METAGAL Review: Some Assembly Required

I get it. There are so many people on this planet that it’s hard to find something that is truly original. No matter the medium, repeated ideas are becoming more and more popular, with the small details being what sets two similar works apart. Ever since its inception, Mega Man has been subject to countless imitations; rarely meeting the quality or delivery the series is known for, with one of the more prevalent indie games being 20XX. Does METAGAL topple the classic or add something new and inventive to the genre? Not at all, but we can discuss it further if you won’t take my word for it.

The game offers a generic narrative following the heroine Meta on her quest to save her creator Dr. Ray from the dastardly General Creeper. Featuring heavy exposition that is poorly written or localized (possibly on purpose), it’s enough to garner a yawn at best and makes any random Brazzers video worthy of an Oscar for best screenplay. The good news is this is only a short speedbump on a rather dreary road into gaming Hell.

Contrary to the game that inspired it, METAGAL isn’t overly difficult once you get the horrid platforming down, although the execution will likely be a point of frustration if you move forward with the game. Meta comes rushing out of the gate with a dash move that can be used in conjunction with a jump, allowing her to traverse larger gaps in the terrain like X; however, this move is executed by double tapping the direction which never works using the analog sticks and has a 50/50 shot of failing even when using the D-pad. As often as this is required, it should have received a dedicated command to alleviate the frustration that sets in extremely early. This accounts for almost every death I experienced, as any failed jump will result in nothing but death and harsh language.

Making matters worse, each of the eight levels have their own unique mechanics. The thing is none of the enemies or level specific challenges mesh together for a unified theme like we are used too, and even worse, the mechanics are not properly explained, nor do they make much sense. One of the worst is found on the third level, in which magnets alternate allowing Meta to walk on the ceiling for a short period of time (think Gravity Man’s stage from Mega Man 5). Again, once you get the wonky platforming under your belt, this becomes a bit easier.

On the complete opposite side of the spectrum, combat is overly easy from the onset and rarely presents any challenge until you reach the boss for the stage. The standard enemies that litter the levels typically hover or sit in a static area while taking pot shots comprised of slow moving pixels that are entirely too easy to avoid. This allows you to simply sit there firing back at your leisure, with the most difficult aspect of the affair being jumping and then shooing and occasionally using the powered up shot that refills regularly. The mini-boss battles are no better, as most of these can be completed by spamming the fire button, completely ignoring their attacks as Meta takes a surprisingly large amount of bullet damage before keeling over.

Only once you reach one of Meta’s sisters, or the actual boss of each level, does the game actually hit its stride and almost feel like a valid tribute to the blue bomber himself. It really is sad that the entirety of the game that bookends these battles is so awful, as they will test your dexterity requiring you to carefully make use of everything found within Meta’s small tool kit while managing your own health.

The only thing unique the game brings to the table is the gear pick-ups, which feel a bit unneeded. There are sparsely placed checkpoints, allowing you to continue as often as you need without any major penalties (aside from the deduction from your overall rating at the culmination of the level). If you collect the hidden gears, which work as secrets/random pick-ups from fallen enemies, you can respawn closer to where the death occurred… most of the time. This mechanic typically works as advertised, but some levels still thought it would be cute to place me at the beginning of the level or my most recent checkpoint while taking away my token.

The presentation is acceptable, but has entirely too many assets ripped almost pixel for pixel from other franchises. The health pick-ups feature almost identical designs to Mega Man and the explosive player death animation looks like it was imported over from one of the SNES releases. The end result feels like a shameless rip-off opposed to a tribute to a beloved series. The sound design fares slightly better, using polyphonic tones to make an enjoyable soundtrack that provided a backdrop to the never ending river of obscenities that spewed from my mouth as I died repeatedly.

At the end of the day, METAGAL feels like a failure both as a standalone and as a tribute paying homage to a fan favorite franchise. While the boss battles end each level on a great note, the filler between them is terrible in almost every way, resulting in a husk of what could’ve been a standout release.

3 out of 10

Pros

  • Some Challenging Boss Battles
  • BGM

Cons

  • Unresponsive Controls
  • Boring Combat
  • Punishing Platforming
  • Feels Like A Legally Safe Knockoff of Mega Man you’d find in a Dollar General

METAGAL was developed by RETRO Revolution and published by Ratalaika Games. It is available for PC, PS4, NS, and X1 as of March 29th, 2019. The game was provided to us for review on X1. If you’d like to see more of METAGAL, check out the publisher’s website.

 

Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth playing, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great title that you can feel confident about buying. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate a game, please let us know.

Check out OpenCritic for a better idea of how our review stacks against others.

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