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Surprise hit of the year

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 22 / 25
Date: August 26, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I spent some time with this game at this years E3 and there is no question this is going to be one of those surprise hits no one sees coming. That's a good thing too, because in a year without Halo 2 Xbox is going to need something to kick it in the pants.

The graphics are some of the tightest the system has seen, each world is just beautifully rendered in 3D awaiting to be demolished by your weapons. I had a blast just picking away at enemies limbs, the way they pop and squirm as you shoot them is just awesome, you really need to see it in action. This game really pulled me in from the moment I picked up the controller.

No serious gamer can pass this up and it won't take much convincing of an average joe to get hooked.

HALO fans will love this game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: May 31, 2004
Author: Amazon User

An outstanding Third Person Shooter with excellent graphics, sound , and gameplay! It truly feels like playing a light-hearted version of HALO, complete with awesome vehicle use and melee attacks! Also it has a great story with excellent voice work.

I try very hard to take shooters on their own merits, but the similarites to HALO are uncanny. This game is chalked full of spastic running and gunning against various butt-kicking, smart enemy A.I. that works together well. But don't worry because you'll have help from friendly A.I. fighting beside you. However you must either keep yourself as a fast moving target or use the cover provided by the large, beautiful levels (or maybe alittle of both) to stay alive. The vehicles are original and handle well. This is a very challenging and entertaining shooter. The multi-player format (like HALO) provides for hours of replay. For it's bargain price you really don't have a good reason to, at the very least, not rent or buy this game. Metal Arms is one of the most enjoyable shooters I have ever played!

Metal Arms is so much fun

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: November 28, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I have to say that I really like METAL ARMS. The concepts in it - recruiting friendly bots, taking control of enemies, and the collecting of washers in order to buy weapons, weapon upgrades, energy, and ammo - are great. The graphics, level design, and sound effects are among the best I've experienced in any game.

Having said that, the thing I can't believe about this game is the controls - they only allow the standard FPS control scheme! I'm not left handed but I've always used the "southpaw" setup in FPS games because pulling the firing trigger throws off my aim in standard. By now I'm used to it, and it's never been a big deal because in EVERY other game you can customize the controls or at least pick from several control options, but NOT IN METAL ARMS. For me, this nearly ruined the whole game. Yes I'm adjusting but it throws me off and makes the game much harder and more frustrating than it needs to be. It could have been a pure pleasure to play but instead it's a struggle fighting the controls as well as the enemies. If you're used to standard this won't affect you, but it's such a basic thing that I still can't believe the designers left it out. I mean, you can invert up/down and you can even set the look sensitivity, but no options for the control scheme...??? I keep thinking that maybe I'm wrong and I just haven't found out how to change it yet, because the people who made this game wouldn't leave out such a common sense basic option, right?!? OK it isn't the end of the world but it drives me nuts that they obviously put in so much time and effort building an innovative, fun, and beautiful game and then they kill it by forgetting something stupid like control scheme setup. If this game interests you, and you're used to controls other than standard, you'll be stuck relearning how to play. Don't let it keep you from getting METAL ARMS, because it's otherwise such a great game, but just be warned.

And it really is a great game. Scheme aside, the controls are tight and responsive, the enemies are detailed and smart (at least the ones that are supposed to be smart), and the gameplay in general is lots of fun. There are things like gold washers, chips, and powerups to search for without it bogging you down ( they're in logical areas - behind pillars, under bridges, and in tunnels or ditches). If you want you can just ignore all those things and blast your way through the game. That doesn't mean that you don't have to think in this game, but just that it doesn't get in the way of the action. There are of course some parts where smart play is necessary, like an enemy boss that has to be killed in a certain way that isn't immediately apparent.

METAL ARMS feels like a Super Mario type platformer with weapons. Lots and lots of weapons! ...perfectly designed with great firing action and reloading. One of the things I like most is that there is a real difference between weapons. You have to pay attention to what enemy bot you're fighting because sometimes you'll need to switch to the right weapon to be able to kill them before they kill you. Upgrading the right weapons at the right time will make the combat easier to handle. The combat itself is amazing: a frenzy of hard-hitting firefights with huge explosions and robots screaming and coming apart all over the place. It's funny to sneak up and throw a grenade at a group of enemy soldier bots and watch what happens. They yell and freak out and try to get away and then the grenade pops and they each explode individually. You walk over and there are smoldering robot remains with gears and springs everywhere. It's great.

