N-Philes

Sometimes it's such a shame to see certain titles hit the discount bin. You can tell when some developers put the time and the effort into a game, only to have their hard work blown off just because the consumer isn't grabbed by the gonads right from the start. Metal Arms: Glitch in the System happens to be one of those games. Having only bothered with the title more than a year after its release though, I happen to be guilty of such ignorance myself. But now's my chance to make amends; to enlighten the less knowledgeable on how fantastic a piece of digital entertainment Metal Arms truly is.


I think the main reason gamers turned off to Metal Arms (or perhaps never turned on to it) is that it failed to spur shockwaves in the industry. In my opinion this poignantly reveals the awful state of the GameCube demographic. When rock solid yet creatively limited games like the initial Jak and Daxter, or Rachet and Clank, are greeted with such enthusiasm on the PS2, while a single title of the same caliber can't even make a ripple on the GCN, it's no wonder third-parties are packing their bags and taking the first flight out of Nintendo-ville. Because that's what Metal Arms is, certainly not genre-defining but polished enough that it nearly glows in the dark with its sheen.

Perhaps what gives Metal Arms its charm is the undoubtedly extensive planning done at Swingin' Ape Studios. The title has sturdy pacing throughout, with fun surprises consistently popping during the entire adventure. Metal Arms is probably the only game I've played in a long time that has kept my full attention the entire way, a true tribute to the game's level design. People could argue that it's just another third-person action game, but to those who really spend the time, you will notice some incredible details that really put this game a notch above the competition. Take for example, an instance where I was dueling with this massive four-armed flying behemoth with powerful blasters equipped to each appendage. It happened to be a battle that I was severely losing, so to catch my breath and plan out my next attack strategy, I performed my trademark move and ran and hid like a coward in a building. I was safe, or at least thought I was safe, until I looked into the entrance way only to see the monstrous aircraft hovering low to the ground. It was peering through the doorway, trying to catch a glimpse of me and eventually draw me out, like a predacious cat peering into a mouse hole. That's exactly how I felt, like a little mouse cowering in his home, caressing his rocket launcher.


I could go on all day explaining the nuances to Metal Arms, but really I want those who take what I say to heart to discover all these great things for themselves. I want to move on to probably what most people who have played this title recognized first, the difficulty. I appreciate the developer more for this, because Metal Arms is a game that never holds your hand. The enemy fire rarely lets up, and at times the game becomes so damn near impossible, with dozens of opponents and very limited ammo, you're forced to either set up a plan beforehand or switch strategies on the spot. Improvising gameplay at its best. Sometimes you're placed in areas with rocket baddies on the cliffs, two massive sentry bots guarding the exit, turrets lining the outer edges, and random mechanic gremlins scattered around the place. In a scheme that took several tries to accomplish with success, I sniped the rocket launchers, grabbed the ammo to take out the turrets, and with a well-placed recruiter grenade reprogrammed one sentry bot to help me, then ran as bait while one sentry shot at me and my newfound helper shot at my antagonist. All the while I was unloading what little weaponry I had left on the little robots around me. The point is, you're not told to do any of this, you're forced to. Some of the puzzles can also curl your toes, but solving them gives you a sense of satisfaction most games these days lack because they lead you on a leash. Bottom line: Metal Arms is more than just going out guns blazing.

This is all without taking into account the variety of the gameplay this title has to offer. There are racing stages, there are stealth stages, there are action stages, there is even a hilarious Simon Says game. You can also control other bots, like the measly grunts, to those ogre-ish sentry robots I mentioned earlier, to the elite gliding troops that hang upside down like bats. Metal Arms doesn't take itself too seriously, because the developers never forget for a second that you're playing this game to have fun. It even offers up a great multiplayer mode with a large number of arenas. It feels sort of thrown in, but the 40+ stages in the single-player, some taking half an hour to beat alone, will be more than enough to keep you occupied.


I can only hope more developers spend the time on making games like Metal Arms: Glitch in the System. For those who rarely get games and only do so as a luxury, this title should still be a consideration to get, seeing what it offers at an unfair price point for the makers. You should be able to get it anywhere new for around $19, and with skyscraper production values in a lengthy single-player and a very solid multiplayer experience, you couldn't (or at least shouldn't) ask for more. I certainly don't, except for maybe some bot AI in the multiplayer games so I don't need to depend on my sucky friends all the time. Its biggest problem is the frame rate issues encountered when you're competing with three friends, because four players really takes a hit on the GameCube. Swingin' Ape Studios' next title, Starcraft: Ghost is one I'm definitely looking forward to. Granted, places like Penny Arcade have been lamenting about the all-action no-stealth direction that Nihilistic took the game before those developers were dropped, and really that's the style that Metal Arms is known for. However, after delving deep into Metal Arms I'm pretty confident the guys at Swingin' Ape can pretty much pull off anything.