[ Print Article! ]

Metal Arms: Glitch in the System Review
November 18, 2003 Marcus Yam

Summary: There's a new tin can in town, and his name is Glitch. He's all about heavy metal, has nuts of steel, and his arch-nemesis is none other than General Corrosive. We're talking about Metal Arms, the third-person shooter released today for Xbox, GameCube, and PlayStation 2.
Read on for our full review!


It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad Robot WorldPage:: ( 1 / 5 )
Located on the outer rim of a distant galaxy is a planet with deep secrets and a mysterious origin. This is Iron Star, a world inhabited by a society of robots. During a disaster in the science lab, a sinister robot with a mind of its own was created—the evil General Corrosive.

After eliminating his makers, this powerful machine began to fulfill his dream of creating the ultimate army. Using his superior intellect, he took over a robot manufacturing plant and began producing a militia of robot minions dedicated to serving him. He called this new race the Mils. The pillage of Iron Star began shortly afterward as they overtook all of the robot manufacturing facilities to build more Mil soldiers. At this point, the Droids, the working class robots of Iron Star, became slaves of Gen. Corrosive.

[image]

<% print_image("01"); %><% print_image("02"); %><% print_image("03"); %>

One day, while searching through the ruins of what was once a glorious, towering city on the surface of the planet Iron Star, a small bar of droids and their robotic canine unit Zobby found something unexpected buried in the rubble. It was a droid, but a droid unlike any they had ever seen before! With a strange marking on his helmet, and a design quite different from their own, the only information that they could obtain was that his name was Glitch.

And so the story of Metal Arms begins.

[image]
<% print_image("04"); %><% print_image("05"); %><% print_image("06"); %>

You are Glitch, the gun-slinging, half-ton menacing bot of Droid City who blasts his way to victory. Found as scrap metal, but transformed into destructive machinery, Glitch is determined to free his people from the evil clutches of General Corrosive and his maniacal army of Mil bots. Unleash a world of pain as you annihilate the General’s sinister plan to dominate the world, and salvage the robot race.

Yes, it’s a mad, mad, mad, mad, robotic world.


SIDEBAR: Developer

Swingin' Ape Studios

(Mass Media for PS2)

Publisher

Vivendi Universal Games

Platforms

Xbox, GC, PS2

Release date

November 18, 2003


Glitch in the SystemPage:: ( 2 / 5 )
Of course, along the way to freedom are numerous robot minions that are looking to turn you into scrap metal. Thankfully, a pair of more experienced droids named Hosed and Screwed (three guesses as to the fate of these droids) help Glitch get acquainted with the gameplay basics, such as the double jump and sliding down a cable like an action hero, before things get ugly.

[image]

<% print_image("07"); %><% print_image("08"); %><% print_image("09"); %>

Glitch has a pair of hands and opposable thumbs to go along with them. The right hand holds guns (right shoulder button to fire) and the southpaw handles secondary items such as grenades (left shoulder button to throw). Two face buttons are devoted to cycling through weapons, which then brings up a left/right inventory system similar to the setup found in Metal Gear Solid. The two other buttons are used for actions and jumping (tapping the jump button twice will give you a double jump). There’s also a close combat melee attack for when you’re low on ammo or letting an overheated gun cool off. Controlling Glitch works just as if it were a first person shooter with the left analog thumb stick used for movement and the right analog thumb stick for aiming.

[image]
<% print_image("10"); %><% print_image("11"); %><% print_image("12"); %>

You’ll spend much of Metal Arms constantly rotating the analog sticks and squeezing the triggers to unleash your weaponry. Glitch can be armed with various grenades, rocket launchers, laser guns, vulcan cannons, and even a ricocheting-razor blade just like the Razorjack from Unreal.

Nearly every weapon you pick up is upgradeable, making them more powerful. All you need to do is collect enough washers, which you are awarded after destroying the bad robots, to afford the upgrades.

[image]
<% print_image("13"); %><% print_image("14"); %><% print_image("15"); %>

Glitch can also hop on mounted gun turrets when you absolutely, positively got to kill every robot in the room, (accept no substitutes!).


SIDEBAR:

http://www.metalarms.com


Glitch in your enemiesPage:: ( 3 / 5 )
While shooting stuff is standard for a third person shooter, the real fun begins when Glitch starts hijacking other robots. Glitch is able to take control of certain unsuspecting enemy robots with his “Control Tether” and then use them to attack and/or scout ahead. If you’re feeling especially malicious, you can just take control of robots and run them off cliffs.

[image]

<% print_image("16"); %><% print_image("17"); %><% print_image("18"); %>

Besides the involuntary help, you’ll also have fellow droids in fighting by your side. Naturally, Glitch is of a higher quality make as your squad mates fall apart far easier than you do. Not to worry though, along the way you’ll encounter some more droids that you can recruit to reform your own little squad.

