Metroid: Other M is sexist, inspires even more horribly sexist comments.

Now, I haven't played a huge amount of this game, and the gameplay itself is great, but Metroid: Other M is very sexist.

Quote :: In the world of Other M, Samus stumbles upon her old Galactic Federation squad mates while answering a distress call on a seemingly abandoned vessel. Among the people she encounters is her former captain, Adam Malkovich. In the most contrived manner possible, Samus loses her special abilities. How? She opts not to use them. Why? She wants to show Adam she can follow orders.

Yes, that’s right. The woman who in the first five minutes of the game gives the squad access to the ship by using her missiles is restricted from using her abilities -- some which could open a path or save her life in the future -- until a bland male character dictates it to her. She does this because she likes him, but only as a friend.

No matter what way you rationalize this mechanic, when you're 10 minutes into the lava sector and you can't use your Varia Suit yet, you will understand how painfully stupid this plot device is.

Quote :: Yes, Samus uses the phrase “confession time” like a 12 year old girl scrawling in her Lisa Frank diary but really, the Alan Wake-meets-Lifetime Channel Original Movie narration gets old faster than you can say “daddy issues.” Until Other M, Samus has existed as a silent protagonist with only the personality that we have bestowed upon her in our own imaginations. Regardless of whether or not the interpretation in Other M can be reconciled with your own perception of her, there is a moment later in the game that cannot be justified…ever. Confronted by her longstanding nemesis, Ridley, she is spliced into flashes of a little girl, crying and afraid, despite the fact she has already defeated Ridley at least FOUR times already, once when he was a powerful robot. Terrible.

Quote :: In short, you're asked to forget that Samus has spent the last 10-15 years on solitary missions ridding the galaxy of Space Pirates, saving the universe and surviving on her own as a bounty hunter. Instead, Other M expects you to accept her as a submissive, child-like and self-doubting little girl that cannot possibly wield the amount of power she possesses unless directed to by a man.

And, because we all feed on wank like crackheads on, um... whatever. There has been huge amounts of backlash to this review.

Quote :: It sounds like the reviewer had just had an argument with her boyfriend or something and was is a particularly "MAN HATING" mood when she played the game.

Quote :: I'm not even a Metroid fan, I just think they should have a better criteria to rating games. Maybe they shouldn't be reviewing games during their time of the month?

Oh wah wah.. it's not empowering to women anymore.. wahhh...

Who are videogames like Metroid made for? Boys! (This isn't Cookin' Mama)

Quote :: The way I see it, the players of the game create these preconceived notions of what a Metroid game should be like, or how Samus should act and feel, and I'm here to tell you that you're all full of shit. There's only one party that can decide on what the content of a game is like, and that's exclusively THE DEVELOPER. In this case, it's Team Ninja and Nintendo.

Click the link for a few more potentially rage-worthy quotes.

Quote :: Who are videogames like Metroid made for? Boys! (This isn't Cookin' Mama)

Wow. Just... wow.

Quote :: Confronted by her longstanding nemesis, Ridley, she is spliced into flashes of a little girl, crying and afraid, despite the fact she has already defeated Ridley at least FOUR times already, once when he was a powerful robot. Terrible.

This might work the FIRST time she faced Ridley. I mean, his actions directly led to or caused the death of her parents and general destruction of her home planet.

So it's to be expected emotions would overwhelm her when meeting him again (though I'd figure those emotions would be anger expressed through a Super Missile, but whatever).

A good question is why, if she apparently couldn't follow orders when he was her superior officer, would she follow his orders now when she's the single most destructive force in the galaxy?

Also, lolfeminists.

I have very little firsthand knowledge of this game beyond overhearing my roommate playing it. However. I can safely say that from a story perspective it's completely stupid since she NEVER STOPS TALKING.

BLAH BLAH BLAH I WAS KNOWN FOR GIVING THE THUMBS-DOWN IN BRIEFINGS BLAH BLAH BLAH I'M A GIRL BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH THUMBS-UP BLAH BLAH BLAH

Armbiter of Good Fanfiction Join date : 2009-06-10

Quote :: Yes, that’s right. The woman who in the first five minutes of the game gives the squad access to the ship by using her missiles is restricted from using her abilities -- some which could open a path or save her life in the future -- until a bland male character dictates it to her. She does this because she likes him, but only as a friend.

Yes, it's not like he's a military officer trying to accomplish a non-combat mission, and has absolute authority over the Bottle Ship as a representative of the Federation, and can tell Samus to get out if she doesn't want to play ball? Why should Samus be subjected to the same rules as the men on the squad? She should be allowed to use any equipment she has without any regard for anything, just like real life military; remember the times when pilots used to dump all their munitions into whatever the fuck they pleased? Yeah, those were the non-existent times.

