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Metal Arms - Under-Appreciated For The Holidays? 38

Posted by simoniker from the left-on-the-doorstep dept.
Thanks to GamesDomain for their review of Metal Arms: Glitch In The System, as their take on Vivendi's multi-platform "robot-themed third-person shooter", released this week, echoes the conclusions of many other positive ratings in proclaiming: "it's a real shame that this game doesn't seem to have quite the attention it deserves." 1UP also comments on the title as "one of the best under-hyped games of the year", describing it as "Ratchet & Clank fused with Halo", but why has this Swingin' Ape-developed title got such a low profile - lack of advertising, choice of subject matter, too many games released at the same time?
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Metal Arms - Under-Appreciated For The Holidays? More

Metal Arms - Under-Appreciated For The Holidays?

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  • Tell you why I'm not buying it (Score:5, Insightful)

    by MBraynard ( 653724 ) on Saturday November 22, 2003 @07:01PM (#7538652) Journal
    No Xbox Live support. Any game without multi-player has a very finite playtime- you can beat it a few times at best and your 50 is gone. But with other titles out there for Xbox, the playing time you have built in with XBL titles - Counter Strike, RainbowSix 6, Crimson Skies, etc -why waste the 50?
    • Metal Arms doesn't have XBL support because it's a multi-platform game.

      I agree that multiplayer-- online or otherwise-- can significantly extend the hours a game is played, but it's not the sole reason to buy or not buy a title. Hell, FFXI is the first Final Fantasy title to have true multiplayer, so would you say that's the only Final Fantasy game worth buying?

      If you're that concerned about "wasting the 50", as you say, just wait until Metal Arms hits the bargain bin or the Greatest Hits/Platinum/Player
      • Metal Arms doesn't have XBL support because it's a multi-platform game.

        Small note: Being multiplatform doesn't preclude including Xbox Live capability - Midnight Club 2, for example, includes pretty nice XBL support. There are also Phantasy Star Online, Capcom vs. SNK 2, the Sega ESPN Sports series, etc.

        Of course, as you correctly point out, not every game needs to be online to be fun. It just helps. :)

    • Halo (Score:2)

      by t0ny ( 590331 )
      I recently finished Halo on the PC. Am I the only one who was somewhat disappointed by the single-player story? The whole thing with "the flood" felt like somebody spilled Half-Life in my Halo.

      Multiplayer is fantastic, however. Is this the first fps to do this great a job on vehicles?

      • No, that's pretty much the group consensus. Halo is a multiplayer game at heart, with a single player mode attached for practice and late-nights when your friends are asleep. It's just been taken as such a given that few XBox players even mention it, so many PC version purchasers don't know.
        • I don't agree - halo is a single-player game at heart, with a multiplayer mode rushed and tacked on before it shipped. It just so happens that the multiplayer element is great fun, but I think the focus was very much on single-player.

          As to the story, I don't know what you expected, but I for one found it extremely detailed and interesting, and all of my friends feel the same way. There are even 3 novels based around the game, so it isn't like the story was lacking...

    • I got the demo in Xbox magazine and thought is was really cool... that was the first I heard of it... Of course since E3, I have been anxiously waiting for Crimson Skies, Project Gotham, Counter Strike, Rainbow 6 3... With no live support it will be pretty hard to get my money for a game of this type especially when all these heavy hitters are around...

      I buy games for multiplayer nowadays... either on live (shooting games) or split screen (hockey / sports)... shooting games belong on the internet now..

    • Q: Why waste $50?

      A: Because not all games are good multiplayer. For instance take any installment in the Final Fantasy series - all of them acclaimed games, and all of them single player only. Apart from the obvious fact that none of them are on the xbox, even if they were they would not have live support.

      Many great games will never be multiplayer, and never have live support - discounting all that don't will really limit your selection.
      • For instance take any installment in the Final Fantasy series


        That is, except for the online Final Fantasy games, right?
        • They don't count - the only online version that has a number is FF-XI and people bitched at Square when they decided to give it one.

          Anyway FF wasn't the point of my post, rather an example - 11 of the FF games are singleplayer only. There are hundreds of other games out there that are single player only, FF was just one, I am sure you can use your imagination and think up others.
    • There are plenty of ways to extend the lifetime of a single player game without adding multiplayer, and Ratchet and Clank Going Commando is an excellent example. Yes, the main storyline game takes about 10-15 hrs of play, but once you finish, you open up a Challenge Mode where the difficulty is higher, but the number of bolts (currency units) to buy weapons and other goodies drastically increases. Further weapon enhancements become unlocked. Additionally, there are skill points that unlock 'cheats' and p

  • Saw the demo..bought the game (Score:4, Insightful)

    by bigman2003 ( 671309 ) on Saturday November 22, 2003 @10:43PM (#7539746) Homepage
    I got the demo for Metal Arms a few months ago in Xbox magazine. It had action, it was funny, looked good, and was easy to play. Somehow though all the magazines gave it like a 7.2 in their previews.

    This time I ignored the ratings, and bought it on the day it came out.