For a more ‘hands off’ approach, Glitch can also hop into vehicles to use them for both combat and transport. Even vehicles not meant to be used for pure combat can be offensive weapons. For example, a loader vehicle normally used for moving heavy items is perfect for grabbing enemy robots and flinging them away.

[image]
<% print_image("19"); %><% print_image("20"); %><% print_image("21"); %>

“He’s everywhere!”

Occasional levels of stealth, sniping and find the switch/key help to break up the frenzied action; most of the gameplay in Metal Arms is of the run and gun variety. Some of the mayhem involved in the battles feel a little Halo-inspired, as the baddies spout funny one liners in the chaos such as “Don’t shoot me, shoot the droid!” or “Clean up, aisle six!” Overall, the intense action is quite fun, especially when you master bring able to both shoot and toss grenades at the same time – then you’ll see exploding robot parts everywhere!

[image]

<% print_image("22"); %><% print_image("23"); %><% print_image("24"); %>

Alternatively, if you prefer not to see nuts and bolts all about, you can then just beat the enemy robots within an inch of their operating life. Clean headshots will knock the robot head pieces off with the rest of the body running and shooting around aimlessly. For more entertainment, aim for the limbs to blow off any weaponry they may be carrying and then just melee them into a scrapheap with your weapon.


SIDEBAR: Remember the Shiny game Messiah? That game let you possess other characters as well. There’s nothing quite like a little cherub baby suddenly taking control of a prostitute.


MultiplayerPage:: ( 4 / 5 )
The single player portion of Metal Arms alone makes a solid game, and the multiplayer feature helps to round out the package. Up to four players can play split-screen multiplayer modes, most of which are of the classic deathmatch and domination variety. A mode unique to Metal Arms is Possession Melee, where players are armed only with control tethers and must rush to possess robots to do their killing for them. Things get very interesting when you have more players than possessable machines. Unfortunately, we can only imagine how well this would play out over Xbox Live as there’s no online play to speak of. (Imagine "Bot!" accusations at the literal level!)

[image]

<% print_image("25"); %><% print_image("26"); %><% print_image("27"); %>

Visuals

Some of the environments found in Metal Arms are simply massive. You really get the feeling that Glitch is just one little robot fighting in a big world. Frame rate suffers in large open environments or when there are many enemies on-screen. Perhaps in an effort to keep the frame rate running as high as possible, v-sync is disabled, causing tearing artifacts. Overall, though, the graphics are as nice as you’ll see for a multiplatform game. The visuals are consistent it style, but are varied enough to keep things from becoming too repetitive.

[image]

<% print_image("28"); %><% print_image("29"); %><% print_image("30"); %>

Audio

The music to accompany all the action is appropriate and positively contributes to the experience, though there won’t be any tunes you’ll still be humming after you’ve switched off your console. Sound effects are just what you would expect. The unexpected bit for us was the script and voice acting. Filled with personality and humor, the off-the-wall jokes and bleeped profanity at surprising moments add to the fun.

[image]

<% print_image("31"); %><% print_image("32"); %><% print_image("33"); %>

System shodown

Metal Arms: Glitch in the System is available on PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube. All three versions are very similar, with the differences coming down to technical details. The PlayStation 2 version is the baseline with a playable but often inconsistent frame rate and the usual aliasing artifacts. As expected, the Xbox version looks the best with its more fluid and smoother graphics, with the GameCube not too far behind.

The Xbox’s 5.1 Dolby Digital wins out in terms of clarity, but the Dolby Pro Logic II in the other two get the job done.

The four controller ports on the GameCube and Xbox make it far more inviting for multiplayer matches, so keep that in mind if you plan to get more than one friend involved.


SIDEBAR: Both Glitch in the System and Ghost in the Shell share the same acronym. Isn’t that kind of creepy? Okay, not really, but we really dig GitS.


Final verdictPage:: ( 5 / 5 )

<% print_image("35"); %><% print_image("36"); %>

This holiday season is going to be loaded with games, some of which will rise to stardom while others will get lost in the shuffle. We’re worried that Metal Arms: Glitch in the System might be at danger of being the latter, as it truly deserves a look. It'll be a busy holiday for robots with both Glitch and Clank (of Ratchet and Clank fame) going at it, but gamers can always learn a thing or two from gun-toting robots with nuts of steel (I know that I have).

[image]
<% print_image("37"); %><% print_image("38"); %><% print_image("39"); %>
<% print_image("40"); %><% print_image("41"); %><% print_image("42"); %>



SIDEBAR: Glitch in the comments!

© Copyright 2003 FS Media, Inc.

[ Print Article! | Close Window ]