Gaming Target - GameCube: Metal Arms: Glitch in the System

Written by Jonathan Nicklas on January 05, 2004

Full Review: УThe entire effort to topple this General Corrosive in Metal Arms is not unlike the recent effort to oust Saddam Hussein, only this general actually has a powerful enough army to put up a fight against the rebellion.Ф

GameCube owners have gotten more than their share of cute platform titles in the past two years, making one's first impression of Metal Arms seem like it's just another addition to that excessive amount. However, Glitch in the System goes where few third-party platform games have gone before. It has a stylish one-droid-army hero, some bot-kicking weaponry and, oh yes, bleeped curses and comic appeal. All of these elements, coupled with a well-crafted presentation, aid Metal Arms: Glitch in the System in becoming a rather unique platform experience as well as one of the most surprising titles to hit the console trio in 2003. This is even in the face of a few minor glitches, not counting the name of game's lead character.

Glitch is an unknown droid model that was found deactivated among some rubble on Iron Star, a planet in the midst of a robot civil war. Since the rebellion army retrieved, reactivated and then rebriefed him with a black-and-white newsreel, Glitch fights for their freedom against the evil General Corrosive and his relentless Mil Army. The entire effort to topple this general is not unlike the recent effort to oust Saddam Hussein, only General Corrosive actually has a powerful enough army to put up a fight against the rebellion. Worse off, Glitch soon discovers that in addition to being dark and cold, this world becomes lonely as he's is quickly waging the rebellion wars all by his determined self.

This storyline isn't inspiring by any means, nor is it unique in any way, yet the Swingin' Ape Studios saw to it that the presentation in the opening video of Metal Arms would at least been able to impress and entertain its players. The above story is wrapped up nicely in the black-and-white wartime newsreel that's complete with an accurate propaganda-proclaiming voice-over. After this informative piece concludes, the commander of the rebellion army calls upon his remaining troops in a large room, only as the lights come up there's just two left. These types of funny moments occur quite often and are usually followed by relatively humorous quips mixed with suggestive language, though bleeped for all of those little boys and girls out there. The humor here gives the game a more entertaining approach, even while the graphics depict a dark and sterile robot world, and because the jokes aren't all lame, it actually works.

Variety is another aspect that Metal Arms works into its system. While his on-foot shooting campaign set in the third-person perspective is the heart of most levels, Glitch also goes from manning stationary guns against waves of enemy bots to operating an assortment of weapons and transport vehicles to controlling enemy bodies for his own stealthy operations. None of them are as engrossing or as polished as the on-foot missions, for example the driving levels have surface value controls and physics, yet each adds variety to the game and gives it a solid mix of action in the end.

Like the storyline, the primary weapons here don't move into any new territory with the cache including a typical laser gun, a rocket launcher and many of the other usual projectiles. Some of the secondary gadgets are more unique, such as the recruiter grenade and the control tether that enables controlling enemy forces, yet the rest items on the list are mostly meant for your standard destructive purposes. However, it's the ability to enhance your primary weapons that will weigh in big with players, given the updates that can be purchased from a shrimpy but witty arms barter and his witless big-bot buddy. These two dealers accept washers that you collect from deactivated enemies and in turn can be used to purchase gun upgrades, more ammo and additional gadgets, energy to restore your health and improvements for your own bot-self.

With some of the more powerful weapons you pick up, you'll notice certain quality enemy reactions other than simply blowing apart. Sometimes their legs will stay intact as they frantically walk around without an upper half and other times their arms fall to the ground as their head starts spinning and oil drips out of their body frame. During one instance when this happened to an enemy, I was able to nudge its deactivated body down a dirt hill where it slid to the bottom with a dust trail forming behind it. While the environments tend to look the same from room to room and the textures aren't always as crisp as they should be, effects like this are really able to catch your eye.

Many of the weapons are slow to fire, reload and switch, and though upgrades can advance Glitch's speed in performing these actions in later levels, you'll learn that Metal Arms isn't all about blasting a bunch of bots without proper thought first. Glitch will also run out of ammo in many cases, so trigger-happy players might want to beware because this platform isn't always about being intense. Just as much time will be taken up by its adventure aspect while you are on-foot trying to find items that you can't afford to buy or that the barter isn't offering. Lots of hidden items are tucked away in vents and concealed rooms, most being secret chips to acquire additional multiplayer levels, batteries that expand your lifeline like hearts do in The Legend of Zelda, and extra ammo for your gun supply.

While there's a nice split of searching and destroying, Metal Arms will cause you to wander around unnecessarily at times due to a lack of guidance. The commander of the rebel forces will radio in a few vague instructions in the beginning of each level, but doesn't chime in enough after that point to give any more direction when coming across key locations to set bombs or press switches. The opposite of aimlessly wandering occurs whenever enemies become unfair and overly challenging in their attacks, leaving you to attempt levels repeatedly as the framerate dips noticeably during the more intense moments. And yet, other times, the AI is far from acting smart since I was able to shoot my laser in front of an off-guard bot and saw no reaction as a result until I was in closer proximity. Both the lack of guidance and the unpredictability of the AI can cause many to feel frustrated with the game, especially when knowing that there are more than 40 missions to complete.

Further frustrating issues within Metal Arms include sliding to your death off of platforms and dying due to faulty functioning of the camera. Since the game tries to manipulate different УsurfacesФ and Glitch is a metal robot, certain platforms seem to be slicker than others. It sounds like a neat effect on paper, but clearly falling to your death for this reason isn't something most gamers are going to appreciate, particularly not after clearing out all of the enemies within a given area beforehand. It's not just Glitch that wears Уslippery socksФ either, as one or two of his enemies have actually fallen to their death in my time with the game. Though it's nice to know that there's equal justice for all, it's an effect that Metal Arms could have easily done without.

Even when your robot feet are firmly planted on the ground though, you'll have to deal with camera issues, a common problem among platform titles. How much the game suffers from it depends on the degree of this problem and in Metal Arms it all really depends on how close you walk in relation to the enclosed surroundings of a level. Sometimes an enlarged texture or Уthe black unknownФ shows up and gets in the way if the camera is near the side of an enclosed area or you just happen to step down into an unnecessary crack in uneven ground. Other times it's just Glitch's big head that seems to block your view. Whatever the case may be, it's annoying to anyone in the midst of battling enemiesЧeven more so when those are enemies in later stages and are powerful enough to charge at Glitch, push you/him against the walls and eliminate you/him with a clear shot.

In order to unlock all of the multiplayer levels, you should be prepared to collect secret chips throughout the single-player campaign since the game only boots up with three. Ultimately, there are a total of fourteen levels, a number of options that can be edited and seven modes of multiplayer madness including standard deathmatch, king of the hill, tag and a battle for possession of bigger bots. It would have been even better if the computer-controlled bots actually participated in the melee to make up for any missing human players, but the mode already benefits in coming off as a Ratchet and Clank platformer geared to the multiplayer madness of TimeSplitters 2.