Customer Reviews

Metal Arms: Glitch in the System

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This game was the biggest surprise for me in a long time. Great levels, weapons, enemies, upgrades, vehicles, graphics, challenge, game length, and overall fun. It's one of those games that always seems to offer something new each level you start. It has varied gameplay spanning 42 levels (and they all are different with no annoying repetition) in single player and is a great length for this type of game with about 14 levels of multiplayer that offers more replay value.
Unfortunately, this is one of those games that has not gotten as much hype as the others that were released and many people may not have played it which is a shame given that it does so many things right and offers so much.
Difficulty is tough but the games levels dictate strategy as much as just running and shooting. At first a level may seem impossible, but after trying a different approach, it actually could become very easy depending on different techniques (tethering, recruiting enemies to help you, which weapon to use and when, etc.). It never made me want to put it down (even when I had to repeatedly keep trying to pass certain points) due to there was always a way.
I know they recently dropped the price and this game is really worth the money at full price, so I have no idea what people are waiting for. If you like shooters/platformers type games, this one is a must buy. It's that good.

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

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

METAL ARMS: Glitch in the system is a 3rd person shooter that plays like a 1st person. In other words, it controls like any first person game, but you can see your character on the screen. It actually works surpisingly well, because you can see on both sides of your character and it adds a lot of depth to the on screen playing field.

GLITCH is a robot who is found and unburied to help his fellow robots defeat the evil GENERAL CORROSIVE and his army from taking over the place.

The games story is very well structured. Like HALF-LIFE, you are thrown into the action and the story takes place as you play.

I found the game controls to be one of the best I have ever played. It was so comfortable and natural. The control scheme was like that of HALO. The only downside is that you cannot adjust the controls. You get the one setting and thats it. But, they have adjusted it to perfection. Remember playing HALO and driving those tanks were kind of difficult. I spent more time backing up from walls I hit than driving that thing. In METAL ARMS its perfect. Every vehicle drives and responds differently, but they all control so well.

The graphics are wonderful. It rivals the best of the X-BOX. They spent a lot of time on the little details and it shows. Since your robot is seen on the screen, you see his every bolt and wire. When he gets shot enough, he may lose a limb or it may dangle by a few wires behind him.

I was playing multi player with my wife (who also plays video games like theres no tommorrow) when she blew by right arm off. It dangled to the side barely attached. The great part was I could still fire it, but couldnt move it to aim. It was hilariuos. I ran for my life !!

I have played story mode through about half of the game. I dont want to give anything away, but the story rivals HALO's. Its great and the cut scenes are entertaining and most importantly FUN TO WATCH !! Unlike a METAL GEAR SOLID, I did not want to miss these cut scenes.

The Music and sound are top notch too. The music builds up and slows with the action on screen. When you blast the bots they whine and scream as if their actually in pain !! They taunt you from afar and some bots even swore at me !

The reason I usually buy any game is so I can play multi player battles. For me, that is most important.
So, I started up a multi player battle and ended up playing for hours. The multi player boards are smart and big enough to keep things interesting. The variety of weapons and vehicles are amazing.

I did not even mention the greatest part yet. You have this tool that shoots a wire into enemy bots. When you "Link" up to them you control them. Then you become that bot and you can do whatever you want with him. Have him shoot all the other bad bots or just run him into the lava pit below. You can also "link" up to bots in multi player mode, which adds tons of replayability.

The downsides are that you cannot add bots to the multi player battles. Also, the difficulty level for the actual one player story mode is quite steep. But, thats a good thing, because when you beat a level you feel you have actually accomplished something.

I am having a riot with this game and recommend it to everyone. It was suprising to me that it was this good. I took a chance on this game and it paid off.

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.