Metroid Other M divides via its narrative approach, by Team Ninja with Sakamoto. Samus has a voice and detailed emotional past, side-scrolling 3D gameplay with accessible auto-aim. Dynamic combat, linear exploration with backtracking, occasional first-person segments. Heavy cinematic direction. Technically beautiful but divisive writing for Metroid fans. A hybrid experience to judge on its own merits.
Your verdict
Category
Action Adventure1 player12+
Description
Action-adventure by Team Ninja and Nintendo, Europe September 2010. Bounty hunter Samus Aran battles the corrupt Galactic Federation and the Other M organization in post-apocalyptic environments. Hybrid first and third-person gameplay, Wiimote pointing to switch to first-person, dense cinematic storytelling and mother-son dynamic between Samus and Adam Malkovich. Fifth main entry in the Metroid saga.
Metroid - Other M review
4/5
Art direction
★★★★★
"Striking"
4/5
Music
★★★★★
"Excellent"
3/5
Story
★★★★★
"Solid"
Team Ninja gives the saga an industrial, polished finish. The ship's gangways are white, spotless, lit by regular strips, and the artificial biomes locked on board read like air-conditioned display cases rather than planets. The suit itself is redrawn in softer curves, and the hunter's uncovered face changes her entire relationship with the camera.
The soundtrack yields almost all the ground to the machines. Ventilation drones, distant alarms, airlock clicks stand in for accompaniment across long stretches, and the music proper only steps in when the story takes over again. The saga's historic motifs then return only in fragments, and that scarcity gives them back their weight.
Handed to Team Ninja, this more action-driven adventure blends gunfire and close combat, with a reflex dodge that flows into point-blank finishers. Its guardians summon old terrors, from the spectral Phantoon to the nightmarish Nightmare, up to a furious return of Ridley. Readable and snappy, these fights bet on timing and a sense of power more than on exploration.
Is Metroid - Other M still worth playing in 2026?
An action adventure from Team Ninja and Nintendo, Metroid Other M blends Metroid style exploration, snappy third person combat and first person sections, with cinematic storytelling new to the series. The fluidity of the fights, the handling with the remote held horizontally and the science fiction mood appeal. The guided story, the treatment of Samus and the pace chopped by cutscenes strongly divide. A polarising adventure for Metroid fans curious about an atypical action approach.
