Mentioning Other M to a Metroid fan is almost like bringing up a personal tragedy. There are YouTube essays still being made today on what went wrong with this game and why so many fans were let down by it. Upon replay, though, there's one section of the game that is actually a blast to play through.
The gameplay in Metroid: Other M is a stark contrast to just about every other entry in the franchise. Throughout the game, players get to explore the mysterious Bottle Ship, but they have to do so in a very linear fashion, unlike other games in the franchise, which generally allow for more freedom of exploration. With Metroid: Other M, however, it isn't until after players beat the game and play the Epilogue that the map really opens up.
A big gameplay feature that is present in most Metroid games is the ability to travel to older areas on the map with new power-ups. Players can not only find some secret energy tanks and missiles this way, but they may also stumble upon new areas that they hadn't previously seen. One of the biggest gripes that fans have with Metroid: Other M is that players really never get that freedom. In the game, Adam Malkovich basically tells Samus where to go. This is what makes the game linear, as there is a set path that players must take through the Bottle Ship.
This certainly had players scratching their heads when the game was released. No part of the Bottle Ship is really locked behind item upgrades -- Adam just locks them up himself. So, if a player sees a hard-to-reach item in an area, they really won't be able to backtrack toward it since Adam will tell Samus to push forward. This went a long way in giving the game a poor reception. To make matters worse, the game also features a complicated story that gets told through extended cutscenes, which heavily break up the flow of the game.
After beating the game, however, a new epilogue mission opens up. Samus realizes that she left "something special" at the Bottle Ship and wants to go retrieve it before the ship self-destructs. Once she returns and gains access to her suit, she can finally use those tremendously destructive power bombs that Adam told her not to use throughout the playthrough.
In this post-game mission, players are supposed to explore a newly opened-up area of the ship. On their way, though, they can get back into the three sectors (Biosphere, Pyrosphere and Cryosphere) and actually explore the world properly. By this time, the player should have the Screw Attack as well as all the various beams and missiles that Samus can use. This basically means that no height is too far, and no enemy is too strong for Samus. In addition, this is finally where Other M becomes a Metroid game, offering players an experience that they can explore at their own pace and let their curiosity guide them.
Another nice gameplay addition that Metroid: Other M provides is dots on the map that show rooms with items that haven't been picked up. This makes 100% completing the game very viable for many players who don't usually go for full completion. Other Metroid games feel impossible to 100% complete without a guide. Having the dots on the map gives players a clue about at least the general location of each item. This way, from there, they can figure things out on their own.
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Exploration has always been a cornerstone of the Metroid experience, and this final part of the game is incredibly fun since it lets players do just that. The developers actually hid a lot of detail in the Bottle Ship, and there are plenty of secrets to be found in each of the main three areas. Players can simply have fun using the Screw Attack to reach the roofs of areas or shoot up with the Shinespark to grab upgrades found at the top of rooms.
To complete this epilogue, players must win a surprise fight against Phantoon, and it isn't an easy fight by any means. This variant of Phantoon is at least 10 times the size of its predecessor in Super Metroid. It also shoots projectiles that spread through the width of the room, constricting the player in terms of movement.
Smart players will take advantage of the opportunity to return through the Bottle Ship and pick up as many power-ups as possible. As it turns out, though, this little side quest is arguably more fun than the rest of the game. Best of all, there are a minimal amount of cutscenes. This final mission finally lets players stretch out their legs, something they were robbed of in the main game.