Metal Arms: Glitch in the System Review

Developer	Swingin' Ape
Publisher	VU Games
Genre	Action

Metal Arms is the first game to come out of new development studio Swingin’ Ape Productions, and although the game does have a few rough spots, it’s a great first effort. This is a pretty straight-forward shooter, albeit with a killer difficulty and a few unique elements based around the robot theme. Don’t let the cutesy yellow main character fool you; Metal Arms: Glitch in the System will provide a fun and challenging experience for any fan of the genre.

Gameplay - Players assume the role of Glitch, a robot of unfamiliar design with a damaged memory unit. After being deactivated for unknown reasons, he is recovered by soldiers of Droid Town- the last remaining base of the resistance. There’s a war going on between General Corrosive’s evil Mil bots and the peaceful droids of Droid Town. When Droid Town runs low on volunteers, Glitch signs up and is promptly off on his first mission. His escorts are quickly destroyed, leaving the fate of robotkind in Glitch’s capable hands. What follows is 40-odd levels of shooting with some platforming and vehicle elements mixed in.

The weapons themselves aren’t incredibly exciting. Glitch’s arsenal includes all the first-person-shooter cliches, like the shotgun, minigun, rocket launcher and railgun. What makes these weapons more interesting is the upgrade system. Upgrades can be purchased, or found, for just about every weapon in the game. Upgrading the shotgun gives it a second barrel, while upgrading the minigun increases the damage and the clip size. These upgrades significantly increase the power of the weapon, which makes it a very satisfying way to spend washers (the currency of the Metal Arms world).

Glitch also has access to a number of secondary weapons. There are standards like grenades and napalm, but also a few unique ones like the Recruiter Grenade and the all-powerful Cleaners. When thrown, the Recruiter Grenade will reprogram nearby enemy robots, forcing them to join your side. There is also a scope, which fits onto most weapons, making long-range sniping a possibility. These can all be found within the large levels, or purchased from the shop. Also scattered throughout the levels are new batteries, which increase Glitch’s life bar, and Secret Chips, which unlock new multiplayer maps. These treasures can be tough to find, so it pays to travel a little bit off the beaten path on each level.

The enemies of the game are what helps set Metal Arms apart from other shooters. They’re robots, naturally, and feature all kinds of area-specific damage. If they take a strong hit to their weapon arm, it can be blown right off, or forced to hang limply at his side. He can still shoot in that situation, but can’t really aim. It’s funny with a minigun, but dangerous with a rocket launcher. A strong hit to the head can remove it, which pretty much makes any robot useless. If they can’t see or hear, it makes for an easy kill.

While Glitch’s quest is mostly a lonely one, he occasionally fights alongside other bots from Droid Town. These guys do pull their weight in combat, but are destroyed pretty easily. A more practical way to get some additional fire support is to hijack the enemy, either through remote-control consoles, or the Control Tether. Some of the enemy robots are much more powerful than Glitch, so hijacking them can completely turn the tables in a large battle. Once a bot has been hijacked, Glitch becomes invincible and the player plays as the enemy bot. Sometimes the enemy won’t even notice what’s happened until you open fire. It’s too bad that Glitch doesn’t get the Control Tether until quite a ways into the game; it would’ve been nice to have Metal Arms’ best feature from the get-go.

Most levels are straight-forward shooting, where the only real tactic is run and gun. Stealth just isn’t an option, except in very cases where the game clearly wants you to use it. Taking control of other bots mixes up the action, though, as do the handful of vehicle-based levels. There are armored race cars, tanks, turrets and a few others. These are surpsingly fun, and help break up the action nicely. Metal Arms also offers a deathmatch mode, with a few different ways to play. All the standard modes are here, like King of the Hill and Tag. It’s fun with a group of 3 or 4, but the lack of AI bots combined with the huge size of most levels makes 2-player deathmatching a bore. Think of the multiplayer mode as a little extra, but not the main feature of the game.

This is a difficult game, even on the Normal skill setting. Auto-Aim is available, for the weak, but it’s tough even with that. For the most part, the challenge is fair. Generally, when you die, it’s because you simply screwed up, or weren’t fast enough on the trigger. What’s annoying, though, is that even if you can get past a difficult segment and reach a checkpoint, the game won’t actually save until you complete the whole level. Multiple difficulty settings allow for some replay, and hunting down all the secret chips could take a long time- but most gamers will probably not have the patience for that.


Graphics - From a visual standpoint, Metal Arms performs nicely in most areas. Glitch and the enemy robots are well-designed, and the levels themselves look good, with a decent amount of variety. The explosions and lighting effects are a nice touch, but nothing here will really blow you away. Unfortunately, the game does suffer from some irritating frame rate issues. When more than a few bots are on screen in battle, there are some noticeable drops. It’s not enough to ruin the experience, but I would have gladly given up the real-time lighting for a smooth frame rate.

Sound - Aurally, Metal Arms is simply average. The background music is great, when used, but that’s a surprisingly rare occurrence. Glitch and some of the other robots are a little difficult to understand, and I found myself wishing for cut-scene subtitles on more than one occasion. The gunfire and explosion sounds are suitable, though, and add a lot to the combat experience. Annoyingly, though, Glitch has silent footsteps. A robot, even a little one like Glitch, should have pretty loud steps. The lack of background music combined with silent footsteps can make for some quiet exploration.

Bottom Line - Metal Arms: Glitch in the System is, simply, a fun shooter. Yeah, the framerate could be better and the main weapons are kind of uninspired, but the action is intense and it provides a great challenge. Hijacking enemy bots brings something new to the table, and the area-specific damage is lots of fun. Despite having a few rough edges, Metal Arms is worth at least a rental for any shooter fan, especially those that love a good challenge.

Review by Joe Mackie