Metal Marines plays very well, missiles fly from one part of the screen to the other (a nice touch by the way), and interception rockets rush to knock them from the sky. I’m telling you watching your missiles slip through his interception net and the following explosions is just one of those gaming moments that you’ll be remembering for days afterwards Even though the plot is poor, there is a wealth of information on the game's world in the help file. It's interesting and helpful to read about the enemy commander's life and preferred combat tactics

The Bad

The plot is really, really laughable. Just take a look at the introduction for a laugh. I just don't understand why they didn't stick to a standard post-nuclear war format. It might not be original, but it works. One problem with the gameplay of Metal Marines is that when there’s a lot of action happening on screen there’s a tremendous lag. This is just part of the game, it doesn’t matter if you’re running it on a 386, 486 or Pentium 4. It’s a serious flaw that takes from the game. Graphically Metal Marines isn’t spectacular. Adequate is about the best word. The game is easy on the eye for the most part but the graphics do break down when a lot of action is taking place. And those much lauded metal marines? These titanic, robotic, towers of steel emerged as tiny smudged blobs on the screen. A big disappointment…

The Bottom Line

If you’re a command and conquer junkie looking for one of the hardest strategy games around, this is it! Really, I have never encountered a game half as hard as this one. It could be described as a fault of the game, because the enemy generals start out always with way too many advantages. Every battle is an up hill struggle. While most gamers will whine about such difficulties, for the hardcore gaming generals out there this game is well worth giving a chance...