Graphics:
The best I've seen on a wii game yet. Except for the lack of hd, this rivals something high-end you would see on the 360. Due to more fluid animation and more faithful creature design it even looks better than the prime trilogy.
There are two glaring exceptions though. Ever noticed how in japanese cut-scenes, especially those done by team ninja the humans faces look sort of doll-like? We have that problem here. It's not that there isn't enough detail or anything, they just look a tad on the anime side of things. Samus, thankfully doesn't suffer from this, it's just the supporting cast. Also there's this big black guy called anthony in the game and quite frankly he's rendered in such a way that it looks a tad racist to me. Keep in mind that sort of thing normally doesn't bother me so it's really bad. Again this is a japanese thing... I guess they don't get many black guys over there. Aside from the fact that he's nearly 8 feet tall, he has the biggest lips and the widest, whitest eyes I've ever seen. Almost looks like black-face, but oddly enough I can tell it isn't intentional.
So some black guys aren't allowed to look like some black guys? And I didn't know you were an expert on race relations.
That being said, I agree with the take on the graphics. And they probably didn't spend too much time on the rest of the crew because the game doesn't spend much time on the rest of the crew. I'm in Sector 1, and we haven't had much face-time with the crew so far, save the beginning sequences. Probably just a matter of priority in their view. The rest of the game does look good, but I do miss the 3-D environments from Prime.
The second thing, and this is a minor annoyance is the over/poor use of billboarding. Billboarding is when you use a 2d sprite in a 3d game but keep it straight with the camera to give the illusion that it's 3d. This is what they use for many of the monster's attacks, or spit or whatever. In fp mode it looks great, but in the normal mode it looks a little off. There's actually a bonus monster you can fight after you beat the game and I can tell why he's not officially in the story. The bill-boarding effects are so terrible that it looks like something you'd see on the ps1!!
Sound:
It's there and it's metroid, nothing more to say.
Billboarding is rather annoying when you do have to backtrack. (Or at least when you think you do from the uncertainty of how to get where you need to go.) Your basic defense is to either go exceptionally slow to allow monsters time to populate the screen so you don't run into them, or run like hell and have cat-like reflexes when one does pop up in your way.
Gameplay Mechanics:
Suprisingly, they are pretty darn great, despite the odd design choices. 95% of the time you'll be in third person mode and it's pretty damn flawless. You have full 3d movement, but the camera angles make it feel very 2d. Also the controls are intelligent enough to make it control like a 2d game when you want it to. Say you are going down a cooridor and it gently curves. You don't have to press a different direction on the d-pad because the game can tell you are trying to go down the hall and it'll compensate. Pretty nifty! Also the fixed camera angles are perfect. I never found a single instance where I couldn't see due to poor camera placement. The d-pad controls samus really well btw. I was worried about that, but honestly it isn't an issue at all. The new additions I liked the most though is the new spring in her step and the melee combat. In the nes metroid, samus was snappy quick and super responsive. Ever since that game, however, she's gotten slower and slower. Frankly by the time prime came out it felt like she was on the moon. She's now just as quick as she was on the original nes title! Also the melee combat (team ninja's signature) is a welcome addition that was obvious lacking from the series. Don't worry, samus still primarily uses her gun, but now you can do "duh" things like dodge and enemy, or jump on it's back and shoot it directly in the head. It makes for more believable combat. As for the fp mode... well it's ok. Transitioning between 2d and 3d is quite flawless but it takes forever to get used to the concept. Also samus needs to be facing the direction you want to fire BEFORE you enter fp mode because, while you can turn in fp mode, you turn slowly and you'll get hit. Thankfully it's rarely required to go into fp mode. People keep screaming in other reviews about only being able to shoot a missile in fp mode and it's freaking people out. What they don't mention is that combat priority isn't the same as in other metroid games... you don't depend on missiles to finish off monsters. But I'll get to that later. Long story short fp mode is servicable and although it feels akward at first, you'll get the hang of it about 1/3 of the way in and in those rare instances in which you need fp mode, you'll have no problem using it.
I just realized myself that I've not been orienting myself in the correct direction prior to invoking fp mode, and that was because I was too focused on staying alive. Some attacks in the game can deplete you of half an energy tank. And it's extremely annoying when you faced the wrong way, and try to right yourself in time, plus you have to get the remote pointed at the right part of the screen, which can be troublesome when you've had it sideways in your hand just a second prior. But I shouldn't have the problem of orientation much anymore, as I've identified myself as the main problem, though I'm thinking it might happen again in a more intense and faster-flowing fight. It was a definite problem during the
wasp/queen wasp fight, as well as the
worm fight. The aiming part is still an ongoing issue, and probably always will be. It always takes a second or so to get it pointed where you want it.
The hand-to-hand type combat is pretty cool. I love the way Samus grabs enemies and slings them around.
"Samus has all of her weapons at the start but she waits for authorization. That doesn't make any sense":
Nope it doesn't. Maybe we should go back to the "logical" method of where she arrives on the planet with all of her weapons and gets into a fight 5 seconds after landing in which she magically loses the weapons that are FULLY INTEGRATED INTO HER SUIT. After all of that she JUST HAPPENS TO FIND IDENTICAL WEAPONS LYING AROUND A HOSTILE PLANET THAT WILL SOMEHOW MAGICALLY INTEGRATE INTO HER SUIT! Yeah your way makes MUCH more sense. That aside, for the most part, there is a perfect logical explaination as to why she waits for authorization. First off, it's a military operation and she's "just helping out" so she has to follow the chain of command. Secondly it is explained blatently in the first damn cut-scene that you are boarding a science vessel with unknown damage and an unknown number of survivors and high yield weaponry should be avoided until survivors can be found so that you don't kill anybody or blow a hole in the ship. There are exceptions to this though and they are bad enough to make it understandable that people are complaining. Defensive stuff like the varia suit and the gravity suit also have to be authorized. That's just dumb and it's inexcusable. The concept of waiting for authorization in general though makes sense and fits well with the story.
I assume you refer to Prime 1 and 2. Losing her weapons isn't all that "unbelievable." Also, much of what she finds on Tallon IV wasn't in her inventory prior to the suit malfunction. Same thing with Prime 2 and Aether. (Personally I've wondered why we need to find the same items each game. If the Gravity suit is so useful in water environments, why does she keep getting rid of it?)

