she won't. If she feels she must, she will. And in fact, multiple Metroid games do involve her taking orders from the GF, right down to the very first game.
In the first Metroid game, Samus has been assigned by the Galactic Federation to defeat Mother Brain and her forces on the planet Zebes. In Metroid II, she was assigned, again by the Galactic Federation, to go to the planet SR388 and wipe out the metroid population to end their threat to the galaxy. In Metroid Prime Hunters, the GF tells Samus to investigate the "ultimate power" after receiving a telepathic message. In Metroid Prime 3, the Galactic Federation is even more involved, with Samus taking orders from them multiple times throughout the entire game and even joining in with their fleet. And finally there is Metroid Fusion, in which Samus takes orders from the GF throughout the whole game through the computer on her ship, which she has named Adam. Oh I did forget Metroid: Zero Mission, a remake of the first game. She's still taking orders in that game as well.
In fact, Metroid Fusion follows a very similar formula as Metroid Other M. In Metroid Fusion, Samus follows the orders of the computer, Adam (who has Adam's mind, so it's basically like taking orders from the real Adam). She goes where it tells her, for the most part she only goes to certain places when it tells her to. It controls when she gets certain upgrades. This is almost just like Metroid Other M. Just like Fusion, Samus takes orders from Adam. She goes to certain locations when Adam tells her to. She usually only turns on equipment when Adam gives the okay. Oh did I say "almost"? No, I'm wrong. The formula is just like Metroid Fusion, with the only real difference being how much equipment she gets on her own and what she gets from Adam's okay (the human and the computer) and the setting.
So basically what this means is that people are complaining of Samus taking orders from the GF when she has been doing this throughout most of the games. The only games in which she doesn't take orders from the GF and is basically acting on her own is Metroid Prime, Metroid Prime 2 (well she responds to a GF distress signal but that's it, not really taking orders), and Super Metroid. That's it. Just 3 games, while the remaining 7 (including Other M) involve her taking orders from the GF in some shape or form. So in all honestly, I don't see what the big deal is in Other M with her taking orders from Adam. It's not like she hasn't done this before. *points to Metroid Fusion*
2. "Samus is portrayed as weak, whiny, and cowardly when she never was in previous games."
My answer: And she was never portrayed as such anywhere in Metroid Other M. Honestly, I don't really get why people say this. I have played the game myself, twice, and so far I haven't seen a real instance of her being weak or whiny or cowardly. I try to think of something, but I always draw a blank. If anything, the one word I'd ascribe to her is talkative. She does talk a lot in the game, taking up a lot of the dialogue. But being talktive doesn't really mean whiny.
For whiny, the only bit I can thin of is when Samus is demanding Adam to send her out, both in the flashback and when Adam is about to sacrifice himself. These aren't really particularly whiny. In the flashback, Samus is merely just inexperienced and overly compitent. She's desperate to save Adam's brother and wants to prove herself. Even Anthony points out that she was 'just a pup' back then and she had matured since then. For the other part, she is again desperate, but this time she wants to save Adam. In this case, she's more justified as she has stood up agains the metroids before and managed to defeat them. Her wanting to prevent Adam from going into Sector Zero is what I'd call a more human-like response. If your best friend, someone you care about, was about to go into danger to save you, wouldn't you try to stop them?
She is also never portrayed as weak or cowardly in the game. I honestly can't find any time in the game that would constitute her being weak. And no, getting pinned down by an opponent doesn't equal to being weak, and neither does showing emotion, making mistakes, or having a breakdown. Throughout the entire game, Samus has done a lot of fighting. She is fighting against an endless number of enemies. No matter how much she kills, more just show up. Yet she doesn't allow that to stop her. She continously goes through these infested sections even though she could easily just run away. She doesn't run away at any point in the game, from any enemy. She always stands and fights. Heck, she even jumps on top of enemies, rips out their wings, shoots them in the head, or tosses them aside. Would a real coward or weakling do that? I don't think so.
Perhaps the reason people say she's weak and cowardly is because of the scene involving Ridley. However, that scene doesn't really portray her as being weak, as I'll explain in the next part.
3. "Samus shouldn't have been so terrified of Ridley as she has faced him before."
