GUN METAL (XBOX)


Big robot action with added stomp

By WILLIAM BARKER

A hybrid, also known as a crossbreed or mongrel.

This describes Gun Metal to a tee, though don't get it mixed up with canine biology - this is digital coding at its best.

Gun Metal is, in general, a complete success. Pretty much all aspects that make a serious game highly playable and memorable are in tip-top form.

The graphics are sweet, the gameplay a little tough, but oh-so rewarding and highly original, plus the sound is really above par as well. Longterm viability could be questioned, but we'll touch on that a little later in the review.

One the coolest things about Gun Metal, for this reviewer at least, is the fact that it melds the funky Japanese anime Robotech/Macross concept with a 30fps-smooth 3D world, and a highly playable game engine at that.

Ever since just before the launch of the N64, when early screenshots of a Robotech game appeared - we're talking Rick Hunter versus the colossal Zenrtadi - I have been hankering for such a game.

But alas, the N64 version, which looked extremely promising early on, never made it past production. I blame the suits...

And sure, much of the attraction would have been to uncover yet another Macross saga, but even without the most compelling story, Gun Metal has fulfilled a special dream of mine.

The first thing you need to know - unless, like me, you're a huge Macross fan - is that the 30-foot tall mecha robot of death you take control of is more than just a mek-war-yor wannabe. Indeed, this mixed alloy robot has perhaps one of the coolest party tricks in sci-fi lore - transformation.

One minute you may be using the Unreal-esque flak cannon in humanoid mode (called the Havoc suit) to dispatch a troupe of enemy infantry on foot, when at the push of a button the next minute you'll have transformed into a fire breathing, take-no-prisoners, 21st century jet (the Havoc jet). Only this jet-fighter can do barrel rolls, is lightning quick and has an ordnance payload that'd make even Chuck Yeager cry to his mommie.

Both modes have pros and cons - the suit has extra shields, similar in effect to the shields in Halo, while the more vulnerable jet can spread destruction across a much wider area with its bombs and torpedoes.

But before I get too excited and accidentally take someone's eye out, let's take a look at whose ass your gonna whup, and for what reasons. In all honesty, I wouldn't really care if there was no story - such is the prodigious gameplay - but as it happens, something sinister has happened to our beloved planet Earth.

After a massive internal conflict, the planet Earth is left ravaged. Being explorers at heart, the humans set off to find another home, and soon Helios was found and the human race was happy again.

But after many hundreds of years of not stuffing up another planet, an alien aggressor, which had been laying dormant on Helios is awakened and all of a sudden, the humans are in the shit again.

The battles raged between the man and alien saw millions of lives lost, and while the humans were winning battles, they looked like losing the war. But hope remained in an experimental protector - the Havoc Suit. As its pilot, you are charged with single-handedly defying the aliens and saving the human race…

From the outset, the biggest hurdle for most gamers will be not the PC flight sim-inspired radar system, or the overabundance of weaponry - how should I smoke this bogey? - but the control method. Indeed, the Havoc system is one helluva piece of kit - it has all the bells and whistles, but at the same time it is inherently tricky to master.

Granted, after spending too many hours in my comfy chair playing Gun Metal, it's fair to say that Rage hit the nail on the head with the setup, but early on things can become a little complicated.

For instance, in robot mode, the game plays just like Halo or any other first/third person shooter, with left joystick governing forward/backward and strafing movements, while the right stick turns left/right and aims up and down.

Push the spooge-worthy 'transform' button though, and the controls change. The left stick is essentially the primary input device, while the right stick is used to speed up and slow down.

While you may scoff, this control method can take a little while to get used to - particularly in 'death-from-above' jet mode.

The right and left triggers operate your weaponary - arguably one of the most crucial aspects in the tougher missions. Use the wrong weapon on the wrong enemy and their mates over in the alpha quadrant may just well tear apart your HQ - time is often a big factor too.

Assigned to the left trigger are general purpose missiles. Let's call them swarm missiles, coz they swarm a lot and look cool.

You can target up to about eight enemies with these, give or take, which are the same in suit and jet mode, yet are extremely powerful and best saved for particularly tricky situations.

It's pretty cool to target half-a-dozen airborne bogeys, release a volley of fiery doom, only to transform into robot mode and stick a few hellfires up their bums just before the more powerful rockets impact. Heh, toying with one's prey has never been so much fun. Auto-aim will work for many, but for me, it got a bit annoying, so I chose the manual aim option. In later levels it was a godsend, as the auto mode can sometimes be a little restrictive in relation to the Y axis (vertical targeting).

For Rage, (the developers) the mixture of gameplay styles would have been seen as somewhat haphazard initially. How does one make a solid game without splitting it up into two parts? Thankfully, the combined on-the-fly gameplay styles work a treat. Some of this has to do with a rather solid physics engine.

The suit mode is ideal for intricate eradication, where precision is needed. Weapons like the disc-thrower and anti-tank gauss rifle highlight this point. The jet, however, allows you fly to hot spots in the massive gameworld in no time at all, while it's complement of rapid fire vulcan cannons and missiles are great for airborne targets, napalm and heavy-duty carpet bombs dish out indiscriminate destruction over a huge area.

Visually, this game is the bees knees. Everything about it has a polished look, from the weapons discharge, to the transformation sequences and especially the environments around you.

All textures are highly detailed and there's nary a jagged edge in sight. The Havoc Suit looks amazing, as do all the weapons, and vehicle design, such as enemy tanks, motherships and outposts are equally sexy.

There's plenty of impressive pyrotechnics too, while the particle system does a great job of calculating, um, particles.

Everything appears to be alive, too. See those trees? Feel free to stomp on them, or shoot a few terrain-hugging torpedoes, which will set off a chain-reaction of forest fires. Grass moves in the breeze, the clouds drift by overhead and you'll even come across indigenous life forms, of which you can also stomp on (Call me Stompy).

The cities, too, look pretty cool, with cars driving about, people walking around and stuff like that.

The frame rate is impressive, and though it will drop, the sheer amount of action going down at any one moment makes this a forgivable issue. The game has no cut scenes to speak of, which is fine by me. The story is pushed along by the between mission briefings - escort this, destroy that, protect this, stomp on that - but in general, you'll be having too much fun to care about plot lines.

Some may be put off by the waves in which enemies attack, meaning oftentimes you can't just go AWOL and look for cannon fodder. But this also means that you have a whole bunch of infantry, tanks and dropships who contribute to the fire power.

At the end of the day, this one may not be for everyone. I love this sort this sort of thing, but I would still recommend a try before you buy approach.

Combine the killer sounds, eye-popping pyrotechnics and addictive-as-crack gameplay and you've got yourself one highly playable futuristic shoot-em-up game. Oh, and did I mention you can stomp on things?

ORIGINALITY 90%
SOUND/GRAPHICS 95%
PLAYABILITY 85%
ADDICTION 75%
ENJOYMENT 90%