That said, I agree with the authorization being a sound reason for the inability to use them. I have no beef with that part of the story.
I finished the game after only colelcting about 30 missiles out of 80, so that should tell you something.
You can recharge the missiles, so no, it doesn't really tell me anything.

But the fact that you can recharge them...why in the world did they put 80 in there to begin with?
The scanners from metroid prime are gone:
You'll be forced in fp mode and told to "find something." That something is usually a tiny brown blotch in a sea of brown blotches. It just kills the momentum of the game. Not enough to make it unplayable, but enough to annoy a person. Thankfully there are literally only 4 instances of this in game, so it isn't too bad.
I soundly agree with this. The first time this happened, I wondered if it was a problem with the game (I play off the HDD.) It didn't help that there was commotion in the room I was playing, so I couldn't hear the rustling, nor was I really paying attention to the video. I must've sat there for about a minute before I noticed the leaves rustling.
They made samus too sexy! They show her ass all the time ect:
Hey, they must've been listening to Justin Timberlake while they were designing. I have no problem with them bringing the sexy back, either.
The game is only 8 hours long, that's too short!:
I couldn't agree less. I wholeheartedly enjoy games that don't require massive amounts of time to complete. The game is supposed to look better, sound better, and play better as we progress with consoles. We don't need to extend the hours of required playtime to beat a game with each generation. Besides, since when are Metroids supposed to last longer than around 10 hours? All three Primes were just under that. The generations before that were even shorter.
All of those myths busted
Hm. When did your opinion become the gospel truth?
there was an issue with the game that nobody seems to have picked up on. Invisible walls!
The map's there for a reason. It won't tell you where the hidden items are, but it shows you the invisible walls, silly.
Again, not a deal breaker (invisible walls) and a "normal" play who just wants to do general exploring and gameplay won't run into it, but it sure takes the fun of flying around the rooms looking for glitches after you've beaten the game.
Long story short this is a good game so do NOT ignore it! Even if you just rent it, give it a try... you won't be disappointed unless you are just going to hate any metroid that isn't prime or super.
Hold up for a minute here...
I want other M to be a good game, but quite frankly, considering it was made by team ninja (strike one) and that the exploration has been reduced to 2d (strike two) and this akward "if you want to aim while you shoot, you have to change perspective, oh and you can't move while you shoot" (strike three) I doubt it will be nearly as good as the prime series. I think they got the perspective changing gimmick backwards. The game should be in 3d, like prime most of the time, but when a complicated set of platforming comes up it should switch to a psuedo-2d view with a fixed camera, so it's easier to jump. Prime's gameplay was FLAWLESS, with the one exception being that tricker jumps were hard to judge due to the camera.
And if you find it suprising that a programmer doesn't find a bugs in a game acceptable than you certianly don't understand the programmers mindset.
Just a little blast from the past I figured you'd enjoy.
So previously you ---smurfette--- about bugs being in a game. Now you say it's fun to go around looking for bugs in a game, and are bitching about the inconvenience to do so.

Now I'm convinced you were arguing that day simply for the sake of arguing.
All things considered, it is a fun game. I personally don't consider it better than the Primes, but it is an interesting continuation of the Metroid storyline. (Though right now I'm a bit confused, as it is still called Metroid, yet according to both Super Metroid and the opening sequence of this game, all Metroids have been eradicated. Perhaps this is where "Other M" comes in.)