The sheer variety of moves available to Samus in Other M received adulation from nearly every one of Famitsu's reviewers. "The Sense Move lets you move quickly and easily dodge attacks, which make the controls feel really good," one said. "You occasionally lose track of where you're going next, but that in itself is very Metroid-like. Switching to first-person by holding the remote vertically also works surprisingly well." "There's a wide variety of moves available, but Sense Move is by far the best," another added. "It allows even casual gamers to enjoy the battles well enough."
"It's impressive how many moves are at your disposal, especially considering the lack of buttons," a third editor wrote. "Switching to first-person instantly takes some getting used to, but you can use it in both exploration and combat and it gives the game a very fun Metroid-like vibe."
The writers also had praise for Other M's exploring and fighting aspects. "Every map has tons of stuff to interact with, and some of the puzzles can be hard to solve," one said, "but the feeling you get when working them out is something else. The bosses work the same way; they all require some sort of trick to defeat."
The chief complaints the reviewers had with the new Metroid all had to do with the difficulty. "The game's tough, making you wish for a difficulty selector at times," one writer said, "but the high-tempo action and dramatic story are enough to keep you enthralled." Another brought up "the way minion-level enemies respawn" as "debatably annoying."
