Ok...I kept getting interrupted at work so I couldn't put my thoughts down consisivly regarding my concerns for Federation Force...
First...I want to emphasize something very important that doesn't get brought up a lot...Federation Force was in development since 2009...That's 7 years...To put it into perspective it was in development longer than Breath of the Wild...I'm not saying that we should compare the game to Breath of the Wild (because let's be honest it obviously won't)...but that in and of itself brings up expectations for a game that, because of it's development time may have played a role in Metroid's lengthy hiatus...
Now regarding Fed Force...saying things like 'wait until it's out we didn't know how Other M was going to be' doesn't help your argument because that's the exact reason why fans are being extra critical of the game right now...Other M was supposed to be a big stepping stone for the franchise and a new direction which ended up falling flat on it's face...Federation Force is the next installment after more than half a decade of waiting after this game...Metroid is in a bit of an unstable situation right now considering there's a lot that fans have wanted for years and Nintendo is needlessly 'trying new things' with a franchise that can't afford to take risks at this current situation...
One of my biggest concerns with this game as I've mentioned many times is the huge focus on multiplayer...Nintendo's tried twice before to bring multiplayer to the franchise with Echoes and Hunters...Echoes multiplayer was dull as **** and probably the worst part about Echoes in general, while Hunters I heard decent things about it's multiplayer, though the game itself is....ok at best (it sits as my second least favourite game of the franchise right now as I felt very uninterested playing it compared to other games, doesn't help that low res graphics look terrible on the Wii U so my experience is kinda shot with that), Federation Force as of now comes across as a mission based systematic co-op shooter which is a deviation away from what we have grown accustomed to with Metroid...Tanabe said that the Solo player can give us a decent challenge, but the game is best played with multiple players which is not an exciting thing to hear as a Metroid fan...
Another big concern I have is something that has to do with a couple other games released in the past few years, whos franchise (at the time) weren't doing so well...Fire Emblem Awakening and Chini Robo Ziplash...Both are from franchises who's futures hinged on how well these games did and while Awakening was a storming success, Ziplash...not so much...
While it hasn't been explicitly stated that Nintendo will can Metroid if Fed Force flops, it's still a worry I have regarding Federation Force...The last game in the series was a total bust, whether or not you liked the game it was met with average review scores and overwhelming criticism from many dedicated fans...and before that the Franchise was headed in a steady decline in sales...Metroid peaked at Metroid Prime and since then successive games haven't quite hit the nail on the head the same way...the exact same thing happened with the first three games before the eight year hiatus...Super Metroid may have been considered one of the greatest games ever made but it didn't do very well overall for a game with such a title, ESPECIALLY in Japan...I do want to stay optimistic that Fed Force won't be the last of the series regardless of how well it does (I mean on Saturday I posted a giant write-up speaking about the future of the series and what I'd like to see)...but I can't help but have this small worry that Nintendo will just flat-out give-up with the franchise if it doesn't do well...Remember Ziplash was a big deviation from previous games in the series and not what people wanted, but yet it still got canned...
Here's another thing I want to mention and of course it speaks about a character who is....at least in the game...One of the biggest complaints with Other M was what it did to Samus as a character...And now the next game in the series that we get after waiting 6 years, doesn't even have her as the main protagonist and from what I can tell is relegated to a summon...though she may have more to do in the game than that, but after a long hiatus and not seeing the character in a more pleasing role for almost a decade now (other than Smash) we get a game that doesn't even feature her as a playable character...a character that has well established herself as the main character in every single aspect of the series up to this point (save for Hunters multiplayer)...This is arguably one of the most controversial points regarding Federation Force because we get a revival of a series that's been in hiatus and it doesn't even feature the main character as a protagonist...And this is what we have to look forward to for the next installment in a series that is being released during a very significant time for it around Metroid's 30th Anniversary...Is it something? Well yes it's something...as I said earlier 'It's better than nothing' (though that was meant more in a jokingly fashion earlier, but it's still relevant in this case)...Samus needs a chance to redeem herself and once again become that respected bounty hunter that is revered instead of mocked...
Perhaps Nintendo will give a mention to Metroid's 30th closer to Federation Force's release...or they could just let it pass without saying a word...Just like Metroid's 30th Anniversary...do they care? I dunno, maybe they do maybe they don't...they didn't say anything so it's hard to say for sure...do they care about other games that don't have Mario, Zelda, and Pokemon in their titles? I dunno, maybe they do maybe they don't...they didn't say anything so it's hard to say for sure...See what the problem is here? Nintendo needs to realize that we the fans need more transparency...they like to do their own thing, I get it, but when a beloved series reaches it's 30 year anniversary (something that happens only once for any series) and nothing is said it leaves a very bad impression on the fans (people who want to celebrate WITH the company that gave them the game to begin with, remember this)...especially for a franchise like Metroid that really should be doing a lot better than it is, given how influential and iconic it is as a series...And an even worse impression when fans create something to celebrate said franchise and Nintendo takes it down...and still says nothing for the milestone, besides 'yes we appreciate your passion, but bad! very bad! you shouldn't do that'...As you can see I'm a little frustrated right now...as are a lot of Metroid fans...