My answer: True, she did have a more profound reaction to Ridley than at any other boss in Other M. She goes into a state of fear and shock, resulting in her being attacked. She is so shaken up by Ridley that she is unable to fight back or move...because she was suffering from two things. First, post traumatic stress disorder, and second, the mere shock of seeing Ridley again. If fans of Metroid were to look at the situation more carefully instead of with a closed mind, they'd realize that there was good reason for Samus to react the way she did.
First off, PSTD is a real condition that isn't easily overcome. Ask anyone who suffers from it and they can tell you the same thing. It's not something that can be taken away through military training or through being raised by certain types of people. People with it can suffer from it for years, some may never get over it.
Samus has good cause to suffer PSTD at the sight of Ridley. When she was only a few years old, she had witnessed her parents, as well as her home, slaughtered and destroyed by Ridley and his forces. Samus's last sight was almost the sight of Ridley coming at her with his claws and sharp teeth. She was so young at this point, and the event was so traumatic it was both engraved into her mind and forgotten, that is until she meets him again later on in the manga. Memories flooded back to her, causing her to not being able to move as Ridley attacked her, much like Other M. Her reaction was far worse in the manga, as the PSTD almost caused her to kill herself. The Chozo snapped her out of it, but not by being military-like and scolding her, but by comforting her and allowing her to display her emotional grief.
By contrast, in Metroid Other M, her PTSD reaction is more mild. She recovers more quickly from it and does go up against Ridley. Despite her previous reaction, she does fight well against him, able to bring him down and cause him to flee. She doesn't have another attack like this throughout the rest of the game. And in the manga, she doesn't suffer another attack. The next time she sees Ridley, she defeats him.
But some of you may be saying "Well it doesn't matter if she has PTSD or not. She faced Ridley before and therefore she should be used to fighting him." Well true, sort of. But PTSD isn't the only thing that played a role in how she behaved. People are forgetting the shock part of it. Before this game, Ridley was destroyed on the planet Zebes, blown apart. Now one could say that he had suffered near death experiences before and he does have the power to regenerate, and it's true. He has appeared again after seemingly being destroyed by Samus. So it could appear as though she should have no reason to be shocked by his return in Other M.
Except for one thing. Ridley was indeed destroyed for good in Super Metroid. First, he is blown apart by Samus and he falls into the lava. But this isn't what did him in. After all, this happened in the first Metroid, and he does blow apart in Metroid Prime 3 and yet still returns. No, what did him in was another factor that should not be overlooked and that's the fact the planet was blown apart. After Samus defeats Mother Brain, the entire planet is rigged to be blown up, not just a small section, but the entire planet. There's no way that Ridley could have survived this. All of his cells would have been obliterated.
It's even confirmed in Other M that he was destroyed for good, the original Ridley that is. So basically, Samus believed Ridley was finally gone. So when she sees him for the first time after years of never hearing anything from him, of course she's going to be in shock. If someone you thought was dead suddenly showed up after so long, wouldn't you be shaken up? I sure would, personally. Samus was not prepared to see him again and went into a state of shock, combined with PTSD, after seeing him again after several years.
You could bring up Dark Samus, who survived the destruction of Dark Aether and how Samus didn't become shocked to see her again. But take a moment and think about that for a moment. She seems able to easily switch between the light world and the dark world, just like Samus. She can move around freely in the form of particles like she had a few times in the game. She doesn't really need a physical body to move anywhere. She could have easily went through the portal with Samus when Dark Aether was destroyed.
And don't forget, Samus had seen Dark Samus pull herself back together right in front of her eyes in Metroid Prime 2, so it wouldn't have surprised her if Dark Samus came back after being blown up. This is very similar to Ridley, but with one difference. Ridley was organic and Dark Samus was not. She is basically a living suit powered by phazon. So long as there's phazon around, she can use it to recharge herself, which of course Samus is aware of.
So in the end, I feel being hard on Samus for reacting the way she did to Ridley is pretty harsh, especially when you try to look at things from her point of view and look at the facts presented by the franchise. No one is completely immune to breaking down, and breaking down doesn't make one a coward or any less human. Samus is still the brave, strong bounty hunter as she had been portrayed before.