METAL ARMS is an extremely fun game with heavy combat, firepower, and beautiful levels and enemies that are well designed and great to look at (and destroy). I can't give it 5 stars only because some aspects look and feel unfinished, like they rushed it to market before it was 100% completed. Not anything crucial in the game itself, but for instance the lack of control choice (important to me!) and certain other things, especially menus and such, that just seem thrown together at the last minute when compared to the rest of the game. Still, METAL ARMS is one of the best games I've played in a long time and I recommend it to anyone who likes shooters. You'll love it.

fun fun fun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: January 02, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Wow, there's a lot of misinformation in the other reviews about Metal Arms. First off, you can have a whole bunch of profiles in your save games, so you can have as many games in progress as you want. Second, there's a review that rants about the difficulty of one of the bosses. It's not that hard. Not anywhere near that hard. Is it challenging? Sure - the whole game's challenging. Maybe the character design is misleading, but this is a game for experienced gamers, not for people who have no experience with shooters. I know that sounds obnoxious, but there's not really any way around it. The level of difficulty on "normal" is somewhere between "normal" and "hard" in Halo, if that helps.

The game is basically a third person shooter - much more action than story, much more shooting than puzzle solving. The bosses are often puzzle-y, and there is some switch hunting, but nothing that really upsets the pace of the action, which is pretty incredible.

The "feel" of the game is spot-on. The weapons feel powerful, the sound effects give them a proper weight, the explosion effects are excellent, and the bots you destroy explode in a burst of parts and fire that is really cathartic. The levels are open without being directionless, linear without being overly restrictive. Basically, you have upgradeable weapons, one in each hand (each hand has a different set of weapons), so you might have a chaingun in one hand, and EMP grenades in the other.

The weapons are pretty well varied - you get your standard machine gun, rocket launcher, etc., but you also get grenades that reprogram your enemies to become your allies, a weapon that fires something similar to circular saw blates (very useful for dismembering your foes), and a gun that fires exploding, firey rivets. Fun stuff, and suited for the varied situations you'll find yourself in.

There's also other innovative things, like a control tether that allows you to control other robots, little consoles where you can control big armored ships, and a whole mess of other things. The game has a wicked sense of humor, and really memorable and endearing characters.

The only problem I have with the game is that there is a vsync issue - if you watch the game, the screen "tears" horizontally when you move quickly. This can be distracting to a person watching the game (this same graphics bug plagues Jak II, for the PS2), but when playing it, it's not an impediment.

This is the kind of really excellent game that gets overlooked because the character design and the content of the game aren't necessarily congruent. That's a shame - the game as a whole comes together really well as a perfect mix of insane action, and a great setting.

Hearing enemy robots scream never gets old

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: November 25, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Metal Arms: Glitch in the System is a 3D action-shooter that's been called a combination of Halo and Ratchet & Clank. High praise for an unlicensed game from a small developer. But Swingin' Ape Studios has delivered a fantastic, fun, lengthy, and challenging game that deserves all the status of higher-profile titles.

You control Glitch, a mysterious robot found by a rebel force on the planet of Iron Star. General Corrosive and his army of Mil mechs are overrunning the planet, and it's up to you and your arsenal to take em out. OK, so the story isn't the most original ever written. However, the dialogue is well-written and hilarious, and the voice-acting is very well done.

The gameplay is what matters here. Glitch's right arm can be outfitted with any of 15+ weapons, ranging from a machine gun and rocket launcher to a rivet gun and mining laser. His left arm is used for support items, like grenades, but some items can be combined with his equipped weapon (use a scope with a compatible weapon and you can snipe from a distance). Weapons can be upgraded, as can Glitch's own servos, which enable him to reload faster. Destroyed enemies leave ammo, as well as washers, which act as the game's currency, letting you purchase extra life, grenades, or weapons. The game controls like Halo - left stick to move, right stick to aim - but is in third-person. Left trigger is for Glitch's left arm, right trigger fires his weapon.

