With MechAssault just around the corner, it’s no wonder Majesco slapped a $40USD price tag on this game. This intense mech title is all about action and blowing things up–and looking good while doing it. You get to blow up a great deal of stuff too. This is no easy game. It’s one of those ‘tough not to throw your controller at the wall’ kind of a experiences, but no matter how many times you become frustrated you’ll still seem drawn to it again in order to try things one more time. This is mainly because the game is always fun and plays well enough not to be too much trouble. Let me break it down for ya!
Gun Metal’s plot is, for lack of a better word, lame; it’s a very over cooked sci-fi mech storyline. It’s the traditional ‘you are the last hope for the colony’ kind of thread. We’ve heard it all before but seldom have we seen it look as good as this.
Graphics
Gun Metal’s visuals are sharp and clean, there are nice volumetric effects, destructable environments, cool looking mechs, great explosions and other lighting effects…and the enemies look sharp, too. The backgrounds and structures look good, but the worlds have a less than complete look to them on some missions. However, it’s not really a major detraction from the overall game.
Sound
‘Soundtrack feature’, do I really need to say more? Finally, we are seeing this feature in other types of games. There’s nothing quite like jamming to White Zombie while unleashing Tomahawk missiles at your attackers before transforming into a mech and blasting away the insect-like enemy troops with your machine gun turrets. Gun Metal’s sound effects are crisp, clean, and sound great. And the soundtrack feature is a big plus. For this reason I will overlook the terrible voice acting of your commanding officer who barks orders during the mission briefings.
Gameplay
Well, OK, so it’s a little clunky, but it’s not too hard to get used to. It takes about 25 minutes to get the hang of things, and about 3 days of solid gaming to master every aspect. The game has a good length and sports 25 missions. The difficuly factor is considerably pumped up as you battle legions of ruthless enemies. The onslaught doesn’t stop, so you must be swift, which is sometimes hard to do. Master the art of strafing on both the ground and in the air to make it safely through this one.
Features
All-in-all, Gun Metal has no customization features to speak of, but there are weapon upgrades to be earned as the game progresses. 25 pretty intense missons will keep mech-freaks, like myself, happy for a few days or more. The soundtrack feature is a welcome addition.
Gun Metal may not be MechAssault but it’s a good game, it’s fun to play, and it offers up a nice challenge. So, if you have 40 bucks to get a new mech game, then I would certainly recommend Gun Metal. It’s a solid game with good exexcution. The storyline could have been a little deeper…but, as is so often the way with video games, you can’t have everything.