4. "Samus obviously worships Adam because she's constantly worried about his opinion."
My answer: Another common complaint about this game, it seems. People have pointed out that Samus appears to worship Adam on some level as there are some points in the game where Samus is worried about Adam's opinion. There are also a few times where she talks about how Adam must have known this or must have known that, and she sometimes wonders what he would do in a situation. It is easy to see this as worshipping...if you care not to look at it at a deeper level.
Samus doesn't worship Adam. Instead, she respects him. Samus lost her parents at such a young age, and for a time was taken care of by the Chozo. While it is true she saw them as surrogate parents and loved them very much, this doesn't mean she is not able to attach to a human, her own species, in a similar way. When she went to the Galactic Federation for training, somewhere along the lines, she met Adam. As Other M explains, he was her commanding officer for a time. It's obvious that this time was quite a while, perhaps many years, due to the bond they developed, which was similar to father and daughter, not worshipper and worshippee.
Consider Adam's reaction when Samus returns after leaving. His treatment of her, for me, makes me think that he was disappointed in her, but not really all that angry with her. Even though he's upset that she turned her back on the federation, he still lets her tag along. If he really hated her, he would have asked her to leave. After all, his men are well equipped to handle themselves, so there wasn't much of a reason to have Samus stay. He let her stay because he still cared about her on an emotional level. Her leaving may have upset him because, just like Samus looked at him like a father, he may have looked at her like a daughter, if not that, then a friend.
The biggest evidence for Adam still caring about Samus is that he came after her before she could enter Sector 0 and stops her from going in. He even states that he's sacrificing himself to save her so she can live to fight another day. He didn't need to go after her. He could have completed his mission without saving her. But he still does it anyway. You could say that he was only doing it because she's one of the best defenses against Space Pirates and the metroids, but if that were the case, why did he just stop her and leave with her? Why go into Sector 0 at all? There might have been another way to disconnect Sector 0, or at least keep it sealed off. It's also not on the map so it would be difficult to stumble upon. It's also very well guarded so anyone who even finds the secret passage would need to get past the horde of enemies and the laser defenses. And let's add to the fact that, outside the Metroid Queen, the metroids of Sector 0 haven't escaped and are still sealed up inside.
So why even go into Sector 0 if the metroids are locked up and there's little chance that they could be found or escape? I think the answer to that is rather obvious. Adam didn't want Samus to kill herself by going in. He knows that she's stubborn, and it's evident that she is. Samus isn't the type to let other people die for her, and was more than willing to put her life on the line to save Adam. But Adam not only realizes that she's the most effective weapon against metroids, he cares about her and doesn't want her making such a suicidal move. So to make sure that she doesn't have a chance, he puts himself inside Sector 0 and dislodges it from the ship, ultimately preventing her from having a chance to face the Sector 0 metroids.
Watch Samus's reaction when he does finally leave. This isn't the reaction I would expect from a worshipper. It isn't as loud or as exaggerated as I would expect. Samus instead reacts like she just lost a father, or someone very close to her. She obviously disagrees with his decision, but she accepts it. She knows she can't change his mind and eventually accepts the decision that he made and made peace with it. She's able to compose herself and goes through the mission, just like he would have wanted, just like someone close to her would have wanted. This is also another piece of evidence that shows that Samus doesn't let her emotions get to her all the time; that even after the traumatic event of losing Adam, she's able to carry out her mission.
Samus states in the game that Adam was the closest thing she had to a father, and the evidence, for me, is clear. Their interaction is similar to father and daughter, if you look at it at a deeper level. The two had developed a close bond, and Samus even states that Adam understood her better than anyone. He didn't treat her differently simply because she was a lady. Another example of their close friendship is him saying "Any objections, lady?", which is his way of being funny, but not in a hurtful way. He wouldn't do that if they didn't share some kind of bond.