Pretty basic stuff. But there's more. Glitch can use a weapon called a control tether, which can be used to hack into enemy droids, giving you complete control over them. You can use this to scout ahead, sneak into heavily guarded areas, or hack a huge armored mech to lay waste to everything. And I mean everything. Destroyed bots fly apart into pieces (often with a funny death wail). Bridges collapse. Doors are blown inward. Buildings crumble. There's a lot of interactivity in Metal Arms, and you'll need it, because the game can be tough in spots. However, you've often got several strategies to try. Come across an area with too many enemies? Shoot out the grate beneath their feet and send em into burning lava. Use the razor gun to sever an enemy's arms so he can't use weapons against you. There are also gun turrets to man and vehicles to use (one level has you fleeing across a desert canyon in a jeep much like Halo's Warthog). Once you've wasted all enemies in an area, exploration can net you extra ammo, new weapons, or golden computer chips (which unlock new levels for multiplayer).

Metal Arms looks great. The levels range from labs to robot cities to underground mines to open deserts - there are over forty in the single-player game. Characters are well-animated, and the sound effects are about as perfect as you could ask for.
Music is appropriate without being distracting, and as already mentioned, the voice-acting adds a lot of character.

There are eight multiplayer modes for up to four people on splitscreen. One mode limits everyone to control tethers only, so it's a mad dash to jack into the strongest bots. There is also the option to create your own type of game. It doesn't support LAN like Halo does, but the splitscreen is almost as fun - the inclusion of CPU-controlled bots is a nice addition.

The only thing negative you could say about Metal Arms is that it's being released in the time of year when multiple high-profile titles are coming out every week. It's sure to get lost in the holiday shuffle, a fate it certainly does not deserve. Swingin' Ape are a talented bunch, and this delightful, diverse, and rewarding game is a very welcome surprise.

Blast your favorite robot and watch it scream! Yay!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: December 16, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This is a great game! It has a lot of levels and a good range of weaponry. You can have machine guns, scatterguns, and, my favorite, rivet guns. The rivet guns are kind of like a needler from Halo mixed with a sniper rifle, and it blows limbs off easily. That is what I liked the best about this game, you can blast off any limb and knock limbs loose so they flail around uselessly. It seems like the creators of this game where greatly influenced by Halo. It has a fast vehicle like the Warthog. It has a tank like the Scorpion Battletank. It has Zombiebots that seem like Flood which take several kills to actually kill them. And they have Swarmers that seem like Infection Forms. Though this game may not have a really creative storyline and may have things that remind you a lot of other games, this is a great game and it was most fun. Go try this one. Hearing robots scream was worth it enough for me.

Heavy metal thunder

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: July 15, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I caught this one at the discount bin at work, and figured I'd give it a try. Even if it proved to be disappointing, it wasn't like I was dropping fifty bucks on it. Well, it would have been worth fifty (or more).

This is one of the best titles I've ever played for the Xbox (or any other system). It has great action, incredible gameplay, and some truly innovative ideas. The story is pretty simple: You're Glitch, a re-assembled mining robot who's out to save his fellow robots from the nefarious schemes of General Corrosive and his legions of evil Mil bots. This game is basically a combination of a third-person shooter (with a trouble-free camera setup, a definite plus) and a platformer. It's mission-based: Go from point A to point B, kill anything that gets in your way, go to the next level. That's par for the course with most platformers. What makes this game stand out, however, is intense action and the unique elements incorporated into its gameplay. You can hijack enemy robots either through terminals scattered about the game (looking much like arcade consoles) or using a control tether (awarded about halfway through the game). Sometimes this is required in order to advance; there are some security checkpoints that only enemy bots can pass. Other times, you're allowed to just wreak havoc; at one point, you control a giant Titan robot, a "weapon of mass destruction" if there ever was one. If you're careful, you can sneak up on an enemy, hijack him, and have him take out a number of enemies before he's destroyed (or goes out of range). Another way to take control of an enemy is to use a Recruitment Grenade. Use that, and he'll fight for you until he's dead or you release him.

--A tip: When you're finished using an enemy bot, have him destroy himself (jump into water or a chasm, for example). Otherwise, that's another enemy you'll have to deal with.

You begin with some basic weapons, gaining more powerful ones as the game progresses. Additionally, most of the weapons can be upgraded, either with upgrades found at random points in the game, or by buying them from two shopkeeping robots (with loads of attitude, natch) that you encounter here and there. You buy upgrades using washers that dead enemies sometimes leave behind.

