[quote name='BlueLobstah']
Personally, I don't mind series taking risks as long as the game is still inherently the same. Nearly every Mario game (with the exception of Galaxy 2) has added something in that changes the formula while still having Mario stay Mario. Overall I'd say they've been pretty successful.
I haven't finished Other M yet, however I kind of liken it to Mario Sunshine. Both are excellent games in their on manner, but when you take into consideration the rest of the series they lead to a bit of disappointment (at least for me). Sure there are positives to take away, but when you compare the games to others in the series they pale in comparison. At least that's how I feel with Other M.
Moving on to some of my complaints, the dialog is horribly bad and the game feels much too linear at points. At times I get frustrated with the way the game decides to do things and have to put it down to do something else, which is a large part of why I haven't finished it yet.[/QUOTE]
Your comparison to SMS, to me, does not ring true on two counts.
First, in the spirit of your comparison (venturing outside of typical content), yes, SMS definitely took Mario on a vacation outside of the Mushroom Kingdom. However, in Other M, Samus isn't exactly being pulled from her element. There's backstory, flat voice acting, etc. but she's still among her own: aliens, space pirates, n' shit.
Second, and I realize this wasn't exactly your point, but it's still important to me: the play control was done very well in SMS with the GC controller. Only the camera was a problem, as control goes, IIRC. In Other M, control is not a concern in the way it used to be. It's an expectation for me as a gamer -- and I don't think it's that unfair -- that certain titles are going to control a certain way, or rather the controls will be of a certain quality based on other titles in the series/genre. Other M doesn't even try to belong with the other Metroids in this regard.*
Both points illustrate very conservative choices made by Nintendo/Team Ninja to counterbalance the risks in the storytelling, use of voice acting, so on. So there was some risk to Other M, but I wouldn't go so far as to class it a bold, rebellious installment in the series.
* Maybe I put too much salt into depth in gameplay through the simple joy of using solid, tight controls. It's probably more of an "old gamer" concern. To continue with the SMS comparison, while SMS controls differently than SMW (the paragon of tight control for Mario and arguably for all of console gaming), it still strives for responsive, robust control, and in that sense should be mentioned alongside SMW, SMB3, etc. Would anyone honestly stack Other M against Super Metroid or Prime for control?
I'm not just picking on Other M on this topic, I could as easily talk about SMB Wii, Twilight Princess, Mario Kart Wii. Nintendo is producing many of their wii-generation titles to fit the controller rather than making the game and fitting the controls to the game. Other M is a recent example of this.