And the respect isn't just one way. Adam respects Samus as well. One of the most obvious examples of this is in the manga where he lets her go on her mission. He didn't have to. He had the authority to stop her. But he allows her to go anyway. You could say that he only did this because she would have attacked him, after all she did hold her weapon up to him. But think about that for a moment. Samus is well aware of Galactic Federation rules, since she had been a part of it for years. And she knows Adam is a high ranking officer and her attacking him would have had severe consequences. Why would Samus attack him if it would put her in trouble? Adam knew this, so he knew her threat was a bluff, so he still could have stopped her. You could say it was out of frustration, that he wanted to see her get killed. But then again, he's never portrayed to be that kind of person. He never makes sacrifices like that unless they were necessary, and there was no reason for him to sacrifice Samus at that time.
So the best explanation for that scene is that he respected her. He recognized her as a capable warrior. He trusted her opinion and felt that she could handle that mission she was putting herself on. So he allowed her to leave willingly. While you might disagree, you have to admit that him letting her go out of respect perfectly explains that scene. It explains why he didn't react negatively towards her threat, why he didn't have her arrested, and why he let her go on what was probably amongst her first real mission by herself.
Now back to the worshipping comment. I haven't seen any real account of her worshipping Adam. And no, asking herself what Adam would do isn't a sign of worship, nor is saying what he might have accomplished. To show an example of why this isn't worship, let's turn to another media story, Avatar the Last Airbender. There are several occasions where one character would say another character had done something, such as when Appa was shedding and Toph said that they were followed that way. There is an instance of Zuko trying to think of what Azula and Iroh would say in his situation when he tries to join the Avatar gang. Yet neither instance, nor any other similiar instance, a sign of worship in the show. Zuko doesn't worship his uncle and definitely not his sister. And characters don't think about what another character or characters did because they worship them; it's simply to understand a situation.
So how does this work in Other M? If thinking about what another would do or what they had done isn't a sign of worship, then why has it become that in Other M? Well I think it might have to do with Samus being worried about Adam's opinion. But then this isn't a sign of worship either. As stated above, she sees him as a father, so her being worried about his opinion makes sense in this case. But it isn't just that. Remember that Samus is not the leader of the group, but Adam is. Adam does have the authority to have Samus leave, even if she isn't part of the Galactic Federation. Samus may not be of GF but that doesn't mean that she is exempt from their rules; it doesn't mean that she cannot be forced to leave by a GF soldier. The ending proves this well when Samus was ordered to leave and forbidden to communicate with the survivor. So ultimatley Samus was not only worried about Adam's opinion of her out of seeing him as a father, but also because she wants to help and doesn't want to do anything to wreck the mission or be sent away.
5. "Samus blindly follows Adam's orders. She almost dies because of it!"
My answer: Ah yes, the scene where Samus goes through Sector 3 for a time without her Varia Suit turned on. When she is in the exposed heat, her health goes down. She has every opportunity to turn on her Varia Suit, but she does not. She is waiting for Adam to give the okay, but he doesn't authorize it until just before a boss fight. Why would Samus endure such danger and why would Adam not say anything to her until later?
Well it might seem that Samus was pretty stupid in this scene, but it has been established that she is a stubborn person. If she really has to go somewhere, she will go there. Her going through the super heated Sector 3 areas without her Varia Suit is her way of saying "I don't care what stands in my way, I will go through!" You can also see this as her way of being brave, enduring what has to be huge amounts of pain to get her mission accomplished. This can be used as evidence against the whole "Samus is cowardly" complaint against this game. After all, a real coward wouldn't have gone through this dangerous area at all, even with Varia Suit on.
Still it can be seen as foolish of her. But this is a good thing. Why? It helps her to become more human. You might disagree, but think about it. What's the point of having a human character if you aren't going to treat her realistically as a human? Everyone makes mistakes. Nobody is perfect, even if they want to believe they are. So having Samus do something rash like rushing headlong into danger without the proper protection shows that she's as human as we are, that she is capable of making mistakes. Another example of this would be at the end where she goes back to the Bottleship to get Adam's helmet and then leaves with only her Zero Suit, despite explosions and enemies everywhere. Her going back for his helmet not only shows that she had a strong bond with Adam, but it also shows more so that she's capable of making rash decisions based on emotion, making her even more human.
