PlayStation 2

Metal Arms: Glitch in the System

Besides the problem with the camera movement, there is no reason why you shouldn't get this game. If you have another system, you might want to look into a version of Metal Arms for that system - the camera problems might not exist across all of the platforms.

This is the Droid you've been looking for. Metal Arms: Glitch in the System comes to us as a debut effort of Swinging Ape studios. You've probably never heard of them, but from here on out they have established themselves as a top flight design house who will have Microsoft and Sony banging down doors with exclusivity contracts in hand while Nintendo dawdles around wondering how an American design team could out-design a Japanese one…again.

In a world where robots are as smart as humans, and do the bulk of the underground mining, a battle is brewing between the miners and the evil Mil, who have conquered the mines. It's a battle the mining droids didn't want, but were forced into. In a routine patrol, the droid rebellion found a robot they had never seen before, with markings they had never seen. Taking it back to their base, they find out his name is Glitch.

Droid Town and an exploring group of small druids find an unknown and badly damaged deactivated machine lying in a heap of rubble. They return to the labs and though some of the memory chips are fried, the droid remembers its name – Glitch.

From the maker of Hydro Thunder comes Metal Arms: Glitch in the System, a third-person action-shooter that centers on a storyline involving small droids, big guns and huge battles. This title, complete with an arcade-quick play style, was developed to be intuitive from the start -- the type of offering that anybody could pick up and play with little practice, and for the most part it succeeds in that lofty goal. Players will have fun as they blast their way through the wealth of environments in Glitch's extraterrestrial robot world, and there's enough variety in weapons and gadgets to keep the carnage fresh and exciting, if not downright strategic. But too-loose controls and an overall unforgiving difficulty definitely put a kink or two in the machine hero's otherwise shiny armor.

With so many games coming out lately, it wouldn't be hard to miss a gem like Metal Arms: Glitch in the System. The game is an unassuming shooter starring cutesy robots, and on first glance it might look convincingly like a shallow children's title. But spend a few hours with Metal Arms and you'll find that the kiddie exterior hides mission after mission of surprisingly hardcore combat action. Though its balance is a little questionable at times, Metal Arms has quietly come onto the scene to offer one of the most visceral and most satisfying shooting experiences in quite a while.

What is it about the PS2 that makes the console a breeding ground for cute characters? After years of recent platform/action games that work the cute and approachable angle, it's shocking to find one that's actually challenging. Not to say that Glitch, the diminutive robotic hero, isn't cute and approachable, but his story is a far cry from the typical mold. Bolstered by great level and character design, Metal Arms: Glitch In The System is frantic and twitchy, but eminently satisfying and one of the best action entries on the PS2 this year.

A lot of love went into the crafting of Glitch: the unlikely hero who can do so many different things and become or partner with other robots, to fend against the many villains in this very twisted frag-festing action shooter. Still, even as Metal Arms sets itself up for many of those moments to truly become material for one of the year's best sleeper hits, there still exist a lot of points in the game that seem to drag itself down to a mediocrity that can and will be unbearable for many a gamer who'd rather journey through a similar game, which will also hit those same notes, only a lot better. Try and give Metal Arms: Glitch in the System a rental first. Otherwise you might dig into this "glitch" first thinking it'll be the surefire fix for everything you'd ever hope for, when maybe it's not.

But Metal Arms: Glitch in the System is a different kind of surprise, the good kind, the eyes wide-open, Kool-Aid man grin kind of a surprise. This first dish from newcomer Swinging Ape Studios circumvented the GR guard dogs and our own internal Security Task Force, and in this instance we’re glad it did. Who could we blame but our own stubborn selves for missing out on this solid shooter rich in action and rife with adult-themed humor?

Metal Arms is an unoriginal game that fails to improve on any of the games it emulates. It's just another game in a long line of "me too" cookie-cutter platformers that fills the stores around Christmas time. I tried to like the game and gave up on it. I came back, left, and came back again and I just couldn't find anything good about it. Wait till it's in the bargain bin before you check it out, or you can rent it, but don't expect much.