Because the Bottle Ship is locked down during your initial play through, it feels inconsequential, perhaps existing for the sole purpose of driving the story forward. The real meat of the game—of any proper Metroid game—doesn’t come until after Samus returns to the Bottle Ship to find something she “left behind”. At that point, you can go wherever you want, collect all the items, and fight a seriously awesome bonus boss. You’ll get a Theater Mode (which you’ll never watch) and access to concept art galleries. Ultimately, Other M doesn’t get good until you slog through the over-baked story; if you can handle that, you’ll be in for a real treat of a game.
With Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty coming soon, it's time to look back at the developer's greatest triumphs...and one oddball favorite.
Former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime reflects on Metroid: Other M and his initial high hopes for the game.
Yeah we all loved how you took a stoic badass and turned her into a whiny shrew. All those writers should be sacked.
VGChartz's Paul Broussard: "The early-mid 2000s saw something of a golden age for Metroid games. After an eight year hiatus, Metroid burst back onto the scene in dramatic fashion. Largely buoyed by the critical and financial success of Metroid Prime (at least, relative to other Metroid releases), Metroid saw a whopping six new titles between 2002 and 2007, as well as one rather bizarre pinball spin-off that wound up being much better than it had any right to be. Metroid had never been this popular before."
Never though the day would come where I say this but I’d be fine with having every 2D Metroid remade the way Dread plays.