--A couple of hints: An easy way to get extra washers is to shoot enemy computer terminals and machines. Also, don't be too quick to buy upgrades, and don't upgrade every weapon. Some are worth it, and some aren't. The game will give you some upgrades (for example, you get one at the beginning of "Enter the Trenches," and another is hidden behind a large rock in a trench). Definitely upgrade the rocket launcher (your best defense against Titans), the SPEW (a machine-gun, basically), the Rivet Gun (fire explosive rivets, and has good range) and the Scatter Blaster (devastating at close range). Don't bother to spend the extra rivets on the Mining Laser (weak, even at maximum power) or the Ripper (ditto).

You also have a steady supply of Coring Charges (the game's equivalent of grenades) and special thrown weapons. There's the EMP grenade, which casts an electromagnetic pulse that disables enemies for a few moments, long enough for you to destroy or hijack them. Be careful: Though you have some shielding from the EMP effect, it can disorient you if you get too close. Magma grenades cast a lethally intense pool of liquid fire, very effective against Titans or closely-clustered enemies.

Scattered throughout the game are gold chips. Collect enough of them, and you'll unlock multiplayer levels. Also, you can gain speed chips by finishing a level in a certain amount of time.

Graphically, this title really shines on the XBox. The game features great particle effects; when you destroy an enemy, he tends to explode in stages (usually from the top down), shedding wires, gears, and shrapnel in every direction. The larger the enemy, the more impressive his demise. Lighting and environmental effects are realistically rendered, and Glitch himself is well-designed and moves easily and smoothly. Controls are simple and uncomplicated. Double-handed attacks (for example, with the SPEW and a coring charge) are very effective against large groups of enemies. A single rocket shot combined with a Coring Charge directed at a Titan can be devastating.

What else can I say? First-rate all the way, full of action, humor, and excellent gameplay. Definitely recommended to fans of action games and shooters.

--Christian Wheeler

Great Game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 14, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This is a challending game with lots of shootem up and puzzle solving. Those looking for mindless shootem ups look somewhere else, you actually have to think on some levels of this game.

Hard, But Fun......

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: January 05, 2004
Author: Amazon User

How I describe this game is hard, but fun....
It has 17 Weapons, all upgradable (I think)
More than 50 levels (40+ in Single Player 10+ in multiplayer)
Very intense firefights,
Beautiful graphics,
and "Hillarious" dialouge that is accually funny, and Dan Castellenta (The voice of Homer Simpson) does the voice of three of the characters in the game,

But I warn you, the game is very tough to finish, not scream and break your controller and throw the disc out the window hard, just a intense challenge, but the rewards are great,

DO NOT PASS THIS UP, I SURE DIDN'T! :D

TiE

Incredibly detailed, innovative gameplay is Metal Arms

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: February 18, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Metal Arms: Glitch in the System is a great game. If you've played Ratchet & Clank or Halo and liked it, this is a definite buy for you. It blends simple controls, complex graphics and incredibly surprising gameplay/action. It controls like Halo, only that it is Third-Person, alowing you to see more. It has a wide veriaty of weapons, many upgradeable for faster and cooler explosions.

The graphics are incredible. The envirnment seems like it is real.The enemy bots look like they've been actually made, and they rust and loose their limbs as you deal damage to them. Now you, you are incredibly detailed. You loose limbs and rust, like the other bots, and you blend great effects with great graphics.

The gameplay is incredible.Dificullty can be easy-hard. It handles like Halo and the controlls are easy to get used to. The action is great, just like everything else. When you shoot your enemies, they loose their limbs and rust until they explode. To do this, you have 2 weapon sets: First and secondary. The first contains machine guns, rocket luanchers,shotguns, ect., each upgradeable. The secondary contains things like grenades,scopes, ect., only secondary weapons cannot be upgraded.There are 17 weapons in all.

The sound is incredible.The enemy bots taunt you and scream in agony when you start to blow them up. Voiceovers are good, and music is nice. Weapons also sound realistic. Only thing is that you cannot play your own soundtracks.

The multiplayer is fun. up to 4 players, and unlockable areas mean for fun multiplayer.

*This game lacks online play*

The Official Xbox Magazine gave it a 9.0 out of 10.0, earning it an Editors choice award. Personally, I give it a 10.0 out of 10.0

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