As for why Adam didn't say anything, he may have been trying to discourage her from continuing on so she won't find out about Sector 0. Though this would have been futile given her stubborn nature, so he may have been only impeding her progress. Another reason why he might have been doing this is because he was unaware that she didn't have her Varia Suit turned on. Her Power Suit in this game has the rounded shoulder pads just like Varia, so it is understandable that he would think she already had it turned on. The only difference is that her Varia is orange, not yellow like her normal Power Suit. Exactly why Adam didn't say anything until the boss fight is difficult to determine completely unless we knew whether or not he was the Deleter. Still, this doesn't mean that he had no reason for what he did and it doesn't mean that he didn't care.
There is evidence against the idea that she is blindly following his orders. One part of the game sets the record straight. There is a scene where Samus is giving chase to whom she believes to be the Deleter. She continues following the supposed Deleter until they come to a bridge. He destroys the controls on one end and closes the bridge on the other. Samus stands there for a moment, and quickly makes her decision. Rather than restrain herself because of Adam, she defies him by saying "Any objections, Adam?" and turns on her space jump anyway, without authorization. There is another scene where Samus even seems to, to an extent, doubt Adam when she finds that he signed the document regarding metroid breeding, though this turns out that he was actually against it. But she only finds that out later. This is evidence against her worshipping him. Think about it. If she really did worship him, why would she doubt him, even for a second? Why hadn't she blindly defended him when she had no proof of his intentions?
Ultimately, I feel that the main reason people complain about her blindly following Adam's orders is that they are used to Samus doing her own thing. They want Samus to take orders from no one, to be her own leader. But they fail to realize that, as stated earlier, Samus almost never went on a mission of her own accord. Nearly every game involves her being assigned a mission and taking orders in some form or other. So why they are complaining, I'm not sure. There's little evidence to really support what they claim.
6. "Samus monologues way too much. It ruins her character."
My answer: Well this is true...but only to an extent. Samus does indeed talk, well in monologue, too much. There were scenes where even I admit I got frustrated, but only because I wanted to get back to the game, not because I thought her character was ruined. Far from it, her monologues did offer insight into her character, and what goes on in her mind. It gives better understanding to the player of what Samus's mind goes through when she makes a decision, what her hopes and fears are, among other things.
Samus doesn't really talk verbally so much. A lot of her dialogue is spoken through her head. Yes it does seem strange that she would talk the way she does in her mind. But then, is that as abnormal as some might believe? A lot of people, including myself, do talk to themselves during a situation, some possibly even verbally. It's a normal habit and there's nothing really wrong with it. Though even given that explanation, some can argue that nobody talks in their mind the way Samus does. This might be true, though there's still a rebuttal for that.
Samus is recounting her adventures with someone. If you were to look at the game like a flashback, suddenly Samus's long monologues make sense. It is very likely that she is telling someone what has been going on, and during certain points of the game, we hear her talking to this person. She's telling a story, and explaining what she had felt at the time. She wants to make sure the person she is talking to understands what she is saying, so she makes sure she puts in as much detail as possible.
Samus's monologues help build her character. Her monologues helped me to get her know her better, as well as other gamers. The only way it ruins her character is that it gives her thoughts, emotions, makes her feel more human. But then that isn't really ruining her character, unless you happen to be one of the fanboys who sees Samus as nothing more than an unemotional robot that's always set to kill mode. While I admit that she might talk a little too much, I am grateful that her monologues help show that Samus is not just some killing machine; she is an emotional human being. She is just like you or me or anyone else, in that there are things that frighten her, things that worry her, that she is capable of making mistakes, etc.
7. "Samus is supposed to be an unemotional action girl. She always has been in the past."
My Answer: Um, no. No she hasn't. She has been portrayed as tough, I admit, but this isn't the same as unemotional. There has been numerous times in the past that show that Samus is a thinking, feeling person and isn't as cold as some people might want her to be.
For instance, let's look at Metroid Prime 2. In this game, Samus crash lands on an alien planet where a luminoth, the only one awake, contacts her. He tells her what has happened to the planet and asks her to defeat their deadly enemies, the Ing. Samus has no reason to help him, however. She never met him before and knew nothing about this planet before she came. But in the end, she still helps them out. She puts her life on the line, going into the dangerous Dark Aether, and fights off the Ing. Why? It's not because she was forced to do it. The luminoth did not force her to and he had little power to make her do what he wanted. No, she did it because she wanted to help. She did it because she isn't an unemotional action girl.
