Not feeling up to writing a whole review for this game, so here's a quick list of its pros and cons.
Pros:
+ does attempt to characterize Samus
+ a ship that morphed into a multi-environmental planet
+ other non-monstrous characters apparently exist in the Metroid universe
+ not entirely a first-person shooter
+ cool to see what the old-school Metroid monsters look like in 3D
+ kinda pretty
+ ...uh, the Diffusion Beam is pretty cool
Cons:
- Samus sounds so boring when she talks
- cutscenes are mainly Samus talking while not showing much of WHAT she talks about
- most likable character gets killed by Ridley
- hardly ANY music at all
- auto-aim means you can just still there and button mash to keep a lot of enemies at bay (and makes Diffusion Beam kinda pointless)
- pointing the Wii remote at the TV to shoot a missile. In the middle of an intense fight.
- not collecting your weapons but having them unlocked by your boss in certain situations, when you could probably use them to explore the ship
- same with the armor, except worse because I fail to see how armor poses a danger to any other living creature around
- rather limited sense of exploration for a Metroid game
- how the dodge is attached to the shoot button, meaning you dodge without meaning to.
- the dodging idea altogether, especially when it's worthless in the first-person view, AND (except against Ridley) you can either jump or run from most attacks
- NITPICK: The ship is supposed to be copying the environments of Zebes, but I don't recall an ice area in Super Metroid.
The accusations of Samus being portrayed as weak are a bit overblown, IMO. She is still out there doing her thing. Now if only she would sound less monotone. Besides, this game has enough problems with its clunky control scheme that would've benefited from more buttons (read: "Why can't I control this damn game with a nunchuck, too?"). And I despise the dodging system here. What is its point, and why can't I use this when trying to shoot a missile?
Final verdict: Many interesting ideas that aren't held together well. Probably not the worst game of the year; it's at least competent. But too bad, I didn't like this game. :(