    It's a great game, lots of fun. I don't think it is earth-shattering, or life changing, but it really is fun. One of the best cameras on a 3rd person game that I have ever played. If nothing else, everyone should be looking at the camera, and trying to duplicate it. Countless 3rd person games have been ruined by a crappy camera (Rayman 3?!).

    Right now though, Top Spin is in my Xbox- waiting for me to finish career mode, then I'll go back to Metal Arms.

    I don't think that Metal Arms NEEDS Live support though- sometimes a good solid single player campaign is what I am looking for.
    • Yes- I realize that the reviews are good- but the previews everywhere sucked. It seems like either the previewers didn't actually play the game, or they thought that they couldn't score it well, because there was no hype.

      Now most of the reviews are pretty good-
  • Between Mario and Luigi, Fire Emblem, Prince of Persia, Jak II, Final Fantasy X-2, on and on - there's just too many good things for the holiday season. Metal Arms just got the bad end of the release timing.
    • And it joins the ranks of Wild ARMs (all of them), Grandia, and Skygunner in the pantheon of good games that were released at crappy times.

      Heh. Wild ARMs, and Metal Arms. Just noticed that.
    • in a way, its bad having so many great games coming out all the time. Before, several great games would come out, and be wildly successful by beating out all the crap other companies were putting out.

      Now, however, very good games have a potential to do poorly, just because of lack of press/marketting, being released along with major blockbuster games, etc.

      I think its sad when great games sell poorly, and it will probably be happening a lot more as the bar keeps getting raised higher. The main negative to

  • The Holiday Downside (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Babbster ( 107076 ) <aaronbabb&gmail,com> on Sunday November 23, 2003 @01:11AM (#7540383) Homepage
    Metal Arms seems like exactly the kind of game that should either receive major hype (something Vivendi isn't in a position to provide at the moment) or be released in the off-season. If this game were released just about anytime between April and August, it would get a heckuva lot more attention. It would probably even get better review scores since fewer good games would be competing during its release period.

    Then again, there's the question of who will OWN Vivendi's game division this time next year. Maybe they decided to get it out ASAP in the hopes that it would make a chunk of change and stoke interest - and more importantly, bidding - again. It could be considered particularly important since Half-Life 2 and Starcraft: Ghost won't drop until next year.

  • but why has this Swingin' Ape-developed title got such a low profile - lack of advertising, choice of subject matter, too many games released at the same time?

    1. Never heard of this game until blues news reported that a demo was out.

    2. Whose swingin' ape? Who works there? What else have they done?

    Not to mention the fact that i get a connection refused error when i try going to their site [swingingapestudios.com]

  • I couldn't decide between Gotham II and Metal Arms after playing the demo... So I picked up both. I have played Gotham for about 45 minutes ata time before I get pissed enough to walk away while I have lots of trouble putting down the controller for MA.

    The multiplayer looks awsome but I agree -Would ROCK on Live and would benefit greatly from System link. Oh well... Bottom line -it's a great game.
    • I haven't played the newest PGR 2, but I know the original had the same effect on me in that I couldn't play it for more than an hour at a time before wanting to do my patented controller toss (patented because I always have a pillow around designated for cushioning my frustration). Getting those Kudos consistently takes quite a bit of work and one mistake can really drive a person batty - much like linking long combos in trick games like Tony Hawk and SSX. Fortunately, I like tough games...in one-hour do

  • Just saw a show on it (Score:3, Informative)

    by Necroman ( 61604 ) on Sunday November 23, 2003 @07:57AM (#7541398)
    G4TV did a half-hour segment talking about this game. It does seem really sweet.
    The company that makes this game was founded back in 2000 by 3 guys that used to work at Midway (and had been for a while). They were doing arcade games and knew the market for them was dieing, so the took a leap of faith and started their own company. They then got the funding behind the project and just went to town.

    It seems to follow most other basic FPSes out there are far as style, but they did it in an innovative way. They've got lots of different weapons and such (like 14 I think), and some really cool features for when you are going through the missions (being able to re-program enemy machines to fight along side you, or you can sneak up on other robots, and "jack-in" to them and have total control).

    It looks pretty sweet, I think it would be a fun "party" type game, like TimeSplitters 2. Gamecube and X-Box have up to 4 person multiplayer, 2 person on PS2... not sure if you can link consoles together or not. They have all the different multiplayer modes that most of the other FPS console games have.

  • why? (Score:2)

    by Zed2K ( 313037 )
    "but why has this Swingin' Ape-developed title got such a low profile - lack of advertising, choice of subject matter, too many games released at the same time?"

    One reason. Its too Japanese. Come on, big robots fighting? Nothing says Japanese like that. People may like that whole thing but those that do are in the minority. Its a niche game that is seeing its "niche" grow smaller every year.
    • 'People may like that whole thing but those that do are in the minority.'

      Transformers anyone?

      • Yeah and we've all seen how well transformers video games have done in the past. The transformer movie sucked. It was really really bad. The toys were cool, but only because it was unique at the time. A lot of people like it now for the same reason people like 80's rock stations and 80's television shows. They are reliving their childhood.

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