Sometimes you just want a game to blow stuff up. I know
that after a hard day of Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, and Gran Tursimo, I don’t
really want to play another thinking game: I just want to cause destruction and
save the world through force and detonation. I mean, who doesn’t, right? Enter
GunMetal. Rage/Majesco has created a superbly fun Mech/Jet game that can satisfy
strategists, arcadists, and mechanized sci-fi fanatics.
In The Not Too Distant Future...
Space travel was slow. It has taken decades to encounter Earth-like planets. But
now, a milestone in space travel was to take place: scientists have found a way
to stabilize wormholes which would create the ability for Faster-Than-Light
travel. Now, those habitable planets could be linked to Earth and colonized in
only a matter of years. Helios was the chosen plant to first be colonized and
would host the first jump-gate.
Cold War erupted once again because those that were to remain on Earth were a
little irritated. It was brutal and those that were on the losing end decided to
begin their exodus to Helios sooner than expected. As those first colonists made
the jump, the Earth gate was destroyed. (Or so they thought...) The new planet
flourished. A global senate, The Internal Security Corp kept law and order and
settled dispute quickly. Then without warning, the Helios jump-gate burst into
activity and sent forth multitudes of ships. Luckily, there wasn’t an
overwhelming assault on Helios and the enemy was kept neutralized, but the
battles continue with no victor yet declared. Though it is soon thought that
Helios will soon fall.
But there is project in the mist, codenamed Gun Metal. This unit is two-fold: 1)
it is a 30 foot tall suit equipped with an array of devastating weaponry and 2)
it is capable of transforming into a highly maneuverable jet. So there is “more
than meets the eye” to this machine and has the hopes of the senate to turn the
tide and halt the invading foe.
War Is Heck
Progressing through the game will seem familiar to anyone who has played
WarGames (PS), Incoming (DC), or Command and Conquer (multiple platforms). You
are given missions and explained what you are to do and how you are to proceed.
You are shown a map of the area, targets that need destroyed, groups that need
protected, buildings that you have to save, etc. Other than that, you are then
shown on your way. The announcer that is your commanding officer sounds oddly
like the Principal from Only The Strong starring Mark Dacascos, but I
couldn’t find his name in the credits. I found his voice very fitting the
atmosphere of the game because as you are completing your missions, he also
interjects other commands or comments or helpful hints. He seems very excited
most of the time and shows emotion when things are going bad and when things are
succeeding..
30 Odd Feet Of Steel
From the moment I removed the game from the case and inserted into the tray and
waited for the title screen, I was afraid that trying to control a 30 foot steel
Godzilla would be heavy and clunky. Surprisingly, I wasn’t overpushing either
thumbstick to get Mr. Metal to do what I want. Response was decent and it was as
I expect it to be once I understood the physics. For instance, when strafing,
the lower portion of the body turns in the direction of the strafe (naturally).
But when you want to change strafing directions, there is a slight moment where
the mech has to turn that lower part in that direction before he starts
moving that way. Momentum, pal, so get use to it. Controlling the mech wasn’t
light nor heavy: it was a happy medium.
One thing I did like was the weapon configuration. The right trigger fired your
primary selected weapon and the left trigger fired your lock-on missiles. I
liked the fact that you didn’t have to have different selections for the left
trigger because it was always your lock-on missiles. The right trigger
was where your power weapons were and you gain one or two of these weapons as
you successfully completed each mission. Changing weapons was as easy as
pressing A for the next weapon, or using the digital pad for quick selection,
though remembering which direction had what weapon took some time and accuracy
in pressing the weapon. It was much easier and quicker remembering the order
than manipulating the digital pad.
I Am My Own Grandpa
I am going to have to be a bit negative on the graphics, but yet I will praise
them. On one hand, I feel the graphics are a bit sub-par to what is out on the
Xbox and what has already been released. Morrowind proves that you can
have smooth graphics and in-depth gameplay without pushing the limits of Big
Green; Test Drive says that you can combine fast racing and excellent
looks with no slowdown or “jaggedness”. So what happened to Gun Metal? Ships are
drawn to square, like the developer was hurried; buildings are just too
bland--didn’t they have windows in the future?--and gray; and my mech, though I
love him when I barreling down on infantrymen and bringing down three fighters
at once, just isn’t menacing enough. Sure he’s 30 feet tall, but he just doesn’t
have that look. Maybe if he had a decorated hockey mask...
