Title: Metal Saga

Date: 06.22.2006

Genre: RPG

Platform: PlayStation 2

Developer: Success

Publisher: Atlus U.S.A.

Metal Saga has received many negative reviews on the Internet, not because it's a bad game, but because it's aimed at a very small audience. That small audience will enjoy Metal Saga immensely even as everyone else discounts it. A brief look at the history of RPGs will better illustrate this point.

RPGs haven't changed much in the past 15 years. Sure, in recent years, advancing technology has added elements like voice acting and impressive movie sequences to the mix, but the standard formula of a linear quest with strongly developed characters and an emphasis on plot have been the basis for the vast majority of quality RPGs. However looking beyond that point in time to the far distant past when RPGs were just getting started, we see a different story. RPGs like the first 3 Dragon Quest games (Dragon Warrior in the States) didn't have exciting characters or elaborate plots to entertain the player. Sure, there was some big evil that needed to be defeated at the end of the game, but for the most part, these games were all about taking a small group of adventurers on a quest to fight monsters and explore a giant world, all the while building up your party's powers and abilities.

Metal Saga plays like those ancient RPGs. If you are one of those players who values a good story and engaging characters above everything else, then I can tell you right now that Metal Saga isn't for you. That's not to say that the plot or the characters in Metal Saga are bad (they aren't), but rather that they're not an important part of the game. If on the other hand, the idea of having the freedom to explore a post apocalyptic wasteland as you desire appeals to you then Metal Saga will most likely give you many hours of entertainment.

Like those ancient RPGs, the heart of Metal Saga is exploration. Naturally, the further you explore, the more dangerous monsters become, therefore building up your characters is key. Fortunately, this is one of the most enjoyable parts of the game. Thanks to a wonderful feature that should be included in every RPG - the ability to skip animation in combat by holding down a button - combat is blistering fast with random encounters frequently taking less than 10 seconds to complete, load times included. Characters gain LVs at a fast rate and when you add the fact that the player can buy a cheap and reusable portable teleportation accessory for their tanks within the first couple of hours of the game, it's easy to see that progress in Metal Saga proceeds at a nice brisk pace. Also if you're happen to own a PS2 hard drive, the game offers the option of copying the game onto the hard drive thus reducing the otherwise average load times and speeding up the pace of the game even further.

Of course, no post-apocalyptic game would be complete without some fun pre-apocalyptic technology. In Metal Saga, the technology that the player will be most concerned about are tanks. There are many tanks to discover in this game, each with a different chassis which affects weight, defense, and the number and types of guns that can be attached. The player has a great deal of freedom in customizing their tanks with different engines, AI systems, and weapons and players with an artistic bent can even add decals and give their tanks a custom paint job.

Despite taking place in a barren wasteland, Metal Saga is a rather amusing place. The developer's sense of humor permeates all aspects of the game: everything from dogs with rocket launchers strapped to their backs joining your team to drink chugging competitions to facing off against a sinister religious cult of muscle-bound freaks wearing speedos & bikinis. The game also has a number of different endings (one of which can be seen within the first minute of starting the game), many of which are downright hilarious.

It would be a shame to not mention the laptop that the character carries around. Like the Pokedex in the Pokemon games, this little device keeps track of a wealth of information like monster information, bounty targets, a world map showing everywhere you've explored so far, shop inventories, a diary, and e-mails. The handy device also stores all the music you've illegally downloaded (yes, the game lets you "illegally" download game music), and allows you to play various mini-games.

Speaking of mini-games, Metal Saga features a good number of them, perfect for when you want to take a break from exploring and hunting monsters. There are some gambling games (my favorite is Mastermind where you try to guess a number based on vague hints), some wacky games designed mostly for laughs, and best of all Crossfire. Crossfire may seem simple at first - control a tank at the bottom of the screen and shoot at vehicles and other tanks as they go across the screen - but it has a great deal of depth. Bullets travel slowly across the screen so timing is essential. Moreover, the key to racking up high scores is to take advantage of the multiplier system which requires you to only shoot the harmless armored cars and leave everything else unharmed. Doing this quickly results in complete mayhem as you try to time your shots just right to hit your distant targets while simultaneously dodging dozen of bullets coming at you from all sorts of trajectories.

Metal Saga is not going to win any awards for its visuals. Although the anime movie that plays before the title screen is excellent, actual in-game graphics are fairly average looking; they get the job done and that's about it. The music is a whole other story however. Featuring a wide variety of styles from hard rock to light piano melodies, the music does a great job at drawing the player into the game's world. The songs are surprisingly long as well. The main world map song deserves special note. Clocking in at over 3 and a half minutes and featuring a number of major stylistic changes throughout, it is one of the finest world map songs to be featured in an RPG ever.

Metal Saga isn't for everyone, however if you value gameplay over plot, it's well worth checking out. Its non-linear world, sense of humor, wonderful music, and wealth of optional events and activities to participate in will provide many hours of entertainment. Highly recommended to all fans of old school (and I mean OLD school) RPGs.

Game Score

9.0

Reviewed By: Robert Boyd