Then let's look at the endings of Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 3. In the first Prime game, the Chozo structure, after defeating the boss Metroid Prime, explodes. Samus is clearly horrified by this, as evidenced by her expression. Though she says nothing, it's clear that it hurt her deeply that a Chozo structure is destroyed. This makes sense, since the Chozo were her surrogate parents for several years before she joined the Galactic Federation. Then let's look at Metroid Prime 3. At the ending, Samus is seem reminiscing about the other hunters that she had no choice but to kill. Whether or not they are good friends is debateable, but regardless of their relationship, Samus is obviously still depressed that she had to fight them, and sad that they were killed. If she were truly as unemotional as some fans claim she is, why would she look so sad at the end of Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 3?
In the manga, Samus, despite being a rookie at the time, attacks Space Pirates in an attempt to defend a girl, one she didn't know anything about. She also did it to save the other children as well as their home. She didn't know them and she had no reason to intervene. She could have just called the GF and let them handle it. But Samus helps out because she is a very moral character and she knew it might have been too late if she just contacted the GF or someone else to stop them. She didn't want to see those people hurt, so she decided to put a stop to it. Her moral conscious would not let her just not do anything. And also, there is another scene later on, when Samus is older, where she saves another from a deadly creature that disguised itself as a plant. She could have easily turned away, and yet she does not.
It's even obvious in games before Other M that Samus had a moral conscious. In all the games I played, I notice one recurring pattern. Samus never attacks unless she realizes what she's looking at is a threat. When she faces something she hadn't before or doesn't recognize, she waits. She might race her arm cannon, but this is just in self defense; she never actually fires unless she is attacked first or she realizes that what she's seeing is a threat to her. You can see this in multiple fights she's in. For instance, in the first boss fight for Dark Samus, notice that Samus doesn't really attack until Dark Samus attacks her first. You can see similar patterns in other parts of the game.
One could say that Samus does attack first sometimes with creatures she hasn't seen or aren't much of a threat to her, for instance geemers. But keep in mind they still hurt her and apparently do attack Samus as seen in Other M. The smaller creatures are, as established in the manga as well as the games in some cases, that the creatures are hostile. Many creatures throughout the game do attack Samus and try to do her harm. So you can see her attacking them as out of self defense rather than a true act of cruelty. In the manga, when a group of creatures start attacking with guns, Samus doesn't destroy them; only the guns, disarming them. This shows that she didn't really want to kill them; she wanted to end the conflict peacefully.
The point is that Samus is not the type to attack first and ask questions later. No, instead she simply waits and sees if she is actually in any danger or not. The games, as well as manga, strongly support her as being more of a pacifist than a fighter. She only attacks if she realizes that she is in danger. Otherwise, she will not attack. She may be cautious of someone she doesn't know or recognize, but she will not do them harm unless they prove themselves a danger to her. She sees no reason to cause unnecessary harm to others and would rather talk than shoot, unless forced to do otherwise.
There may be other points I am missing or forgetting to bring up, but I think that about covers the basics. In short, I feel Metroid: Other M is an underestimated, misjudged game. The biggest threat to this game are obsessed fanboys who are unable to contemplate Samus having emotions and mistaking them as weakness, and who seem to refuse to see that Samus's behavior in the game is supported within the franchise. The manga became canon to Metroid prior to Metroid Prime 3, around when Metroid: Zero Mission came out (if you played the game you'll know that stills from the manga were used).
While I understand that my comments may not satisfy some people, I hope that it clears up any confusion or misunderstandings some people may be having about the game. I do recommend it (though be aware it is more difficult to master than previous installments), and it has some of the best cinematics and graphics I've seen on the Wii, personally. And I should point out that the style of the story is more similar to anime than american shows. Rather than focusing solely on logic, the game involves a lot of emotion, which is not necessarily a bad thing. It is just another style of story telling. For me it doesn't make the story "melodramatic"; I just look at it as story telling.
Well that's all I have to say on the subject for now.
