Metroid Database.com

Last month, 1UP announced their first foray into print media, and a month later, some of those articles have been finally placed online. 1UP Presents' first issue features commentary on Metroid: Other M. The idea behind writing articles on a six-month old game is to serve as game criticism, something games journalism is overall lacking.

Jeremy Parrish's cover article, "Dial Other M For Murder" of course set us on the editorial staff on edge, but the piece turns out to be a fairly even-handed coverage of major criticisms placed against the game that is a sight more interesting - and shorter - to read than numerous rants on either side you may have found. Commonly-held criticisms include dialogue, narrative, and the item collection system. However, the article relegates most comments to members of the 1UP community rather than fans from Metroid fan forums (and a rather undeserved suggestion that many Metroid fans have given up on the series), but also lacked suitable commentary from industry experts (though a section on sexism and its Japanese context with commentary from an editor of Persona 3 that was in the print version seems to have been cut). Considering the amount of journalistic muscle 1UP holds, it shouldn't have been too hard to get extra input from say, Donald Mustard of Shadow Complex, and we hope future articles will contain more statements from experts.

More interesting is Retronauts' comic, which puts player commentary in even starker, shorter terms (though I highly doubt we'll be arguing over whether or not Other M is sexist even 10 years from now). It also introduces a compelling theory on the subject illustrating how player expectations have been shaped largely by Super Metroid. The desire for another Super has set player expectations too high and made us expect one type of game when the series has been changing.

Lastly is an article by Nadia Oxford on how Samus has been portrayed in the comics and manga, which you can read right here in the comics and manga section of the MDb. Despite attending numerous pop culture conferences, I never expected to read an analysis of Samus from the Captain N comics...

UPDATE: Some alterations have been made to this article since it was initially published. I apologize for posting some rather unfair comments in haste, which was due in large part to a misunderstanding.

I would also like to emphasize that while not everyone agrees with all statements from these articles, that is to be expected. Criticism's job is not to provoke argument (as say, a rant), but rather to generate discussion and make people think differently about the subject matter, whether it be a game, film, or other creative work. Agreement or disagreement with the critic is all part of the game, and the best criticism makes you think about the subject matter differently, even if you happen to disagree. 1UP Presents promotes this discussion, and so I feel it is worth a read for Metroid fans for that reason).

Here also is the absent quotation from the print version by Tomm Hulett, producer at Konami and former assistant translation editor on Persona 3. The statement rebutting accusations of Other M's sexism:

I find the cries of sexism quite ridiculous... Sure, there are things you can point to that, in a Western-themed vacuum, seem suspect. It isn't misogyny, though - it's just plain poor storytelling, which shouldn't surprise long-time gamers.

A PDF of the print version will be available through 1UP at some future date.

Until next time...
Captain Commando