Metal Arms: Glitch in the System

"A great but incredibly difficult game"

Metal Arms starts out as a cool and different third-person shooter. But once you get a few levels into it and realize that this game isn't kidding around, most players switch to easy difficulty. This works, until a few levels later, where the game becomes even more difficult. With a long singleplayer campaign, that's a bad trend.

Story: 9/10
Metal Arms' storyline is different but simple and easy to fall into. The comical way the characters talk during cutscenes and normal combat makes the storyline fun.

Gameplay: 8/10
The main character, Glitch, controls well. the game doesn't allow you to rapidly change direction while moving quite as much as with a first-person shooter, but the controls are smooth and the framerate is pretty good. However, most missions after about the twentieth one become so difficult, even on easy, that you need to memorize enemy locations and strategize many times to attempt to complete it. This may sound like a good thing, but spending 30 minutes replaying a 2minute mission on easy until you get it right can get old, with the game's 40+ missions. Multiplayer is pretty good, similar to Halo multiplayer, allowing you to control vehicles and just generally blow up your friends. You can get extra levels in multiplayer by collecting Very well hidden ''secret chips'' in single player, which sounds like it would add replayability but again, the difficulty just kills that. The game also adds a weapon that allows you to control enemies, adding a new aspect to gaming that no other shooter I know of has.

Graphics: 9/10
Metal Arms' graphics are sharp and interact well (no hands sticking through the barrels of the guns they're holding). Shots make bullet holes or scorch marks in walls, and when an enemy robot has his arm socket shot, you can clearly see sparks flying from its joint as the arm is rendered useless.

Sound: 10/10
Like I said in story, the cutscene voices are done well and are actually very funny. Unlike most games where you just want cutscenes to be over and the ability to skip them is worshipped, you'll want to see the cutscenes. Enemies will call to their comrades when they see you, and scream when they're killed. The music tracks in this game are excellent, and like the explosion and shot sounds, full of bass.

Replayability: 7/10
As I wrote above, the game adds replayability by placing ''secret chips'' in the single-player levels that unlock multiplayer ones. However, the chips are so hard to find and because you must also complete the level to keep your found chips, annoying. A level that was near-impossible and took you 20 tries to complete the first time around will make you cringe in fear of trying it again while searching into the deepest darkest hidden corners searching for chips. Multiplayer adds some to this, but just not enough.

Overall: 8/10
Metal Arms had the potential to be an excellent game, but even patient people will be bored by trying its incredibly hard missions again and again and again.

Rent, Buy, or Forget: If you really think you have patience, or just want to check out a good multiplayer game, go ahead and rent it. Make sure you have inhuman stamina for replaying missions if you want to buy it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/06/03