This review was written by a potential new member of the site by the name of Matt.
Do you ever play that game where you pick which post-apocalyptic world you would rather live in? Would you choose regular zombies like The Walking Dead or crazy ones like Z Nation? What about Mad Max’s car-themed shenanigans versus Fallout’s world of mutations and raiders? Any of those choices seem better than living in METAL MAX Xeno’s world.
Okay, that may be a bit harsh. After all, in METAL MAX Xeno you get to drive in a tank that you find lying around. Matter of fact, there are a bunch of tanks just lying around, as if Oprah was handing them out. It’s with these abundant tanks that you, a spunky kid named Talis, vows to rid the world of the monsters that destroyed humanity.
METAL MAX Xeno plays like most turn-based RPGs/JRPGs, a genre the series has been familiar with since 1991. You drive around the overworld, going from location to location killing any enemies that may pop up. There are a few ‘unique’ aspects to this, however. First, there are the aforementioned tanks. When you find a random encounter, instead of the screen changing to a typical fight screen, you are instead able to target the enemy and blast them preemptively. If you can one-shot the enemy, you skip the whole battle scene. The good thing is, if the monster is alive and you do engage in the battle, the loading and transition are pretty smooth. You can mindlessly plow through the trash mobs without much delay, even with the loot screen and minimal fanfare. This, however, does present a slight problem. Your tank can only fire so many shots until you’re out of ammo. It was kind of a nuisance when starting off, having to go back to base to restock ammo.
The tanks have a wide array of customizations, both functional and cosmetic. You can add more gun barrels with different ammo types or different engines to help with your tank’s weight limit. You can finish side challenges (Ace Trials) that will provide you upgrade points to improve your stats. Some of the stats were difficult to figure out exactly what impact they have on the game. I found myself not overly enthused to distribute points in categories other than max HP and Treasure Finder, though you can redistribute the points if you want to try different builds. You also have your typical fare of armor and weapons for Talis and friends, for those times that you need to get out of your tank and explore some ruins.
Weapons and items are all well and good, but a memorable RPG needs a decent story and setting. This is where my comment about not wanting to live in this world comes from. The areas you traverse in are bland and uninspiring. Just because it’s the apocalypse doesn’t mean everything has to be sand-covered and sparse. Fallout: New Vegas took place in the desert yet there were exciting locations and variations in the buildings you visited. METAL MAX Xeno treats locations as white digital blips in the environment, only serving as fast-travel points. The cel-shaded character design is not bad, but I couldn’t really get into any of their backstories. The story was a bit generic, and the whole no-women-left-in-the-world premise just serves as a way to throw in some awkward sex jokes (there are women in the game, scantily clad naturally). The game is pretty linear as well, but offers some optional ‘wanted’ bosses that you could take on if you deviate from the main path.
Is the game horrible? No, but it does feel a bit shallow in the story and art departments. It’s not engaging enough for me to play through again, but there are some fun elements I wouldn’t mind seeing in other games. Features like fast-travelling from anywhere and at any time help cut down on sluggish backtracking. Preemptive combat deals with the dreaded random encounters in a quick way. The game was also localized well, as I was hard-pressed to find many mistranslations. Oh, and did I mention that some of the enemies you fight are crazy tank-dinosaur hybrids, like a brontosaurus-warship?! Fans of the series may appreciate the game a bit more, but as a newcomer this entry does not leave me with anticipation of a sequel. It’s an average ‘throw-away’ game that can be enjoyable for a few hours with much of the game being unseen.
4 out of 10
Pros
- Solid Translation
- Fast Travel Anywhere
- Random Encounters
- Optional Bosses
Cons
- Shallow Story
- Bland World
- Limited Ammo
- Overly Linear
METAL MAX Xeno was developed by Kadokawa Games, Cattle Call, as well as 24Frame, and published by NIS America. It was released on PS4 and PS Vita September 25th, 2018 for $39.99. The game was provided to us for review on PS4. If you’d like to see more of METAL MAX Xeno, check out the official site.
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.
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