Mikey Go WOOGA wrote:

Quote :: Confronted by her longstanding nemesis, Ridley, she is spliced into flashes of a little girl, crying and afraid, despite the fact she has already defeated Ridley at least FOUR times already, once when he was a powerful robot. Terrible.

This might work the FIRST time she faced Ridley. I mean, his actions directly led to or caused the death of her parents and general destruction of her home planet.

So it's to be expected emotions would overwhelm her when meeting him again (though I'd figure those emotions would be anger expressed through a Super Missile, but whatever).

Batman gets this with his parents and they were dead since he was eight. Why not Samus?

Quote :: Until Other M, Samus has existed as a silent protagonist with only the personality that we have bestowed upon her in our own imaginations.

Quote :: Diary of a Wimpy Bounty Hunter

Baw, Samus isn't the Rule 63 on Bobba Fett like I wanted. Also, diaries are for pussies.

Quote :: The point is to flesh out one of the most iconic (and nonsexualized) female characters

what is this shit

Okay, no. Since I want to keep some ounce of respect for other posters, I will say this before they post.

Not being that involved in Metroid, I already know more about the character than the reviewer. In that, until Fusion and Other M she didn't have one. Her gender, personality were in no way relevant to blowing shit up, and the reveal that she was a girl all along is just a Shyamalan-esque tweest.

Samus was completely interchangeable with Samuel or an animated pile of rocks, and the eye candy at the end of a completed game that you get could have been just some chick that he plowed.

Let's examine the story of Samus. She watched helplessly as a monster incinerated and ate her parents. She was adopted and raised to be a Galaxy protector by Old Bird, and then watched helplessly as the Chozo went missing (Old Bird escaped, whew), then watched as her commanding officer gave the order for his brother (implied to be Samus's boyfriend) to be left for dead, not accepting that she couldn't do anything, she quits and becomes a bounty hunter.

She watches as Mother Brain kills the Baby Metroid (her pet/child) without being able to lift a finger, how her best friend gets thrown into lava, and wasn't able to stop her surrogate father from sacrificing himself, in, once again, a perfectly logical and calculated decision... Am I the only one that's starting to see a pattern here? Watching helplessly as everything you cherish dies in front of your eyes? Two of those were near misses, tan-fucking-fastic, thank fuck for small comforts in her miserable life.

I can not recall a single male hero who was shat upon by the universe this badly and still maintained an attitude expected of Samus. Compounded with

Quote :: Samus has spent the last 10-15 years on solitary missions ridding the galaxy of Space Pirates, saving the universe and surviving on her own as a bounty hunter.

That's a recipe for self-destructive behavior for any person. The mere fact that she's not abusing substances, or trying to commit suicide half the time, or engages in extreme promiscuity, and still can express and feel with little difficulty is a testament to a character so powerful, I can't really think of one that comes close.

Do you get it yet? Samus actually became a female role model. She shows that while stuff can affect you pretty badly, you gotta pick yourself up and kick ass. And if the existence of the Something Bad thread is any indication, there is not a single person here that can criticize Samus' character. Aww, what's the matter? Boyfriend troubles? Parents being dicks? Gonna make a lot of bawposts about it? Why don't you be like Samus, break down over it once and then deal with it?

Psy-4 wrote:: That's a recipe for self-destructive behavior for any person. The mere fact that she's not abusing substances, or trying to commit suicide half the time, or engages in extreme promiscuity, and still can express and feel with little difficulty is a testament to a character so powerful, I can't really think of one that comes close.

Either that or it's a testament to Nintendo bending over backwards to keep violent video games child-friendly.

Quote :: I'm struck by this brouhaha, not because it's new or especially rancorous. If you've seen one flamewar, you've seen them all. But it does illustrate what happens when a writer for a high-profile outlet chooses to address a game critically - I mean when he or she functions as a critic instead of simply a reviewer. All too often the backlash is severe and ugly. It suggests that, for a sizable portion of the gaming audience, genuine criticism is perceived as inappropriate, unnecessary, or even unprofessional.

While I'm not a Metroid fan, I have a bit of an idea of what it's about and that the revelation of Samus being female is "relatively" new. I can agree on whoever said that turning her into a whiny "Dear Diary" girl from the strong, silent sentinel she was earlier is very insulting. However, the part which concerns me most about the article Doc posted is this paragraph. Has everyone in the world grown up to be speshul snowflakes who think that criticism, especially honest criticism, is ugly and meen and nasty? WTF, people.

Okay, 1. So Samus has never spoke before eh?