Post by Revan on Oct 20, 2008 23:43:53 GMT -5
Released in the year 2000, this game manages to wrongfully slip out of the view of most modern gamers. This game, although it didn't sell as well as it should have, was a piece of gold. The game is an amazing RTS that contains several unique elements that I have not seen as successfully implemented in more modern games since. The most basic of these elements is the vast amount of creativity you are given, as well as the three pronged map system.
The center of Metal Fatigue is the combot system. A combot is a giant robot (about the size of 10 tanks stacked on top of one another) that is capable of using great weaponry. Each combot is equipped with a special torso, set of legs and two weapons of your choice, one for each arm. Each part has various statistics that don't just change the appearance of your robot, but how it functions, right down to the behavior of the pilot in a combat situation.
The parts are specialized by each of the three teams, Rimtech, the group struggling to preserve most of the values we believe in today, Milagro, a nation based on enslaving their people (even their combot pilots), and Neuropa a nation dedicated to ritualistic behavior and hiding in the shadows. Each of the three team's parts are excellently balanced and no one team appears to be stronger than the rest, to summarize, Rimtech has moderately powerful weaponry that is more versatile than some of the other teams, Milagro has powerful, but slow weapons, and Neuropa has unique specialized parts such as a cloaking torso and razor blade arms.
The plot was well done, the introduction sequence shows three brothers, all of whom are combot pilots walking through a desert terrain. The leader of the three, and the eldest, Diego, finds himself in an awkward position when one of his brothers accidentally salvages the arm of an alien combot part that is more powerful than the ones they use. The second eldest brother, Jonas then states that they should abandon Rimtech and take it to the Neuropans in hopes of an excellent prize; however his brothers do not agree. It is about this time that Diego finds out that a Milagro bomber squad is enroot to their position and is going to hit the whole area. Diego escapes to Rimtech, Jonas, with the arm, to Neuropa, and Stephan, the youngest of the brothers, becomes unconscious and is revived and enslaved into the service of Milagro.
The rest of the story is rather exciting to unfold. It is divided into three sections, each of which is you commanding one of the brothers, and thus one of the nations. Diego's story was the most bland. His campaign only served to hold the story together, although the other two campaigns were rather enjoyable. There were many plot twists throughout each of the stories, particularly the Neuropan one in which you learn that your mentor was an enslaved Milagro pilot. The conclusion is also exciting, and although not too difficult to predict, enough so that it remains very riveting when you finally unlock it after beating the three campaigns. I don't want to spoil it, but let’s just say that there is more to the combot part they found in the opening sequence than meets the eye.
The game play is well structured, the AI plays well for a system of that age and with enough opponents, you can find yourself in a rewarding game play experience. Each building in the game has a distinct and useful purpose and none of them was wrongfully added. There are two main issues with the game, one, is that the resources are too limited and too difficult to acquire, and two, is that the alternatives to combots, things such as tanks, are drastically weaker than their counterparts. The game provides a different perspective than most RTSs in that in provides the user with what would be 3 maps as one. You have a ground level map, an underground map, and finally, an orbit map, each of which must be correctly played to succeed. Ground level is where most of the intense fighting happens and is the only real site of combot conflicts, even though they can get to the orbit map given special parts or by going through transporters. The orbit map is a welcome base on which to build strategies. There are roughly 9 plateaus on which you can build in orbit, and each team starts with one builder on the one above their ground colony. These areas are generally used for solar power and space in orbit for this purpose is a valued commodity due to the difficult nature of acquiring the resource known as metajoules. Underground was a good concept poorly executed, although it works well, giving you more resources and allowing you to construct most of your base down there, it also becomes rather annoying whenever you play against AI because after you eliminate them from space and the surface, you are faced with the issue of destroying some 200+ tanks underground without any of your combots.
Overall:
The single player is an intense action based RTS which can really draw you in if you actually take the time to read the plot, and if not, it still provides and interesting experience on which to become more familiar with the three nations, their strengths and weaknesses. The teams provide distinct, balanced abilities and allow for endless combinations for your combots, which serve as the fulcrum of the game. The AI is well executed in most ways; however it could use some tweaking for the underground portion of the map. The game also provides a unique experience by allowing you to work on 3 maps at once, unlike any other RTS I have seen.