On the other hand, I will say kudos on the landscaping. Since the missions take
place outdoors, you will see lots of trees, sand, snow, and animals. Yes,
animals. In one mission, you start out in front of a heard of Rhino-like
creatures. They are migrating or something and it’s very cool to walk among them
or fly over them. And if you were wondering, yes, I fired on them, but they were
immune to my firepower. It’s too bad I didn’t have shields like that. There is
always something strategic that you can use: hills can provide cover or a better
vantage point, valleys can offer you a treacherous getaway in the jet, and ships
that you have destroyed can be used as cover. But I offer this hint: don’t worry
about using the trees as anything because they explode and burn as easy as they
do in real life (but there’s something about watching one fall in front of you
in a video game that is exciting).
So if this game had one nasty thing about it, it would be the inconsistent
graphic use. While you’ll be amazed at your surroundings, you will not be amazed
at the other mundane graphics that you will encounter.
Mon Signor, Choose Your Weapon
What to do, what to do. As you progress through the game and complete missions,
you will gain access to new and more powerful weapons. How you use them is up to
you. Before each mission, you have a choice (once you reach the 4 level) to
select which weapons you want to have with you--Mechwarrior style. You can
choose from Assault Cannons, Torpedos, Maverick missiles, carpet bombs, disc
launchers, etc. There are even some top secret weapons that you will have access
to...but that’s down the road, young pilot, some the likes you may never see.
Using these weapons is simple enough. When your target display is red...FIRE!
Each potential enemy is measured in distance for you and shows you their life
bar, which was great so I wouldn’t waste ammo on something that was about to
perish. Some weapons have a homing device which will chase down enemy tanks,
planes, turrets, or infantrymen without you worrying. Other weapons you have to
manually aim and shoot, but these usually have a higher rate of fire.
You will choose and use these weapons in a variety of missions. Sometimes you
will have your basic “clear the area of enemies”, and other times you will have
an escort mission--which, in my opinion, are the most annoying. One thing that
was very clear in playing this game was that you can’t just be only the mech or
only jet and successfully complete each mission. You have to eventually pilot
both because some things were meant to die on the ground and some things were
meant to die in the air. Good thing this is a Mech/Jet game and not just a Mech
game.
But with all this firepower, you would think you could get the upper hand right?
Well, let me tell you why you will probably be Restarting missions over. The
first is because sometimes you will be overwhelmed by enemy A.I. When they swarm
you, they really swarm you. Sometimes you don’t even get a chance to move.
Missiles are coming from all over the place, every ship known to man is firing
lasers at you and no matter where you jump or where to strafe to or how fast you
fly around, everything seems to be aimed at you. And that’s no fun. I guess
that’s about the only strategy in this game: When being overwhelmed, you have to
figure out who’s going down first, second or third or which enemy is the closest
to remove from this planet or who can be eliminated the quickest. But that’s
after about your 3rd or 4th time through it.
The second reason you won’t have the upper hand is your allied A.I. stinks.
Imagine waking up with Dragon Breath, Dragon Armpit, and Dragon Butt crack all
at the same time. That’s how bad your friends stink. I can sum it up with one
example. I had shot down a few planes and a large Personnel Carrier was dropping
more infantrymen on the base I was protecting. Someone manning the large laser
was firing on the APC which was great. Sure it wasn’t stupendous, but it was
helping. I, on the ground with my mech, was taking out the little guys with
ferocity. When they were all done, I turned to the APC which hardly had any life
taken out. That’s fine because he was about to meet some of my friends, The
Rockets. As soon as I started firing, the guy manning the laser stopped firing
and aimed somewhere else. Excellent, I thought, I take this guy down while you
get something else. After about a minute, I finally blew up the APC. The
commander informed me that the base had been saved, but yet the laser was still
firing on something. A little worried I backed it up, ready for more action, but
all that the laser was firing on was a dead enemy infantryman...one that I had
killed a while ago! This didn’t happen just once, sometimes they would fire on
planes that already when down, or trees for no reason. Maybe it was just a
glitch in the game, but deep down, I think the colonists don’t know what they’re
doing. No wonder we were losing the war.
Gun Metal, Soundtrack by You!
There’s not much to say about the sound effects. They are everything that you’d
expect them to be. Missiles sound like missiles, explosions like explosions and
a 30 foot strafing mech sounds like a 30 foot strafing mech. One thing I would
like to mention is that Gun Metal does have the ability for you do have your own
soundtrack. Now, Gun Metal should naturally have an Heavy Metal or alternative
theme to it, which is fine, but try playing the game to Kylie Minogue’s new CD
and see how much you can take as she’s belting out “Love At First Sight”. Not
exactly a romantic type game, now is it...unless your in love with pyrotechnics.
This game brings me back to the great mech shooting days of Battletech
(Commodore 64) and the first Mechwarrior (on PC). Maybe that’s too Old School
for some, but if you want great arcade action with minimal thinking, then pick
this game up. Because once you go Mech/Jet you never go back.
NOTE: Sorry about the Transformer joke in the 4th paragraph...it slipped out.
8.2
