"Solid concepts, but a somewhat flawed execution."

Considering the weak state of affairs with Dreamcast RPGs, alot of people
were a little anxious of Metro 3D's self-described ''outer space
shooter/RPG''. Some people passed it off as just an Asteroids remake with
flashy additions and didn't care. Either way, it was one of those
genre-bending titles that drew a certain amount of interested gamers.
Armada is, essentially, a very simplistic 360 degree, top-down style
shooter. The comparison to Asteroids is actually surprisingly
accurate..you rotate, you thrust, you shoot, and you active a shield. The
''RPG'' elements are also fairly simple...you can choose from different
races of interplanetary being to become. Each race has it's own strengths
and weaknesses, and all races gain experience from killing off
space-baddies and your ship ''levels up'' earning you slight advances in
abilities and performace. Story-wise, the game revolves around various
races (including humans) banding together to fight ''the Armada''...a
strange, constantly evolving alien mass that seems determined to want to
conquer the galaxy. And yes, that's pretty much the plot. If the game
sounds at all intriguing, that's because it has alot going for it...but
unfortunately, Metro 3D made some very unsound decisions regarding the
final product and, in the end, Armada is seriously flawed. To begin with,
Armada's presentation is nothing short of awful. Without going into
nauseating detail (which is easy to do on this subject), the manual with
Armada is a joke. It barely covers gameplay and leaves a significant
amount of obvious frequently-to-be-asked-questions simply unanswered and
uncovered. While many of the game's concepts becomes apparent after some
playtime, the fact that Metro 3D's own message boards contain posts like
''How do you level up your ship?'' is a clear sign that something is
missing. Leaving that subject behind we come to the far more crucial
aspect of gameplay. In Armada you basically fly around space looking for
aliens to kill and trying to complete tasks. Unfortunately, here's where
the ''RPG'' moniker totally breaks down. The home planet contains the only
''people'' in the game....other warriors who perpetually drift around in
their ships, and if you scan them they'll talk to you for a brief second
(usually offering only some bland dialog like ''Look out for getting
shot!''). Outside of the home planet there's pretty much
nothing...nada...zip. Although outer space has stations and other
planets, none of them offer anything remotely approaching exploration or
immersion. It's simply miles upon virtual miles of space filled with
aliens. Although your ship does gain minor upgrades in performance from
leveling up by killing baddies, there's really no RPG here...at all.
Speaking of leveling up, that brings us into combat. WHile the controls
are solid and the decent 2-D graphics and sound are enough to make
blasting the Armada a fun experience, it's just too unbalanced. You'll
get missions to complete early on in the game that require to venture into
distant territory...once you've reached it, you'll usually find a class of
Armada alien capable of destroying your ship in a few seconds, whereas you
just left a sector of space where you were doing very well. This means
that you must spend HOURS leveling up your ship, and beleive me..it WILL
take hours. For some unknown reason, your ship only upgrades every 4
levels, and even going up one level takes forever. Enemies in your class
typically give little experience. You can spend a load of cash on a
device that allows you to earn more, but it's minimal. THIS is the real
game killer...this pointlessly long and drawn-out leveling up process that
only creates an artificial length to the game. Metro 3D argues that
leveling up doesn't take a long time if you escort other spaceships to
their destinations (a mission you can regularly undertake), except these
cargo ships you can help out seem to move through space at a snails pace,
making escorting them to a destination take longer that YOU could actually
fly there with just using your normal thrusters. Other nasty surprises
(not covered in the manual) await you....like the fact your ship, even at
level 100, can only use FOUR devices at any one time, even though you can
carry more. This includes extra weapons, fuel-saving devices, experience
boosters, power increases. It might sound OK, but in practice it's
ridiculous. On top of all this, the ''missions'' are typically ''go to these
coordinates and kill this monster'' and anything else is usually incredibly
bland and pointless. The game simply lacks much to push it along.
Arguably many games have the same problems, but I doubt few come close to
the repetition of Armada. Sure the average RPG might have alot of fetch
quests, but in the process you usually get to see some interesting towns,
people, and th eusual earmarks. In Armada...it's nothing but
space....just space and alien creatures (that NEVER thin out or go away).
Alot of Armada's problems are with the fact it's not
internet-multiplayer...a feature planned, but removed when Sega announced
it's delays of the internet play networks. I won't blame Metro 3D for
Sega's problems, but on the same token, there isn't much of a game in
Armada and I think it shows. The best way to truly judge whether or not
this game is for you is very simple...imagine playing a really simple
arcade game like Pac Man or Galaga...or better yet, Asteroids.
Now....would playing this game continually for hours and hours REALLY
entertain you? If yes, then Armada might suit you...if not (and most
likely it will be not) I suggest looking elsewhere. Armada has good
graphics and sound and an overall feeling of quality, but it also lacks
what feels like substantial quantities of gameplay and game elements that
make it feel like a demo...or something horribly incomplete.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 02/28/00, Updated 02/28/00