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Metal Arms - Under-Appreciated For The Holidays?
Thanks to GamesDomain for their review of Metal Arms: Glitch In The System, as their take on Vivendi's multi-platform "robot-themed third-person shooter", released this week, echoes the conclusions of many other positive ratings in proclaiming: "it's a real shame that this game doesn't seem to have quite the attention it deserves." 1UP also comments on the title as "one of the best under-hyped games of the year", describing it as "Ratchet & Clank fused with Halo", but why has this Swingin' Ape-developed title got such a low profile - lack of advertising, choice of subject matter, too many games released at the same time?
No Xbox Live support. Any game without multi-player has a very finite playtime- you can beat it a few times at best and your 50 is gone. But with other titles out there for Xbox, the playing time you have built in with XBL titles - Counter Strike, RainbowSix 6, Crimson Skies, etc -why waste the 50?
I got the demo for Metal Arms a few months ago in Xbox magazine. It had action, it was funny, looked good, and was easy to play. Somehow though all the magazines gave it like a 7.2 in their previews.
This time I ignored the ratings, and bought it on the day it came out.
It's a great game, lots of fun. I don't think it is earth-shattering, or life changing, but it really is fun. One of the best cameras on a 3rd person game that I have ever played. If nothing else, everyone should be looking at the camera, and trying to duplicate it. Countless 3rd person games have been ruined by a crappy camera (Rayman 3?!).
Right now though, Top Spin is in my Xbox- waiting for me to finish career mode, then I'll go back to Metal Arms.
I don't think that Metal Arms NEEDS Live support though- sometimes a good solid single player campaign is what I am looking for.
No reason to lie.
Between Mario and Luigi, Fire Emblem, Prince of Persia, Jak II, Final Fantasy X-2, on and on - there's just too many good things for the holiday season. Metal Arms just got the bad end of the release timing.
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
Another game that I've heard very little about but that looks cooler the more I hear about it is this crossplatform thingy from Namco called "I-Ninja". Has anyone heard anything about this?
Then again, there's the question of who will OWN Vivendi's game division this time next year. Maybe they decided to get it out ASAP in the hopes that it would make a chunk of change and stoke interest - and more importantly, bidding - again. It could be considered particularly important since Half-Life 2 and Starcraft: Ghost won't drop until next year.
2. Whose swingin' ape? Who works there? What else have they done?
Not to mention the fact that i get a connection refused error when i try going to their site
I couldn't decide between Gotham II and Metal Arms after playing the demo... So I picked up both. I have played Gotham for about 45 minutes ata time before I get pissed enough to walk away while I have lots of trouble putting down the controller for MA.
The multiplayer looks awsome but I agree -Would ROCK on Live and would benefit greatly from System link. Oh well... Bottom line -it's a great game.
Multiplayer is fantastic, however. Is this the first fps to do this great a job on vehicles?
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Now, however, very good games have a potential to do poorly, just because of lack of press/marketting, being released along with major blockbuster games, etc.
I think its sad when great games sell poorly, and it will probably be happening a lot more as the bar keeps getting raised higher. The main negative to this, that I can see, will be too many MOTS games, and sequelitis.
But then again, if they turn into bad games, it just makes room for something better... Weird times ahead.
Manipulate the moderator system! Mod someone as "overrated" today.
G4TV did a half-hour segment talking about this game. It does seem really sweet.
The company that makes this game was founded back in 2000 by 3 guys that used to work at Midway (and had been for a while). They were doing arcade games and knew the market for them was dieing, so the took a leap of faith and started their own company. They then got the funding behind the project and just went to town.
It seems to follow most other basic FPSes out there are far as style, but they did it in an innovative way. They've got lots of different weapons and such (like 14 I think), and some really cool features for when you are going through the missions (being able to re-program enemy machines to fight along side you, or you can sneak up on other robots, and "jack-in" to them and have total control).
It looks pretty sweet, I think it would be a fun "party" type game, like TimeSplitters 2. Gamecube and X-Box have up to 4 person multiplayer, 2 person on PS2... not sure if you can link consoles together or not. They have all the different multiplayer modes that most of the other FPS console games have.
Its not what it is, its something else.
And this is the most underappreciated game of the year. Its gameplay is tight, its graphics are pretty and its just an all around fun challenging game.
I can't beleive it has been passed over by the hype machine. Its the sleeper of the year IMO.
Hope it does well, I want to see a sequel.
Try making some actual friends sometime. Playing a console game chilling on the couch with friends on a weekend night is infinitely more satisfying than playing with a bunch of other friendless losers on xbox live.
"but why has this Swingin' Ape-developed title got such a low profile - lack of advertising, choice of subject matter, too many games released at the same time?"
One reason. Its too Japanese. Come on, big robots fighting? Nothing says Japanese like that. People may like that whole thing but those that do are in the minority. Its a niche game that is seeing its "niche" grow smaller every year.
The problem with this game is that it doesnt really have a target group (adults, teens, kids?) or even a fan group (anime, sw, cartoons?) I mean is a war game about comic, cartoony robots beating each other with lethal weapons. is too violent for kids and is way too silly for an adult.
Another game in that demographic is voodoo vince, its a platformer game about a voodoo doll that hurts itself to damage enemies, we have the same same case scenario, too violent for a kid, too silly for anyone else (I mean, underneath is just an average platform game) still it got some sales because is a rather original concept, advertising campaign and childlish/horror games do have a fan demographic (Tim Burton/scooby doo fans) to ice that cake, it got released in october (halloween)
Besides theres A LOT of great games out there right now, from Prince of persia to Mario Kart DD, passing through Ninja Gaiden, jak 2 and FF X2 covering all systems for xmas definetily thats some tough competition.
Dont worry though, if the game is Really good it will eventually get some sales as soon as word of mouth helps to increase its credibility. but seriously is this game as good as Ninja Gaiden? and Pop? if it is, then I definetily have to check it out, if not it has to wait in line (maybe even get a discount) like everyone else.
I work as a tester at Vivendi, so perhaps I can provide some insight.
The reason it didn't get hyped is that the Vivendi Powers That Be decided that their damn Hobbit game should get the hefty advertising budget. The Hobbit is a stiff, unimaginative Zelda clone that controls, looks, smells, plays like crap. Think that Vivendi doesn't have advertising dollars to shell out? The Hobbit had two demos: a regular and one released through McDonald's, full-page and two-page ads in gaming magazines, and that's only the tip. (And don't get me started on the terrible War of the Ring game. It had many nicknames among the testers: "Warcrash", "Warcraft of the Ring"...) And their next 'big project' is Van Helsing, a crappy Devil May Cry clone. Vivendi spews crap, but of their two good games this year (Homeworld 2 and Metal Arms), only one of them got any press, and that was only because Homeworld 2 is 'safe', being a sequel to a wildly popular game. Unfortunately, and this is not just Vivendi, large game companies are willing to pour resources into games that will sell, and originality is perceived as very risky.
On a side note, Vivendi was formed in North America when a sewage treatment company in France started buying up American game companies.