Score: 95/100 -- Find this game and buy it!
The center of Metal Fatigue is the combot system. A combot is a giant robot (about the size of 10 tanks stacked on top of one another) that is capable of using great weaponry. Each combot is equipped with a special torso, set of legs and two weapons of your choice, one for each arm. Each part has various statistics that don't just change the appearance of your robot, but how it functions, right down to the behavior of the pilot in a combat situation.
The parts are specialized by each of the three teams, Rimtech, the group struggling to preserve most of the values we believe in today, Milagro, a nation based on enslaving their people (even their combot pilots), and Neuropa a nation dedicated to ritualistic behavior and hiding in the shadows. Each of the three team's parts are excellently balanced and no one team appears to be stronger than the rest, to summarize, Rimtech has moderately powerful weaponry that is more versatile than some of the other teams, Milagro has powerful, but slow weapons, and Neuropa has unique specialized parts such as a cloaking torso and razor blade arms.
The plot was well done, the introduction sequence shows three brothers, all of whom are combot pilots walking through a desert terrain. The leader of the three, and the eldest, Diego, finds himself in an awkward position when one of his brothers accidentally salvages the arm of an alien combot part that is more powerful than the ones they use. The second eldest brother, Jonas then states that they should abandon Rimtech and take it to the Neuropans in hopes of an excellent prize; however his brothers do not agree. It is about this time that Diego finds out that a Milagro bomber squad is enroot to their position and is going to hit the whole area. Diego escapes to Rimtech, Jonas, with the arm, to Neuropa, and Stephan, the youngest of the brothers, becomes unconscious and is revived and enslaved into the service of Milagro.
The rest of the story is rather exciting to unfold. It is divided into three sections, each of which is you commanding one of the brothers, and thus one of the nations. Diego's story was the most bland. His campaign only served to hold the story together, although the other two campaigns were rather enjoyable. There were many plot twists throughout each of the stories, particularly the Neuropan one in which you learn that your mentor was an enslaved Milagro pilot. The conclusion is also exciting, and although not too difficult to predict, enough so that it remains very riveting when you finally unlock it after beating the three campaigns. I don't want to spoil it, but let’s just say that there is more to the combot part they found in the opening sequence than meets the eye.
The game play is well structured, the AI plays well for a system of that age and with enough opponents, you can find yourself in a rewarding game play experience. Each building in the game has a distinct and useful purpose and none of them was wrongfully added. There are two main issues with the game, one, is that the resources are too limited and too difficult to acquire, and two, is that the alternatives to combots, things such as tanks, are drastically weaker than their counterparts. The game provides a different perspective than most RTSs in that in provides the user with what would be 3 maps as one. You have a ground level map, an underground map, and finally, an orbit map, each of which must be correctly played to succeed. Ground level is where most of the intense fighting happens and is the only real site of combot conflicts, even though they can get to the orbit map given special parts or by going through transporters. The orbit map is a welcome base on which to build strategies. There are roughly 9 plateaus on which you can build in orbit, and each team starts with one builder on the one above their ground colony. These areas are generally used for solar power and space in orbit for this purpose is a valued commodity due to the difficult nature of acquiring the resource known as metajoules. Underground was a good concept poorly executed, although it works well, giving you more resources and allowing you to construct most of your base down there, it also becomes rather annoying whenever you play against AI because after you eliminate them from space and the surface, you are faced with the issue of destroying some 200+ tanks underground without any of your combots.
Overall:
The single player is an intense action based RTS which can really draw you in if you actually take the time to read the plot, and if not, it still provides and interesting experience on which to become more familiar with the three nations, their strengths and weaknesses. The teams provide distinct, balanced abilities and allow for endless combinations for your combots, which serve as the fulcrum of the game. The AI is well executed in most ways; however it could use some tweaking for the underground portion of the map. The game also provides a unique experience by allowing you to work on 3 maps at once, unlike any other RTS I have seen.
Score: 95/100 -- Find this game and buy it!
