On The Importance of Story

Maybe it's just me that's indifferent. There seems to be a lot of hullabaloo about the storytelling in Metroid Other M, specifically on the characterization of Samus, and the voice acting as well. I think the main complaint has been that Samus is not the tough, emotionally cold character that many people (including myself) had envisioned her before Other M. Instead, she is portrayed as eager to please a former superior, who she has a bit of a daddy-crush on. She's vulnerable, not closed-off or robotic. Some people found that displeasing.

Although I can understand why, I'm finding it difficult to care. I mean, you can grab Space Pirates by the neck and blast their fucking heads off. Whether or not she is able to resolve her complex is inconsequential. The God-like powers of the Screw Attack and Power Bomb make an whining tolerable, if not totally ignorable.

I would pose this question though: if Samus were male, would her emotional vulnerability be considered such a detriment to Other M? It seems like everywhere you look there's movies and games about the super spy or hitman who is a little neurotic, and perhaps even a big softie. We may be dealing with a double standard here.

Is it sexist to disdain Samus as a vulnerable character, when it is an interesting trait from a male who is supposed to be a badass? It's a common twist on the male "tough guy". But the notion of how women are supposed to behave is different. Women are supposed to be more openly emotional and complex. Samus lives up to that stereotype. Thinking that behaving more feminine that we originally perceived her is somehow a detriment to her character is very sexist.

If Samus's emotions crippled her in any way from acting in the game, I may be able to jump on the bandwagon that it was a poor character trait. But she is still incredibly capable, and still an ass-kicker. There were one or two moment where she was unable to act, but he had lost her suit as well, her emotions were not to blame.

The funny thing is, when Other M cuts back to when Samus was a recruit, she was more akin to what most of us thought of Samus to begin with: headstrong, independent, defiant. But she evolved as a character into someone more secure in herself, confident, emotionally complex, and able to depend on other people around her, to work in a team. She does not smolder with the generic adolescent defiance that she did in her youth. She grew up.

Clearly, as gamers we have not. I can still understand why someone would not like who Samus has become, but it's getting more difficult to agree. We need to accept that fact that real people, complex people, have complex emotions and problems. Samus is not just a space marine out to kick some alien ass. She has emotional ties to people around her as a result of her growing as a person through her experiences. We have not seen this growth manifested in a narrative before, but the more I think about it, the more I like who Samus is. She's a real person.

Nintendo and Team Ninja shocked the gaming community once again with the same twist: Samus is indeed a woman.