On the planet Iron Star, all life is mechanical. The planet itself is made mostly of scrap metal, and the mechanical civilization flourished peacefully. However, due to an accident in droid creation, a mysterious and maniacal robot was born: General Corrosive. Corrosive rose to power by building an army of military robots and sending the peace-loving mining droids into slavery. But not all hope is lost! A rebellion rose, led by Colonel Alloy, to fight against the oppressive mil bots. Unfortunately, the rebellion isn't doing too well.

You play as Glitch, a robot with no memory found among the scrap heaps. Revived by the foul-mouthed engineer, Krunk, you volunteer to take part in the rebellion to take down Corrosive. Thus begins the adventure, bringing Glitch to the depths of Iron Star and beyond.

At its heart, Metal Arms isn't exceptionally different from other third person action shooters. The main differences being that instead of taking on the role of a rough and tough, edgy character like Max Payne, you're a little miner droid with an arsenal of really big guns. Not that this detracts from the game, because using robots makes for some very creative gameplay. One feature is the ability to break enemy robots down to the point where they aren't threats anymore, or just a pair of legs wildly running around the board. Other features include the ability to use a control tether or control module to "possess" an enemy robot through their data port, or use a recruiter grenade to reprogram enemies to fight by your side. It enables players to play as almost every type of robot in the game, using the droids against one another without harming the main character, or infiltrating them as a spy. Some mission boards require Glitch to take on different personas and use their abilities to solve specific puzzles. The unfortunate part of this unique feature is that mil bots are quick to realize when one of there own aren't who they seem. Their suspicions are aroused from the moment a droid is taken over, and are quick to discover that there is a traitor among them, even if the player never opens fire. So, the usefulness of this mode in regards to infiltration is extremely limited, which makes Metal Arms very much like other action shooters. Not to mention, all data ports are located on the backs of robots, and most of them have their backs to the wall.

The other problem with the possession feature, for some, is that there are droid manufacturing booths that can create an endless stream of droids, one at a time. All Glitch needs to do is stand behind one of these booths, wait for a fresh robot to pop out, and take it over. Then he can then use the droid to clear out levels until the robot gets too far and suffers signal loss, and not worry about Glitch getting hurt. This process can be repeated indefinitely until all nearby opposition is wiped out, effectively removing much of the challenge from the game. Also, most of these booths can't be destroyed or disabled, which leaves players to be constantly harassed on some boards.

The recruiter grenades are very useful, and the ally AI is actually pretty good, although sometimes robots try to shoot things they detect on the other side of a wall. In addition, sometimes recruited allies will forget to follow you, and just stand around dumbly until you walk up to them, dismiss them, and tell them to join you again. Equally annoying is when you recruit a robot with a shield bubble equipped. Glitch needs to stand right up against a robot in order to tell it to follow him or stand still. However, the shield bubble prevents him from getting close enough to issue these commands. Therefore, if the player needs to leave some allies behind to take care of some stealthy maneuvers, or tell a robot to rejoin after the previously mentioned bug hits, he won't be able to do so.

Controls are set up very similarly to shooter games like Halo, except the "X" button changes grenades, and the "B" button changes guns. The game graciously pauses the action while you make your weapon selections. Glitch will then pull a weapon from his backpack and install it on his arm. The guns have a variety of uses. The ripper, for example, will cut cables and enable new paths. The sling-shot will allow Glitch to fling grenades farther and with better accuracy, though it is hard to aim since it has no targeting reticule. Some weapons are upgradeable through collecting washers (the game's currency) from destroyed enemies and visiting a pair of Jay and Silent Bob-ish hardware dealers who have a knack for showing up in strange places. However, due to the graphics, the targeting reticule isn't as reliable as it should be. It will turn red, indicating a clear shot, but since Glitch likes hold most guns at hip level, low obstructions will block the shot. Or, in worse circumstances, grenades will bounce back from an obstruction, like a crate on the side of the screen, even though there is plenty of room in the middle. When combating a horde of mil bots, it's hard to keep track of every little thing that might be in the way, especially when trying to take cover from incoming fire. At times, the crosshairs will turn red when the shot is really a miss, which took a lot of faith away from the auto-aiming system.

Glitch, I guess due to his size, also has a tendency to get stuck in a lot of small spaces, making him a helpless target for a lot of incoming droids. But the good news is that the variety of missions makes up for all the games shortcomings. Although some boards involve a lot more jumping than I prefer, there are some missions that are about racing a high-speed vehicle from point A to point B. There are also one or two boards where you have to take the gunner's seat and shoot up as many incoming robots as you can. There is a nice variety of vehicles available in Metal Arms, including turret-mounted transports, industrial loaders with machine guns, and of course, tanks.

Multiplayer is pretty standard, with team and solo deathmatch. There is also the inclusion of a multiplayer match where players are only equipped with control tethers and recruiter grenades, and must rely on available mil bots to do the damage. Some boards make use of vehicles, and more multiplayer maps become playable through collecting secret chips hidden around the single player missions. Completing some missions under a pre-set time will earn a speed chip, which works the same as a secret chip.

Outside of a few minor bugs and difficulties, Metal Arms is a great debut title for Swingin' Ape. Taking over different robots adds some a different dimension and some nice variety to the game. Plus, it's very satisfying to take control of huge robots that were previously a real pain. Altogether, Glitch is definitely worth the buy.

Our Final ScoreOK

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