8 Bits O' Nevsky - WTF am I supposed to do next edition

If you were concerned about purchasing Metroid: Other M because you had heard that it was a bit of a departure from past games, let me assure you that it is a Metroid game through and through.

Because I've played it for 20 minutes and it's already really fucking pissing me off.

No, I'm not a big Metroid fanboy. Not unlike the Final Fantasy series, the only game I've managed to beat is the first one on the NES. And I'm pretty sure I piggybacked on my brother's progress on that one to finish it. Unlike Zelda, I don't think I really got a handle of how I was supposed to progress. All those little nooks and crannies that encouraged exploration just confused the hell out of me, occasionally I'd trip through a hole and progress but more often than not I'd go back and forth between rooms clearly missing something but not taking the time to look as closely as I should have.

And things didn't improve so much when I bought the Metroid Prime Trilogy last year. I felt I had to buy the game the way semi-intellectuals purchase The Complete Works of Shakespeare, because it would look good on my shelf. And for fifty bucks MPT is an unbelievable bargain. It's either a testimony to the series or a condemnation of 90% of Wii game designers that the original Metroid Prime is still one of the best-looking games on the Wii. But I stopped about 25% into the first game despite the excellent level design and wonderful controls because...well, I'm not really sure why. Really need to get back to it.

So anyway, I pop in Other M, big cutscenes, check. Quick tutorial, and the Wiimote-only controls seem unnecessarily difficult. Why not use the nunchuk for moving around? Then you can use either the C or Z button to pop into visor mode. Fine, I get down to a room, defeat the enemies, and spend fifteen minutes looking for the next key. And I just can't fricking find it and it's getting on my nerves so much I decide to quit even though I wasn't able to save my progress which means I'm going to have to watch those cutscenes again and I just bet you can't skip through them.

So, this Metroid experience will be like just the others, I fear. You'd think I'd learn.