Metal Dungeon

"What could have been a great RPG for all, just isn't..."

(Originally posted on the Xbox General Board, now modified after having given it more play-time.)

Intro: Most people who love RPGs would steer clear of the Xbox. However, Xbox has one or two good RPGs. Metal Dungeon is the third RPG on the platform, and unfortunetly it isn't one to be proud about. In most people's opinion, this game is VERY repetative. If you don't like anything being repetative, don't rent/buy this game. A game that had the possibility of being a huge story driven, action packed RPG with many hours of excellent gameplay has been pretty much degraded by poor production. Read on..

Story: Countries are at war within the world.. There were a group of scientists who created these very unique monsters to use in the war. These would lead the users of these new mechanical beasts to victory. However, not so. The scientests needed to harbor the power of the God's Of Magic. However, soon these sorcerers began to awaken, and took control oft hese horrible beasts and they killed all the scientests and the guards there. So, now, with the World in turmoil, and a new threat looming, a group of mercenaries must eliminate this threat before the evil Gods Of Magic fully awaken to destroy the world. Sounds pretty cool, but... The gameplay ruins it. Oh well.

Gameplay: At first, it's GREAT! I mean, you get to have up to 5 characters you can customize yourself. There are a bunch of classes to chose from including the Fencer(obviously the guy with the sword) or a Caster(Mage). But then, it becomes just OK. The game kinda just dumps you into a maze. That's it. The camera angle is bad. Horrible infact. It gave me a mild headache when I first played it. The battle system however, is quite good in my opinion. Being the first Turn-Based RPG for the Xbox, it offers something different from Morrowind and Baldurs Gate. A little more traditional to consoles, you can say. But, if you complain about just bashing the X button for Final Fantasy games to do stuff, then you may be pleasently(or unpleasently) surprised to know that this works a little differently. First off, battles start with every character's moves already set for them. So, if you're too lazy or just wanna sit back and watch some good(only GOOD, not too great. Of course, it get's repetative after.) battling, then go ahead. However, they give you the option of either letting the computer handle it, or you can hit the B button and chose either 4 things: Attack, gaurd, Spell or Items. That's pretty much it. From the beginning, all you really do is explore a huge maze trying to explore each area to 100%. Oh and yes, there are bosses.With the bad camera angle, does it come as a surprise that when you're not battling the controls feel a little weird? Nope. They feel VERY weird.. So to sum up the Gameplay. Bad camera angles, which result in some akward controls. An okay, sometimes great battle system. Yeah. It's no Final Fantasy, that's for sure.

Graphics: Excellent, in my opinion. If you watch the nice 3-5 minute FMV when you turn on the game, and can tell me that those graphics are horrible, then I'll salute you. Having said that, when the actual gameplay is going then you can tell it's not great. After looking more closely, I actually noticed everything is very similar when it comes to the characters. The only difference is the color of the armor. Well, having said that, I might as well tell you: EVERYTHING LOOKS EXACTLY THE SAME during the dungeon. Everywhere you go, you see the same wall textures repeated. It's annoying, believe me. They may look good, but seeing that over and over again makes me want to vomit. Come on, they could have done better.

Sound: Ahh, something I think this game excels very well in. The sound is done well. You can hear every footstep as you walk through the big maze area. To make the boring scenery a little more lively, some good music plays, although it may start getting repetative, nevertheless still good. Voice acting? Well, it's done good during the small bit where they talk at the beginning FMV, that's all. When you enter the maze place, the guy talking sounds like he's reading a paper. That's bad.

Value: After giving it a few more hours of play, I say: STAY AWAY FROM THIS HORRID GAME! Do yourself a favor if you get it, and throw it away or exchange it. It's really bad.. Well, that's my opinion anyways.

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Story: 6: Great story, but the gameplay ruins it. What? You can't even talk to anyone like in most RPGs to get new info, maybe get an extra mystery as a sidequest etc... It really taints the greatness this story could have become. But, through the game there pretty much is no story. Just battling, battling & battling. What was the point of even making a story for this game?

Gameplay: 5: Good for a while, sometimes it may be great. But in the end, it's WAY to repetative. No summons. No different attacks. Just the same old stuff, over and over and over and over and over and... over again.

Graphics: 6: They're okay. The beginning FMV really makes you wonder, ''WTF?'' when you actually begin playing the game. When I turned the game on, it looked AWESOME! But hey, I was wrong. The graphics are okay in game, but, they could have been better.

Sound: 5: It's okay. It can get repative, but some tunes I like. Voice acting is mostly horrible for the most part(of what I've played.)

Value: 0: Don't buy it, unless you're absoloutley, DESPERATE for a Japanese Turn-Based RPG on the Xbox. Otherwise, may I direct you to Morrowind and Baldur's Gate until some more RPGs come out.

Overall: 4.4: Horrible. Just, horrible.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 12/27/02, Updated 12/27/02